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What is an ironman event? – Adam Hamilton

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An Ironman event is a long distance triathlon, consisting of 2.4 mile swim then a 112 mile bike ride finished with a full 26.2 mile marathon run. This has to be done in under 17hours.
My diet is kept really simple and basic in the lead up to races. I usually will have ActiVeman Oatein for breakfast with coconut milk and almonds. Then chicken and rice for lunch, followed by fish and rice for dinner. My fruit and vegetable intake is minimal during race week to prevent any gastric problems during the race. In terms of snacks, I enjoy eating Bio-Synergy Biltong throughout the day.
On the day, I start with a big bowl of ActiVeman Oatein so my usual breakfast. Usually around 800-1,000 calories worth. Then throughout the event, I will use Bio-Synergy Pure Energy and throughout the event and ActiVeman Energy Charge to help me power up before the event takes place.
Training is all about the volume in the offseason and I use a polarised approach to training. It’s lots of base work and skill work in offseason and then the speed work starts in a season and pre-big races. When it comes to functional training I keep this specific to triathlon and work on a time under tension basis for my core foundations work and functional movement work. I then will do a Crossfit WOD 4X week to hit different areas of fitness and all round strength endurance.
Swim/bike/run its that simple get used to the kit. Make sure you choose quality training over quantity. But at the end of the day, you have to build up your base fitness. You need to ensure you are biomechanically sound and aligned before you start and then need to do lots of mobility and functional work throughout training.
Get your nutrition right and make sure you know the course you are doing so you can train how you mean to race. if its hilly do lots of hill reps on the bike and run. if its flat do lots of time trialling on flat courses to get used to threshold power you’ll have to put out. Most important thing is a mindset and setting out realistic timelines for training and your first ironman event. If you have never done a triathlon before then enter some local events to get used to transition and all the different elements of racings. Also, ensure you taper your training pre-event so you are ready to race and not overtrained.
I used to be in the GB alpine ski team and stopped skiing due to injury and snapping the crank arm on a push bike. this resulted in 30 stitches in my left leg. I used cycling as a means of rehab and then quickly took up road racing for cycling. After a couple of seasons, I had a big crash in a road race sprinting for a podium finish. I decided after that I had been in too many crashes in road racing, which is the nature of the beast and I was better suited to time trialling. I then decided to enter an ironman and gave myself 9months to train for it.
I love ultra endurance events I also run ultra marathons and it’s testing the mental and physical strength of human will and the human body. Each event I do I found out how much I can push and how deep I can dig. I then learn more about myself and what I am able to do. I have always lived by the principle of its better to burn out than fade away. And I take that as life is for living it’s for adventure, so when we eventually reach the end I want to look back on my life and say WOW what a ride what a rush and be proud of the things I’ve done. Many great athletes have inspired me over the years and there is one thing that always is present in every one of them. Fierce determination of the mind, to overcome the body.