Preparing for 2018 Ironman Arizona

Alec Hull

Race day 11/18/2018

I have decided to compete in this years Ironman Arizona event on 11/18/2018. It took much deliberation on whether to compete. The ironman event itself is not intimidating. More stressful are the hours dedicated to training in the months before. Juggling the sheer volume of training with continuing functional life is a daunting task. If you are not prepared for the race, you will have a miserable time. Ideally, the ironman day should be virtually painless until the last 30 minutes or so. Your swim, bike, and run should feel like just another day at the office. Of course, my quest for Kona qualification continues. I am now 51 years old, and this is my last realistic chance at qualifying. My realistic goal, however, is merely to have a pleasant day.

The training itself is much more enjoyable to me than the actual race. I just really enjoy cycling, running, and swimming. Frequently the post race endorphin withdrawal can lead to depression. This is almost a universal problem. The solution: start training immediately for something else. 

I do not actually consider myself a triathlete. I prefer to think of myself as a cyclist and runner. My riding partners are strictly cyclists. My running buddies are strictly runners, etc. Swimming is drudgery. Let’s not mention swimming with others.

As most know, pure cyclists and runners look down with disdain at triathletes. I rarely disclose my triathlon background to anyone. No one likes triathletes. There may be some justification for this. Everyone knows triathletes are geeks. Their lives and conversation topics are one dimensional. They wear clownish, effeminate clothing. They cannot ride in a peloton. They talk about recovery drinks and brick workouts. They talk too much in general. 

In terms of athletes, I prefer competing with pure road cyclists. They are just better, more exciting, and stylish. Their pedalling technique is beautiful.They corner like a razor blade. They also don’t tell me that I am doing a good job. Runners always tell me I’m doing a good job. It takes too much oxygen to echo that back.

My whole family did a triathlon in San Diego in September: Mission Bay Triathlon. My son Nathan and I raced the duathlon. My 13 year old daughters Scarlett and Robin raced the mini sprint triathlon. We all loved it, and I was inspired to race the Ironman again. My favorite part was watching my girls compete and finish. My least favorite part was sitting through the awards ceremony. I wish the race directors would just have a table for the medals to pick up.

I have taken a different approach to training this year. My job has become much busier, requiring 60 hour weeks. My free time available for training has been drastically reduced. The time efficiency will be the key to adequate training. Not a moment of the day can be wasted. Every spare moment involves either cycling, running, or planning it. I carry my running gear in my car at all times. My training volume is about 40% less than 2017. I almost always ride and run by myself. I love being alone.

Another strategy I have employed is much simpler: weight loss. In order to accommodate lower training volume, I am hoping that being lighter will improve speed and endurance. It seems to be working. In 2017 my race weight was 184 lbs. I have lost significant weight. I am down to 168 lbs, with a BMI of 21. The weight loss came over the last month.

I have lost about a half pound per day. This was accomplished by simple caloric reduction. My running has definitely become more comfortable at a lower weight. I do not think I can drop lower than a BMI of 21. I need a new belt. My ribs are sticking out and I can feel my own spleen.

Many people have noticed my weight loss and are asking for the secret. Here it is: starving yourself. I have stopped eating during the day. One meal at night, dinner. No breakfast or lunch. All the coffee and drinks you want, but no actual meals. This induces a state of ketosis. It is distressing, but you will not die. There may be nausea, headaches, and irritability. As the day progresses, the symptoms become more tolerable. After around 2 pm the ketones seem to cause a kind of euphoria. I think this is what causes eating disorders. My workouts start around 530 pm and then dinner afterwards. No restaurant foods.

The fasting makes physiological sense. There are two reasons to strive for weight loss: increased power/weight ratio, and chemical adaptation within the organs. The power/weight ratio is self explanatory. The chemical adaptation requires some thinking. Having a degree in biochemistry helps me experiment and understand it. Your body is forced to engage alternative metabolic pathways to obtain energy. Normally, glycogen from the liver gives most of your energy via glycolysis. During fasting, the glycogen becomes depleted quickly. Your organs use beta oxidation of fatty acids to produce ketone bodies for fuel. This adaptation will allow fat burning and reduction of body weight. During an endurance event, it is helpful to have your system accustomed to this state of ketosis. The in race fueling will become more valuable and gratifying. After fasting, flooding your body with carbohydrates feels incredible. During my 2017 Ironman, I took in only about 300 calories with gatorade and a few bites of a sandwich. I had a 15 pound fuel tank of flab. This year I plan on taking in energy gels and free mayonnaise and mustard packets throughout the race.

As I am training, I can tell the difference between being 25 years old and 51 years old. The most obvious feature about my 51 year old body is not just power and endurance, but the ability to accelerate. I am incapable of sprinting, attacks, or surges. I need to accelerate very slowly while cycling or running. Once I gain speed, I seem to be able to hold it without slowing down. I am a large person, and my moving body has tremendous momentum. I feel like a steamroller. Others I have trained with me have made observations about my running and cycling style. Apparently I do not appear to be moving at all. They cannot hear either my breathing or my footsteps.

People ask me why I don’t have a coach. The reason: I am uncoachable. My personality is too independent and contemptuous. People tell me I am a zany asshole. I hired a coach once about 20 years ago. He lasted about 5 minutes. It all ended when he advised taking my pulse from the main vein in my neck. I rolled him pretty quickly. I won’t give you a link to his website.

Swimming

I only have 3 weeks of training for this. I have not swum for a year. My plan is to swim an hour a day starting 2 weeks before the event. I am taking 2 weeks off work for this. I trust this will be enough. Swimming was my original sport, and usually my easiest event of a triathlon. Unfortunately, a nonunion of a collarbone fracture has tarnished my freestyle stroke. My entire left shoulder apparatus has been rotated down about 30 degrees. I can barely lift my left arm out of the water. I can feel a crunching in my left shoulder with some pain. I have had to adapt my stroke. This involves an exaggerated clockwise torso twist, coupled with a violent left leg kick. My new freestyle appears unsightly. I could have a plate surgically installed in my collarbone, but I dislike the idea of surgery. I also plan on swimming with no wetsuit. I hate using them. Hopefully I can swim around 1:15 for the 2.4 miles.

Cycling

As last year, the vast majority of training has been indoors. Indoor cycling training is more productive. Of course, an outdoor ride is more enjoyable. It is just not practical for efficient training on a work day.. An indoor ride accomplishes about 750 KJ per hour. Outdoors, about 500 KJ per hour. Climbing, descending, and bike handling skills are not as important in a long flat triathlon course. More important is learning to contort your body into the aero position for 5+ hours. 

I alternate rollers with a Wahoo Kickr (a direct drive smart trainer). A road bike is used on the rollers, my time trial bike on the Kickr. Again, all of my indoor rides are tracked on Zwift (a virtual cycling world). I ride around Manhattan, Virginia, Austria, or Watopia. I would highly recommend Zwift to any cyclist. Zwift rides can be competitive or recreational. It is really difficult to explain the computer game. It is very simple to establish an account and install the software on your computer or mobile device. Zwift costs $9.99 per month. It is worth every penny to keep you motivated and interested. I also watch bike racing on TV or listen to podcasts during the rides. Often my mind just wanders and daydreams. My eyes seem to rarely deviate from the power meter, HR, and cadence numbers. Of course, as a masters athlete, I am familiar with racing to old school perceived exertion. Still, I love working with the Garmin data.


When I have the rare weekend off, I go for an outdoor ride. I hope to do two 100 mile rides in the weeks leading up to the race. 

I have an old but fairly decent time trial/triathlon bike. I ride a 2012 Scott Plasma with SRAM Etap components and Zipp 404s. SRAM Etap is tits. On a road bike, I much prefer mechanical shifting. In the aero position however, the electronic shifting really shines. I have ergonomic shift blips installed all around the aerobars. They are invisible, so the cockpit is pleasing to the eye. I have also installed a macho 55 tooth chainring. This should come in handy on the long descent down Beeline. The 55 X 11 will do nicely. Last year I was riding with a sissy compact crank. I no doubt looked ridiculous as a cycling hummingbird. 

One thing I need practicing is taking a piss off my bike. This should save 10 minutes of pulling over into a disgusting porta potty. I usually get stage fright when I try to piss while riding. I will try it on my next outdoor ride. I am sure it will make me a lot of friends on the bike path. I will try to time the piss exactly when I pass a homeless tweaker encampment. They won’t smell it due to the stench from their meth labs. 

I am obsessed with having my bike spotless, even while riding. Something I am horrified to perceive happening is symmetrical yellow stains on both sides of my bike. I drink lemon gatorade with my right hand and inevitably it spills all over the frame. I am trying to piss on the left side. I am trying to avoid spectators seeing my junk. The piss gets all over the left side of the frame. Sometimes I want to paint my bike yellow.

I hope to do a ride in the 5:30-5:45 range.

Running

Over the last few years my running has deteriorated. I have a pesky case of chondromalacia, or “runners knee.” This, coupled with a cuboid stress fracture and plantar fasciitis, has turned me into a virtual gimp. The weight loss has helped, though, and I am running about 35 miles per week. The orthopedic problems have forced me into a different running style. I keep my feet much closer to the ground, almost akin to speed walking. I kind of lumber along like a diesel truck. My breathing never slows me down, only the pain in my feet and knees. Sometimes I run with my son Nathan, who is on the varsity high school XC team. He is now faster than me. This was bound to happen someday. 

I surprised myself by running a 19:19 for 5K in October. I was first in my age group, and was ironically rewarded with a huge beer mug. A mistake I made was wearing a “make America great again” red hat while on the podium. I got heckled and booed. Oh well. 

My goal will be a sub 4 hour marathon on race day. This will require a sub 9 min/mile pace.

Data recording

All the data is recorded with HR, cadence, watts, GPS, etc. I compile it all on Strava to review. I have stopped posting all the Strava data publicly. Now I only post memorable workouts or events. The entire social media experience has soured on me. Posting your every move with pictures, what you ate, etc seems silly. It goes against biology. If someone wants to know what a Carl's Jr hamburger looks like, they could probably find an image on the internet. 

Strava is getting me too many boyfriends at work. I don’t want any work boyfriends. Now I know what a “man crush” is. There is one ER nurse who follows me around like a puppy dog. His eyes are almost opaque with lust. Certainly he wants to see my abs, or perhaps rub my sweaty back. Strangers come up to me and comment on my activities.They know where I vacationed,where I live, and what my children look like. I find this irritating and embarrassing. Boundary issues, you see. People ask me too many questions. For example, “how long is an ironman?” or “could you put together a training plan for me?” Some things are meant to be kept private, or only with close friends/training partners.

As of today, I only have 3 weeks of preparation left. I think my running is where it needs to be. I still have work to do on cycling and swimming. These 2 activities are easier to cram in last minute. Running form takes months to build. If I can manage to keep my weight down, I expect to beat last years time of 11:30. To qualify for Kona would require a 10 hour time. No chance unless I cheat. There are countless ways to cheat, and I have imagined all of them. In the swim, invisible hand paddles. A motor in my bike. Sabotaging the bikes or putting laxatives in the bottles of my AG competitors. Shooting myself up with epo or testosterone. Of course, I am competing clean.

Time to train, until later.

If you enjoy my prose, please buy my book. It’s for sale on Amazon. The title is “Electronic Vector”. It is a medical thriller written in the 1990s. I am working on another, and planning to write full time after retirement.

In case someone would like to see some of my race resume, here is the athlinks site:


https://www.athlinks.com/athletes/124517326