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HEART RATE SENSOR shows the number of beats of your heart per minute (Fig. 4).

By using this parameter, you can monitor your overall physical condition during training and at competitions, the impact of physical exercise on your body, plan your training loads, analyze the results achieved and determine your progress in sports development. All this is quite possible for an amateur athlete.

Fig. 4. Heart rate sensor

It is easy to keep your heart rate in check, just buy a heart rate monitor and connect it to Garmin.

Monitoring your heart rate is the best way to keep an eye on your condition concerning the price-performance ratio. A power sensor can also be used for planning and monitoring your training. This is a very useful but very expensive thing. Relatively cheap models, unfortunately, are not yet reliable enough.

At the initial stage, it will be enough to focus on heart rate monitoring. You need to know and remember: is it possible to overcome the Ironman distance, as well as the Half ironman and the Olympic distance, only in aerobic mode. This is especially true for beginners.

CADENCE SENSOR shows the number of pedal revolutions per minute (Figure 5).

This is a very important part of your training. With a heart rate monitor you keep in check your whole body; it helps to protect the heart. Cadence sensor makes it possible to monitor your undercarriage (which is your legs) and optimize the load on them. For the running stage, there is also a special speed and distance sensor, with which you can monitor the cadence, here meaning the number of steps per minute. It is mounted on one of your running shoes and serves as an alternative to the GPS sensor. It is convenient to use it during training indoors, in gyms, on treadmills where it is impossible to catch satellite signal.

Fig. 5. Cadence sensor

RUNNING TRAINING PLAN

If you are not a former professional athlete and have never run more than 10 km in your life, and there is not much time to prepare for the competition, but you actually want to run a marathon, it is advisable, as I do, to make a running plan for yourself. It is made based on several parameters. It is necessary to know your speed in aerobic and anaerobic modes, the ratio of speed and heart rate, time required for recovery, your general condition and heart rate at different distances, the condition of your legs. It is clear that it is necessary to make training runs, during which the necessary data is collected.

The essence of the technique is to divide the marathon distance into shorter sections. It can be divided into either time or distance sections, as you see fit. Running sections alternate with walking sections. The length of these segments and their

It is necessary to know your speed in aerobic and anaerobic modes, the ratio

of speed and heart rate, time required for recovery, your general condition and heart rate at different distances, the condition of your legs.

combination depends on the individual parameters of each. The scheme also depends on the planned time within which you want to run the marathon.

Ideally, it is a good idea to test the scheme you have made up for yourself in a training run. This can be done at a shorter distance as well, you don’t have to run all 42 km.

It is important to feel comfortable on the distance: running sections should not get you exhausted, and walking sections should be long enough for you to recover.

It is important to feel comfortable on the distance: running sections should not get

you exhausted, and walking sections should be long enough for you to recover.

This may look like this: 10 km running;

1 km walking;

10 km running;

1 km walking;

10 km running;

1 km walking;

9 km running; Total: 42 km.

In total, you are running for 39 km and walking for 3 km. If your running time for 1 km is about 5 minutes 40 seconds, then you will run every 10 km in 56 minutes 40 seconds. The total running time will be 3 hours and 41 minutes. At walking pace of about 9 minutes 40 seconds per 1 kilometer, the total walking time will be 29 minutes. We add up everything and get the total marathon time: 4 hours and 10 minutes. It means 5 minutes 56 seconds per kilometer on average. If you can run 10 km, and 10 minutes of walking is enough for rest and recovery, then you

can say with certainty: you are able to complete the marathon distance, and in a very good time.

I describe this scheme just for clarity, you do not need to stick to it, everyone must find their own. There is an infinite number of variations. The main thing is that if you have decided to run according to the scheme, do not deviate from it.

I’ll warn you right away: you’ll be tempted to run out of the plan. This desire is especially strong at the beginning of the marathon, when you are still fresh, full of strength and energy. Other runners are dashing ahead, the crowd of fans welcomes you and encourages you to keep running without rest. It will seem that you should not waste time on walking, it is quite possible to save time by running not 10 km, but 20 km.

Make no mistake, force yourself to stop and stick to the plan. Otherwise, you're going to have a very tough challenge after 30 kilometers.

If you've been able to put together and practice a marathon plan that is suitable for you, it can be used at Ironman distance as well.

The main thing is that if you have decided to run according to the scheme, do not deviate from it.

No      matter      how      easily you did the marathon, the plan

will still need to be adjusted to take into account that you will run the marathon distance after 4 km of swimming and 180 km of cycling. Believe me, you’ll feel the difference. There is evidence that amateur athletes have about an hour of difference in the resulting time between regular and Ironman marathons, especially beginner athletes. Based on this, you can predict your time in Ironman running stage.

There is a very useful app called TriCalc for pre- calculating the time on Ironman distances. It shows the total time and separately the results of the swimming, cycling, running      stages, even the transit time (Figure 6).

Fig. 6. TriCalc app

TRAINING

I’m not a coach and can’t make a customized training program for you. All I can do is tell you how I train myself.

I’ll take our training camp in Cyprus as an example. It lasted no longer than 10 days, but in my opinion, it was very intense in terms of training. Every day was similar to another one, the exception was the weekends:

06-00 – waking up;

06-15 – 1 to 2 km swimming in open water; 7-00 – breakfast;

8-15 – 50 to 120 km cycling;

13-00 – lunch;

13-30 – rest, sleep;

16-00 – jogging: 10 to 25 km by distance or 1 to 2 hours by time;

19-00 – dinner; 22-00 – bed time.

Of course, the duration and intensity of training differed from day to day depending on the upcoming race, but the schedule was unchanged. Lovely Cypriot wine and the usual tourist activities were strictly prohibited.

At home, the training program was arranged differently: cycling on Monday;

running on Tuesday; swimming on Wednesday; cycling on Thursday; running on Friday; swimming on Saturday;

the Sunday is a day of rest.

While being in Russia, with all work, family and other chores, it is not always possible to stick to the training schedule, so there are some deviations.

There are different types of training, such as endurance and speed. At the initial stage, it is better to train endurance.

It is optimal to train at a half of the competitive distance, i.e. to swim 2 km, to ride a bicycle 90 km and to run 15 km.

Once a week or two weeks, a single long training is necessary: swim from 3 to 4 km, cycle from 120 to 150 km and run from 20 to 30 km.

If you are working on your speed, interval training sessions will help. Interval training means alternation of intensive physical exercise with short rest periods or light (recovery) loads.

For example, you swim 25 meters at maximum speed and then rest for the next 75 meters (you swim in a relaxed way, probably in a different style).

On a bicycle, you cycle at full speed for 3-4 minutes at most and then you rest for the same amount of time.

On the run you accelerate at a maximum speed of 300-500 meters and then relax for 1 km, reducing the running pace, but not slowing down to walking.

The higher your fitness is, the less time you need to rest and recover.

Please do not treat my proposed

options as a dogmatic statement to blindly follow. There is a lot of possible options, and the choice depends primarily on your level of training.

The higher your fitness is, the less time you need to rest and recover.

You should do some speed training to improve your performance as well,

You should do some speed training to improve your performance as well, but proceed to it only after having

enough endurance to withstand the load.

but proceed to it only after having enough endurance to withstand the load. That speed training can be like this: 4 km swimming on Monday, 140 km cycling on Tuesday and 25 to 30 km running on Wednesday.

If you feel okay after that, you can include interval training in your plan and work consistently on increasing your power and speed.

If there is enough time and you feel strong enough, you can add swimming to your training program on cycling/running training days. For example, if you were cycling or running in the morning, you can swim in the evening.

If you are in good shape, you can do a double training set by combining cycling and running training. This is very useful,

as it teaches muscles to quickly adapt to the load change and switch from cycling to running without any trouble.

In a double training, you shouldn’t get yourself exhausted with a long running distance. To develop “muscle memory”, it will be enough to run from 3 to 5 km after the cycling.

The main thing is not to overdo it, not to overtrain. Rest and recovery are just as important as training. This is why you must rest and keep an eye for your condition. Working out must be something you enjoy, or you’ll fizzle out before long.

Remember that you must test yourself before Ironman: run a marathon, do an Olympic-distance triathlon and beat a Half Ironman.

The main thing is not to overdo it, not to overtrain. Rest and recovery are just as important as training.

Only after that, when you’ll have at least some sort of understanding what awaits you, you can try your hand at Ironman.

NUTRITION

An important factor in successful completion of Ironman is eating right.

The difficulty here is the huge number of options to choose from. It’s harder to choose what to eat than a bike saddle or running shoes.

It has to be selected by trial and error during training. After “testing” each new of food or combination of foods, you need to listen to yourself and analyze how your body feels. It’s very important that the food would not cause any nausea.

Sports nutrition can be divided into three groups.

The first group includes everything you take before training or competition to prepare your muscles for exercise, to save them from self-destruction.