Athlete deep-dive: “A year ago, I struggled to cycle 80km without stopping - now I’m an Ironman”

Athlete name: Sep

Discipline: Ironman Triathlon

Occupation: Teacher

Today we’re taking a deep-dive into the journey of one Diablo athlete: Sep.

Sep is a teacher based in London, UK, who described herself as a recreational runner, having completed one marathon before. Sep had the dream of becoming an Ironman, but knew that with her inexperience in cycling and swimming, combined with a demanding job that doesn’t allow any working from home, she was taking on a monumental challenge.

Let’s take a closer look at how Sep achieved her dream of becoming an Ironman…

12 months out - training to train

Being honest about the starting point.

Crucial for any athlete, but particularly those taking on something as big as an Ironman, is getting an honest understanding of the starting point. Sep had run a marathon a few years prior to being coached by me, in a time of 3 hours 49 minutes, so we already knew that her running was in a good place – although her training volume had dropped since the marathon. Cycling and swimming were almost completely new for Sep, so we knew up-front that they would need a lot of attention.

You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

We started Sep’s training with a testing period, designed to give her coach (me) as much information as possible to build individualised training sessions that would have the most impact. Sep completed field tests for running and cycling to estimate her thresholds in both, but also give an idea of her key limitations. Sep admitted she found these tests brutal, but they gave us valuable data and were great sessions in themselves to start building mental resilience. For swimming, Sep wasn’t yet able to swim continuously for long enough to complete a field test, so the focus immediately became technique.

Making training part of life.

With testing done, the next step was to train to train. It sounds funny, but this is an important step for athletes completely new to the demands of Ironman training – particularly for Sep, who’s job as a teacher means her training hours are strictly limited. You can’t just jump in to working out every day, with double sessions and long weekend rides – it’s a recipe for injury and demotivation. So this period is all about gradually building a routine around exercise without introducing too much intensity.

10 months out - building an engine

Starting to ramp up.

Having established a routine of short but frequent sessions, including some double days, it was time to start what is arguably the most important phase of Ironman training: the base phase. This is all about building an engine that can power you through those long five, six, and maybe even seven hour training sessions, and ultimately what gets you through race day. For Sep, we started with a heart rate cap on most sessions while gradually increasing time and distance. She also kept 2-3 hard sessions a week to build some speed and strength while the rest of her training remained aerobically focused.

Consistency before everything else.

Having just mentioned Sep’s training hours, I feel it’s important to briefly dive deeper into this topic. Many athletes training for an Ironman get fixated on training hours and can become obsessive around hitting those big 20+ hour weeks. For my athletes, the focus is always on developing high consistency before high volume – I would prefer an athlete to train 8 hours for 4 weeks in a row than to train 20 hours one week and 5 the next. Big, hero training weeks followed by an inconsistent week are a sign that injury may be around the corner. Sep did a great job of building from 7-8 hours at the beginning of her base phase to 12-13 hours by the end, following a gradual ramp but hardly ever deviating from it.

Finding confidence in the basics

For Sep, confidence was a key development area in training, especially on the bike. In the beginning, Sep was worried about just making the cut-off in her Ironman, so it was great to be able to show her the improvements in training that came as a result of an incredibly consistent base phase. On a 100km route that Sep used in training, her times came down from 4 hours 55 mins to 3 hours 55 mins for a similar heart rate – a huge confidence booster.

3 months out - getting specific

Training for the demands of the race

After completing the longest phase of training and built a solid engine, it was time for Sep’s training to get more specific in her build phase. This meant honing in on target race power and pace during her long rides and runs, and introducing longer unbroken swim sessions. On top of that, her ‘hard’ days changed too, with V02 max sessions replaced by longer sweet-spot intervals – still harder than Ironman pace/power, but getting closer to the demands of her event.

Adapting to injury

Around this time, Sep started to feel a slight pain in her knee while running. It wouldn’t be Ironman training without some kind of setback, but we immediately adapted her training to reduce run volume and replace it with more cycling and strength training – less impact on the knee but still with crossover fitness gains. We had frequent check-ins to assess her readiness to run, but decided that the risk of re-injury was not worth it, so delayed reintroducing run volume until later in the training block, confident that her residual base fitness would carry through.

1 month out - breakthrough workouts

Breaking mental barriers

Entering her peak training phase, Sep had already completed multiple 5-6 hour bike rides and was staying consistent with her overall training volume. I had full confidence in her ability to ride the full 180km Ironman distance and still feel strong, but it’s equally important to prove that to athletes, especially in training for their first Ironman. So, I scheduled Sep a full 180km training ride (in fact, it was slightly longer), which she finished comfortably under 6 hours on open roads and within her Zone 2 the entire time. Along with also completing multiple 3800m swims, this gave Sep the confidence that she could not only finish the Ironman, but finish it strong.

Finalising nutrition

By the final month, Sep had dialled in her gut training and was nailing nutrition in every key session, giving her complete confidence for race day. At this point, the ‘nothing new on race day’ mantra had become engrained in Sep’s mind, and she had built confidence that her body could absorb the fuel she planned on using during the Ironman.

2 weeks out - taper and mental preparation

Tapering is not resting

With the biggest sessions behind her, and an incredible amount of fitness gained, it was time to start tapering towards the event itself. Many athletes expect this phase to feel like rest, Sep being one of them, but that’s shouldn’t be the whole story. It’s true that volume is dramatically reduced here, but some intensity remains to keep your body sharp and race-ready, otherwise you may feel sluggish come race day. Sep definitely questioned whether she was doing too much intensity at this point, but her form and fatigue were carefully tracked to ensure she went into the race feeling fresh and strong.

Keeping the panic at bay

After an entire year of training, it’s natural that self-doubt reared it’s head at this point, and we had to work hard to reinforce the mental resilience that Sep had built during her training. She deserved her spot on the start line, and her commitment to training had prepared her mind and body for whatever challenge was to come. Positive self-talk and race walkthroughs helped a lot in the final two weeks to help Sep feel calm and collected.

Race day - the reward

I will do a deep-dive into the specifics of Sep’s race at some point in future, but I’m happy to say that she absolutely crushed her goal. She went into the race hoping to bet the cut-off, and with a ‘secret’ goal of going sub-13. In the end, she comfortably beat both of those targets, coming in with a finish time of 12:13:43.

As a final note: during training Sep had told me that she planned on being a ‘one and done’ Ironman athlete – after Copenhagen, she wouldn’t do another…

Within hours of finishing, she told me that plan was dust.