2021 IRONMAN Copenhagen virtual - coaching journey with James

In one weekend of late August, there is a crazy man in Sonic James Shum completed the IRONMAN distance swim 3.8k at Repulse, cycle 180k in Tung Chung, 42.2k run in TKO, under the scorching heat of Hong Kong, as his IRONMAN Copenhagen virtual, that he signed up in 2019!

There is not the post-Olympic effect but definitely the James effect! Few members come to me about this so let me share a few advises in that 12 months of coaching journey.

In the very beginning we have a few members signed up for this race after the success of IRONMAN 70.3 Shanghai back in 2019, then the COVID-19 hit hard so everything deferred to 2021, we kicked off the training in Nov 2020 suppose to plan a 10 months macrocycle to prepare for this race. Who know the 4th wave of COVID-19 hit us right after our first briefing and resulting 5 months of beaches and pools closure….I maintained the bike and run program for him but just at the moderate amount of time around 10hrs per week training load, at the same time, we knew the world probably not opening up by August and we need to think of a plan B, that would be something for him to stay motivate and aligning with the original goal of finishing the IRONMAN. So I suggest him to do the race distance across one weekend and do it for charity, creating a sound and stronger reason to maintain the self-discipline and focus for that 5-10months, when rest of the world are tuning down #whywetri

We have many success stories in Olympic Distance/IRONMAN 70.3 distance Triathlon, but we rarely take part in full distance, my last experience in working with the IRONMAN athletes was back in 2017 for IRONMAN Korea. Nonetheless, I stick with my coaching philosophy and the principle of our training.

Our Hong Kong Olympic medalist Siobhan Haughey said “its 20% physic and 80% mindset“. Absolutely, that’s 80% mindset is your crystal clear Goal setting, laser-focus self-discipline that drive you to train with the plan day after day, 10-15 even 20hrs a week, on top of your day job and family time, without compromise.

In our sports of Triathlon, regardless of distance, it is about train on your weakest discipline, you may not like it in the beginning, but you will find the joy in the process of training. For James, since the pools re-open, I quickly scheduled him the weekly swim, 3-4 times a day, start with a short 30-45mins easy session then build up to difference set of 30/40 x 100m, I didn’t see him much on pool desk, just totally relied on his data. (leave the stroke flaws to next season focus)

Self-discipline not only on physical training, also involve in what and how your diet before each training session, lucky enough he is not a drinker, but having curry lunch before swim or run session definitely not a good idea…he finally aware of it!

That laser-focus also kick in when dealing with loneliness, it’s nice to have a few friends training for the same race but not everyone can commit the huge amount of time or ability to join your regime. At the end of the day it’s yourself to overcome your loneliness in 40x100m swim on your own, 5hrs ride on the turbo yourself, and a few weekend of running 3hrs with your tired legs, weeks after weeks….Ask James or you will figure out how.

With that amount of time spend in training, the support and understanding from your family and partner is super important, glad you have one James!

Completing that distance is not easy, and it’s the preservation of that 10-12 months of training journey that count, especially with all the uncertainty under the COVID-19 pandemic.

James’s the real game is now deferred to 2022 IRONMAN Copenhagen, 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k run; All in one go within 17hrs. My job is not done!

“Do you think I can do an IRONMAN?!” #anythingispossible

“Why do you want to do an IRONMAN? What’s your motivation? That motivation will be your major drive to put yourself into the journey”

“I’d also recommend to establish the foundation and own a mature triathon racing experience, going to an IRONMAN race you have to deal with logistic, diet and fueling, and our mother nature, these are all outside of our training”

Charles Hui

Train your weakest link: James is a strong cyclist and running, so more time to spend on swimming

Beaches and pools only re-open in April, so only 5months of preparation, from 0 to around 8-10k swim per week

There is no doubt you need to spend lot of time on the bike for 3, 4, 5, even 6 hours week after week, while you need to learn what’s the best way to fuel up your body during those long training hours

Even a strong runner may ran into issue with achilles, so it wasn’t consistent in the beginning phrase and we have carefully managed it and able to resume the mileage build up at the right time