Mooseman Report: Preparation

How do you prepare for an epic race in only four months?

Last fall was epic enough. We bought a house, spent months packing, days moving, and will probably spend years unpacking. There certainly wasn't time to vigourously crosstrain. Heck, I had trouble just keeping to my 3 day a week masters swim schedule.

Nonetheless, there was background talk among friends of getting together to do a triathlon in late spring. It was enough to get me to buy a bike trainer. So I rode in the basement(I want to say rode AROUND, but that of course is ridiculous), all by myself, not going anywhere.

At the start of February, it seemed like people were IN for the triathlon, and for the half iron besides. Despite having not run in months (a conscious decision, based both on the chaos of moving and the cold of Canadian winters), I decided I was in, too.

The important point of these decisions is to have a realistic outlook. My reasons for saying yes to the half iron had little do with wanting to crush Bill, despite trash talk to the contrary. I wasn't looking to show off my athletic talents, or to impress the athletes that I know with a strong first-race showing.

I wanted to get together with friends, and to participate in something epic.

Note the word participate.

I worked hard on the trainer, and on the bike once the weather improved, at ramping up distance. Speed did not matter, I just wanted miles in my legs.

As for running, my goal was to somehow pole vault the shin splints I'd had last time I restarted running. Ok, and the time before, and the time before. This called not for an aggressive training schedule of consistent distance and speedwork, but rather a slow rampup of distance work, focusing on consistency and, more importantly, lots of rest and recovery between runs.

So how did my preparation go? Well, in the weeks leading up to the race, I was able to comfortably swim 1000-1200 metres in the pool, nonstop, without really taxing myself. The 1900m open water swim seemed doable, in isolation.

My longest ride was 75km. The 90 km ride seemed doable, in isolation. Of course, there rated to be more hills than I was used to, here in Ontario.

As for the half marathon? Not sure. My longest run was 16km. Most of my 12-16km runs involved my legs getting sore and tired towards the end. If I could do 21.1, I would probably need to back off the pace.

As for putting it all together? Well, this was half iron number 1, so it was always going to be a question mark anyways. Given the leadup, I was going to have to design my race day to maximize my chances of enjoying my day.