Back in 1999, when I first started training for triathlons, I had two rather vague goals in mind. As a serial obsessive, I was at a point in my life where I had given up one obsession (basically, focussing very intensely on my work life), without really picking up my next. Luckily, I found (or re-discovered) triathlon, and become immersed.
Re-discovered, because my first exposure was 20 years earlier, 30 years ago this week. I had been a subscriber to Sports Illustrated since I was 7. My paternal grandmother gave me a subscription because she saw I was a precocious reader, and, like her son, my father, interested in sports. Over the 20 + years I had followed the magazine, I’d learned to love most the long, off-beat stories about people engaged in lesser known or unknown sports. In the May 14, 1979 issue, Barry McDermott’s discovery of the second Ironman race on Oahu, in February of that year, was the featured long article.
That race was held just as a severe Pacific storm was ending. The swim took place in brutal chop and swells, the rain and winds on the bike brought some of the 15 competitors to a standstill, and the run in the heat and humidity, on into the dark of night, put an epic cap onto Tom Warren’s 11 hour win. McDermott’s description of the characters involved, their exercise obsessions, and their focus on winning a totally unknown and unsung brutal event won me over, and made me ALMOST want to take up running.
But as much as I loved swimming and biking, I just couldn’t see becoming Mr. Aerobic, torturing my knees and back, getting all sweaty and exhausted, just so I could take up this challenging new sport, one which seemed less risky but just as adrenaline charged as, say, rock climbing or back country skiing. So I put it back somewhere in my heart, while I found work in Tacoma, got married, built a house, raised a family, and rose to the top of my 1000 member medical group.
When I decided to retire from that phase of work, there, waiting for me patiently all the time, was triathlon, I saw a little flyer in a bike shop for a “sprint” triathlon. Discovering that I only needed to run 3 miles, not a marathon, suddenly brought back the whole wave of inspiration I initially had from the SI piece, and I vowed to start running on January 1, 1999.
But a dream from 20 years back in my past wasn’t strong enough to get me out of the door every day, so I wondered, why, indeed, I might be doing this. I concocted another story, one which reflected my age (50 at the time) and desire for a connection outside myself.
I would become a model for those younger than me, to show what was possible with the human body as it “aged”. I would become an inspiration for other ordinary people who either were dropping their athletic work, as their times and efforts slowed, and for people who might want to just start out at, say, age 40 or 45, but thought they were too weak and fragile to attempt something so arduous as a triathlon.
Well, of course, on thing led to another, and here I am ten years and 14 Ironman races later, along with scores of shorter triathlons, and dozens of trophies, medals, and ribbons for podium finishes in my age group. I’ve learned that people ARE watching. Almost every race, I hear people calling out to me, people I don’t even know but who nonetheless have heard of me, and can use me as a beacon of what they might become. And, of course, almost any time I race or work out with others, I am the oldest amongst us, and so get listened too from that respect. Inside, though, I don’t feel like an elder statesmen; I just feel like one of the guys.
So anytime I actually get to engage in some conscious passing on of knowledge and experience, I regard it as an especially fulfilling experience, a reminder of part of the reason why I am still doing this. Last month, after Ironman had announced the winners of their lottery for the Kona race, I discovered one of our docs in Seattle had scored a lucky ticket for that BIg Dance. Turns out, while he has done some racing, he is mostly into his work and family now, and has never done an Ironman, or even a Half, much less raced at Kona. A golden opportunity to share some wisdom!
Here’s what I’ve told him in my most recent email, after he asked about some swim tips (he described to me the training plan he was following, and his most recent swim workout):
All right, so you are going to follow a published training plan for an Ironman. That book [“IronFit”] is as good as any other. All of the information you need is actually in there. Sometimes, though, what seems simple and obvious to those of us who have experienced or watched others experience numerous ultra-distance triathlons, may not be so obvious to those just starting out. In other words, if it doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s probably important!
A general rule of thumb is that, several months from now, you should be able to swim about 2000-3000 yards, broken into smaller distances (like, say, 5 x 500), with 5-10 seconds for each 100 as the rest period between intervals. You should be swimming these sets at the effort level you will do in the race. You should also be able to do a “warm-up” of easier swimming of 400-800 yards before that, and a cool down of 200-400 afterwards. Hopefully, your program will get you to that point.
If you have done other triathlons, the swim for you probably was characterized by: wearing a wetsuit; less than a mile in length; in a lake, with no waves or currents; start on the beach in a group of fewer than 100 people. None of these things will be true in Hawaii.
In Kona, the water is 79-80F, so no wetsuit. Salt water adds a little buoyancy compared to a pool, but much less than a wet suit does. So if you can do 1500 meters in, say 30 minutes, expect to do 3800 meters a little less than three times that. I would multiply my 1500 meter wet suit time by 2.9 to determine how long I would be in the water in Kona. That’s your goal for at least one of your swim workouts by the end of August – be able to swim in the pool for about 5-10 minutes longer than you expect your swim in Kona will be (the 5-10 minutes is for the rests you will be taking during the course of your swim workout). Time is more important than distance when gauging your workouts.
If you have access to open water swimming this summer, for sure use a wet suit, and try to swim as continuously as possible for 3800 meters. Say, 6 x 650 meters with 30-50 seconds rest (I pick that number because it is the size of the little lake where I swim in the summer.) Do this at least once by the middle of September.
There are no real “waves”, like breakers, on the west side of Hawaii, but there is a current going against you as you are coming home, and there can be a swell, which, for the seasick among us, can produce nausea. YMMV.
But the swim should really be viewed as the warm-up for the race. Your whole goal for your swim training should be to develop tolerance for the time and distance, and feel confident in completing it without spending too much energy. 2 beat kicks, slow strokes, ability to breath on both sides (to avoid sun in your eyes, or swell in your face) are helpful.
The start is a deep water start. The eager among us go out and tread water once the pros have taken off at 6:45 AM. Others will wait on the “beach” (wait till you see “Dig Me” beach – your office may be bigger), and then head out at the last minute, letting the rest take off first. There is no real issue of bumping and hitting in this race, for several reasons: the deep water start forces each person to start up slowly; these are all experienced Ironmen, who do NOT want to get into a shoving match with their peers, and place themselves properly to avoid that and usually know how to swim in a straight line; and it is a one loop swim (out and back along a buoy line) so no real fighting to turn at buoys. For those finishing slower than 80 minutes, it is sometimes hard to find anyone to draft off of for the return home.
Assuming you arrive in Kona at least 3-4 days before the race, you will get into Kailua Bay several times. You should pay attention to the landmarks on the shore (on your left as you go out, and your right as you come back) so you will know where you are. And, get comfortable with missing your buoy sightings, as the swell will take them in and out of your horizon line. You can swim the whole course one way (half the distance, as there is a beach – actually, just past the condo where I stay – about 1.2 miles south of the pier) once or twice, to get a feel for each direction. Avoid the cruise ships and swim IN THE MORNING!!! getting out by 9:30 at the latest.
One final thing to consider – what will you wear? Options abound, and there are changing tents for each gender. In the last 4 years, many racers at Kona have started buying swim specific suits which can be worn over a tri suit (or exchanged for one in the tent at T1). These cost $75-300, and mimic the suits seen at the Olympics. When Normann Stadler dropped his swim time by 4 minutes, and won the race in 2006, they become almost de rigueur. Now, they are made out of very thin neoprene, like the slick outside of a wetsuit, and may provide a tiny bit of buoyancy. Or, you can just swim in a Speedo or other swim suit, and go from there.
Hope this helps a bit.