Preparing for an Ironman

When I was younger, I used to visit my grandparents in the US of A, and they loooooved spending their summer in Panama City Beach, Florida – Now you may say, why on earth is this guy talking about his life story on an Ironman Post; Well, I am going to get there, just give me a minute and I will explain why I started in such a way.

Coming back to the Florida story (before you interrupted me), as you may or may not know, Panama City Beach, hosts one of the many Ironman races held worldwide and I remember my mother coming back from the beach on a fine sunny morning, wearing a white hat that had this weird logo and some words that said “IRONMAN”.

A curious little kid that I was back then (as are all kids that I know at that age), I asked my mother:

me: What on earth is an IronMan?

mother goose: Ironman, son, (she never calls me son, but I like the dramatic effect the word has), is one the hardest challenges that a triathlete can do!

me: …mommy where is my breakfast, you are late & I am hungry!

It may not have seemed important at the time, but apparently something got imprinted into my brain because most of my adult life, doing an IRONMAN has always been a dream of mine; the one challenge that I needed to undertake at some point in my life, just as my fellow Greek Odysseus completed his quest for the golden fleece (had to put a Greek reference in here at some point, so there we go).

Fast forwarding to about 20+ years later, and having had a healthy year with no serious injuries and no operations (coming from a guy who has done one surgery for a torn ACL on one knee & another surgery for a torn meniscus on the other), I took a leap of faith and signed up for a full Ironman in Taiwan! Key fact about me – I am an impulsive guy, I act and then think about how to do things – always been my way, and probably always will be.

 

After pressing that register button, the next thing that I did, as every well-educated and smart person would do, was to launch that wonderful tool called google and start typing four words that form the sentence, “preparing for an IRONMAN”.

Next line of business for me in order to prepare for any challenge is to talk to my friends and support system. They are used to me coming up with some crazy stuff over the years, so I always get some eye rolling when I tell them about my next “big” thing.

I remember one conversation I had with a friend of mine:

me: Hey dude, so guess what?

Orestis: Man, you know I hate guessing, just tell me…

me: Okay, so I signed up for an IronMan.

Orestis: What is that?

me: It’s one the hardest challenges that an triathlete can do! (Copyrighted by Mrs. Mom)

Orestis: Will we still be able to watch the World Cup and have beers? (This conversation took place when the World Cup was on – Just in case you didn’t get it).

me: I think I am going to cut down on alcohol…

Orestis: (3 seconds of silence)…IronMan sounds stupid

Even though the conversation doesn’t sound very supportive, and admittedly at the given moment it wasn’t, I swear he has been one of my biggest supporters. Since I touched on this topic, I have to give a big warning to everyone out there.  IronMan takes up a LOOOOOOOOT of your time, so before you undertake such a quest, sit down with your loved ones and friends, and explain what you are trying to accomplish and how much of your time it will take. I am blessed with a very understanding and loving better half that supports me all the way; but do sit down, do explain, and do get their support; it will make your life soooooo much easier.

As a beginner to triathlons, I didn’t know what to buy, so first thing I did was type into google the word “bike shops” and go to the nearest place to where I lived to get some recommendations, This is how this wonderful experience evolved.

Sales guy: What are you looking for sir?

me: (with a big smile) Hey, looking for a beginner’s bike for triathlons.

Sales guy: aaaaaaaa ($$$ signs in his eyes) this is one of our best bikes sir, here you go ,12,000$…(followed by silence in the room for 10 seconds)

me: I think we need to re-align and set expectations (having learnt from my former manager Hash). I don’t have that money!

The above dialogue was put in place to help me introduce the fact that IRONMANs are freaking expensive in every aspect and form, from the equipment you will need, to registration, to the time you need to spend training! (Future post will outline what I bought, the cost and the mistakes that I made).

If I had to give a single and most important tip to my fellow readers -all three of them – (thanks mom, dad and sis), I highly recommend you surround yourself with people that know what they are doing.

I stuck like glue to my Personal Trainer Hannes-Ras Patat Loubser @ iconicfitness who is an amazing PT and knows his stuff, He will guide you  and build programs that are suited just for you and your personal goals, plus he is amazing at helping you overcome any injuries you have, and putting you back together.

Next step is, of course, swimming, and yes, for this scary part of a triathlon I did use an amazing coach called Kevin Millerick from Total Immersion training, Middle East. This talented trainer changed the way I swim and helped me immensely in improving both my speed and efficiency.

Lastly, one of the most important things to take into consideration is nutrition. For this I again enlisted the help of a very informative nutritionist, Heidi Strickler , from https://www.enrgperformance.com/ who helped me understand all the important aspects of nutrition and training, as she focuses on the above for triathletes.

Do not re-invent the wheel. Find people who know their stuff, from athletes who have done it before to coaches who can help you in this amazing journey.

While I was building my support system, I decided with the little training that I had already done, to go ahead and sign up for a triathlon, and I as said, I love stretch goals, so signed up for an Olympic one. I remember the day that I was at the start line, and I saw by accident a friend of mine, and he said:

Friend: Oh wow! you are here as well?

me: Yes, I decided to do my first triathlon race

Friend: Ah! That is amazing, what category are you racing in?

me: Olympic one

Friend: ….Well you could have started with something easier!

me: (shit, maybe I should have)!

Two things I learnt out of this triathlon, is for one, do not disrespect the distance – if it is a sprint, an olympic one and especially an IronMan, never never say, “oh I can do this easy peasy”, respect the challange, and train for it, it will never be easy, but it will get easier with time (NOT).

Secondly, any type of race especially long distance races, are as much mental as they are physical, thus self talk and self motivation are crucial in these circumstances; never have negative thoughts throughout the race, always keep on going and never look back (unless is to make fun of someone you just passed).

In the end, as a friend that has helped me a lot in preparing (Gordon), gave me the best advise that no video or blog article or training guide ever gave me. He simply said to me – “Dimitris, just go out there and enjoy it, enjoy it as you would if you were going for a ride on a normal day, put on a smile and swim, ride, run”.

As I like to say (not my saying by the way), “The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond into the impossible”, Peace out, and thanks for reading.