My First Triathlon - The Training (Part 2)
Swim Prep:
- I started this journey with swimming and thought that since I could do that relatively easily, I could complete a triathlon. Not knowing that it would be the most difficult part for me all the way up to the race. I used Motiv's guide to come up with a training plan and swam every Monday and Wednesday, and sometimes Fridays if I had time or didn't do much the previous day. Monday was a tempo swim, and Wednesday was a long swim. I was decently consistent with it but didn't incorporate drills until April 2023 when I started swimming with Daniel, who was a competitive swimmer and helped add some routine to make me a better swimmer. The longest distance in the pool was 3000m, and I could easily swim 2000m without much problem at 2:20/100m, which I thought was an okay time. I got a wetsuit in the middle of June and finally got out into Lake Ontario three times to get accustomed to open water, swimming 600m/1000m/400m. This, I later figured, was definitely not enough prep for open water swimming. Swim training from beginning to end was 2:40 down to 2:20, and the max was 2:10min/100m. Swimming slowly became the hardest part, as there were times when I started freaking out in the water every now and then, especially when I switched pools or wore new gear like the trisuit or wetsuit. This led me to feel very scared overall for open water. The problem was when I jumped in, I couldn't breathe right. I was hyperventilating and couldn't get enough air. I later realized it was because I was taking in too much oxygen and not expelling enough CO2, but this knowledge didn't fix the problem, although it made it a bit better. Every time I was able to push through and slowly get accustomed, but it took 100-300m and stops in between. This would become a big issue on race day.
Bike Prep:
- I was not a cyclist and had help from Eric to purchase a new bike (2012 Cervelo S5 - $2100), and he also let me use his bike trainer that he left here at the condo. I got a subscription to Zwift and started training on the bike, but realized immediately it was incredibly uncomfortable, so I got it fitted with Scott Judges on Danforth. From him, I found out I bought the wrong size (56 instead of a 54), but it was still adjustable, so he switched out the handlebar and stems and helped make adjustments. Parts and labor cost ~$850. Feeling more comfortable but still not perfect, I started training harder. Tuesdays were my long rides, and Thursday became a bike and run or brick if I felt motivated. Everything went smoothly on the bike trainer, and the longest ride I did was 75km, consistently doing 30-50km easily, feeling decently comfortable riding an average of ~30km/hr with flats. I was relatively consistent until the last month when injuries prevented me from continuing. As the summer came around, I began riding outdoors. Lakeshore route and the Spits were my common 30km routes. I didn't end up doing a century (100km) in Markham as I was supposed to, and my longest ride outdoors was on the DVP (using my Jamis bike), which I thought was great training mimicking the hills I would probably need to hit. My bike training came to a crashing halt when my derailleur broke off during the beginning of a 100km ride in Markham in early May, which took about a month to fix. After fixing it, it broke again almost immediately at the beginning of June during another planned 100km ride in Markham. I decided at that point to use my old Jamis bike for the triathlon as I didn't have confidence the Cervelo was going to take me to the finish line. This would mean a slower time, as I rode the DVP at 24km/hr at the beginning of June when the bike was still waiting to be fixed, and I expected I would likely do the same during the Ironman.
Run Prep:
- I hated running and, in April 2022, couldn't run 1km without stopping. But I began to build up to a solid 5km by August 2022 at around 7:30min/km. Come January, I started running at the YMCA and began zone 2 run training. I realized at that point that the reason running was so hard was primarily because I was running at a high heart rate all the time. As I slowed down, I ran longer, and running felt more fun. This led me to keep pushing and I was able to do multiple half marathons indoors and outdoors. I ran when I could, generally Tuesdays and Thursdays, and later Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Tuesdays, if I was able, were after the long ride for a short distance (5km), and Thursdays became regular brick runs (40km bike/7.5km run). Saturdays later became my long runs (14km+ and eventually 21km). I was averaging 8min/km for half marathons at zone 2. I incorporated pace and tempo work into my runs, and Mondays became pace work, while Thursdays became tempo bricks, and Sunday became zone 2 long runs. I averaged 6min/km on pace work (7.5km), 6:30-7:00min/km on tempo, and 7:30min/km on zone 2 long runs. My injuries started around June when I didn't train for a week at the beginning of June. I went for a long pace run (14km) the next week at 6min/km and pulled a muscle. I took a week to heal and went for another run the week after, pulling it even more on a 6.7km pace run (this was 2 weeks before the race). Thinking back, this was probably caused by pushing too hard on the 14km and not consistently training to keep my body limber. So, I took the 2 weeks really easy and didn't run or bike, just a little swimming, as I felt the muscle was very tender all the way up to the race. At this point, I almost felt like not going through with it, but still went through with it. The day before the race, I put KT tape and compression gear on my calf and hoped for the best.
General Prep:
- I left some of the gear to the last minute, like the wetsuit and tools. Overall, I didn't think I was ready as I stopped training regularly in June and was super worried about my leg. I was super nervous on race weekend, asking the same questions to my fiancée every time and complaining about my leg. The night before, I quadruple-checked everything to make sure I had everything. I actually had the runs, perhaps from some bad food on Saturday, and cursed myself for not eating something I was used to instead of going out to eat.