bike-training and your first Ironman

Hopefully I can give you a few bike-training tips that will help you prepare for your first Ironman Triathlon.

I'll repeat what I said in the bike-equipment page. Be sure when you purchase I bike that it is the proper frame size for you. Also make sure that experienced bike outlet personal fit you to that bike.In other words, if you really stretch at the bottom of the pedal stroke, the bike is not set up properly. If you are all scrunched up and are not extending your legs far enough, the bike is not set up properly. Something as simple as raising or lowering the seat can make a huge difference to your pedal stroke. It's important to make use of all the big muscles.

You'll find that bike-training involves much more than biking itself. Something as simple as having the bike set up properly will make your transition into the run a lot less painful.

When it comes to the actual bike-training, many first time Ironman hopefuls have the wrong idea. You don't have to go out and cycle hundreds and hundreds of miles. Maybe one day if you decide to really go for it and try and place in your age group you might want to look at more intense training. For your first attempt at an Ironman just remember. You're not going out to set a new record for the bike split. You want to FINISH this thing!

I would recommend doing one 7 or 8 hour ride about 8 weeks from Ironman day. Go out with a couple of people. Pack lots of food and water and plan to be gone for the day. Don't worry about how MANY miles. All you are doing is getting an idea of what it will be like to be on the bike for that long.

For the rest of the training year, try and bike 3 or 4 times a week. You can do 1 or 2 of those rides on a wind-trainer or at a gym on one of their exercise bikes. As your season progresses, try and plan for one longer ride of 2 or 3 hours once a week. Don't worry about how many miles. Pay more attention to actual time on the bike and finding a cadence and speed that you're comfortable with. I strongly recommend heart-monitor use on the bike.(see section on heart-monitor training). Try and stay at or below your target heart rate and your fitness level will continue to improve over time.

Be sure to try different fluid supplements and different types of solid nourishment until you find what agrees with you and then go with it. I would recommend getting used to one of the gels, because they are handy, and packed with nourishment and most likely found on every Ironman course.

As your season progresses, you should try and do one transition ride every week. The best day for this is the day you're on your wind-trainer. Ride for at least an hour and then run IMMEDIATELY after for at least half an hour. This will help you get used to the bike-run transition. Its not necessary to bike 4 or 5 hours and then run 15 miles in order to see what it feels like. Trust me, after an hour on the bike, you'll get the idea after about 4 strides into the run.

I won't kid you. There's nothing on earth that will 'truly' prepare you for what you will experience when you leave the bike transition tent and head out on your first Ironman marathon. DEAL WITH IT! YOU CAN DO THIS!

It is at about this point that you will truly be looking into the eye of the tiger. It is here that you will begin to find out what you are made of.

On a lighter note, its time to go back to Kona and tell you a bit about my first Ironman bike experience.

Its one hour before swim start. Someone said don't put air in your tires because they may burst overnight with the humidity as your bike sits in the transition zone. So here I am pumping up my rear tire. Being clever I had put a brand new tube in the rear tire the night before. I pumped and pumped and just like a gunshot the tube exploded. Like EVERYONE looked and went oh-oh. I hadn't noticed, but the tube had come right out of the tire and exploded. IT WAS THE WRONG SIZE! No problem I thought(sort of). I had a spare(one spare). I put it on. Being as I bought it at the same time as the other one, it was also THE WRONG SIZE and this time I saw it begin to bulge out of the tire. I did the only thing I could. I let air out until the tube went back into the tire. Most likely I had about 65-70 lbs of air pressure.

It's 4 hours later. Here I am on the King K. highway. The heat waves are massive. Its just over 100 degrees in the lava fields. Every pedal stroke I hear my rear tire squish into the soft asphalt. I have no spare left. My Ironman dream pretty well rests on that squishy tire. Each torrid mile merges into the next.

I feel alone. Nobody around me. I see a vision.A beautiful Hawaiian girl in a grass skirt a few hundred meters ahead. This can't be real-- but it is. She's holding something out. My gorgeous savior. She has a sponge for me. I straighten my helmet and glide in towards her gracefully---thinking---I AM IRONMAN!--I would impress her to no end--and deftly take her precious gift from her small hand and SMASH THAT GUAVA JELLY SANDWICH ON BROWN BREAD ALL OVER THE BACK OF MY NECK!

If you're ever in Hawaii and get a chance to have lunch with a local---have a guava jelly sandwich, because they really, really pack it on.

Even to this day, I wonder what my angel in the grass skirt thought of the crazy guy on the bike. Well, it sure looked like a sponge. Give me a break.

It was such a relief when I finally reached the bike-run transition. Words can't express how the first few dozen strides into the marathon felt.

I told you a bit about my first Ironman bike for a reason....

Consider this. The furthest I ever biked in training was about 40 miles. I didn't really know how to train. How far to go or how fast. I just went until I felt tired and turned around.I didn't really know what to eat or drink.

My bike was impossibly heavy. I had a rear tire that was missing about 40 pounds of air. I had no aero-bars---no clipless pedals. I hadn't even been on a bike for 20 years until I started training for the Ironman. My bike-training was pretty well non-existent.

Yet, my bike time was 7 hours and 39 minutes. That's all you need! 7-8 hours on the bike and you are left with enough time to beat the cut-off and finish the marathon

My point is. If I could do that ride, under those circumstances than YOU CAN CERTAINLY DO THIS!!

Don't think for a moment you need hundreds and hundreds of miles of training. Don't be sucked into that.

Get yourself into overall good condition. Try and bike three or four times a week. Try and do a bit longer as you get in better shape. Try one long day about 8 weeks before Ironman day. Get used to what you want to eat and drink on race day. Make sure your bike is set up properly. Do transition bike-runs once a week.Keep your bike properly maintained and clean.

Those are my bike-training tips. If a coach puts you on a program and you are happy with it, then go for it.

I'm just trying to convey that the spirit of Ironman---that amazing race day---will make you capable of more than you ever dreamed. Just being in the event, being cheered on, having prepared for this day and realizing your dream is within your grasp will more than compensate for any lack of ability or training.

I hope the bike-training page was a little help. Now try the run-training page.