Getting Started in Ironman: My Story

Cheesecake Post IMAZ 2008

In the fall of 2007 I had never done any sort of triathlon, though I had been running for a number of years with my longest race being a marathon in Kelowna in 2005.  I had only heard stories of Ironman, when my friends sent out this message:

Mike and I will be doing Ironman Arizona and we are going to register today...
Is anyone else in :)

I was pretty tempted but of course was nervous about the difficulty/commitment so I fired back:

Alright, here are my questions:
How many slots are left?  Do you guys really think I can do it?  How tough is this whole swimming thing, once you start training is it easy to build up swimming endurance, do you have to go front crawl the whole way or do some people use other strokes to rest from time to time?  2.4 miles seems like an awful long way to swim, how long does that take, like 2 hours?  And who is the atticmaster?

I think a lot of people are worried most about the swim.  Pretty much everyone has biked and run at some point when they are growing up, but actual lap swimming as opposed to just playing around for fun is a lot more rare.  Mike said back:

I know that the Ironman Coeur D' Alene sold out within two weeks. I have no idea of how many slots are left but the list of participants grew quickly within the last day. 

I am just learning to swim so Kathleen would have to answer the question on the distance and such. What I can tack on though is one girl that we talked to in Coeur D' Alene said that her friend was not a very good swimmer and she trained hard for 8 months and was able to complete it. I had basically no swimming experience and I am going to try it. Maybe not the best role model. There are scuba divers and kayaks to pull you out if you were to start drowning from what Kathleen said. Atticmaster is Guitar Hero Rocker ... Tyler.

The best thing to do is call Kathleen tonight at home. We should be home by 8 PM and then she can convince you and answer all your questions. You have a year to train for it so if you go hard I do not see why you could not do it.

I don't know what Kathleen said when we called her, but I guess I was convinced enough?  When one of my friends heard I had signed up he sent me the following email:

Are you crazy??  What possessed you to decide to do a full ironman?  You do realize the distances, time and that you have to swim, then bike, then run a marathon, right??

I don't think signing up for IM was that crazy, in hind sight.  It is definitely a huge commitment, and a big training leap for someone like me who is not that hard core of an athlete, but as long as you take it seriously and make that commitment it is sure to work out and be a lot of fun.

Once I signed up I had to go from casual jogger to serious enough swimmer/biker/runner to finish an Ironman!  In my opinion, these are the key steps in that transformation:

1) Find friends to train with.  I once read a blog post that said one of the key indicators of being able to succeed and excel was being able to train alone without a group.  I don't know if I agree with that, but I know having friends to train with makes the hard work way easier, and the whole experience fun and far more satisfying than training and racing alone ever could be.  There are triathlon clubs and teams in Edmonton too, I know people who like APTS and the west end YMCA offered a triathlon training course last year (though not Ironman.)

2) Buy a good training book.  We bought Don Fink's book Be Iron Fit and one of the first things I did was to read it.  He includes a training regime we tried to follow and it was a great resource.

3) Join the YMCA!  Or a similar gym/fitness facility.  You need some place that has a pool you can swim laps in, a track you can run in during the winter (or just tough it out outside), and spin classes.

4) Join a Masters Swim Class.  We joined the YMCA masters swim program at the Don Wheaton Y and it was great.  Twice a week we went for an hour and a half or so swim workout with a coach who provided workouts.  This basically took us from panting and struggling to do a single 25 M lap to being able to swim the full IM swim in Arizona!

5) Do as many spin classes as possible.  In the winter spin classes are a great way to start gaining bike skills, and WAY more interesting than biking on the trainer.

6) Buy your equipment.  I left this for awhile into my training, no need to buy a lot of the stuff until closer to race day.  I bought:

• bike - Cervelo Team Soloist from Way Past Fast (and bike shoes from the same place) (Elements is another good triathlon store in Edmonton)
• bike helmet and bike shorts from MEC
• wetsuit (also from Way Past Fast)
• goggles - I had aquasphere early on in training but eventually switched to a different type.  They provided great underwater vision but I found them a little tight which hurt on longer swims.

7) Do some smaller races to prepare.

• Half moon lake in June
• Alberta Challenge at Miquelon Lake in August

Other than that, just get training ASAP, don't push it too hard at first, try to follow the training plan you decide on as best as you can, and go from there.

Mike By the Swim Course

Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre

Earlier this year, a new city run recreation centre (similar to Terwillegar which I've written about) opened up beside Commonwealth Stadium.  Finally this weekend I got a chance to check it out, as Mike P and I went for a workout Saturday morning.  We ran around the track, did some weights, and checked out the hot tub and steam room.  The facility was...  Awesome.  Its smaller than Terwillegar but the city has done an excellent job.on the small details, everything was very good.  It is designed to let natural light in and to have a great view of something no matter where you are or what you are doing, the pool area, the field house turf field, Commonwealth Stadium itself, etc.  The cost was $8.20 for an adult, a decent price for entry.

The centre has:

• a 250 M track, it is a fairly uniform rectangular path, below and to the interior of it is the field house turf (when we were there kids were playing flag football).  The track has great natural lighting, with many of the windows being brightly coloured stain glass.  There are great views of the outside too, of Commonwealth Stadium and the outdoor practice field (FC Edmonton was practicing here at the time of our run) and of the pool area.
• a solid pool area, it is not as big as Terwillegar, but has a nice large hot tub, steam room, waterslide, lane swimming, and an aqua climbing wall (only really good for children.  Like the rest of the centre, tons of natural light and interesting views everywhere.
• a huge turf field house/football field with the same turf as Commonwealth Stadium.  Apparently in bad weather the Eskies practice inside here, it would be pretty awesome to be able to watch an Eskimos practice as you were getting your run in, for sure.
• 2 studios for yoga, pretty large and also looked nice
• lots of weight machines, spin bikes, etc.  All have been arranged so as to have a view of something, mostly the pool area
• large hardwood gym
• an Eskimos store with Eskimos fan gear for sale

Things I liked:

• natural light and fantastic views, as mentioned above
• wallet lockers by the admission desks were free and had key locks with wrist bands you took with you.  Terwillegar has a combination lock but personally I think the key is way better, its a great way to secure your wallet without having to worry about remembering a combination or worrying someone would guess your combo
• being able to go and toss a football around on a gorgeous field at the end of a workout seems pretty neat

Things I didn't::

• swim change room did not have enough lockers, and was crowded.  There was another change room up on the second floor, but if you wanted to go swimming you would have to use the small, crowded one, didn't seem optimal.

The Centre

Mike in Front of the Turf Field

In the Eskies Store Post Workout, Checking out the New Eskies Seating

Stain Glass Windows on the Running Track

View From the Weight Machines

2012 Edmonton Gorilla Run!

Today the kids and I went down to Victoria Park to watch Alex race the Gorilla Run.  The Gorilla Run is a 5K race where every contestant is given a Gorilla costume to keep with their race entry fees ($100 per adult, $50 per child).  The purpose of the race is to raise money for Gorilla conservation, and you are allowed to run, walk, or bike (as long as you wear your Gorilla outfit the whole time.)  It is great that there is a race like this that kids can do with their parents as well.

Some of the runners do take the race pretty seriously, though times are not nearly as fast as no outfit races.  Alex said the suits were very hot too, though he felt they had surprisingly good breath ability.  Alex got 5th, so it was a good day for him.

Unfortunately we missed the start of the race, which I think would have been awesome to see, but we did catch the finish.

The Finish Line

Second Fastest Biker

First Runner

Another Gorilla

Are There Black Bears in Edmonton?

While running alone in the darkness the other night on a wooded trail near our house I heard some rustling in the bushes.  I ignored it, because although there are lots of coyotes near us I didn't think there was anything to worry about.  When I lived in Coquitlam, there were many black bears in the woods where I ran, and running late at night was always a somewhat nervous affair for me.  I've talked about animals that can be seen in Edmonton before, but after this I decided to do some more research into the likelihood of seeing a bear while running here...  The answer is that there are some bear sightings in the Edmonton River Valley system, but it is extremely rare.  This is what I found:

• here is a news link from August 2010 about a black bear sighting by the Equestrian Center, which is pretty far into Edmonton
• a quote from the article: "Paul Prefontaine, one of two officers surveying the area, said bear sightings are not unusual, adding several have been reported in Edmonton and the surrounding area this season."
• this Government page showing the range of Black Bears in Alberta does NOT include Edmonton as Black Bear turf
• finally, this Wikipedia article lists Bears as among the animals living in the River Valley, Wikipedia is always right, right?