Training for Ironman is pretty much a full time job, it consumes your life for much of the year.

Here’s five things I really didn’t fully understand before I started training for Ironman Canada.

You are always…

BUSY

You are always, on your way to another workout! I was warned about the volume of training required before I signed up – up to 20 hours a week. Sounds doable, until you realize you have to schedule that around work, buying ever increasing amounts of groceries, family commitments (My family aren’t nearby, but my cats are at risk of forgetting who I am), and the usual time-wasters like sleeping and eating and well, everything else. So now my life is scheduled around my workouts. Seriously, if you don’t swim, bike and/or run, we just can’t hang out!

TIRED

As a consequence, no doubt, of the aforementioned busyness, you are always tired! 5am workout? Certainly (when else am I going to fit it in?). 8pm hang out?  Are you kidding? I’m already on my way to bed! No I can’t come out this evening, I just finished a five hour ride and I just can’t move. If they do see me, my cats know to aggressively request food immediately – lest I fall asleep and they are unable to wake me!

HUNGRY

Hungry. I am always hungry. And I don’t mean in a “Oh, I’ll have another portion of salad or a small handful of nuts” kind of way. I mean if you sit too still nearby I might consider you food! I have become that person at the buffet with a heaped plate, then going back for more. At a pot luck event, I will be found hovering around the food table. Who ate my Kale salad with extra burger on the side? Why is there never any food in my house?

DOING LAUNDRY

Like seriously! How can those tiny pieces of Lycra make soooo much laundry? Do I even own this many clothes? Two or more workouts a day creates a laundry mountain of epic proportions, there are random pieces of sportswear air drying all over the place. I’m considering buying shares in laundry detergent.

BROKE

This one was sneaky. Ironman is expensive! I consider myself a generally frugal athlete, but even I had a rude awakening to some of the costs. First, you have the eye-wateringly expensive registration fee; then there’s no end of gadgets, bike parts, nutrition products, coaching costs, training events, physiotherapy, accommodation, travel, and the list goes on. And that’s quite apart from the costs associated with the increased eating and laundry previously mentioned.

What has your Ironman training experience been like?