Ironman North American Championship Mont-Tremblant : Official Thread (Page 2)

Originally posted by TankBoy

Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about Fred, Bob. You know he will only be drafting off folks during the Strava segments....

Originally posted by Dream Chaser

Crap, did I really sign up for an Ironman again? I did. Didn't I. Good grief, Charlie Brown.

So the theme is training smarter....

Smart Things to Do (for an avg MOP AG'er):

- Lose weight. Lugging around an extra 10, 15 or 20 lbs for 140 miles is tough. The time to lose weight is NOW till Feb/March. It's not smart to try and lose weight during peak Ironman training time; the 4.5 months leading up to IMMT.

- Don't focus on your Swim Time. Focus on enough fitness to finish 2.4 miles and feel fresh still, but spending too much time training the swim to just shave off 10 minutes on your swim will pay less gains on race day, as the swim distance is 2% of the distance.

- Do focus on the Bike. Don't believe Lance. He's a doper. It IS all about the bike. Take world class Kenyan 2:10 marathoners and have them do an Ironman. Their marathon will be atrocious because of the 112 miles you bike beforehand. Focus on biking in Zone 3. BIKE HARD. BIKE OFTEN. Vike has 5 contact points so it's your lease chance of injury and easiest to maintain form. Having said that, I've gotten tendonitis riding the bike and missed IMUSA one year.

- Focus on Time on your Feet for Run training. Zone 2. BRICKs are fantastic. Run Long and Aerobic. Ice baths after Long Runs are your friends. Zoot RecoveryRX pants work well during the winter for recovery. They are warm in the summer though when you're sleeping.

- A 70.3 2 months out is a nice training tune-up. We're swimming in a lake so if you have a lake nearby that helps. Lake stroke is a long, smooth stroke.

- Figure out your best climbing bike gears based on your ability.

- Find a group of triathletes doing Ironman around the same time as you. Commit to meeting them at the unGodly idiotic:dark:thirty pre-dawn hours.

Farmer Bob and Fred are NOT your avg AG'ers. They are top 5% of the Ironmen AG Elite!!

Originally posted by dmbfan4life20

Do those of you who have done an IM before highly recommend doing a half prior to race day? I want to do one but for strictly financial reasons, I do not know if I can afford to do one prior. Can a big day of training substitute just as well?

Originally posted by thedallasceliac

Dumb question for those of you that do liquid nutrition:

How do you ensure you're getting an even intake of calories? Mark the bottle? Sip x times every x minutes?

Am I overthinking this? With solids, it's easy to make sure I get XX calories every XX minutes.

I'm thinking about doing a hybrid of liquid and solid calories this year on the bike. Last 2 years I've done all solid and it really gets difficult logistically trying to carry it. I have an iron stomach except for carbonation, but too much of the same thing tends to result in me having difficulty trying to force it down the hatch later in the day.

Originally posted by strikyr



I use Infinit and I like it. I think the batch I had made up was 285 calories a bottle. I also do solids on the bike as well. I like bonk breaker bites and clif shot blocks. That combo worked well for my when I trained for IMWI and for the race itself. What I did was about a bottle an hour and I made sure I ate a little something every 60 to 90 minutes. I had no issues but I know everyone is different when it comes to nutrition plus the weather will play a factor into how much you drink. It was overcast and and comfortable for IMWI this year so I didn't have to drink as much as if it were warmer. The only downside to this strategy was I had to stop for my special needs bag to refill my bottles with Infinit which took a little time.

Originally posted by thedallasceliac



Thanks very much! I'm thinking about doing a 3-4 hour bottle - should have mentioned that in my original post. I don't like to drink a lot in the last hour on the bike because it leads to a sloshy run and I really want to avoid stopping at SN unless there's a catastrophe, so I'll probably just do a 3-4 hour bottle and then switch to solids/gels for the last few hours. Have you ever made multiple hour bottles? If so, how did you time your intake?

Originally posted by Fred D

I am also planning on a 'big training day'. This will involve a 3,000 yd swim, 80 mile bike and 7-10 mile run. In my mentor groups and in the forums we've talked a lot about the BIG DAY as a way to check pacing and nutrition after a real swim! So many folks over bike in IM, me included, and it's a way to test things. There are pros and cons to doing the BID DAY, but I plan on it.