Beginners Guide to Conquering an Ironman Triathlon: 13 weeks to completing your 1st Ironman Triathlon

OK, so you’ve decided you are going to undertake an Ironman. You have watched a couple a motivational videos on YouTube, you have logged onto the site, entered your details, paid your fee, told everybody you know about it on Facebook and Twitter and have undertaken a sponsorship drive for the charity of your choice. Life is good and you feel good about it. At some point the enormity of what you have signed up for will hit you. It could be when you wake up in the middle of the night for a pee, when you start to read an article on the number of hours the Pro’s put into training on a weekly basis or when you attempt your first swim in the pool and struggle to complete ten lengths. Do not panic! As daunting as it feels at this moment in time this is an achievable life changing challenge which will push you to your limits. If you put the right training and preparation in you will stand (or float) at the start line knowing that this is going to be one of the most amazing days of your life. The following Chapters will take you through planning, executing and recovering in the weeks and months up to your Ironman event. The Chapters are aimed to be succinct and to the point in topics which are notoriously full of differing opinions and supporting scientific proof. The Chapters are based upon my findings during my journey to completing the four Ironman events that I have to date with a lot of reading, picking peoples brains and trial and error. Completing an Ironman is tough and should be given the respect that it deserves in the training and preparation that is made but caution should be taken in not giving the event too much respect in that it becomes crippling in your pursuit of glory.