Sitting there, on one of the last day of summer, completely wet with a survival blanket around my painful back, and a bunch of marshmallows in one of my hands that I can’t even bother eat, I'm contemplating other athletes still dealing with the beast. We’re the 14th of September 2019, and that is the day I became a #SUB10 athlete in 09:54:52 in just a year of triathlon. Yet instead of jumping and crying all around the place, I'm trying to figure it out how in the name of God I'm not still on the other side of the fence like it should have normally happened for someone with such little experience in the long endurance field.
I guess supporters in the background noticed I was quite happy to break #SUB10 !
This question is the reason I spent time each day on this blog for the past months. Over time I figured it out what could sound like a rather simple answer. I was there to compete; the vast majority of them were there to complete. That makes a huge difference, but don’t get me wrong there : successfully completing an IronMan 140.6 distance is quite a task for any human being, and an incredible achievement in itself. But being able to swim 3.8 km, ride 180 km, and run 42 km in less than 10 hours is just something else. Why ? Because being at that fitness level requires that your life as a whole revolves around it. Sleep, nutrition, work, family, partner, mind, every part of your life is strongly impacted. It needs total dedication, a genuine determination to endlessly improve in all key areas of your performance.
No wonder only 5% of the IronMan 140.6 athletes can manage to break that barrier. Yes, some may be able to do it in just 10 hours of training a week, as I have read here and there, but it was surely not on their first year of triathlon. As a fellow #SUB10 triathlete said to me before i gave it a shot : « Hijacking your body in endurance is a long game. »
There are two good reasons for this :
1. Oxygen. Your training need to turn around increasing the amount of oxygen your body can use, and then the amount of power you can produce with that oxygen. Getting to a competitive level on that point asks a hell of a time.
2. Fatigue. Triathlon is a puzzle game, because you have to be good enough in the 3 disciplines to not over generate fatigue while transitioning from one sport to the other one during the race. That's a pretty damn task considering how many athletes are ending up walking down on the IronMan 140.6 marathon.
That being said, and to paraphrase the trademark IronMan motto, I learnt that anything is possible with the human body. For a year, from uncharted territories to uncharted territories, I unlocked physical and mental abilities that I wasn't even aware of.
Now, doing your best by discovering the borders of your physical limits in a limited amount of time ahead of you won't go without any trouble. Mental boom, illnesses or injuries are part of the holy trinity you will have to fight against on a daily basis. Fortune favours the bold that's for sure, but it doesn't mean you won't have to put your body on the line for that. During these 54 weeks, a lot of meaningless and meaningful things happened to me, yet I always kept acting in a masochistic way.
Five weeks prior to my #SUB10 attempt, my right foot was burnt to the second degree level. I went to emergency at the hospital and when i asked if i could be back on the bike in a week, the doctor looked at me like I was a wild animal and told me : « It's a 3 weeks off injury. You stop. » As cheeky as it may sound, even when the odds seemed entirely against me during that period, I never felt that I didn't have a chance. I kept making a total effort every single day, in a different way, by trying to eat as much protein as I could to help my body heal the foot, drinking all the time to avoid the loss of water through the damaged skin, sleeping 10 hours or more a day. I was back on the bike a week later.
If you want to make it badly enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it. That doesn't mean that you should go full banzai mode — my favourite expression from this blog — thinking you will hit the #SUB10 by just swimming, pedalling and running as much as you can. To perform at a champion’s level, you will need to be process-oriented in your approach to both practice and competition.
Hijacking your body in endurance
is a long game.
That's the purpose of this blog, dissecting my #SUB10 training and race core processes, in different parts. I will assume that you're already well aware of IronMan training, so don't expect to read something for beginners here.
This is how I split the whole thing up :
- My #SUB10 journey, where I will look back on my year in triathlon.
- Equipment, where i will list all my equipment and budget for my whole season.
- Data, where I will emphasize the importance of numbers in modern training and high-end goals like #SUB10.
- Schedule, where I will describe how I managed my season and all the uncertainties around it.
- Training, where I break down my logic behind each and every workout.
- Bike training, where I will convince you to spend more time on the saddle every day than in your bed.
- Run training, where I will crack down on my SUB 3h30 IronMan marathon training.
- Swim training, where I will... where I will... Well I'm a bad swimmer but I still have a bit to share.
- Mental strength, where I will go into the mind and the spirit needed to cope with an intensive training load and race breakdowns.
- Strength training, where I will look at my 30 minute strength training routine.
- Nutrition & hydration, where I will discuss what we call the fourth sport of triathlon.
- Recovery, where I will emphasize how sleep should become your best friend.
- Race, where I will examine all the big and small things that helped me to have successful races.
- Workouts, where I will share a training block and in-depth workouts.
It took me almost a year of writing to get that blog done, so I truly hope it will live up to your expectations !
As the topic has not been discussed yet in this introduction, every part of this blog is coming from the internet, literally. Tens, if not hundreds, of hours of research on my own throughout what the world wide web has to offer. I didn't have a coach of any sort for the whole journey. Yes, you read it right : no help. I will write about the reasons in the upcoming chapter, but as a consequence it's important to note that no one apart me has approved all of this. No coach, no pro. Just an average chimp pretty curious to see how far he can push himself. What worked for me may never work for anyone else. Some pros ending up here may even think after reading some chapters : « What the heck.» I'm sharing back what Google offered to me, but don't expect many sources or statement of facts. I'm not here to argue, just to put on the table everything I learnt. So don't take it for hard cash and do your own research by referencing knowledge you can find here and there.
Still, all the lessons included around this blog have been invaluable to me — as an athlete and as a human being. I hope it will goes the same way for you.
Best of luck, and have fun reading !
Sasha