10 tips to face an ultraman

Marcos López Bonilla Triathlete qualified for the Ultraman World Championship gives us a series of tips to face an Ultraman.

 

 

Marlos López Bonilla He has been a personal trainer and professional in fitness and sports for more than 10 years. Classified for the Ultraman World Championship after being 7th place overall and 6th place for men in the last Ultraman of Canada. His next targets: Ultraman from Australia 2016. And Ultraman from Hawaii 2017.

An Ultraman is a competition of 3 days where participants will have to travel a distance of 515 kilometers

  • The first day you will swim 10 kilometers (6,2 miles) and then 144,8 kilometers of cycling (90 miles).
  • On the second day they will cycle 273,5 kilometers (170 miles).
  • The third and last day you have to run 84,3 kilometers (52,4 miles)

These are his tips:

1º- PLAN "TÚ ULTRAMAN":

The first and most advisable is always planning; from the moment you are selected to perform an Ultraman until the moment you get home after doing it. The logistics in an Ultraman is superimportant, especially because they tend to be outside of your country and that implies the need to organize everything in time; accommodation, travel, assistance car, transport of material (the bike is something very delicate to transport), hours of sleep, training, briefings ... and without forgetting that the legs that go to the ultraman ... are very different from the tired legs that return . All that is also part of the Ultraman, and the result depends largely on it. Prepares and organizes everything that can be baked.

2º FORM A GREAT TEAM:

Never forget that an Ultraman can not be done without assistance equipment (It is mandatory to take a team, minimum 2 people and 4 maximum), are the ones who take care of you ... And you must start by taking care of them. We can say what, literally, our life is at their mercy. Teamwork is possibly the most rewarding sport and Triathlon is not appreciated so much ... But it exists! And in an Ultraman it is paramount. There are several options: one that you take a team of friends or family (as happened to me last year), and another that you can not take anyone and you assign volunteers (as I do in Australia).

In any case; make of that equipment YOU equipment; Organize them in your own way, communicate continuously and create a special bond; without them you will never be Ultraman. They will give you the food, they will change the cans, they will heal you, they will escort you ... Your life depends on them, and your defeats and victories will also be theirs. You are one.

Tips for an ultraman

3º ENTRENA (Quality Vs Quantity):

Obviously ... and in a high percentage ... your participation in the Ultraman will be the result of the training you have done throughout the season. Ultraman distance planning today remains "a great unknown" to most coaches because it is an uncommon test. We could talk about many important points, but I will insist on not going crazy with distances: Let us give more priority to quality in training versus quantity (Not because the 3º stage of the UM is 84,4 Kms you have to do a long roll of 30 every week), the work of technique and strength have the same, or more important than resistance training. We do not go crazy making Kms and Kms without sense, and we take care of the articulations doing less Kms and of more quality (enough they are going to suffer your knees and ankles in 515 Kms ... As to punish them more).

On the other hand, we must think that it is very difficult to hold a correct position both cycling, swimming, running ... in so many kilometers, without talking about the different rhythms that we are going through, so as everything; you have to train him! The more we take care of the position and the technique, the better we will reach the final stages, which is why it is practically compulsory to study a swimming position, a typical biomechanical study on the bike, and a good study of the tread.

Another factor to keep in mind and of vital importance is to learn to train with muscular fatigue, it is something that the body has to get used to. And finally we do not start to train an Ultraman with less 9 months of preparation ... And all this depending on the base and the point of departure, of course.

4º CORRECT FOOD:

As in any training; the ideal is to eat a diet according to the calories consumed and planned next to the training. But if we go to the UM itself and as basic and generic advice; we can say that the previous days it is important to do a load of hydrates (with head), and to start at least 3-4 days before to drink isotonic. For the stages, as we usually say; "Each teacher has his booklet", and it is not necessary to remember the calories consumed and the liquid and weight that is lost in a stage that can last between 7 and 10 hours. This is not the time to do experiments, so he trains during the whole year what we are going to eat during the Ultraman. If we go to my case in particular; in the water sector I almost do not fit food because the breakfast is recent, so each 2 Km took pills, salts, and a small piece of banana, more isotonic. In the 8 Km a gel. And while I change for the bike I take the opportunity to drink solid (a piece of sandwich of ham, cheese and butter or a piece of my famous nutella sandwich).

On the bike, I eat every half hour in an orderly alternation with nuts, dates, bananas, salt tablets, anti-inflammatory, gel, water and isotonic. And another solid programmed for Km 100. In the second stage the same with collection of solids programmed at Km 100 and 200 approximately. In the final stretch of each stage (when you have an upset stomach and nothing fits) I always apply what I call "the coca cola trick"; Away from caffeine gels, I feel very good to drink a little Coke that gives me a little high that I can't get as I am unable to ingest gels at that point.

In the last stage, the race sector, the mineral salt tablets follow the same time, but the gels, bananas and bars take them in smaller doses. Water and isotonic obviously remain equally important and even less so. Yes, "Cocacola trick" I do not apply it running that I feel uncomfortable to breathe in the final effort.

At the end of each stage a recovery shake, liquid magnesium and L-Glutamine tablets. More a hamburger (my prize).

That's just an example, broadly speaking, of what works for me, which does not mean it's the best.

5º WORK THE MIND: VISUALIZE THE ULTRAMAN:

If in any race it is important to visualize and imagine the important moments or to put ourselves in situation before the possible problems that could arise to us to be clear how we would react or how we should respond, or what we should think about the difficult moments ... In an Ultraman, as I always say , multiply it by 100.

I recommend totally visualize how you are going to face and face the situation of any problem that may arise in each of the three sectors for very few possibilities that exist (for example, I never thought that I could lose with my team before to start the last stage in the UM of Canada and start 32 'later than the others the test ... that changes everything).

Visualize the transition from water to the bike, how you have organized your team and each of your steps since you get out of the water until you get on the bike. Visualize your last kilometers of bike, what will you try to think when you pass a crisis by bike or running and you can not do it anymore, imagine doing the UM, but above all visualize your last Kms and the arrival ... Because they will never be as you imagine.

Tips for dealing with an ultraman

6º CHOOSE ADEQUATE MATERIAL AND CLOTHING:

Clearly the material and the clothing are other of the most important factors, and will condition our performance if we choose them badly, it is not necessary to talk about materials such as neoprene, the bike and its accessories, the clothes in each stage, the shoes (the changes in the shoes if you plan to make them) ... Fundamental not to release anything, and to have everything more than chosen and selected. Apart from always having something spare before any unforeseen in any of the three sectors.

And then take into account those personal details that you have to prepare throughout the year; in my case my shoulder operation conditions me the neoprene, the special coupling that I wear on the bike, and choose a change of shoes in case I have a crisis because of my chronic pubalgia. Fundamental have well prepared material and clothes.

7º SEEK YOUR MOTIVATION:

They say that every behavior has a motive that drives us to action, and those reasons every person we have very clear which are ... You just have to think about why you do the Ultraman, there is always a why. And that motivation has to be strong enough to help you in the most difficult and weakest moments.

How we are tired of hearing "every person is a world", and each person is more or less sensitive to certain stimuli that awaken something strong enough to get up at the worst of times or to be capable of something. And in the UM it is important to be clear about what you are going to use or think to motivate yourself: from phrases that are recorded in your memory, that become your hallmark, or even in your tattoo, details that you have previously had with you teammates, friends or the people who love you, amulets that have a special meaning, with today's technology; audios, voices or stimuli that give more strength than any energy bar when you are in the last, and above all ... Dedications or simple gestures that have a special and unique meaning for you. I, in my case, I have it very clear and since 4 years ago every achievement I get I will always dedicate it to my best friend Rafa who since he is not alive I feel that he pushes me and helps me in the most difficult moments.

There are also exempt details in the UM that end up motivating you, because maybe you see it in other colleagues, etc ... I was given a piece of advice by a compañera before starting the UM in Canada that stayed with me and I remembered in the last stage: "endure and persist when you see worse or think you can not do more ... and the miracle will happen", and ... It happened.

Remember that in the UM, as incredible as it may seem, it is 90% head and 10% physical. And I would risk to say 90% of heart and feelings. And if not, you'll tell me when you experience it.

8º WEAR A GOOD KITCHEN:

I think there are too many words. At UM we are well protected with doctors and physiotherapists before, during and after each stage. But still you must have prepared a good kit for your team of assistants to use in all kinds of situations. In my case I have it very easy with my great friend Eva who is a nurse and helps me a lot, but in any case it is worth making a small economic effort to prepare a good kit in any pharmacy. What is the most common? Well, without counting a fall or more serious accidents; special ointments for chafing, burns, eye drops, protective dressings, second skins, anti-inflammatory, stomach protectors etc ... What I apply to everything we go; in the UM multiply the kit of a normal race by 100.

9º ENJOY THE MAGIC OF ULTRAMAN:

The UM is such an extraordinary experience that it is so difficult to explain how the idea that you can imagine what you feel without having lived it (and you will say: "like everything in life"). In the UM you live the magic before starting because the relationship and the dealings with other triathletes and teams is different (to force) than in other triathlons, where it does not lead to live or share so much, and I assure you that sharing all those sufferings and joys creates a special bond, so special that there is no language, person, circumstance or barrier that can prevent it.

Just completing that distance is practically magic, but it is magic especially because there are situations that only occur in a UM ... The magic of Ultraman is: To overtake or forward a partner, it is not like in any triathlon, when you advance someone in an ultraman is like an exchange of energy, gives you time to give you a hug, to take his hand, to kiss him, to shout in his ear: "WE CAN!", and that gives you strength in those moments that you can not even imagine. The magic of the ultraman: because you are lucky to give and receive strength from all your companions.

The magic of the Ultraman is that in 3 days people who are real strangers become almost part of your family. The magic of the ultraman: because what may seem a disgrace at first, in the end it becomes a gift fallen from the sky to live an epic that will only end if you get to the end, that is the magic of the Ultraman. That is the magic, to believe in you and to verify in your person that the greatest victory is to overcome oneself.

Tips for dealing with an ultraman

10º ALOHA, OHANA, KOKUA.

They are the three Hawaiian words on which the UM is based and give meaning:

-ALOHA = LOVE

-OHANA = FAMILY

-KOKUA = HELP

Keep these three words very present in the UM.

 

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