1st order of business: WELCOME TO THE DISCLAIMER: IN BIG RED LETTERS: DON'T TRY TO DO WHAT I DID. I had an extraordinary year (I am not an extraordinary athlete) wherein I had one day that so many things went wrong that I could not finish a race & then after playing it smart I had a day that was so good that like the words from Foo Fighters song Everlong - “And I wonder... if anything could ever be this good again.” I am thankful that I made it through it successfully and without doing myself an injury. THIS STORY IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES AND IS NOT AS A MODEL TO BE FOLLOWED.
Short Answer:
A lot of help
A lot of rest
A lot of training – before IM Wisconsin but not a lot in between IM WI and B2B
A lot of mental toughness training
Long Answer:
HELP
Credit 1st goes to my wife who after almost 18 years I should know that she knows me almost if not better than I know myself. Quite honestly without her patience and support it would not have happened. Flashback to 2010 when I decided 2011 would be the year of the Ironman for me. My wife agreed that I should go for it. Just to make sure she was on board she was the one who had to complete my registration. She got me in in the 15 minutes the 1st day IM WI opened before IM had to shutdown the registration system on and try again 2 days later. We agreed that after the January 1st I could let training trump everything else until the race. When I called her from the car on the way back from IM WI to ask her what she thought about me doing Beach2Battleship I bet she didn't think that September 11th would be Groundhog Day. You know where I, the groundhog, saw my shadow (DNF) which meant 6 more weeks (and 6 days) of training. Ultimately my wife knew that while I was a peace with the DNF at IM WI, I could put on a brave face for 12-14 months to try again but it wouldn't be the same as getting a full iron distance triathlon done this year. To tell the truth I am kinda glad I couldn't walk on Monday 9/12 or I probably would have been in line to sign up for IM WI for 2012. Oh Happy Accident of blisters the size of $.50 pieces on the balls of both feet.
Credit also goes to the small group of people who I swore to secrecy who's help I needed. My massage therapist, my sports chiropractor, & my sports nutritionist. I hear keeping the secret was touch and go with my massage therapist but he held out under extreme circumstances. Visits to the chiropractor helped me physically and mentally. I could tell there wasn't as much happening during the final adjustment which told me the extra rest was working.
There were a few others who found out by accident, a few I told lies of omission to and at least one I person I outright lied to but I had my reasons. Here's part of Facebook status update from the night I finished:
To anyone who might have had their feelings hurt that I told very few people I was training for Beach 2 Battleship - I'm sorry. I had my reasons, not the least of which was to limit the amount of pressure I put on myself. I also wanted to limit the number who might feel responsible for the outcome.
In hindsight I have to admit that I told no one that I thought would try and talk me out of it. I got a few funny looks from some of the people who I told but once they knew it was happening it was full steam ahead.
Another person who played a critical role in helping me complete B2B with a short turn around from IM WI was Sandy Geisel. Mostly I have to say that I was lucky that she decided this was the year she decided to check Ironman off her bucket list. Turns out she was planning on doing B2B as her 3rd full iron distance triathlon for the year. She can do that kinda a stuff. Just Google her name with the keyword 'Adventure Racing'. :)
While driving back home I called to ask her what she thought about the quick turn and two things stick in my mind from that conversation. First she said that for me making it to the middle of mile 20 on the run at IM WI was just a long training day and I'd have the base to come back and do it again in 7 weeks with minimal training. Second I remember something like this: “Blah, blah, blah, You Can Do It, blah, blah, blah.” I might even be referring to the same sentence here.
Not only is Sandy an above average athlete (that is such an understatement...) she's also had lots of experience coaching athletes. We did quite a bit training together this year. A lot of it bike rides where I asked training questions and we talked about things like nutrition, hydration, etc. With her knowledge of my training and her coaching experience she customized a precise 7 week training plan for me. I gave her feedback along the way and we tweaked things as needed. What I am trying to say here is READ THE DISCLAIMER AGAIN. If you're an age grouper like me, without this kind of support or appropriate equivalent self-knowledge you'd be crazy to try to do what I did.
Last I might have to take credit for the right mix of listening to my body and disassociating from it. The 1st long run and a 63 mile solo bike ride I did were miserable but I pushed through. When I felt tired or sick I did nothing.
REST
The 1st thing had to do right after IM WI was to let me feet heal. Big blisters = Instant recipe for rest. Not sure what I did the 1st week after. Possibly some weight training not much else. I was sick 3 times during the my prep for B2B – and not just in my head for attempting to do what I did. 2 bouts of strep throat. The 1st not a big deal and the second was a doozy. Then the week of the race I got sinusitis or my allergies were horrible not sure which but it was no fun.. That week of near total rest right before that race had to help. With the rest and the healing of the feet I ended up not running for 3 weeks then having to go from zero to double digits to feel like I was close to ready to run a marathon. It worked but I hope to never take 3 weeks off from running again - EVER.
Part of the active rest I did was to get massages. I know I had at least 4 sessions during the 7 weeks before B2B and one more after. I also got at least 2 adjustments.
TRAINING
All in all in the 6 weeks and 6 days between I had 2 weeks of real Ironman training, a couple more weekends where I got the long stuff in & the rest was off days – planned & unplanned. As I said I am not sure I did anything the 1st week. Max bike ride was 90 miles on a flat course to convince myself I could take the training I had for IM WI that was full of hills and do long and flat where there are no downhills for recovery. I think until I finished that ride in a decent time, feeling strong, I was on the fence about showing up on race day. My 2 long runs were 13 & 14 miles and they doubled as mental toughness training. According to my training logs in 48 days I ran 9 times, rode 10 times & swam 5 times excluding 2 min bike checkout & 7 minute OWS Friday of race week. With some of those workouts being bricks it works out to roughly 25 days out of 48 involving workouts and resting the other days. I went into race day thinking I was totally under-trained for the run. Turns out I was just well rested & ended up running my best marathon ever. Hopefully I'll know the difference in the future.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS TRAINING
During the 1st long run just about every step hurt. I said a lot of Hail Mary's during that run. As the Prayer to Our Lady goes:” ...that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.” Amen to that.
During the other long run I discovered that it takes 2.5 miles to sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall to myself. Both of these runs I ran past the point where turning back to the house would have gotten me an 11 mile run so I could say: I went further than the easy choice - to just go home after 11 miles. Directly from the notes in my training log for the ride I did the day after the 1st long run of 13 miles: 63.57 mile ride. This ride was cold and torturous.
CONCLUSION
So there's my story. Don't try this at home. Watching the post race recap for IM WI this year several of the pros did a 2 week turn around between IM Louisville & IM WI. I am not a pro and I'll bet unless you're a really bored pro triathlete and reading this in your spare time you probably aren't either. :) My support system was phenomenal but I bet the pros have even better ones.
Editor's (self-conscious) Note: I write these posts until I think they're good enough to publish then proof and edit some more once their uploaded. Misuse of their & there and other such error are purely for the reader's amusement.
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