Introductions

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Introductions

Hello, I’m Chris Hutchinson and this is my Ironman training blog. I’m going to try and document my training from now until the big day, which is 7^th August 2021 in Tallinn. In this blog, my aim is to take you through my journey from start to finish. I will discuss nutrition, training plans, triathlon kit, as well as the ups and downs of the training itself. I plan to put out posts every 1–2 weeks depending on how hectic life gets.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with the Ironman, it is a long-course triathlon race. It consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon run. My personal goal is to complete this in under 12 hours. For me, this means a 1hr 15min swim, a 6hr 15min bike and a 4hr 10min run with about 15 minutes of transition time. That’s the hope anyway — I’ve got to get there first.

This will be my 3^rd go at the Ironman. My first event was in my hometown of Bolton in 2017, where I finished in 12hrs 58mins. Let me tell you, it was one of the hardest and most rewarding things I have ever completed. I don’t like to admit it, but there was a small tear when I crossed that finish line. After 7 months of training, I had finally achieved something I once thought was impossible. It was a great feeling.

My second attempt was in Hamburg in 2019, and it’s a bit of a dark day for me. The heat on the big day was intense. The organisers nearly had to cancel the swim due to algae in the water, and there was talk beforehand about the race being non-wetsuit because of the temperature. I had been training in Northern Ireland, where the weather is far from tropical. Then I arrived in Hamburg, where the temperature hit a blistering 30 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Great for sunbathing — not so great for a 12-hour race. During the race, I completed the swim in a strong 1hr 10mins and the bike in a personal best of 5hr 53mins.

However, during the run, the weather and heat became too much. I stopped 14 miles in for a rest and a quick sit down, and I never got back up. Cramp hit with a vengeance, and it turned out I was severely dehydrated. I ended up in the back of a St John’s ambulance before being taken to hospital. Race over.

Before my Ironman fever, I used to fall into the routine of going to the pub every weekend with friends. One Sunday, I was standing outside a pub in Bolton having a cigarette when I saw a group of athletes looking absolutely drained as they ran past in some kind of race. After asking around, I learned it was the Ironman. I was interested, but peers convinced me I would never be able to complete one. At the time, I smoked, ate poorly, did no exercise and drank every weekend. That was 2015, and the feeling that I wanted to take part in this event never left me. I wanted to do something that felt impossible. I needed a change — something to give me discipline and purpose.

At the end of 2016, I decided to go for it. I got a training plan, changed my diet, stopped drinking completely, eventually gave up smoking, and on the 1st January 2017 I started training. Thirty weeks later, after the hardest training and by far the hardest race I had ever done, I crossed the finish line of the Bolton Ironman. I will never forget that feeling.

Currently, I am a little nervous about going through this journey for the third time, but my goal is to finish the race in under 12 hours. I think I am also chasing the feeling I had when I finished in Bolton.