By Mike Tarrolly – Co-Host Crushing Iron Podcast
I have long been a proponent of “under training” for Ironman and it’s mainly because of longevity. I’m over 60 now and dealing with multiple long rides and runs is just too hard on my body.
BUT, that said, I feel like I’m in a good spot. I stay very active in general and while I’m not doing a ton of traditional long stuff, I’m supplementing with little things like push ups, the rower, a hydro bike, and treadmill walking. This will actually be an interesting experiment.
The funny part is, despite being “undertrained” I was absolutely shellacked this week. More than once I said this would be my last Ironman. I was very short, and frankly kind of an asshole with people this week. That’s when I know I’m going down the wrong path.
How much is enough? That’s the question I ask myself over and over while scrolling through training peaks for positive reinforcement. The activity that shows up the most is SUP boarding and, while I think it’s awesome for the body, I’m not sure how well that will translate to the hills in Wisconsin. We can hope.
Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure to perform well because of the podcast. It’s just one of those things where you think athletes will judge your performance and question your coaching.
I’ll admit that I am a pretty non-traditional coach. I’ve been through 10 of these things and at least that many 70.3’s since I turned 50 and I ALWAYS put my well being above training. I did that with my corporate job as well.
I’ve seen people absolutely demolish training and flop in the race and I’ve seen the exact opposite. I just don’t believe there is one way to get this done.
We talk a lot about happy and healthy on the podcast and it’s a very murky area when it comes to training for Ironman. The doubt and anxiety quotient is usually very high with athletes. Either they don’t understand how they will finish or they have lofty goals. I really believe that if you’re “in the ballpark” physically, your mind is the ultimate weapon.
I rarely swim or bike the distance and don’t even come close to a marathon before Ironman. This year my long training run will be around 10 miles. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it’s about the same as usual and while I haven’t podium’d, I have raced multiple sub 12 hour fulls.
And here we go again. I’ve spent most of the last week or so focusing on sleep and eating like a horse. I have been staying active, but am leaning into the “be fresh” bucket more than anything. My ultimate goal is always to feel the best I have all year on race day.
I think it was Jan Frodeno who said, “If you’re feeling over confident on race day, you’re probably overtrained.”
Sure, I may take things a bit to the extreme the other way, but who am I to argue with a guy like Frodeno? It’s just one day and I know I have the fitness to get it done, I just hope I have the patience to pace it right and rebound from tough races at Wisconsin the last two years.