I printed off a Half Ironman training plan in 2015, so it had been a goal of mine for awhile, but I didn't commit to training for one until 2020. I started biking, running, and swimming at the YMCA regularly in the Spring of 2020 and I was going to sign up for the Roanoke Half Ironman. Well, Covid happened and everything got cancelled, but it was probably a good thing I couldn't do that race because I doubt I would have been ready by June 2020.
For starters, I didn't even have a bike. I bought a TT bike from someone on Facebook in the Spring of 2020. I had to get someone to help me to put it together. The first time I took it for a spin, I almost fell off. The bike was so responsive, it seemed like the slightest movement made me turn, and it was so lightweight, I picked up speed remarkably fast biking downhill. The gears were on the aerobars, but the brakes were on the other handlebars. It took me a good 6 months before I was used to shifting gears, especially since there were no numbers to indicate which gear you're in, so I had to learn to operate by feel.
When I moved to San Francisco in October 2020, I started biking with some of my roommates. Biking around the city was fun and I really had to get good at shifting into a lower gear quickly to make it up some of the hills! San Francisco has lots of bike lanes and some bike trails. My favorite was biking along the Embarcadero to the Golden Gate Bridge, and sometimes across the bridge to Sausalito and Mill Valley. My other favorite place was going to the East Bay and biking along the Iron Horse Trail and Contra Costa Trail. And when I got up to the longer rides, I would start at Canada Rd, and bike almost to San Jose.
In Spring of 2021, I felt comfortable enough on the bike that I decided to start training for a Half Ironman again. I still had a few steps to get bike ready. First I got clipless pedals, so I had to learn how to clip in and out. I practiced on bike trails first, but then started biking around the city again so I got lots of practice remembering to unclip whenever I stopped. I did have a couple falls: one when I was turning and my bike skidded on some pine needles, and another when I came to a small unexpected hill on the bike trail and didn't have enough speed to get up the incline. When you're going slow, it's easy to lose your balance, and when you're clipped in, there's nothing you can do!
In April, I started really training. I joined a gym so I'd have access to a pool, and got out my Half Ironman training plan. It starts off pretty intensely. I had to repeat Week One three times before I moved on to Week Two! Half Ironman training is a lot. I'd work out after work 4 nights a week, then on the weekend I'd have a long bike ride on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. It takes a LOT of time, way more than marathon training!
Once I started doing longer bike rides (25+ miles) I had issues with my feet going numb and then getting burning nerve pain. When I'd go swimming the day after biking, I had issues with foot and calf cramps. Sometimes I could stretch it out and be okay. There were other times I got such severe calf cramps that I was incapacitated and barely able to move, and there was no way I could continue my workout. I did lots of stretches and went through 4 pairs of bike shoes to try to find a pair that didn't make my feet go numb (they still go numb even now). I got a professional bike feet and the pro repositioned the cleats on my bike shoes farther back, and that helped somewhat with the burning nerve pain in my feet. But the one thing that I think was the most helpful was Liquid IV! I had to replace tons of sodium from sweating so much on the bike rides and regular Gatorade wasn't cutting it anymore. Once I used Liquid IV for my bike rides, I stopped getting debilitating muscle cramps.
All the working out made my appetite shoot through the roof, and I started eating SO MUCH at every meal. I was worried I was going to gain weight training for this thing! The one thing that improved during training was my running. For years, I've been a 9-something minute miler. All the biking made my legs stronger, and I started running long distances at a consistent 8:30 pace. There were a few 9, 10, and 11 mile runs where I ran the last few miles at a sub 8- minute pace! I had some great runs in Sausalito, and along the Sawyer Creek Trail just south of SF.
I built back up my swimming pretty quickly once my muscle cramps were under control. I remember the first time I got back in the pool after years of not swimming, my arms felt like they were going to fall off just 2 laps in! But soon I was swimming 1200 meters without stopping. However, open water is a whole different experience! I rented a wetsuit from Sports Basement in San Francisco and signed up for a few open water swims with Water World (Swim with Pedro). The water in the San Francisco Bay is freezing! The first time I got in the water my face hurt from the cold, and all I could think of for the first 10 minutes was how miserable I was. Then you sort of get used to it. The group swims were at Aquatic part which is a protected cove, but there were still times it got pretty choppy and windy. I did 3 or 4 swims there, and got up to a mile by the last swim. Then I did some of my open water practice swims at the lake in Maine, which was much warmer, calmer, and much more pleasant! One thing I had to get used to was sighting ahead every 4 or 5 strokes to stay on a straight course.
My best month of training was probably June. I was building up the bike miles, running faster, and swimming a mile consistently. Then in July I was in Maine for a month with my family, but I stuck to my workouts, and did some long bike rides, long runs, and mile swims in the lake. When I got back to SF in August, they were going to charge me a fee to re-join the gym, so I didn't. I did all my biking and running outside and I didn't swim for a month. I was starting to get a little burnt out with the training and it was a struggle to stay motivated. I was also tired of SF and couldn't wait to finish my job and move out of the city.
In September, I went on vacation in Utah, injured my quads during a half marathon, and couldn't work out for a week. The last couple weeks of September I was back in Lynchburg, and I did my last 2 long bike rides (56 miles each) to Smith Mountain Lake and back. I did a few runs in Lynchburg but I wasn't as fast as I had been in June and that was discouraging! I joined the YMCA in Lynchburg and did a couple long swims and was relieved that I could still swim a mile at a good pace after not being able to swim for a couple months!
Training for an Ironman is not easy! I had so many hurdles I had to overcome. The biking was the biggest challenge for me: getting used to clipless pedals, getting used to aero bars, and dealing with foot and calf pain, and even back and neck pain from the aero position. I had to learn how to hydrate and refuel on the bike (Liquid IV saved me!). The biking just takes a significant amount of time! The long bike rides of 40-60 miles would take me around 4 hours each Saturday, and sometimes by the last few miles of the ride I was OVER IT. It seems like most people who do triathlons are strong bikers, and they just get through the swim and the run. I'm glad I started early just with the biking because that was my weakest area.
If I had to train for another one, I would try to find a triathlon group or triathlon training team, or even just a friend who wanted to train together. I did all my training on my own, except for a few group swims. It's tough to stay motivated when you have to go bike 50 miles by yourself on Saturday, and then run 12 miles by yourself on Sunday. In the beginning I was super motivated, but by the end I was getting so burnt out. I think it would have made a difference to do my workouts with other people!
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