Squeezing in an Ironman

I seize any opportunity I have to talk with others about Crossfit Endurance (it’s amazing!), and this is no exception.  If I can keep your attention long enough, I’ll try to give you my story with this discipline that has put me successfully through 3 IMs – injury free, on less than 50% of the training time of most others, loving the diversity and very happy with the results.

I’ve always wanted to do an Ironman and knew that when I did I would have to commit to a pretty significant lifestyle change, mainly to accommodate the training time of 13+ hours per week (No idea how I would conquer the boredom of sitting on a bike for 5+ hours at a time!).  I got up to a half Ironman doing LSD (long slow distance) training and realised that given my current professional life there’s no way I’d be able to find the time to step it up to IM distance. That is until I met Stretch.

He introduced me to Crossfit Endurance (CFE).  As someone who hadn’t even tried Crossfit, this was a pretty significant departure for me.  I was somewhat sceptical, but loved the idea of diversity and more intensity/less time so went for it.  My first test was another half in Antwerp where I slightly beat my previous time and felt pretty good, plus recovered much better.  I was sold.

Fast forward another 1.5 years and I’ve finished 3 IM’s and the coolest ultra-distance race (Otillo) all on CFE.  And while I’m certainly not breaking any records (IM 10:45), I’m loving every minute of it (almost).  So, for what it’s worth I’ll outline a few aspects of my practice and share a few tips.  If you take one thing away I hope it’s that CFE works and you CAN compete at some pretty good distances without sacrificing your personal/professional life to do it.  And it’s a damn good ride too!

Weekly schedule

·         3-4 x 2-a-days consisting of a CF gym session (including 1 day a week w/ME strength) in the morning and a CFE sport specific workout in the evening

Note: yes, fitting in 2 workouts a day seems much. But it’s really not.  A CF session could be 30-40m including warm-up/cool-down, and the sport specific ones can be even less

·         2-3 x single session days.  One of these is always the ‘long-day’ for a single sport, which compared to long days under LSD training is a joke.  Well, until you actually try to sprint 15K!

Note: longest I ever ran before an IM was 20K and longest I cycled was 70K. Tell that to the person next to you at the starting line who hasn’t slept past 5:00 for a year trying to fit in all his distance training

·         1 day off

Tips

·         Give it some time: For the first 4-6 weeks you’re sport specific times will be stagnant or even declining.  It’s not that trailer you forgot to unhitch.  It will get better (I’m sure Stretch can give you the science behind it)

·         ME: I think Stretch would say that the ME is key to strengthening not only your muscles but tendons/ligaments/stuff, so make sure you keep those in

·         Eat up: again sure Stretch can give you the science, but once you get in to this you’re gonna be hungry, so make sure you’re eating plenty (and BCAA’s have saved me many times)

·         Listen to your body: as with any training, if you have to cut a session or two b/c you’re too sore (or any other reason) do it. Endurance athletes are pretty obsessive about workouts, but it’s gonna take some time before your body is ready for this schedule, so relax.  The increased intensity from 2-a-days and A LOT more sprints has to be balanced with more recovery time

·         STRETCH and JOSH – ask either of these two guys to help you get started, they know what it takes to transition from the traditional long slow distance endurance training to a CFE programme.