This past weekend my husband completed his first Ironman, Ironman Arizona 2012. For those of you that don’t know, an Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run – meaning you’re traveling 140.6 miles under your own manpower. 140 miles is long in a car…. It’s an amazing achievement of the human body. I’m really proud of him for all of his hard work and his accomplishment, and finishing in with a smile on his face. Last year we tackled the half ironman, 70.3 distance together and he decided he wanted more and set his goals for completing the full one in 2012.
Training for an Ironman takes a lot of dedication and a lot of time, it’s been a long race season now there will be a few weeks off and then right back to training. Those that do endurance sports or are in love with someone who does them can appreciate some of the signs that you’re married to an Ironman athlete.
Is this aero?
The more aerodynamic you are the less resistance on your bike, the more power you can create and the more efficient your energy usage is on the bike. Things like helmets, water bottle placement, and position on the bike are all very important…the goal is to be as aero as possible.
You have a stockpile of baby food squeeze pouches, but no kids
Those that are trying to train with some “real food” may have stumbled upon the packable and easy to eat baby food squeeze pouches. Sweet Potato Apple and Butternut Squash ones contain a decent amount of calories and accessible carbs that you can eat on the run or bike without too much effort. We’ve got a stockpile of these baby foods…and no kids to steal them! A few weeks ago you might have seen us at Babies R Us stocking up with Earth’s Best was on sale for 10/$10 sorry if we bought out the sweet potato section!
You have a bike trainer, treadmill, and stash of nutrition that looks like you could stock REI
Who needs to go to a gym, you have one in your house! All set up for cold winter months, rainy days, or just being short on time you’ve got a home gym that supports biking and running inside so that no training sessions are missed. Bonus if you have a 25m lap pool or swimmable body of water in your backyard! When you’re training you still need to refuel, so you’ve also got a shelf full of nutrition to accommodate the indoor and outdoor training that happens.
You have more water bottles than you know what to do with
A bike can hold 1, 2, maybe 3 water bottles right? So why the heck do you have 67 of them? We have a full cabinet devoted to bike water bottles, and they are separated by “good, keep” ones and ones that are “disposable” to use during race day at water bottle exchanges.
Your don’t go out to eat anymore because your athlete always orders 2 entrees
It’s one thing to get an appetizer and an entrée and something entirely different when someone wants to order a burger and an entrée salad. It definitely spikes the price of dinner for 2. I find myself making sure that my athlete eats BEFORE we go to dinner so that he can only order one meal instead of two.
Your weekend plans evolve around a 90-mile bike, 10 – 15 mile run, or Brick workout session
Not the same as planning around a normal gym session or run, you find that you stay in on Fridays, go to bed earlier, and hang out inside reading triathlete or Lava magazine, listing to Ben Greenfield or Tri Sport podcasts, and watching Macca and Crowie fight for the win in the Kona World Championship from 2011.
You cook for 4, even though there are only 2 of you, and still don’t have leftovers
Exercise makes you hungrier, and Ironman training makes your hungriest. Whether it’s a massive swim workout, a crazy long bike ride, an intense run, or even a rest day you have to have double the food you think necessary because its crazy how much food you eat after burning a couple thousand calories in a training session.
Your laundry is 80% technical workout gear
Constant training in 3 different sports means that you go through a lot of technical gear. To reduce laundry encourages your triathlete to train in their “kit” or race outfit, which on race day is worn for all 3 modalities.
You watched the world championship in Kona, live stream, all 8+ hours of it
No I’m not talking about the highlights of the race that play a few weeks later, I’m talking the live feed of the race, that you watch on your computer which you’ve hooked up to the TV and is playing on stereo throughout the house. You get to see the whole swim, bike, and run of the top men and women and celebrate with them 8 hours after the start that they made it through.
Macca, Crowie, and Chrissie are household names
We have conversations that involve some of these triathlon world champions like they are our friends or people that we know and see… Macca says that you should do xyz… is something that you can expect to hear in my house and comments like I can’t believe Chrissie isn’t racing this season…I wonder who is going to win?
Anything else any other spouses or significant others would like to add? Find any of these all too true?