First up – Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a French citizen, living in Asia for 5 years now, married with my beautiful wife, Caroline and we are blessed to have 3 lovely children, Noemie 8, Anthonin 6 and Mathilde 2. They give us joy and satisfaction every day. I started triathlon 4 years ago in Thailand doing my first 70.3 in Phuket casually with friends. I completed it in 5h48. I was able to improve over the next few years to 5h19, and then 5h08 last year. I joined MetaSport in September 2015. It was the perfect place to meet great people and this is where I got my first taste of structured ‘proper’ triathlon training. I told my wife that I would do an Ironman before I turned 40. She said OK.
How did you feel crossing the line of your 1st Ironman in such an impressive time? Was this a goal you had set for yourself?
It was an amazing feeling and I finally knew what the Ironman tag line, "Anything is Possible", meant. It is something that I want to instil into the lives of my 3 children; that at the right time and with the right preparation and people guiding them, “Anything is Possible”. I was so happy to see Caroline and my 3 children cheering for me at the finish line. It was one of those "Life is Beautiful" moments!
Briefly talk us through the race. High/ low points during the race. Standout thoughts at certain points in the race.
Zurich was not known to be the easiest race for a first IM, 1600m uphill bike, 4 laps run in the city with paved roads.
The Swim: I started the swim easy as this is not my best discipline. The plan was to simply replicate what I had done in training, a steady swim with no dramas at 1'50”/ 100m pace. Ticked that box off, 1 down, 2 to go.
The Bike: The bike 2 loops through the beautiful mountains with an amazing view of Lake Zurich. I was able to hold a steady 36km average on flat portion and saving a little for the big hills to come. It was amazing the feeling to have people cheering for you at "Heart-break Hill". A couple of steep descents at 75km/h were scary! I finished up the bike in 5h33', a bit tired but happy that I had managed my nutrition well and had no stomach issue. 2 knocked down, 1 more to go.
The Run: I started EASY at 5'20" pace, focusing on my keeping to a high 88 stride rare. The first two laps where ok, but by the 3rd lap, I could feel myself slowing down on the 3 lap. “You’ll never make below 11h, Come On Alex, Wake Up!” I refocused on my cadence, and concentrated on maintaining the pace. I was able to run the last 5k strong and came in in 10h58' with a 4h marathon. It was such a great moment to hear "You are an Ironman!"
How did your physical training prepare you to stay strong mentally throughout the race?
As IM was a big unknown to me, I started working with Shem 6 months before this. He helped me with individual coaching and tailored training plans. The schedule was tight, but he accepted the challenge!
I wanted to master the 70.3 with a sub 5hr performance before making the big step to Ironman. So on the road towards IM Zurich, I decided to race 70.3 Bussleton which was good timing for a training race towards Zurich. Busselton 70.3 was key in my preparation because it helped me to focus on speed and strength while forgetting about IM for a bit.
We planned to use 70.3 Busselton in May as a training race. We focused mostly on building strength on the bike which Shem identified as one of the more significant areas to work on. After just 1 month of training, I smashed my PB in Busselton with a 4h45'!! I was surprised with my result (31' swim/2h33' bike / 1h36' run) and the focus on building bike fitness paid off. I was able to ride hard and still feel fresh to do a great run off the bike. This result was great for confidence and gave me positive energy to stay focused on the volume phase of our IM training.
In the build up to Ironman Zurizh, we used an Endurance Block 2.5 weeks before the IM race. It was the toughest training I had ever done. Sleep , train, eat, rest, train, eat ,sleep… exhausting both physically and mentally, but perfect for IM training! I started to understand what Shem was trying to achieve with my fitness when he talked about ‘Bombproof Legs’ and ‘Fatigue Resistance’.
After this block of training, mentally I was now prepared for anything on IM race day. I had done 250k biking, 5km of swimming 30km of running in 3 days, after which I was dead 😉 After this I enjoyed the taper and the build into the race.
Let's talk about your training. Can you briefly describe your weekly training schedule? How and why that's working for you.
Training every day! TheMethod! A bit scary at the beginning but in the end it worked out well for me. I swam and ran with MetaSport on Monday and Tuesdays. Bike Trainer sessions were on Wednesdays and Fridays, with another swim on Thursdays. Saturdays were the long run and Sundays were the long bike.
It is also vital to have discussed this with the family and having the support and understanding from them in the training plan for the next 4 months was a huge part of it. I am blessed to have such a loving wife!
Please share with us the 2 most important 'take home' messages that you have learnt about endurance training that everyone needs to hear.
I always stress the importance of communication in the coach -athlete relationship, your thoughts on this please.
In my case, it was important to communicate with Shem weekly to inform him of travelling plans and changes to training facilitates so that he could adjust the plan. He was also able to understand, mentally, where I was coming from. This is key.
Any 'life lessons' you've picked up along your journey towards your 1st Ironman?
Anything Is Possible. It depends how hard you want it and how well prepared you are.
To me triathlon is the perfect sport of most of us who have heavy business schedule. So rewarding to see how much progress you can make if you are consistent! Inspiring for work and my team too!
What are the benefits of having a coach? What are the characteristics for a good coach to look out for?
Having a coach is a kind of like "insurance": you know what you’ll get. And when you are about to devote 4 months of your time for something you’ve never done before, which will impact your family life, you’d better make sure you cross the finish line with a big SMILE!! To me getting Shem on board as my coach was a no brainer to ensure I didn’t break myself in training and to finish well.
The key skills that a Coach needs to possess, apart from a sound training philosophy, are communication and the ability to understand an athlete’s personality. Shem was able to build that rapport and trust, because, in the end, it is all about the MENTAL ATTITUDE and motivation.
What's next for you?
Phuket 70.3 – I’ll be racing with my mate Ben C, so he’d better watch out! And then Nice Full IM in June 2017. It is meant to be a beautiful but hilly race!
By Vinnie Santana, coach, ironguides.net
If you are training for your first ironman, your only and main goal should be to complete the distance. Anything other than that is a bonus, no exception. To have any performance goals on your first race is a very risky strategy, since you will be focus on the outcome of the race instead on executing the important steps to do the best you can.
However, once in a while some first timers can do extremely well in their first attempt, the story below is from Lyndsey Fraser, a Scottish national living in Bangkok and working full time as a teacher, who I coached to her first ironman in Taiwan 2015. Lyndsey won her age group (F25-29) by less than one minute and took her qualifying slot to the ironman world championships in Kona, Hawaii
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Intro
Lyndsey triathlon CV was already respectable before the Ironman, a 10th at the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championships and unbeatable on her age group in Half Ironman (and Challenge) races she had done in the previous year.
This of course brings some extra pressure and goals to an ironman debut, but the goal had never been to win the thing, and that became even more of a fact when on the start list there was a Japanese athlete named Chino Nishimura, 6th place at the Ironman World Championships in 2014 and Top 5 overall at both Ironman Japan and Ironman 70.3 Japan. Chino is a very consistent athlete and was only ten minutes off a 3rd place at the world championships, so a world class age grouper any day of the year.
Beating an athlete like this on your first Ironman is anything but an easy task. Race day strategy didn’t change at all with Chino in the race, the plan was still to race at a slightly conservative pace, to have a positive experience and of course finish the thing. A Kona slot or win would be a bonus.
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Race Day
Swimming in an ironman is often underrated, most athletes only look at it as taking ten percent of the race length, thus should invest only ten percent of the training time and effort into it, another common mistake is to look into the opportunity of minutes saved in the swim leg, which will always be small numbers, someone swimming one hour and ten minutes need to work very hard, likely for a full year, to improve five minutes, while that improvement will come a lot easier on the bike or on the run.
While the bike and run does offers better improvements opportunities, swimming fast has an impact on the rest of the race in two different ways:
1) Strategy:
At a high level, both amateur or professional, an ironman isn’t a solo time trial effort anymore. Swimming with a pack of experienced and strong bikers is a key component at any athlete that wants to do well. Even the race being non-drafting, one can still benefit by riding in a pace line, outside the drafting zone by saving five percent of the wattage needed for the same speed. This isn’t cheating by any means, you are respecting the rules and racing smart. The second benefit is the mental effort that is required to hold a certain effort, by having other athlete guiding you, it saves you that effort to when you really need (the run!), it is much easier to just focus on staying within the legal distance from an athlete, rather than set the effort on your own.
2) Fatigue:
Once done with the swim, the fatigue from one hour of work won’t disappear, in fact it only accumulates. While an athlete may be able to get out of the water at a decent swim speed, it doesn’t mean that athlete is swim FIT, and the pay back may come on the late stages of the run. Doing your long swims when training for an ironman is also your bike and run training, while not doing your training may result in your walking the run rather than running. This is triathlon, one sport, swimbikerun rather than swim+bike+run
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The winning strategy
The key part of an ironman is the first third of the bike leg, especially the first twenty minutes. When an athlete get this early stage right, chances are everything else will also come at the appropriate intensity. The challenge to get this part of the course right comes from a combination of adrenalin from the race and also being a feeling the most fresh and rested one had been in the previous six months! Since you start in an ironman training plan, you are always riding fatigued, when race day comes you will be experiencing a new sensation, riding on fresh legs, this can be very difficult to adjust to, since what feels “easy” may in fact be rather fast to your ability.
For this reason the instruction in the first twenty minutes is to “ride your bike as if you were doing the warm up of your long bike ride on the weekend”. On race day, while Lyndsey executed the plan very well, her main competitor Chino did the opposite and went out too fast, the third best overall female split for the first 55k actually, only a few minutes slower than Dede Griesbauer and a minute slower than Dimity-lee Duke. I couldn’t believe my eyes an athlete that experienced had done such a big mistake, the lead that at that point was at over twenty minutes didn’t worry me. No one can get away with starting the ironman bike too fast, the price to be paid is very high.
For the rest of the race we watched then Lyndsey sticking to a perfect plan and executing a negative split bike and running pacing, while every split over ironman live the gap was getting closer and closer, by the 32km mark it was less than five minutes, it took longer than I was expecting when Lyndsey reported only passing Chino Nishimura in the final kilometer to take the win in 10:23:04, only 56 seconds ahead of second place.
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The key lessons from this race:
a) Stick to your plan regardless of your competitors, focus on race day execution rather than outcome
b) No one is unbeatable and everyone makes mistakes as unlikely as it may be
c) Pacing is key during an ironman event, especially early in the bike
Enjoy your training,
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ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for athletes of all abilities. We provide coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, health and fitness products to help you learn and live a healthy lifestyle. Come get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services, or a triathlon training camp in an exotic location! ironguides also provides Corporate Health services including Corporate Triathlons, Healthy Living retreats and speaking engagements. At ironguides, your best is our business!
More info at www.ironguides.net
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Bruno Goes’ story, has to be one of the most inspiring stories when it comes to dedication and discipline and overcoming less than ideal training circumstances. Bruno has a routine that many accept as an legitimate excuse not to pursue their own triathlon dreams as he works on a oil rig, on 2 weeks shifts, then when he is back home, he shares his time with his family and wife. Learn more about Bruno’s story below, coached by ironguides Head Coach Vinnie Santana, and get inspired!
Original interview from Mundotri.com.br
Imagine spending half of your monthly training hours on board of an oil rig, doing your long rides and runs all indoors in a basic gym. That’s exactly the routine of Bruno Goes. A triathlete for 4 years now, his background is the mountain biking, Bruno went 09:31:14 in his 1st Ironman, running with a injured shoulder and a sling to support it, he ranked 4th in the disputed age group 25-29 years. More than a great athlete, Goes is an example of persistence and perseverance. We interviewd this athlete and learned more about his routine on what he “The Iron Island” as a reference to the oil rig.
Training room – treadmill and bike trainer
MundoTRI: Tell us a little about your routine, you usually train in unusual locations.
Bruno Goes: Well, my routine is a little different than usual 9-5pm, I work on an oil rig and that makes it pretty unique. Generally, I work 14 days uninterrupted all boarded, then get to spend 21 days at home. During my work shift, I do 12hr a day leaving only the late afternoon for training, I usually start at 7pm and it ends only late in the evening. My only training opportunities are on a bike trainer and on a treadmill.
In the 21 days off work, I always try to train in places that I don’t do laps, I prefer point to point, or out and back routes. When I run on the roads, I prefer not to have a set route and just play it by ear, again I avoid repeating the same route whenever I can, I find that this balances out the other 14 days when I’m staring to the same things all the time.
Bruno arrives at work
MundoTRI: How do the swim training works?
Bruno Goes: Although the platform has a swimming pool, or what is more like a saltwater tank (laughs), with 1,7m x 3m x 7m, I cant rely on it for consistent swim training, as very often the pool is closed. But whenever I’m allowed to swim, I use a bungee cord around my waste that ties me to one end of the pool and just swim in place. The goal is only to maintain feel for the water and some swim fitness, then when I’m back home I swim hard again and aim to improve my swim fitness. But it is challenging to improve the swim when you need to take 2 weeks almost off from the pool. Its funny that I’m surrounded by water but I cant get my swim training done, as we aren’t allowed to swim in the ocean for safety issues.
MundoTRI: What are the differences between going long indoors or outdoors?
Bruno Goes: The only difference is that I don’t need sunscreen! Jokes aside, there are rather large differences in training. I think the main is the mental work that is needed indoors. During the indoor training is just you, it is only you who decides whether to stop, it is only you who decides whether to increase the pace, it is only you who decides almost everything, as you have pretty much all circumstances controlled.
When I train outdoor and feel like heading back home, I may still be 50, 60 or 70 km away from home. That means, either I need to ride home or call someone to picks me up which isnt really an option. But on the trainer, you have little incentive not to stop your sessions when you are having a bad day, it can be very tempting to just put your foot down and go into the shower.
Bruno works at Petrobras, Brazil’s largest oil company
MundoTRI: What were some of your longest offshore workouts?
Bruno Goes: At times my ironguides coach would throw me some challenges nicknamed “Nightmare on the Iron Island”, which was something like a 3h bike ride followed by 1h30, all done in my gym. The details is that the gym isnt your typical nice and clean room, with mirros everywhere, instead I’m surrounded by pipes and iron that can absorb quite a lot of heat from the outside.
MundoTRI: How do you prepare psychologically for the offshore training? Do you believe that this has contributed to your good performance on races?
Bruno Goes: I try not to think too much before I start the sessions, as soon as my work shift is over, I get changed and head to the gym I need to avoid the TV, the internet and the chat with my colleagues. There is no way around it, indoor training, at this set up is very boring, but I think that it has helped a lot my race day peformances as it teaches you, through the day in day out routine, how not to give up, then you go to a race and is used to dealing with the lows a lot better. With indoor training you can better listen to your body, and it has some small advantages, safety is one.
Bruno overcomes challenges on his training routine and race day. He went 9h31 on his first Ironman running with a sling and swimming with one arm due to an injuried shoulder
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Train with ironguides!
Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month
Monthly Training plans (for all levels, or focused on one discipline): Only USD39/months
Event based training plans:
Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)
Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)
Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)
Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)
X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)
Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)
ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for athletes of all abilities. We provide coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, health and fitness products to help you learn and live a healthy lifestyle. Come get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services, a Tour de France bike tour or a triathlon training camp in an exotic location! ironguides also provides Corporate Health services including Corporate Triathlons, Healthy Living retreats and speaking engagements. At ironguides, your best is our business!
Athlete Profile: Megan Gray
Megan has just completed her 1st 70.3 in an excellent time of 5:48 at Port Macquarie. Congratulations on a hard-earned and well-deserved result!
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.
Pure relief! Not so much because I was hurting, I was just super happy that everything came together so well on the day and I performed to the best of my potential which did the 12 weeks of training justice.
The day before I was feeling very nervous…the anticipation is always the hardest. As the day progressed I had major tightness in my ITB which was putting a lot of strain on my knee so I spent an hour at a friend’s place on the roller trying to ease the tension.
On race day I woke early after a restless night. I felt strangely calm where normally I would be very nervous. I kept telling myself that I had done all the hard work and today was my chance to put it all into action. I was excited just to get going and looking forward to testing myself. My ITB issued had miraculously disappeared overnight so I was feeling good.
The swim start was very calm. For the first time ever I managed to find feet straight off and felt like I was flying in my first open water wetsuit swim. I glanced at my watch as I ran into T1 and couldn’t believe my time – very happy to be off to an awesome start.
It took a while to warm up on the bike as the course heads straight into hills and it was hard to get the legs moving when they were still feeling numb from the icy water. Conflicting advice on how to handle the course was going through my head but Shem’s advice eventually won out and I settled somewhere between 80% & hard and felt comfortable that I could maintain the pace for the second lap. Indeed, I felt even stronger on the second loop.
I was very excited to enter T2 and have the bike leg behind me and felt great heading into the run. I had in my mind that I wanted to run 5min30s kilometres so was amazed that I was blitzing this and feeling so good. Turns out my watch wasn’t calibrated accurately and I was averaging 5mins 40s.
At the 15k mark I knew it was time to dig deeper and was wondering how much it was supposed to hurt.My quads were starting to burn and we were running into the wind by this stage and facing one last climb so I just didn’t trust in myself to push too much harder, especially when I thought I was running so well anyway. At about the 19k mark I had a surge of courage, grabbed a cup of cola and started sprinting towards the chute. I couldn’t believe it was almost over. I felt really strong for the last 2kms and at this stage realized I had plenty left in the tank – or was it just adrenaline that the race was over?
I remained mentally strong throughout the race as I knew I had done the hard yards in my training and was more than capable of doing the distances. I knew I could comfortably swim 1.9k, ride 90k and run 21k so it was just a matter of pulling it all together on the day. I broke the race down into smaller components, I didn’t think about the bike until I had finished the swim, I broke the ride down into hills & highway and approached it loop by loop, and then just settled into the run feeling great that I had made it that far! My toughest challenge was coming from a Sprint tri background as my race pace has always been all out 100%.
In hindsight I didn’t hurt like this at all during the 70.3. Did I take it too easy… or is this how I’m supposed to race a 70.3? Either way I really wanted to enjoy the experience and I did.
I had a 12 week training programme, 3 x 4 week blocks consisting of 12-14 hours per week. Most sessions lasted around 1-1.5 hours except for the weekly long run & bike ride. I loved the variation – between strength, tolerance, speed, endurance and also appreciated that it incorporated my favourite Metasport group sessions.
The sessions never felt too long or too challenging and if I felt tired I would just start the session anyway and let the endorphins kick in. I had some fantastic races during the training programme without tapering so the results were evident that the training was paying off which spurred me on to work even harder.
At times it felt overwhelming and like it was never going to end but before I knew it I was tapering. I loved having a structured programme to follow, not having to think about what I needed to do each day and knowing that each session had been tailored specifically to my needs. In 12 weeks I only missed 3 sessions when life or injury got in the way.
1.Consistency is key – repeating the same sessions over 4 week periods allowed me the chance to perfect the session and measure my progress week on week. What felt hard in week 1 didn’t feel so hard in week 4 so I knew I was getting stronger.
2.Gauge your effort by how your body feels rather than by pace/power output. I won’t rely on my watch next time!
Communication is very important but you only get out of it what you put into it… If I had any questions or concerns I wouldn’t hesitate to address them with Shem and his advice was invaluable. It’s often hard to get face time with Shem at group training sessions so I found email to be far easier and then I always had his advice in writing to refer back to.
Anything is possible if you set your mind to achieving it and we are all capable of so much more than we think we are.
The benefits include a structured programme tailored to your specific requirements and availability, the sense of accountability at the weekly check-in and having someone who takes an interest in you personally and can adapt your training schedule to your life situation.
A good coach needs to be knowledgeable, approachable, responsive, and someone who doesn’t just talk the talk but walks the walk alongside you.
Absolutely!
When we 1st started working together we identified 2 key areas that need work to successfully make the transition from her Sprint Triathlon background to the Half Ironman distance; Bike Strength and Run efficiency. Having coached her at the swim and track squad sessions, I knew that she was a committed, compliant and driven athlete so I was glad that we could spend our energy simply focused on the “Art of Tri”.
We spent the 1st block of her training developing running strength and dynamics for a more open and loose stride. At the same time Megan busied herself on the bike trainer getting acquainted with cadence and perceived effort level parameters. She got the hang of things quickly and I knew she was on the right track most of the time from her feedback and the questions she was asking.
Given the tight 12 week time frame we were working with, we only had a relatively short period of strength work, before focus shifted to building a solid aerobic fitness through tolerance and endurance sets. Thankfully, Megan’s single minded work ethic paid off and it was a joy to watch her bike and run come together.
In the final block leading up to the big day, we also worked on her race day nutrition plan which Megan practised in her race specific weekend sessions. The attention to detailed paid off and she executed perfectly on the day.
So- mission accomplished; a safe and very solid finish to her 1st 70.3!
Going forward, I would like to see Megan rely less on training data and learn to trust the real time feedback that she is getting from her body during training and racing. The more ‘tuned in’ she is, the more confident she will be taking the right risks on race day as she starts to race more with her heart and less with her head!
Enjoy your training!
Coach Shem Leong
Vanessa:
My first triathlon was in Phuket in 2006. My first Ironman was in Western Australia in 2009.
At school I did mostly gymnastics and diving. I loved doing sport so I participated in many other sports—tennis, water skiing, track & field, netball. After leaving school, I continued some kind of fitness by doing a few weights at the gym and running 20 to 40 minutes twice a week. I had never done any endurance type of sport. The longest run I had pretty much done was 10km.
I started triathlons in mid-2006. This was after I found this email in my inbox saying “Thank you for entering Laguna Phuket triathlon…”
My husband had kindly entered me without my knowledge!
I had seen my husband doing triathlons over the past year, so I knew a little bit about what was involved. I was a little concerned as I had not swam since school sports classes and I did not have a bike. So the next day I went to the pool and swam the distance. My confidence grew.
I thought I will buy a bike and start training, then decide closer to the race if I will do it.
The triathlon came before I knew it; I thought why not give it a go, my husband is doing it.
I really had little idea at this stage, I don’t recall taking any nutrition, I just had a drink bottle. I completed the race with a reasonable place in my age group. This was the beginning of a new lifestyle. I could see there was room for improvement so I wanted to do more triathlons: I loved the idea of doing something healthy, it is a good way to make an excuse for a holiday, and it was also something my husband and I could do together.
Also, our dog loves the training: he swims alongside me when I am in open water. He runs with me outside, and on the treadmill next to me when I am biking on the Computrainer.
I did mostly local Olympic-distance triathlons in Japan for the first two years. At this stage I thought Ironman distance was totally amazing—I never thought it would be something I would ever do.
My husband was slowly getting more serious in his training and increasing the distance of his races—and entering me in these races as well so I was also increasing my distances.
Before I knew it, my husband was now thinking of giving the Ironman distance a go. It was around this stage we joined ironguides. ironguides certainly changed our training and improved our performances. I completed my first Ironman in Western Australia in 2009. It was a big day but not as hard as I imagined. Since then I have done at least half a dozen Ironmans around the world (Roth, Challenge Copenhagen, Ironman Austria, Ironman WA three times, Ironman Regensburg twice, Ironman Japan, Kona—wow that’s the first time I have actually put them down and counted, 10!).
I had a hiccup in 2011 when I had a bicycle accident the day before Ironman UK. I had to have a lot of teeth reconstruction work. My confidence to continue in the sport was crushed. I had lost confidence on the bike, I was worried about being hit in the mouth in the swim and I had lost fitness. My coach Woody slowly rebuilt my confidence. I returned to training pretty fast and decided that if I am going to return, I want to return to do well.
I played various team sports as a child and in university, but it wasn’t until I was working in London that I tried a triathlon in 1999.
I then meet Marc Becker in 2000 through a mutual friend when he was competing in IM Lanzarote and I was on holiday there.
He then coached me off and on (I took a break when I had children) for Olympic distances and for my first IM in Nice in 2006.
In that I finished in 11hrs 2mins. I continued racing for the next year or so but then injury, family commitments and work took me away from triathlon, though I still did some running and open sea swim races.
Last year I decided I wanted to do an other IM. After talking to my family I entered IM Nice again and contacted ironguides where Woody agreed to coach me.
My aim was to finish IM Nice and hopefully beat my time from 2006 and get under 11 hours. It wasn’t until the last 5k of the run that I knew I would achieve that goal and came in in 10hrs 46.
I was surprised then when my family told me I had won my age group and had a slot for Hawaii. It took a while to sink in and I still have to pinch myself that I’m going – something I always hoped I would do but didn’t dare believe it could happen.
ironguides Coach Alun ‘Woody’ Woodward:
Bevan and Vanessa Colless from Australia run a couple of physio clinics in Japan and have recently set up practice in Singapore. They also train and compete at the top of the age group ranks and are both heading to Kona this year. Both athletes are very focused and goal-oriented and have worked hard since taking up triathlon in 2005 to get to this point.
PROFILE
Bevan:
My first race was Phuket Tri in 2005. My first Ironman was Vineman in 2009. I have finished 10 Ironmans, started 13.
My background was in soccer and rugby. I first started with ironguides in 2009 when we signed up for our first Ironman.
I never swam at school but, like all Aussies, I swam in friends’ pools and on family holidays at the beach, and I would body surf a lot on holidays. Never did laps though.
My Dad was/is a bicycle tragic. His house has little model bikes everywhere—people give them to him as presents all the time now. He had a bike printed on his wall for years, cycled to work every day for 30 years and took us all (six kids of which I was the youngest) on bike holidays; my Mum would drive the wagon and the kids would ride point to point from campsite to campsite. When I was 16, Dad and I did a charity ride from Sydney to Melbourne (1,000km).
I was a cross-country runner at school, top 10 in the state (NSW) for most of my high school years, until I discovered beer, girls, and played soccer and rugby for 20 years.
Vanessa:
My first triathlon was in Phuket in 2006. My first Ironman was in Western Australia in 2009.
At school I did mostly gymnastics and diving. I loved doing sport so I participated in many other sports—tennis, water skiing, track & field, netball. After leaving school, I continued some kind of fitness by doing a few weights at the gym and running 20 to 40 minutes twice a week. I had never done any endurance type of sport. The longest run I had pretty much done was 10km.
I started triathlons in mid-2006. This was after I found this email in my inbox saying “Thank you for entering Laguna Phuket triathlon…”
My husband had kindly entered me without my knowledge!
I had seen my husband doing triathlons over the past year, so I knew a little bit about what was involved. I was a little concerned as I had not swam since school sports classes and I did not have a bike. So the next day I went to the pool and swam the distance. My confidence grew.
I thought I will buy a bike and start training, then decide closer to the race if I will do it.
The triathlon came before I knew it; I thought why not give it a go, my husband is doing it.
I really had little idea at this stage, I don’t recall taking any nutrition, I just had a drink bottle. I completed the race with a reasonable place in my age group. This was the beginning of a new lifestyle. I could see there was room for improvement so I wanted to do more triathlons: I loved the idea of doing something healthy, it is a good way to make an excuse for a holiday, and it was also something my husband and I could do together.
Also, our dog loves the training: he swims alongside me when I am in open water. He runs with me outside, and on the treadmill next to me when I am biking on the Computrainer.
I did mostly local Olympic-distance triathlons in Japan for the first two years. At this stage I thought Ironman distance was totally amazing—I never thought it would be something I would ever do.
My husband was slowly getting more serious in his training and increasing the distance of his races—and entering me in these races as well so I was also increasing my distances.
Before I knew it, my husband was now thinking of giving the Ironman distance a go. It was around this stage we joined ironguides. ironguides certainly changed our training and improved our performances. I completed my first Ironman in Western Australia in 2009. It was a big day but not as hard as I imagined. Since then I have done at least half a dozen Ironmans around the world (Roth, Challenge Copenhagen, Ironman Austria, Ironman WA three times, Ironman Regensburg twice, Ironman Japan, Kona—wow that’s the first time I have actually put them down and counted, 10!).
I had a hiccup in 2011 when I had a bicycle accident the day before Ironman UK. I had to have a lot of teeth reconstruction work. My confidence to continue in the sport was crushed. I had lost confidence on the bike, I was worried about being hit in the mouth in the swim and I had lost fitness. My coach Woody slowly rebuilt my confidence. I returned to training pretty fast and decided that if I am going to return, I want to return to do well.
My goal to get to Kona only really developed after coming close to qualifying. When I could see that it was within my reach, my drive to get it developed. I qualified in 2012.
COACHING
Woody:
When I started working with Bevan and Ness, it was clear very early they were high performance athletes and willing to work very hard to achieve their goals. While Bevan was quite clear on what this target was, Ness was more reserved in her goals!
As I have found with all such dedicated athletes, they are always wanting to do more and go faster in training: my main challenge as a coach was getting them to train at an appropriate volume for their development and put a program in place that would see them improve year after year and maintain motivation and health so they could achieve their goals.
Also, due to their jobs and a lot of traveling it was important to have a plan that could be flexible around travel but always working on a basic template to ensure development. I think we did a great job of this over the years and avoided injuries and illness.
From the very start, development of strength—not endurance—was my goal. Most athletes think endurance is what they need for Ironman. It was good to start with them early in their triathlon careers and see how well this approach has worked.
Tools of the trade
Bevan and Ness are very different in their approach to training: Ness will follow effort and time and does not use a Garmin, power meter or heart rate monitor, while Bevan likes to see the numbers and uses tools to his advantage—more to stop himself going too hard than as a guide in training!
RACING
Racing for Bevan and Ness was about enjoying travel and doing iconic races to start with. They did some great races and when seeing the level of performance they were capable of, the focus moved to looking at qualification races. I think they are both very versatile racers and capable of qualifying in most races but weather was a big factor in performance for them both.
With Ness weighing just 42kg and very little body fat, racing in the cold was just not going to work: this factor has affected many of Ness’s results over the years but a hot race in Kona is perfect for her so I am excited to see what she can do this year!
Bevan on the other hand is a heavier athlete and suffers in the heat so a cooler race, especially on the run, was always going to suit best in order to prevent the big fall-off in pace over the last 20km of the marathon that we typically see in hot races as core temperature just goes too high.
Another factor we had to look at with Bevan was natural speed. He is a fast athlete and it’s too easy for him to go too fast when feeling good, which impacts him later in the race. We use a Garmin on the run to limit the pace, especially over the first 5km of the run—when this plan is followed, a good run and race tend to follow! Using a power meter as a limiter recently has also seen Bevan produce some amazing bike splits.
CAMPS
With the nature of Bevan and Ness’s work we have used training camps a lot over the years. They would typically be 10 days of focused work where life was JUST triathlon—these really worked well for boosting endurance and confidence heading into their main races.
One of my favourite camps was for Bevan in Hawaii last year—he missed qualification in 2012 due to his choice of not carrying tools with him in more than one race, so he was punished when watching Ness race in Hawaii.
This camp was a little harder than sensible for sure but the form Bevan was carrying coming out of the camp was amazing, to the point that he was making some of the pros question their career choice when riding with them!
QUALIFICATION
Ness qualified winning her age group in Ironman WA by an amazing 30 minutes, just a solid performance over the whole day.
Bevan secured his qualification in Canada with a devastating swim and bike performance coming off the bike in 14th place overall and then just needing to cruise around the run to qualify!
Alun ‘Woody’ Woodward, Certified ironguides Coach –
http://www.ironguides.net
* * * Your best is our business.™ * * *
By Rodrigo Tosta, ironguides Coach
When we pull the trigger and sign up for an Ironman race, we know planning and dedication will be crucial in the preparation for this lengthy race distance of an 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run. Having a background across various types of sports such as mountain biking, adventure racing, boxing and rowing is a great start: not only because that means discipline has been part of your life, but also because your aerobic system is developed to a decent level.
This was the scenario of Bruno Simao, who registered for Ironman Brazil in May 2012 in the M25-29 age group. Once we started working together and I got some training splits, I realized he had good potential for a first-time ironman performance.
While planning his long term strategy, I made sure he would spend a lot of time training next to other, more experienced ironguides athletes in his home town of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as Bruno—being a young, fast and inexperienced triathlete—had his issues with pacing. I knew the veteran ironguides athletes could teach him a few lessons during the training sessions as these guys collected several Ironman titles and Kona qualifying slots.
Things were going well a few months into the training program and he was achieving his training goals and improving his pacing strategy. Then, I got a very emotional email from Bruno as per below:
“It was my last hard session one week out before the Caioba Half Ironman, which is 8 weeks from Ironman Brazil. I had 10 laps of 14km to do that day and when I was closing the 9th lap, a car made a sudden left turn into a smaller road without seeing me, as I was riding fast and on the aerobars. There was nothing I could do, all I remember was flying over my bike and the car, and hearing all sort of noises from breaking glass to loud snapping, and I almost could hear something breaking inside my knee as I hit it very hard against the car.
“The MRI results came back: I had a cracked kneecap. The initial diagnosis was 10 weeks with no cycling or running, and my Ironman Brazil dream was over. It was depressing and hard to accept, I wanted to quit triathlon. However I got so much support from my friends and family that something strange happened: I grew a lot stronger and I was able to learn several different lessons with that accident.”
Since finishing Ironman Brazil was out of the question, we decided to start the race and do a Swim+Bike brick, doing only the first 90km loop of the bike course. With that in mind and considering the no-run and no-bike training for a while, it was a good opportunity to work on his weakness: the swim. I got him on a swim plan, sessions every day of the week with a lot of pull work (using the pull-buoy to avoid kicking). That was how we maintained his aerobic fitness while letting the kneecap heal.
Two weeks from Ironman Brazil we shifted the focus to the bike, and his plan had several double-bike days. Since his legs were not fit enough to push hard for too long, the double bikes were a great way to build bike fitness without stressing the kneecap, and it would be just enough to provide him the endurance needed to last the 90km of the bike course.
Race day came and along with it a lot question marks in Bruno’s mind. We weren’t sure if his knee could handle the swim and the first half of the bike without pain. Our idea with this race was to provide him the experience of being a first-timer in an Ironman event, but without pressure to finish the race or achieve a good result. Before the crash, we had a goal of swimming around one hour, to ride the 180km in about five hours, which makes it 2-1/2 hours per lap.
We were happy that on race day he managed not only to finish the swim+bike combo, but also within all the target splits.
During this Ironman trial, he could also learn a few race-day strategy tricks: we aimed for a fast swim start to get away from the crowd, and he would benefit from fewer people on the bike course, while those that were around him were experienced and fit athletes.
But the key learning experience was being able to watch the rest of the race. Some of his friends or training partners went out a bit too fast on the bike and ended up paying the price during the last half of the marathon. Bruno has always been an over-confident person and that lesson was crucial for his success in his first proper Ironman race.
The day after the race, our excitement about the success of Bruno’s trial Ironman was huge. We agreed we would find another Ironman in the 2012 season so he could finish the whole event and achieve his dream of being an Ironman finisher. Ironman Florida was a good opportunity for him, as it has a similar course profile as Florianopolis and, held late in the year, it would also provide us time to get him fit enough after a full healing process.
From that day we had 22 weeks of planning, I aimed to boost his confidence by setting him up on a bike-oriented training plan while doing some solid maintenance work in the swim and slowly building the run training to the point where he was back on target for our original goals.
The hardest part was that he spent the whole year, instead of the usual half year, in Ironman training mode. That can be difficult for a young professional like him but making a successful debut was a top priority for Bruno, who to break 10 hours, so there wasn’t an easy option.
The big day arrived and he mentioned being surprised about how relaxed he felt, smiling during the event and high-fiving the spectators on the course. Bruno said he felt he was “floating” during the whole race, and that it was one of his happiest moments of his life.
We had built a race-day strategy in which he would swim as fast as possible, considering we massive work in the pool for a year, and that would set him up among the top competitors on the bike. It worked well and he finished the swim in 61 minutes and top 20 in his age group.
On the bike our goal was a moderate approach as we wanted to make sure he would have something left in the tank for the run. Even then he rode 4h59, moving up seven places in his age group. Out on the run we planned for a conservative strategy, in normal conditions we aimed to hold about 3h30 marathon pace, which would get him to the finish line within the 10-hour mark.
Nine hours and 42 minutes after the start, he heard, “Bruno, you are an Ironman!” It was a very well executed race and that got him 6th place in his age group.
With the race done and dusted, the question now is “What’s next?” He understands what it takes to perform at a very high level in ironman and we agreed we would get on a two-year maintenance plan so he could focus on his newly-launched construction business. We will schedule short-course races to keep him honest and focused, and that will also build towards his next ironman race. When the right time comes, he will be a much faster and strong athlete. Once we add some volume on that newly gained speed, he will be on fire!
Congratulations Bruno on your dedication and setting an example to all of us. You can be sure many other achievements are on the way.
By Vinnie Santana, ironguides Head Coach
With the Ironman World Championships in October just around the corner, we shift our focus to the training and racing of our qualified athletes. Among them are ironcouple Rafal and Alicja Medak. These Kona qualifiers have an inspiring story, especially when it comes to combining a successful (and demanding!) professional career as investment bankers, with high-performance training and racing.
Occupation: Accounting (Investment Banking industry)
Age: 38 (Alicja), 40 (Rafal)
Weekly work hours: 50-60
Location: London, UK
Relationship: Married – no kids
Weekly training: 14-20 hours
Coach: Vinnie Santana
Qualifying Race: Ironman UK
Rafal: 9h53 — 3rd M40-44
Alicja: 10h45 – 3rd F35-39
Training overview (Coach’s comments):
I started working with the ironcouple back in November 2010. Rafal was already familiar with The Method and our approach as he had been an ironguides athlete a while ago. He started triathlon training in 2005, while Alicja back then was only supporting and taking pictures. Alicja decided to learn to swim the front crawl and entered her first race in 2007, coming last out of the water but gaining plenty of ground after a decent bike and run to finish in the middle of the pack.
Alicja is a very talented athlete. But since she is relatively new to the sport, she had no experience in setting up a race (and training) strategy to suit her strengths and give her a better chance to achieve her goal (Ironman Hawaii slot). Our first step was to determine what course suits her best and where she should be spending most of her efforts come race day.
Rafal, on the other hand, had the experience and background, but was never able to nail the back end of his Ironman marathon, falling short of securing an Ironman Hawaii slot in his previous attempts. So that part of the race became our focus for him.
As in any new coach-and-athlete relationship, it took us a while to develop a deeper understanding on what were their strengths and weaknesses. Another worry was to keep them both relatively fresh and rested since their day jobs can be extremely demanding and stressful, with some intercontinental business trips here and there.
The first race was early in May at Ironman 70.3 St Croix. It was a disaster when it came to results, but great feedback on race strategy—we knew we wouldn’t be using that one ever again! The athletes stuck to the original goal, never doubted the coach’s strategy, and continued on their quest to the perfect race.
Then things started to fall in place at Ironman 70.3 Honu in June. We found what seemed to be a better race strategy, then tweaked it a bit before a half Ironman race on July 4 in the UK: the result was great. Right there we had found the strategy to be used at Ironman UK. The instructions were clear, “Just repeat it!”
On race day at Ironman UK, they both did a great job of executing the plan and we knew Kona slots would be only a consequence on how stacked the field would be that day.
What it Takes
The ironcouple approach comes down to a “No Excuses” mindset in their training. The two examples below are often shared with our high-performance athletes as a reality check of “This is the kind of athlete you will be racing against.”
– Rafal was on a weekend bike ride, got into a crash with a car—nothing too serious but it involved enough bruises and blood to leave anyone scared. He also had a cracked bike to boot. Rafal got home and, determined to complete his training, finished his session on his spare bike on the wind trainer.
– When the couple went to Italy for a training weekend, their Sunday long ride didn’t leave enough time to do the run they were supposed to do. They packed their gear, headed to the airport, checked their bags—and finished the brick run, running around the airport car park.
When you approach your training with the determination and willpower as Rafal and Alicja, come race day you are relaxed because your confidence couldn’t be higher. The ironcouple knew they did their best, and that their results would be only a consequence of training. Importantly, placing is something we tend not to worry about since we have no control over which other athletes choose to race as well.
For more information about the ironcouple and training via The Method, send an email to ironguides: info@ironguides.net
By Vinnie Santana, ironguides.net
Over the past decade as a coach, I’ve worked with hundreds of athletes from all backgrounds and with all kinds of goals. Those who achieve success in this sport are neither the most talented athletes nor the ones who fully immerse themselves in training for a couple seasons. Instead, athletes winning your age group at all levels of races are likely to have adopted triathlon as a lifestyle, training consistent for many and many years, while also carrying a sustainable and balanced lifestyle with work and family commitments.
This article tells one of those stories. Gustavo Moniz is your typical age group triathlete: has a full-time job; has family and kids; lives in a big city (in Brazil); and deals with all the challenges of anyone of the same profile. But his passion for the sport and his consistency in training have made him one of Brazil’s strongest M45-49 age group triathletes
Background
Gustavo’s overall win in 1993, Vinnie watching the race
Moniz started in triathlons in 1986, at age 18. He found the right balance of his teenager days with his new working career. Since then, he hasn’t ever been away from training for too long. There were times when training would take a back seat. Moniz shifted to “maintenance mode” for a couple years, when he started his business and had his child, while at other times training would pick up and he managed to find that balance for two decades, winning some local events, racing internationally and he also got to do some races as a pro.
My first contact with him in triathlon was in 1993. At only ten years of age I was at a friend’s weekend house and inside the complex there was a triathlon event. We went to watch and the winner was this guy who ran barefoot due to blisters problems—that was Gustavo Moniz in action!
Fifteen years later we met via a mutual friend and started working together—the mission was clear and simple: to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Ironman Hawaii and the 10-year anniversary
For Moniz, Ironman Hawaii is the pinnacle of triathlon. Aside from being the world championships and attracting the fittest triathletes, pros and amateurs alike, to the start line, the race also carries a huge story of this sport.
In 1999 his opportunity to race in Kona came with the lottery system. While it was his first ironman and there wasn’t much of an expectation in terms of results, he did not consider the mission fully accomplished. Moniz wanted to go back to the island the proper way, qualifying as a top age grouper in the very competitive M40-44 division at one of the Ironman races around the world.
The Attack Plan
Before we started the training, we aimed to get him from 11h54-Ironman shape in 2006 to a Sub-10 performance. And while being a Sub-10 ironman is already decent enough, it doesn’t guarantee Kona slot—we had to pick a race that would suit his strengths while not exposing his weakness.
For a combination of reasons, we decided to go for a fast course with cooler weather, preferably a wetsuit swim, and flat to rolling hills on the bike, followed by a flat and fast run course. Our strategy was to hit the swim and bike as fast as possible, saving just enough in the legs for a quick shuffle on the marathon. Getting him into the top places by T2, we knew that if he were virtually running inside the Kona-slot placing, he would not give up his spot easily—he wanted it more than others. One of those times when heart is more important than legs.
With the race plan in mind, training had to follow. We tailored his sessions to fit in those race day situations, including a fast swim start then settling in the pack, and a solid hard bike with several smaller time-trial sections especially later in the ride, when he would be making up, or gaining, most of the time on the competition.
Run training was also adapted to the strategy he would be the prey, rather than the predator, on race day. He had to be mentally ready to hang on and hang in there for the whole marathon knowing there were fast runners coming from behind trying to catch him and his Kona slot.
Anyone who has done an ironman knows that, regardless of how you paced your race, the last third of the marathon will be very painful—and being in front is a mental advantage, while being virtually qualified for Kona also raises your pain threshold.
The Calendar
Ironman Austria 2008: 9h45 – 33rd place
We started with one of the fastest possible courses, which was also a very competitive event. Our goal was to learn how to race fast, pushed by fast athletes! A Sub-10 was also important for a confidence boost that he was now a new athlete racing in a different league.
We achieved these goals with a new PB and, while a bit down in the ranks, we knew the plan was coming together.
Ironman Arizona 2008: 9h55 – 13th place
Arizona was the first serious shot for the Kona slot. The race was almost perfect, except for a flat tyre. Moniz was ONE MINUTE from the so dreamed Kona slot, a huge disappointment, and the obvious “what if I hadn’t had a flat…” crossed his mind.
While very disappointed, we say we can only control the controllable, so after some time off to recover from the training and racing of 2008 and the mental effort of focusing on Kona qualification, we moved on to the 2009 season.
Ironman Brazil 2009: 9h50 – 5th place
The mental cost of being so close to Kona at Ironman Arizona was huge. We decided to shift our focus to the process, rather than the result, for our next race in Brazil. Instead of racing for the slot, he would be racing for the best executed day he could possibly do, and be happy with whatever outcome that would bring, be it a slow or fast day, a win or last place, Kona slot or not.
On a magical day, Moniz finished the event in 5th place and finally got his Kona slot—the dream was achieved, mission accomplished.
Ironman Hawaii 2009: 11h33
“Ten years later” was the motto for Ironman Hawaii, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary since he first took part in that event. While there were little expectations in terms of results, a slower-than-expected finish time didn’t go down so well, we left the island with a certain “unfinished business” feel.
Ironman Brazil 2011: 9h24 – 6th place
Two years after his last Ironman race, we shifted the focus again to Brazil. In a perfectly executed race Moniz earned his new PB that day and placed sixth, qualifying once again for Kona.
Ironman Hawaii 2011: 10h13
As a more experienced and confident athlete this time in Hawaii, he had a smoother race with very few mistakes. With a new PB by more than one hour, the mission was accomplished.
What’s Next?
In his own words, “My motivation is to keep on improving both my own personal times and within the age group ranks. My goal is to be able to sustain some sort of training forever.”
Moniz is the perfect example of how dedication, consistency and patience are crucial to a long-term success in this sport.
Enjoy your training,
Vinnie Santana – ironguides Head Coach
This article is about the training strategy that took ironguides athlete Leonardo Moreira to an age group win at Ironman Brazil 2011. It explains the strategies we used to win the M40-44 age group and finish in 9hr 03, a 19-minute PB for Leonardo.
When a coach is working with an improving Ironman athlete who over the years managed to go from 10hr 56 to an age group (M40-44) win with 9hr 22 at the age of 40, both coach and athlete are faced with a new challenge.
With splits broken down as a 1hr swim, 5hr 10 bike and 3hr 08 run (plus two quick transitions), the question is how do we improve this—especially considering the circumstances of the athlete;
– A family man with two young kids
– who owns a very demanding business (restaurants, open 365 days of the year)
– plus the fact that the above result was achieved at 40 years old, an age that marks a turning point toward a significant drop in production of hormones linked to performance (testosterone and growth hormone).
The above scenario was exactly the situation of one of my high performance athletes. After winning Ironman Brazil in 2009, Leonardo Moreira’s goal was to qualify for Hawaii in 2011 at Ironman Brazil. >ere are the strategies we used to win the M40-44 age group and finish in 9hr 03, a 19-minute PB for Leonardo.
Swim
Swimming for the age group triathlete is often underrated. Since you only spend 10 percent of your Ironman time in the water, many athletes believe they are better off by investing their efforts in cycling or running.
However, your swim time has an impact on the overall strategy for the race. When you are a fast swimmer, you can get away from the main pack in those first hundred meters after the start, and likely have your own space to swim at your rhythm and stroke, instead of fighting for space, something that happens in most races for 70-80-minute swimmers.
Another advantage of being in a front pack is that you’re able to swim in a group of experienced swimmers who are likely swimming in a straight line or who can read the currents better. Meanwhile a pack of beginners is zigzagging all over the place and does not have enough open water experience to deal with strong currents, winds or choppiness.
Back in 2009, Leonardo had a swim split of just over 1 hour. Our goal for 2011 was to improve this mark by 3 to 4 minutes, which doesn’t sounds like much, but it is enough to put you with a different level of athletes. Our mission was accomplished with a 56-minute split.
To achieve that, we started a swim-focused plan in 2009. The plan was for 10 months since swimming takes much longer to improve than the bike or the run. Also, as Leonardo didn’t have a swimming background, it was important to assign sets that weren’t too long so he wouldn’t lose form as he progressed into the set, and speed was always present. With this combination of frequent and fast workouts, he learned to swim fast with good form.
Bike
The biggest challenge for the age group triathlete is usually availability of time and venue for bike training. Many athletes are based in big cities that require them to drive to a safe place to ride—this makes the indoor trainer a very useful tool, since it is a very efficient and saves time. The trainer is also an excellent option for high intensity repeats; you are likely to ride at a higher effort on the trainer than on the road since you can focus on intensity alone, instead of worrying about your safety (cars, dogs, potholes, etc) as you do while riding outside. Another big benefit is that you are able to do big gear sets that are great for strength, without the inertia that the road gives you—it is almost like doing leg presses on the bike.
The other strategy Leonardo had to apply to go from a 5hr 10 to a 5hr 01 split was doing race simulations on his long rides. For example, we incorporated a strength set on the last third of his long rides to simulate the strong headwinds that are always present during the last 40km on the bike course at Ironman Brazil.
We also opted for a lower volume, higher intensity approach towards most of his bike training. However, this was only possible since he had already done multiple Ironmans—for this type of athlete the distance itself is no longer a challenge. In that case, you are able to do that distance at a higher intensity without draining too much energy from your legs.
And the last tweak in the strategy was that he would take chances on the bike, risk it all, and trust in the training and the experience that his legs would still be there for a solid marathon.
Run
Just like the bike, there comes a point when a run gets very, very hard to improve. Leonardo ran a 3hr 08 Ironman marathon in 2009. Avoiding injuries is one of the biggest challenges in improving the running; every single session on the training plan has to be tailored to that athlete. No more junk miles like the young athletes can handle. At the same time there is a minimum of volume and a weekly long run, sometimes broken in repeats or a structure that allows for a better technique and faster pace.
The 3-minute improvement, he ran 3hr 05 in 2011, came mostly from his increased fitness on the bike and in the swim, which meant he headed out for the marathon with fresher legs and a lower heart rate.
Hormonal Balance – Diet and Sleep
At some stage the athlete reaches the limit of the training volume he can handle, both physically but also in terms of time without conflicting with personal/professional commitment and logistics. Once you get to that point, details in your routine such as sleep and diet can have a greater impact on your performance (and health)!
With The Method we always plan the workout’s structure in a way that keeps testosterone and growth hormone levels within a healthy range. As explained in our articles before, endurance training releases cortisol and decreases testosterone and growth hormone levels, so it is crucial to mitigate those effects with specific strength training done at certain times of the week.
Diet can also play a role in hormonal balance. Insulin is the antagonist of growth hormone—learning how to avoid triggering insulin into your system at times of the day when growth hormone levels are supposed to be at their peak is crucial. Another healthy guideline is to follow a diet with a very high nutrient-per-calorie ratio, instead of the old school idea that “a calorie is a calorie”. As a working age grouper you want to fuel your system with more than energy alone—you also want the nutrients to stay healthy.
Next steps
Once your athlete does 9hr 03 at the age of 42 the same questions pops up: How to improve?
As an athlete gets fitter and ages, the details become more crucial to improvements and that’s where our focus is for the next few years: tweaking those workouts to simulate race day, focusing on a healthy diet and structuring training thinking about hormonal balance. If you look at the 45+ age group, most top athletes have a decent swim, are monsters on the bike but running is their weak link, mostly due to injuries, so this becomes our focus and is something to start thinking about right now.
Enjoy your training!
Vinnie Santana, ironguides Head Coach
Ironman Hawaii has been run and won. It was great to be on the ground supporting all ironguides athletes on race day. We had excellent results for all the 11 ironguides athletes who competed. When it comes to high performance, the 2nd place of Luiz Topan in the M45-49 age group, with a 9hr 17 finish, stands out. Here is what it takes to get to that level in terms of planning, training and executing it all on race day.
Planning
Back in 2009, Luiz was 4th in the M40-44 age group with a time of 9hr 27. When he stood on the podium (Kona awards the Top 5 in each age group), one thing was clear: he needn’t bother to try to qualify for the next year. Though just 43 years old, he simply couldn’t compete with the guys just entering the age group. It was a strong message: once age-group athletes enter their 40s, there’s a substantial drop in performance from year to year. His best bet was to focus for his entry into the next age group.
That provided the initial step in planning his next “attack” in Kona; he would race only two years later (2011), at the age of 45, to increase his chances at winning his age group, by then the M45-49 division. From that point on, all his races were based on this calendar, and we decided to pick Ironman Cozumel in December 2010 as the qualifying race for Kona 2011.
Doing Cozumel one year in advance was a wise decision as it would allow Luiz to fully recover from the qualifying race before building into Hawaii again. Luiz has an injury-prone body, which rules out most qualifying races that take place in the middle of the year, a few months before Hawaii.
The race in Cozumel went great: Luiz earned 2nd place in the M40-44 division, which gave him the slot (in the M45-49 division in Kona since it is the age you are on Ironman Hawaii race day that matters). His final time was 9hr 11, even with a flat during the bike.
Training
We did two specific training blocks leading up to Hawaii. They were very unique in terms of periodisation since Luiz was coming off a run injury he suffered early in the year. We broke it down in two different training blocks:
Training Block #1
Swim: High volume, High intensity
Bike: High volume, Moderate intensity
Run: Low volume, Low intensity
The decision to break down the disciplines into intensity and volume, as described above, was to allow him to get some bike volume before the second block; with his injury history it is not possible to do high run- and bike volume at the same time.
Training Block #2
Swim: Moderate Volume, High intensity
Bike: Moderate Volume, High intensity
Run: Moderate volume, Moderate intensity
With a lower bike volume (reduced from high to moderate), we aimed to give his body a break from all the cortisol released during the long rides, and balance his performance hormones through the week with a high-intensity bike and swim. This strategy would get his body ready to handle the increase in run volume
Race Day
I was Luiz’s roommate during race week and it was great to see that he was relaxed and confident. By now, Luiz has raced all over the world at all levels—this race in Hawaii was almost “one more” for him, which helped to keep the nerves under control.
Luiz was willing to take a risk on race day. It was an “all or nothing” strategy, another mediocre finish had no appeal. We both would be prouder if he attempted to race strong and blew apart later on, than racing with a defensive strategy only to do well again. He had been on the podium in Hawaii before, and there was no reason to aim for that again so we went for the win.
Speaking of winning, we knew that one athlete would give Luiz a great challenge for the victory. His name is Bent Andersen, a multiple Ironman Hawaii age group winner who until recently held the course record for three age groups (M35-39, 40-44, 45-49). Bent was also a world class professional triathlete back in the 1990s. Since the race is not won until someone crosses the finish line first, Luiz went for it.
On race day, his swim went as planned. He swam with the first pack in just over 53 minutes. After a quick two-minute transition, he was off to put the hammer down on the bike. The instructions were clear: ride like there is no run afterwards. He knew he needed a decent lead off the bike as his run training had been limited in the past year. We were looking for a 3hr 20min marathon, so the only hope was to increase the lead after the swim and hold off the competitors on the run.
Out on the run course, I took the first split and he had 5min 40sec on second place, Bent Andersen. The race was on. I was giving him splits every 5km or so. By the entrance of the Energy Lab, about 25km into the run, Luiz was still 2 minutes ahead but hurting badly. We tried a mental game then; once he hit the U-turn at the Energy Lab, he would pick up the pace and try to look fresh when running past Bent (coming from the opposite direction) in an effort to demoralise him.
However, as expected, Bent is an experienced athlete and stayed consistent with his pace. He eventually caught Luiz and attacked by opening up a 2-minute gap in five kilometers. Luiz tried to stay within striking distance—this is Ironman after all and anything is possible. We never know how much the leader is struggling and we have seen people collapsing on the course in the closing miles.
That never happened with Bent, however, who was the strongest athlete on that day and fully deserves the title of Ironman World Champion in the M45-49 age group.
Luiz was also extremely happy with his performance as there were no “what ifs” left after the race. He left it all on the course and couldn’t have gone one second faster. He can now rest and recover from the race knowing that he did his absolute best on race day, and this is ultimately what we aim to teach all our athletes to do, not only when racing but also in training and any challenging circumstances in their lives.
Enjoy your training!