Vladimir Ryabushkin

ANYTHING      IS POSSIBLE

TIPS ON ATHLETE CONDITIONING

AND COMPLETION OF IRONMAN TRIATHLON

Translation from Russian by V.Y. Lymarev

Samara 2020

UDC 796.093.643.2+929Riabushkin

Riabushkin, Vladimir Yurievich.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE / Vladimir Riabushkin ; translation from rus- sian by V.Y. Lymarev. – Samara : Ofort, 2020. – 120 p. : il.

ISBN 978-5-473-01296-5

Book by Vladimir Ryabushkin, President of the Samara region triathlon Federation, is dedicated to the Ironman «Iron distance». In it, he talks about his childhood, youth, how he came to play sports without being a professional athlete, about his experience of passing this distance, about failures and victories. The book also provides practical tips and recommendations for those who are ready to test their strength by going the Ironman distance.

The book is addressed to everyone who loves sports and wants to become an «Iron man».

UDC 796.093.643.2+929Riabushkin

* * *

Riabushkin Vladimir

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

TIPS ON ATHLETE CONDITIONING AND COMPLETION OF IRONMAN TRIATHLON

LLC “Ofort”. 443080, Samara, ul. Revolyucionnaya, 70, lit. 3, оffice. 405-02.

telephone: +7 (846) 973-70-80, +7 (846) 973-70-55.

Printed in Russia.

ISBN 978-5-473-01296-5      © Riabushkin V. Y. , 2020

© Lymarev V.Y., еnglish translation, 2020

© Design of the publication. LLC “Ofort”, 2020

INTRODUCTION

In writing this guide, I attempted to give brief recommendations how to complete Ironman triathlon with minimum health impact and no unnecessary costs and how to become an “ironman”.

Don’t forget that this guide is intended for regular people who never did sports professionally.

But I hope that even active and ex-athletes can find something useful in it. If you decide to follow this guide and to complete Ironman, you will understand how unusual or, I could even say, unique it is.

The main priority is not to win the first prize but to complete the track within given time.

I imagine the reader of this

book as a person with a full-time job and family, with all related responsibilities and cares, quite a fulfilled person. But there is still competitive spirit dwelling within the reader, an urge to realize their potential even more, to test and find their physical and spiritual capabilities in a hard trial. And if you come up with such desire, you will get an opportunity to fulfill it. There are many ways to do it.

You only need to find out how to combine these ambitions with many responsibilities and everyday chores of a modern person, how to make all and not to lose everything. Probably many of you heard about “ironmen”. The book you read will give you a clear picture on the “iron distance”, provide you with the

motivation and skills to complete the course in order to become an “ironman”.

There are plenty of books, articles and videos on this topic, you can easily find them on the Internet. But the more you know, the more questions and doubts you have, just like I did. True understanding came only with experience as I tested the obtained information on myself through trial and error. I want to share my knowledge and prove with my experience that a person that never did sports can still become an “ironman”.

WHAT IS IRONMAN?

Many people know what Olympic triathlon is. In order to complete it, you must swim 1.5 km, ride 40 km on bicycle and, finally, run 10 km, with no breaks between these three stages.

The “iron distance” of Ironman is based on same principle. It starts with swimming in open water for about 4 km. As athletes complete the swimming stage and change clothes in the transition area, they start the cycling stage of 180 km. Upon its completion and after passing another transition area, they enter the running stage of 42 km, in other words, full-fledged Olympic marathon. All mentioned stages are a single race course that must be completed with no breaks in between.

Participants are given 16-17 hours to complete the course (time varies with different organizers, so read the rules of each competition thoroughly). If a participant runs out of time and fails to complete the course, he gets disqualified.

There are also time limits within the course: max 2 hours for the swimming, and no more than 10 hours for the swimming and cycling stages combined.

There’s also a so-called Half Ironman, or Ironman 70.3. This distance includes an open water swim of about 2 km, a 90 km cycling race and a half-marathon run of 21 kilometers. The time limit for Half Ironman is between 7 and 8 hours.

The slogan “the most important thing is not to win, but to take part” characterizes Ironman very accurately. The main thing is not to show the result better than the others, but to reach the finish line and meet the time limit.

HOW TO GET READY

for Ironman

There are three options to prepare yourself for the “iron distance”.

The classic strategy, the most common in various sports disciplines, is training under the guidance of a professional coach. It’s not that difficult to find coaches for the three distinct disciplines that make up the Ironman complex: running, swimming, cycling. But, unfortunately, there are not many good coaches who specialize in Ironman, and in Russia they are few. I don’t believe in “remote coaching” when there is no direct contact between a coach and an athlete, there is no possibility for the coach to analyze and correct the athlete’s technique. And remote coaching is very expensive. In my opinion, it is not reasonable to spend serious money on any training programs that are not customized to you. You can find them for free.

The second option is to train for each of the three sports separately; in this case it is easier to find qualified trainers. But here there will be a problem of matching the schedules of the three types of training with your schedule, taking into account the times when the coaches and you are available for training. In

addition, this option will be very expensive. In addition, everyone who trains long enough knows: A good cyclist is no longer as fast after the swimming stage as a good runner after the cycling stage. This is exactly the complexity and exclusivity of the “iron distance”. In my amateur opinion, it makes sense to engage coaches in certain sports to learn the technique, if you have never swimming, cycling or running at all.

The third option is to make a program for yourself based on the literature you’ve studied and start training yourself. But I’ve already told you: in the process of self-study there may be many questions – maybe more than answers. After all, there are so many people, so many opinions, and everything has to be tested experimentally by yourself.

In this book, I made an attempt to combine the analysis of theoretical positions with practical training experience. By reading this guide and using this information in your own practice of training, you will be able to adjust and improve your results. And most importantly, it will increase each athlete’s chances of reaching the finish line in one piece.

ABOUT SAFETY

Of the three components of the iron distance, the cycle stage undoubtedly has the highest injury rate.

The main mistake that causes athletes to get hurt and have accidents is the feeling that you can do anything. It if happens, you let yourself

relax and lose your vigilance. It is particularly unacceptable to let your guard down on the road when riding a bike. The backslash always comes unexpectedly and can be very fast. Even if you have traveled tens of thousands of kilometers and feel as one

The main mistake that causes athletes to get hurt and have accidents is the feeling that you can

do anything. It if happens, you let yourself relax and lose your vigilance.

with your bike, the false sense that you in control and everything is nothing to you now could be disproven in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, that's what happened to me. Unexpectedly for everybody and first of all for myself, I got injured during the cycling stage.

It happened during a training camp in Cyprus. We used to go there often on short trips, especially when the weather at home, in Samara, wouldn’t let us train anymore. During cycling training, I got my front wheel colliding with the back wheel of the cyclist riding in front of me, lost my balance and tumbled off the road. It all happened in the blink of an eye: I can’t remember the

fall, but according to eyewitness accounts, it was an impressive sight to behold.

We were cycling on a highway, and I was still lucky there was neither oncoming nor following traffic. And it was a good thing that roadside bollards in Cyprus are made of plastic…

As a result of the fall, my left shoulder was badly injured with all my ligaments and tendons torn. It hurt, but the most unpleasant thing for me was the news that I would not be able to have a proper training for almost six months. Which means I was going have to start all over again later. All my plans for the next year were disrupted. It is still unknown how long it will take for me to recover, and in what physical condition I will approach the competition.

ABOUT THE ATHLETE’S HEALTH

Before starting training, a beginning ironman should find a sports doctor, consult with them and get at least a minimum medical check-up.

Before starting training, a beginning ironman should find a sports doctor, consult with them and get at least

a minimum medical check-up.

It's mandatory to take blood and urine tests. You need to find out what is missing in your body and prepare it for

severe physical exertion. In addition, it wouldn't hurt to check the heart, and necessarily under stress. A cardiac stress test means an examination either on a treadmill or on a stationary bike. The doctor analyzes the resulting cardiogram to determine the maximum and best heart rate under exertion.

For a start, it is extremely important to know your maximum heart rate, at least theoretically. You must not exceed this threshold. It is also useful to know the working range