Running on Broken Legs

Podcast

July 13, 2020

Respect the event: how to be properly prepared for an Ironman or half Ironman, among the most extreme events you'll do. Get Fast Podcast, Ep 31.

Get Fast Podcast, Ep 31, with Gerard and Jordan Donnelly

Respect your event by preparing for it properly. You can get through an Ironman or a gran fondo underprepared, but the extra suffering is unnecessary. Prepare well and it will still be one of the hardest things you do, with far more in your hand when it gets tough.

What does respecting the event mean?

It means matching your words with actions. It's easy to say over coffee that you'll do an Ironman, or Three Peaks, a mountainous gran fondo. The next step is the preparation.

Where does the title come from?

From a book Jordan read, Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. Goggins got through Navy SEAL training on fractured legs. He has a 40% rule: when you think you're at your absolute max, you're only at 40%.

Jordan says the mindset runs against everything TriVelo stands for, because Goggins wants to push further than his body will let him.

What happened when he ran 100 miles with no training?

As Jordan tells it, Goggins wanted to raise money for the families of soldiers who had died. The 100-mile race he chose wouldn't take him without ultra experience, so he entered another one that same weekend.

He was very fit, but he had done no running training. He lifted weights the day before and had no nutrition plan. He started too fast, planning to get ahead and suffer later, while the organiser kept telling him to slow down.

Past mile 50 he had to walk. His hips, knees and quads were breaking down, and he was vomiting and passing blood. At around mile 65 or 70 he couldn't walk fast enough to finish inside 24 hours. He kept going, found a second wind, reached 100 miles and ended up in the emergency department.

Gerard says very few people could have finished that, and you wouldn't advise anyone to try.

What's the lesson from that race?

Goggins went on to run 80 ultras, and he never went in underprepared again. He still rates that first race as the hardest thing he has done, harder than SEAL training, because he was untrained.

Is it normal to walk the Ironman marathon?

It's common, and Gerard says that doesn't make it right. His line is that a triathlon is "not a swim bike and walk".

You run your runs in training, so walking in the race comes down to preparation, injury or illness. Many triathletes love riding and neglect their running, especially off the bike.

You don't have to run fast. Six or seven minutes per kilometre in place of a walk will knock off "an incredible amount of time". If that's too big a step, walk the aid stations and jog between them.

Will preparing properly stop it hurting?

No. Gerard says the discomfort feels the same wherever you are in the field, elite or beginner. Preparation changes your options. The underprepared athlete is in survival mode, like a card player with no cards. The prepared athlete has plenty to draw on and can slow down a little to manage a bad patch.

How do you get through the worst part of a race?

Expect it around the third quarter. That's where things tend to fall apart, in a session or a race, and it's when you need to be toughest.

They describe an old training rule: no "last rep hero". You go hardest on the second last rep, and your last can't be faster.

If you've never battled through an uncomfortable session, that feeling will be brand new on race day.

Can you do an Ironman just to tick the box?

Yes, and there's still no reason to go in underprepared. Gerard warns that a horrible experience may stop you ever doing it again. Pushing an unprepared body also risks stress fractures, muscle injuries and heart problems.

What does it feel like to get it right?

Gerard has spoken to an athlete who experienced both. After a poorly prepared race, that athlete ran to their own pace, passing people late in the marathon. Athletes tell him the two experiences are "like two different sports".