Category : Race prep

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7 Tips for a Better Iron-Distance Taper

May 16, 2018

Home, Race prep, recovery, Training

When triathletes reach the taper period of their training plan, their eyes light up as finally, the days of long and hard workouts are behind them. But ask any triathlete about their plan, most of them will have that deer caught in the headlights look.
Am I resting enough? Or am I doing too much? That is the most common lingering question on taper weeks for most age-groupers. For many weeks of long workouts, coupled with high intensity work, it is truly an unfamiliar ground to break it off, especially when you feel you have peaked.
To keep it in perspective, the primary goal of a taper period is to shed and regain. Sounds ironic? It is to shed fatigue, and regain proper form. Fatigue and form usually doesn’t go along well. When your muscles are fatigued, they are tight and usually do not function in their full range of motion. That is why form suffers when you are in the tail-end of any endurance event.
But shedding fatigue and sharpening form has its strategy. You do not suddenly turn-off a tuned engine for three weeks then expect it to run perfectly on raceday.
Here are the tips for a better Iron-Distance Taper:

1. Reduce length and volume. This is a no-brainer, but the rule of thumb is a 25% training volume reduction in the 1st week of 3-week taper. Fifty percent in the next week, and a 75% reduction in race-week. Again, this is a template. A consistent, solid, fitter triathlete will need lesser training volume reduction as mentioned.

2. Do not catch-up on missed workouts! Any age-grouper will miss training, due to work, family time, or even sickness. Catching up with the hard and long workouts and ultimately lessening your taper period will not improve your fitness anymore. One pro triathlete said it best; “there is not a lot you can do inside three weeks to help your race, but there is a lot you can do to shipwreck it.”

3. Too much Easy/Recovery sessions. Reducing the training load does not mean you will ultimately forget high-intensity sessions. Inadequate high-intensity training in the last 3 weeks ultimately leads to a flat race, wherein you feel you cannot exert the power and intensity you gained in your peak period. Just remember to keep your sessions short and at ironman-specific pace…or just a tad-faster. This will keep your body in vroom-vroom mode until raceday, just making it remember you are one fine-tuned athlete.

4. Maintain the regular training schedule/number of sessions in a week. Again, if you mess up with a schedule that you have been regularly doing the past 16-20 weeks or so, this will again lead you to overdoing the “rest”part of the taper, leading again to a flat race. It is important to keep the routine but with less volume. Mentally, that will benefit you greatly as you stay focused on the plan.

5. Reward your body. The build and peak period has made your body one high-fitness machine. During this time, we bet that there was little time devoted to non-swim bike and run recovery sessions. With time and volume decreased in this taper period, you can accelerate healing your body with flexibility/stretching sessions, foam rolling and sports massage. This sessions will help regain proper form, improving your swim, bike and run economy. A repaired and rebuilt body will have maximum potential for power on raceday. Just a warning though, never do a hard, sports massage too close to the race. It will do more harm than good.

6. Not the time to reward yourself by overeating. The race isn’t over yet. The hard work is done, but this is not the time to celebrate by over-indulging with food..or even drinks (alcohol). Maintain your nutrition/meal plan you executed on your build and peak periods. This is also not the time to experiment on what type of nutrition you will need on race-day.

7. Stay sharp mentally. With more time on your hands, this is the perfect time to review and assess what have gone right and wrong on your iron-distance training. Remind yourself your strengths and implement them on your race strategy. This is also not the time to correct whatever weakness you discovered in your training. Instead, work around your weakness and hopefully hide it on your race plan. Review your travel plans, make your packing and gear checklist. Also, this is very important: review the race maps and information guide. An informed triathlete is always the faster triathlete.

Race Prep: The Half Ironman Taper

September 13, 2017

Home, Race prep, Training

At this stage of preparation, with the months of hard work behind you and a mere 2 weeks until the big day, you should be at your fittest. You’ve done the late night track sessions, given up a social life for 5am bike rides, and rushed to the pool after work to get a swim in. Well Done! There’s not a lot more you can do to improve your fitness.

But how do you handle race week so that you are feeling fantastic and raring to go on race day? Too much rest could see you feeling flat, lethargic and unmotivated, while too much training will not give your body a chance to freshen up.

The taper is a period of reduced training load designed for your body to rest and repair while allowing the body’s natural physiological adoptions occur. You may have heard some athletes talk about “soaking up” all the hard work- this is what they are referring to.

When tapering after a long period of consistent training, our body’s transition from “fight” mode (training) into “heal” mode (tapering); the cardiovascular and muscular systems that are constantly being stressed for greater adaptation start to wind down and enter a state of deep rest. The hormonal balance in your body also changes as the hormones released to sustain the high levels of physical exertion during training drops, while the level of “restorative” hormones increases.

Your muscles will also start to “gum up” as they lay down healing connective tissue. This is why it is important to keep moving and the reason that we don’t take extended periods totally off during a taper. Essentially, we want to do as little as possible (allowing for maximum rest) while still keeping the systems switched on and just ticking over in the background.

These changes translate to a sensation of fatigue and lethargy in the body that is often experienced in the 1st few days of your taper. Your body will feel sluggish as you have been used to a very high rate of oxygenation and movement of fluids. Your metabolism will be out of whack too because the amount of energy you are used to expending drops. Your digestion will feel a little off, your head foggy, and you feel all the little aches and pains that the season’s training brings with it.

Knowing why it’s happening and expecting these changes to take place is important because it will help you stay cool and not freak out. In fact, what would be cause for concern would be if you didn’t feel these things at all!

DOs

1. Keep moving and stay loos As a rule, cut down first on intensity (the most damaging), then volume and lastly, on training frequency. Tapering is not a period of complete rest. 10 days of doing nothing will see you very well rested but also feeling flat, lethargic and possibly carrying a few extra kilos.Once you get to race week, it’s a matter of getting plenty of rest but not letting your systems shut down entirely.

Maintain the same frequency as your regular weekly training cycle to keep the engine purring. Almost all sessions are done at the easy effort level for 50 – 30 mins in duration – with the only exception being a longer and very easy 90 min bike ride in the 1st half of the week.

Throw in a few short efforts in each of the disciplines to keep your muscles firing and familiar with the effort on race day. Short 5 min race pace efforts work well at the start of the week, while harder 30 – 90 sec bursts are good to fire up the legs/ arms towards the end of taper week. Keep everything else easy. You want to perform the sessions hard enough just to tease out the right physiological response to keep that system ticking over.

All the training sessions that you put in the last week should leave you hungry to do more. In a sense, you’re teasing your body to build energy levels up before the full race day effort. Do not hammer yourself on any sessions during this time to “test your fitness”. Trust in the many hours that you have already put in.

2. Travel days are stressful enough so you can take this day completely off or just strap on the shoes for a 20 min easy run after settling in- just to loosen up the legs.

3. Adjust the size of your meals to account for the decreased activity level ) Watch what you eat during taper because your training load (and the subsequent calorific replacement rate) is significantly reduced. You won’t get away with stuffing your face after a short session, even though, out of habit, you may feel like it.

4. Try to keep taper week free of stressful occurrences. Make sure everything is settled on the work and family front early. Mentally (and physically) you want to be in a relaxed place so that you can spend time rehearsing your race strategy and nutrition plan. Visualise different sections of the race and remind yourself of what to expect and how you want to be feeling and how you are going to react, in terms of pacing, motivation and nutrition, at each of these ‘check points’.

5. The fitter you are, the more susceptible you are to common bugs, colds and flus and the more easily we get sick (I’ll explain why in another article). Diet – wise, top up on loads fresh and colourful fruit and veg to make sure you’re getting the vitamins and anti-oxidants required to keep our immunity high. A daily multi-vit is also a good idea.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t plan your family vacation before your race. A few relaxing days by the beach is fine, but a 2 week hiking tour in New Zealand/ Europe/ Canada/ USA is not a good idea.

2. Avoid taking a total day off the day before the race. If you feel like you need it, two days out is better. Do a little touch in each discipline the day before, just to get the engine warmed up.

3. Mental fatigue from the Ironman hype: While the Ironman “circus” is part of the experience, it doesn’t mean that you have to be breathing triathlon 24/7 for the entire week before the race Being on your feet, swapping stories about racing and training, considering late equipment changes from the expo sale, etc etc… all that is going to zap your energy big time.

Stay low-key – I recommend getting to the race venue as late as possible so that you have a limited time at to hang out at the Athlete Village. Limit yourself to one pass – buy all the souvenirs/ supplies you want, take photos of that new bike, go hassle some Pros, and catch up with all your friends on their training and racing. Then leave it, get out of there and avoid going back. Booking your accommodation a few miles away from the race area helps too.

In conclusion, stay cool and level-headed and move smoothly through any last minute hiccups that you may encounter. All training sessions need to be conservative and should not incur any muscle damage/ fatigue at all. Save your energy, trust in your training and mentally prepare to ‘go there’ on race day. Good Luck!

Shem Leong is our ironguides coach in Singapore. He has been hooked on triathlon ever since winning his age group in his first Olympic-distance race. Many top performances later, Shem still enjoys the challenges of training and racing at a high level, while balancing this with work and family. He is a firm believer in the benefits of an active lifestyle and loves being able to positively affect his athletes’ lives in this way. In the four years that Shem has worked as an ironguides coach so far, he has helped more than 60 athletes achieve their goals. They range from newbies hoping to complete their first sprint race, to 70.3 podium contenders, to seasoned Sub 10-hour Ironman athletes. Shem’s care for his athletes and his attention to detail set him apart. He completely understands the varied pull factors of life’s demands as well as the fiery motivations that drive everyday age groupers and is able to craft sustainable, effective training plans for their time-crunched schedules. An Honour’s Degree in Health Science has given Shem the knowledge to explain and expertly administer The Method. This, in turn, helps his athletes understand how each session contributes towards their ultimate goal; as a result, countless personal bests have been improved upon as his athletes continually get fitter and faster.

By Shem Leong
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Race Day – Avoiding Mistakes

August 8, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62oFoUJQ-x8

Home, Race prep

Getting to race day fit and ready to race is a hard task and a challenge to every athlete and coach. I would say as a coach those final 2 weeks before a race are the most stressful of an entire program, not so much in terms of the physical preparation and fitness its about all the little mistakes an athlete can make in those final days that can derail months of good consistent hard work and sacrifice.

It amazes me when athletes are in great shape yet report back to problems encountered on race day, cramping or bad back, nutritional issues or even mechanical issues. When we go through all the details something always comes up and it just shows how easily we are influenced and how we are easily drawn into others beliefs. A classic example is athletes complaining of a bad back yet never experienced in training then report to lowering front end as they saw pics in race magazine and everyone looked much lower than themselves therefore must be faster.

Peter Reid multiple time Hawaii champion even managed to make this rookie mistake at Challenge Roth – seeing the set up of the bikes of his competitors he changed to a behind the saddle water bottle before the race and had a little difficulty getting on his bike resulting in a few falls as he could not jump on his bike the way he had always done in training – it may look funny but could have resulted in a serious injury and ruined the event for Peter, luckily it did not effect Peter in this day.

Lets look at some regular mistakes athletes make in those final days or on the day itself and make sure you do not repeat these yourself and ruin all the work you have done to get race ready.

Hydration and cramping

This is one of the biggest issues I see and one of the biggest causes of mysterious race day cramping in athletes that never seem to experience cramps in training. Through media and the influence of sports drink manufactures we have been led to believe we need to hyper hydrate the day before a race and the morning of a race. At any event you will still see many athletes walking around with bottles and drinking every couple of minutes – you will normally see them standing outside the porta-loos flushing away all their body salts perfectly preparing them for major race day cramping.

Our bodies are very good at preserving salts but if you flood the body with huge amounts of water or even electrolyte drinks when its not needed you will leach body salts out of the muscle. If you want to increase salts and hydration it needs to be a long term gradual process during race week and make sure your taking the salts in during and immediately following any exercise which is when the body will be more likely to absorb.

If your easing off training before a race, your body needs less fluid and salts not more – think of it another way if you train 20 hours a week and suddenly drop to 8 your going to need a lot less food not a lot more – same goes with fluids.

Dead legs and sore feet

This is another common issue, athletes complaining of sore swollen feet the day before a race and a dead legged feeling on race day. This one is a very simple problem to solve, it comes from spending too much time on your feet the day/ days before the race cruising the expo and chatting with fellow athletes. Standing around allows all the blood to pool in your lower limbs and feet causing them to swell and become cramped and sore in shoes – not only are they sore but this excess blood and water retention leads to poorer muscle contractions on race day.

Try to save the expo and catch ups until after the race or meet in a cafe or for a meal where you can sit down. On the day before the race try to et as much done as possible on the morning and then get to your room and chill out watching a movie or reading a book with your legs elevated to a 45+ degree position to drain excess blood and fluid from the legs and have you feeling fresh and ready for race day. Its not a mystery as to where all the pro’s are the day before a race – they are not out training they are chilling out getting ready to battle!

Carbohydrate Loading

This practice is great and has been shown time and time again to boost endurance performance BUT we can very easily get it wrong. Carbohydrate loading should be done in the 2 days prior to the race not just the day before with 1 big meal.

Our bodies absorb carbs into the muscle most effectively immediately following exercise and more so following intense exercise. Following this knowledge our pre race big carbohydrate meal should be immediately after a training session with a little bit of intensity. I would suggest a session like this late morning on the day before a race including a short period of around 10 minutes at race pace – during this session take on board an energy drink containing calories not a electrolyte drink and then as soon as possible after the session get a good carb heavy meal consumed. It amazes me how athletes tend to do a session like this and then eat a salad and consume a big carbohydrate meal later at night.

Eating a carb rich meal late at night will increase blood sugar and trigger a stress response without the exercise, it will not lead to storage in the muscle but more a feeling of anxiety and make it very hard to sleep.

My tip here is a big carbohydrate lunch immediately after your final pre race training session then a lighter evening meal and try to add in some medium chain triglycerides for enhanced endurance performance on race day – coconut milk and cream are a good choice here!!

To make the most of your fitness and enjoy performing to your best on race day make sure you do not make little mistakes right before the race that will destroy your day. Planning before the event so you know exactly what routine to go through in race week and the final preparations will make sure you stay on track and perform to your true potential.

Enjoy your fitness and get out there racing!!

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. Atironguides, your best is our business!

More info at www.ironguides.net

By Alun “Woody” Woodward

–

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Ironman Performance – The Final 4 Weeks

August 2, 2017

Home, Race prep, Training

The final weeks before your big race bring a lot of anxiety and its a time when athletes start to question their fitness and training.

When you get to this stage 4 weeks out from your big event the training has been done and you are not really going to increase your fitness before the race, though you can certainly damage that fitness in the final 4 weeks by chasing fitness or on the other side not doing enough training and losing fitness.

Ironman is an extreme endurance sport and events of this duration do not require the taper process that we commonly hear about for endurance events. In fact if we look at the history of the taper it was primarily used successfully for relatively short anaerobic events such as track running and swimming which physiologically are far removed from the demands of ironman. When looking for a similar sport we have to look at cycling or ultra running and athletes in these sports do not really use a conventional taper and rather build straight into the events with any significant rest taken a long way out from the event.

Ironman athletes who adapt the conventional 3 week taper process into events generally will go into the event with reduced fitness and not feel their best on race day.

On the other side i see triathletes who are always searching for more fitness and this almost becomes a panic in the final weeks before race, the need for one more long ride or run to test fitness is just what is needed to tip the athlete over the edge and lead to illness or injury which is inevitably going to lead to a sub par performance on race day.

So if we do not taper as conventional endurance athletes then what do we need to look at in the final 4 weeks before an event.

First and foremost is routine, we are creatures of habit, panic and uncertainly result from us not following our routines. This routine applies directly to training, the final 4 weeks of training should follow a very similar plan to that which the athlete has been following. If you have gone for weeks doing your long ride on a Saturday and long run Sunday then we want to maintain this pattern even if the training volume or prescription is slightly different.

Saying that we want to maintain routine we still want to incorporate some rest time – the amount of rest is very individual and depends on the athletes life and training levels leading into this period. An athlete who is very consistent with training is likely to be more mentally fatigued from the training and would benefit from more rest time but at the same time this athlete will need a period of regular training leading into the race to feel both normal and confident, this will be the athlete who does not believe tapers work for them!

With this athlete i would start to incorporate a very light period of training over a 5-10 day period and include maybe 1-2 rest days in this time, this period though would happen in the 3-4 weeks out from the race period so the athlete can have a good period of regular training again before the race.

For the athlete who is less consistent with training having a rest day or 2 in the final 10 days before the race is not going to effect them mentally or physically as they will be used to having days off here and there while training for whatever reasons be it family pressure work or just the need for a rest day.

Athletes need to know that rest in this final period before the race is not going to make them feel good and fresh, most of the time rest is going to make the athlete feel more fatigued and less fit as the body given this opportunity to ease off the gas pedal goes into a deeper recovery and regeneration phase then the mini regeneration phases we take on a normal day. An athlete not aware this is going to happen will panic and feel the need to go out and get fitter and train when they are supposed to be resting or they will constantly feel the need to test themselves while training and push harder than any given session requires.
Training during the final 4 weeks needs to take into account this rest period and how it fits best for different athletes. For any athlete i will have finished this rest period 10 days out from the race and the final 10 days will see the athletes follow a training plan very similar to one they will have used during their main preparation phase. In the days 7-10 days out from the race i will have athletes complete their regular long run and bike normally run 10 days out and bike 7 days out. Then in the final days before event once further longer ride is used 3 days out from the race to make sure the body is burning fuel as required for race day.

Again this is highly individual and through coaching specific athletes you will see some athletes lose endurance performance very quickly within a short number of days while others can do very little endurance training and never have an issue with the endurance side of the race.

For athletes who lose endurance capacity quickly then a longer easy paced ride as close as 2-3 days out from the race can see great performance gains on race day.

As we enter the final 4 weeks before our main race we need to ensure the plan is set for us individually and followed, we need to know what is to be expected with feelings in training and mentally and the obstacles that we will face as a result of this.

One final thing i like athletes to start to think about in these weeks is building energy for the race day, we should see this time as being like a caged animal, we can always want more training, we can always want to test our fitness but we have to keep this under wraps and just follow the plan. Athletes who follow this are buzzing race week as they can’t wait to get out there and explode, whereas on the other side the athlete who has constantly tested and pushed for more fitness just looks exhausted and down in race week and almost dreading the start rather than anticipating it.

Enjoy your fitness!

Alun “Woody” Woodward

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Turning the page

June 28, 2017

Home, Race prep

Ironman is a very demanding sport and challenge for all who take part, that in itself is the beauty and attraction of the sport. We all make a lot of sacrifices for training both in terms of time away from family and friends to the actual cost of equipment and events and the weight of all these things can come crashing down on us if something goes wrong before an event or even worse during the event itself. Think we have all heard about the post Ironman blues but this depression is magnified when something goes wrong and prevents us doing as planned on race day.

We spend a lot of time and energy training and planning for success, but I think it’s very important that athletes have a strategy in place to cope with failure or obstacles that may arise in be lead up or on race day.

Illness

One of the biggest obstacles we have as athletes and Ironman is illness, our immune systems can be compromised with all the training and it is usually when we ease off training that illness comes out – the amount of athletes who become ill during race taper is huge. So what can you do when illness hits in the days before a race?

Firstly stay calm, stressing out is only going to make the situation worse and prolong the illness. Speak to your coach as adapting your training plan at this time will ensure your immune system has more chance to recover and a coach can make sure appropriate sessions are given to keep muscles switched on while not stressing the system too much! An example of this can be seen with the following sessions

SWIM

Panned session

200 easy – 5×200 moderate on 3min – 200 easy

Adapted session

200 easy – 3×200 pull / paddles on 4min – 200 easy

In the adapted session by adding in use of the pull buoy and paddles we place a little more emphasis on strength and reduce the cardio stress, heart rate will be lower and breathing under control but the muscles will still get the same training effect. Longer recoveries in the set ensure heart rate stays lower and does not drift up during the session.

Following the session you will feel you have worked the muscles but will not feel fatigued and drained as during a normal session undertaken while sick.

We can apply this in a similar way to a bike session, for example if we had some 3min hard intervals to do that would be quite hard for the body when sick we want to look at hitting the same system and have the muscles work but we can reduce the time to stop the level of stress. So for example we may work on 40second hard with 2.20 easy between – we still get the muscles worked but the shorter interval will keep heart rate low and the long recoveries will stop heart rate drifting up.

Mechanical issues – travel related?

Another issue that often comes up to throw a spanner in the works is a mechanical issue with bikes, this is extremely common when travelling on planes or cars as we normally do when racing. Triathlon bikes can be very expensive and have specialty parts due to brand designs, if you have a bike that requires specialty parts and bolts for things such as stems, seat post or saddles then make sure you order spares to travel with – it’s a horrible feeling to get to your race with a $10000 bike and not be able to race because you do not have a $10 screw to replace a broken part.

Sometimes though the bike may not be repairable or not turn up at the airport with your bags, this does happen a lot more than you think. Position on your bike is very important and just a small change from your position will affect not only your biking but how you run off the bike – so make sure you have all your measurements written down in case the worst comes to the worst and you have to hire a bike at the event.

Having taken care of everything you can there is still the possibility of something actually going wrong during the race that can end your day, this is something we can’t prevent or really plan for but is just a reality when we are reliant on equipment and not just our selves to get through the race, a flat tire, broken wheel, snapped seat post bolt are just a few examples. Also crashes do happen on the bike and again these can be totally out of our control.

When something happens during the day that means you can’t finish the event it will feel devastating at the time but if we know it can happen and have strategies in mind for it we can cope a lot better. I think we see this a lot with pro athletes as they have to cope with failure a lot more often, picking yourself up and just getting on with it just becomes part of life for a pro. I think you learn quickly that brooding does not solve anything and just makes you and all around you miserable. Just think about kids learning to ride a bike. When they crash we make sure they get straight back on a get going and they learn very quickly this way, we need to take e same mindset and get back on and get going with life! One of my favourite sayings is TURN THE PAGE – no matter how bad we have to just turn the page and start a fresh!

If we have trained for an Ironman and something has prevented the race being completed use your fitness, find another event even if a small local event or just get a group of friends together and do your own training race to get closure from all the hard work you have done!

Always remember tomorrow is a new day and we can always start a fresh wherever we may be!

Enjoy your training

Alun “Woody” Woodward

Train with ironguides!

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Triathlon Race: Prep Practice

May 17, 2017

Home, Race prep

As we edge closer to spring, your training should be in full swing as the start of the race season is just around the corner.

While working hard with your training there is another area of preparation that is worth looking at that could have a big impact on your race performance that many of you will forget to think about.

Most of us like to target a big event every year and with so many Ironman events around the globe this event will probably require you to travel. Travel while exciting does require a lot of preparation and for the athlete even more so as you have to take a lot of race day essentials with you along with the added issue of packing a bike and reassembling the bike at your destination.

While all this may seem simple and straight forward, I highly recommend you have a practice run before the big event as a lot can go wrong and it will give you more of an idea about what you need ready and in place.

This practice takes place for a lot of athletes when they head off to an early season training camp, a luxury not possible for all but one you can replicate even by heading away for a night or long weekend. It is not about getting away at this time more so just having a practice run at preparation.

First step is always going to be writing a list and getting together all you will need on race day. I like to run through the individual sports when making my list to make sure I do not forget anything and then move on to packing the bike. So lets look at some essentials:

SWIM

wet suit / speed suit / race suit
goggles / hat / neoprene hat if cold swim / body glide or similar lubricant

BIKE

bike / helmet / shoes / glasses / race belt / water bottles / socks / talc / salt tablets

RUN

shoes / visor / number belt / socks / watch

The basics are covered above, but you may want to add to these. Get everything out or make sure you have everything and then see if you have a bag that will take everything you need. If you are flying to your race you also need to consider weight as you will be restricted and may have to limit what you pack.

Once you have these essentials packed you need to look at packing your bike, even if you are good at taking apart your bike it is good to practice packing your bike into your case and making sure everything fits, also while doing this you may find screws and other things on the bike that are worn and need replacing. Seat post clamps are a big one here that regularly break and get worn down as they are very fragile – having a spare is never a bad thing. These items tend to not be kept in stock at most local bike shops and it is not something you want to discover is broken or needs replacing before traveling out to your main event or worse still when you arrive and set your bike up for the race.

Make sure you measure up seat post height, handlebar height and saddle position before taking your bike apart to make sure it is easy to get your normal position for race day. Even a slight change from your training position will have a major impact on your biking performance and can lead to cramping and also an aching back when you move from the bike to run.

If you are just traveling by car you may not need to dismantle your bike at all, but once you arrive at your destination make sure you check all the screws are still tight. The vibrations from travel can loosen off screws leading to disaster on race day – it is very common to see people’s handlebars for example come loose on race day and such a simple thing can prevent you finishing the event.

Once you have your bike packed there are other things you need to pack with your bike, spare inner tubes are one essential as you need to make sure you have the correct valve size and these may not be available at your destination. Also race day nutrition, if you have trained with one product make sure you travel with enough for race day as you do not want to be trying out a new product on race day or hunting around at your race destination for your favorite product only to find its not available.

PRO TIP

One of the major risks when your travel includes flights is that your bags will simply not turn up at your destination. This happens a lot more than you might think with bike boxes and this fact should influence how you pack certain essentials. If your bike does not turn up you may well be able to hire a bike at the race, to make this less stressful have a full set of measurements ready and also having your own pedals and shoes will make the replacement bike feel more like your own. I would always recommend traveling with your bike shoes, pedals, wet suit and run shoes in your hand baggage so there is no possibility you will arrive at the race without them.

Once you have sorted out all your packing and you are ready to travel, its a good idea to try and get a feel for your destination, knowing the layout of the area and where everything you might need is will help. Google earth is a great help here as you can get a very good feel for an area without leaving your living room, you can check your accommodation location and the surrounding area for shops and other local amenities.

While all this may seem way over the top, trust me if you leave all this until race week you could end up getting caught out by the most basic item and it can have a devastating effect on your race.

Enjoy your training!
By Alun “Woody” Woodward
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Abu Dhabi International Triathlon Course Review

February 10, 2014

DNR, Home, Race prep, Training

Coaching Tips: The Abu Dhabi International Triathlon

The Abu Dhabi International Triathlon is fast becoming a must on the triathlon circuit. For professionals the large prize money and the opportunity for an early season test are very attractive.

For age groupers, the unique distances (Super Sprint-750m/50km/5km; Short Course-1500m/100km/10km; and Long Course-3km/200km/20km) and very unique destination are attracting large numbers.

In its fifth year with the stunning Emirates Palace as the background for the swim, the YAS Island Formula One Circuit as the turnaround for the bike, and the Persian Gulf as the backdrop on the run, this event offers truly a stunning course and is sure to be added to an ever-increasing number of race calendars as word gets out.

While the course looks straight forward at first glance, the unique distances and always-difficult weather conditions can make this race very challenging. Triathlons are supposed to be hard and inspirational, and this race is certainly both. Athletes have faced high winds and temperatures in the previous years, with the mercury climbing to the high 30s (Celsius) by the time athletes started on the run.

With very little shelter from both the sun and the wind, and blowing sand, athletes who were able to cross the finish line at the end of the day truly felt they had accomplished something special.

Swim (750m/1500m/3km)

The swim for the ADIT begins and ends on the white sand beach of the Emirates Palace. With 1.3km of private beach and over 1kg of edible gold used every year, it is easy to forget the long day you have ahead of you.

Long-course athletes swim 2 laps of the counter-clockwise rectangular swim. With athletes going off in waves, this is one of the most ‘comfortable’ swim starts you will find in a race this size. Long-course athletes, however, re-enter the water after a short beach run and will have to navigate their way through the later-starting and slower swimmers from the short course and super sprint waves.

With water temperatures generally hovering around 23 degrees at this time of the year, all the talk leading up to the race focused on whether wetsuits would be allowed, or not. In the end, race organizers decided to ban wetsuits for the professionals but allow them for age groupers. This was a welcome decision. The buoyant salty waters of the Persian Gulf combined with the wetsuit made for a fast swim.

Swimming in a wetsuit, although it feels generally easier due to the extra flotation the suit provides, is harder on the shoulders. Training in a wetsuit is recommended to strengthen your specific swimming muscles and to get used to the feel of the suit and the extra strain on the shoulders; however, this is not always an option for everyone. A great way to simulate wetsuit swimming in the pool is to swim with paddles and pull-buoys. Long sets broken into shorter intervals with the pull-buoy give the feel of the extra buoyancy of the wetsuit and the paddles add the extra strain on the shoulders.

A very good set to prepare for a wetsuit swim is:

Warm-up: 300m easy

28 X 100m swim as:

3 hard, 1 easy with 15s rest between intervals and an extra 30s rest after every 4^th.

Cool-down: 200m easy

This session is about developing swim strength, improving your position in the water and developing an ‘open water’ swim stroke. The main goal of this set is to hold your best time that is sustainable for the entire set. Don’t destroy yourself aerobically.

Bike (50km/100km/200km)

The bike course is a 2-1/2 out-and-back course with athletes completing a lap of the world famous YAS Island Formula One Race track at the turnaround of lap 1 and lap 2. The bike course is almost pancake flat with the only elevation change coming as cyclists cross Khalifa Bridge connecting Abu Dhabi Island with Saadiyat Island and again when crossing the small bridge connecting Saadiyat Island with YAS island. Ironically the flat nature of the course is one of the things that make it so difficult. In addition to the heat and potential for high winds, the flatness of the course means that athletes are time-trialing the entire distance. This means no downhills to rest and no built-in opportunities to get out of your aerobars to stretch or change up your cadence. To be successful on this course, athletes need to be prepared to sit in their aerobars and push a big gear for the duration of the ride.

The best training for this course is to do negative-split rides on a flat course in the aero position pushing big gears.

Long ride session:

3-4 hours Negative Split B.R.O Ride—that is 3 to 4 hours in Big Ring Only.

After a 15-minute warm-up, shift to your big ring. Head out easy, staying in the aero position and keeping your chain in the big ring for the entire time. Bring it home a little harder, but still under control. Keep the cadence down and push the big gears!

Another great workout that can be done on the road or on the trainer is the weekly negative-split ride as:

20min easy

20 min moderate

20 min hard

Run (5km/10km or/20km)

The run course is 2 laps for the long course athletes, taking them from transition 2 on to the Corniche running path along the Persian Gulf to the turnaround on a point in the middle of the bay. Like the bike course, the run course is flat. Flat and, more often than not, very hot! Like in cycling, a flat course also brings its own challenges for the run. However, with the long course being only 20km, you can take a bit of a risk and go for it on the run if you have anything left.

As with all triathlon runs, it is important to focus on a high stride rate. The treadmill is a great tool for this, but this workout can also be done on the road or track:

Warm-up: 15min with 4-5 strides towards the end

Main set: 8 X {1min fast at 96 steps per minute, followed by 4min steady at 90 steps per minute}

Cool-down: 10min easy

Focus on high stride rate and running form during both the ‘hard’ and ‘steady’ sections. During the ‘steady’ section, runners often drop their stride rate too much and lose form. It is important during this portion of the set to focus on keeping the stride up and running with good form.

The final point to pay attention to when preparing for the ADIT is heat acclimation and hydration. This race can get very hot and it’s important for athletes who don’t train in hot climates to turn up prepared for the heat. Here are some tips on ways cool-weather athletes can prepare themselves for the Abu Dhabi heat. The most important thing is to get used to being uncomfortably hot for at least one to two hours of training per day in the month leading up to the event:

Use layers to stay warmer than normal. Use wind-resistant clothing on the bike.
Wear a windproof layer to surround your body in a shell of humidity.
Wear tights sooner than you normally would.
Wear long gloves and a headband.
If training on the trainer or treadmill, turn off the A/C and fan.
Try to do as much training as you can during the heat of the day.

It is also important to begin getting your body used to being hot when you’re not training:

Avoid using the air conditioning during the month leading up to the race.
Turn up the heat in your car, at home, and in your office.
Wear an extra layer of clothes or a sweater.

Once you arrive in Abu Dhabi prior to the race:

Avoid (as much as possible) the air conditioning.
Do your training during the heat of the day and at times that will be similar to race day.
Finally, the day before the race, AVOID both the sun and exposing yourself to extreme temperatures. Do your final sessions during the cooler part of the day or inside if necessary.
And, finally, hydrate and replenish during this acclimation phase. Make sure you are paying attention to replacing fluids and electrolytes your body is losing through extra sweat due to the increased training temperatures.

The Abu Dhabi International Triathlon is a fantastic event and will be a memorable experience. Hopefully, these tips give you a good idea of the challenges you will face and help make your day a superb one.

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