Ironman Korea – 26/8/2007

Rule 11.1 says “Athletes must run, walk or crawl the entire [42.2 km] run course.” I don’t think that anything else can encapsulate the insanity which is an Ironman race. This is a long post, but as you can see from the photo below I did complete the race–without crawling–although my feet have seen better days.

Ironman Korea – Ready to Race

I travelled to Jeju Island from Wuhan in China. I managed to schedule a few days off from my mission travel. When I got off the plane Thursday evening at about 20:00 I was hit by a wall of heat and humidity. If it is like this late in the evening what will it be like at the peak time of day in the race I wondered. I was to find out …

 

How to Train for an Ironman Without Your Wife Finding Out

I am sitting here in Jeju island Korea 36 hours away from my first Ironman race. The title of this posting explains why … because my wife never asked me two key words: “what distance?”. If she did, she would have learned that I was planning on doing something which she had vetoed – for good reason. Let me explain …

Training for Ironman Korea – The Reality

In my previous posting, I described how I established my training plan for IM Korea and how, except for swimming, I managed to largely stick to it. On paper it sounds easy, but the reality of training is that it can become a  burden. Indeed, one of the best things about having my race in a few days is that I can reduce the volume and intensity of training. Indeed, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my tapering for the race.

Training for Ironman Korea – The Plan

Most people plan their Ironman races many months in advance.  The races often sell out within hours of opening, so some people know almost a year in advance that they will be doing a race on a specific day. Unfortunately, working for the World Bank I cannot plan my life a few months in advance as I never know what may come up. Many race directors have made money off me when I’ve been sent overseas and missed a planned race.

When I learned in late June that I would be on mission to China late August, and that there were slots available for the Asian Ironman Championship in Jeju Island, Korea, I decided that this was an opportunity too good to miss. The problem was how to train for an Ironman with less than two months, and a busy job. As well as a wife who would not let me do an Ironman. I’ve dealt with the latter here, so let me tell something about the training program.

Gear – Using Garmin Forerunner 305 for an Ironman

The Garmin Forerunner is a fantastic piece of equipment for a gadget-geek triathlete.  This watch with a built in GPS and a heart-rate monitor, lets you monitor your performance, especially your pace. With a battery life of about 11 hours, the problem is that it does not last long enough for an Ironman race if you  are duffer like me. However, there is a way around this problem …