Category : ironman

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Ironman Training – Spring Mistakes

January 4, 2019

By Alun Woodward, Online Triathlon Coach, ironguides.net

Spring is a time of growth in nature and a time of booming enthusiasm among athletes. After the cold dark winter months the nights are getting longer and the temperature is heading north, no longer are we waking up or finishing work with the prospect of training in the dark. This alone gives us a huge motivation boost but also the lighter days are signalling race season is right around the corner.

Having trained well all winter and in good shape we need to take a step back and make sure we do not get carried away with this boost in motivation. Your training plan may well have changed to coincide with the arrival of spring and the impending race season and with these changes there are some often ignored elements that need to be taken into consideration.

NUTRITION

One of the biggest mistakes being made at this time of year is with nutrition, a sudden rush among athletes to get to race weight usually means a reduction in calories. In general you are going to be training a little more and with more intensity in your spring program, if you add these 2 elements to your training program and then restrict calories you are going to be setting yourself up for a problem pretty quickly.

As you ramp up your training you need to also ramp up your calorie intake, the more intensity in your program the more the calories need to maintain the workload, the increase in training load will slowly take care of getting you to race weight without the need for restricting calories. Always have in the back of your mind you want to be at race weight for your main race not your first race unless they are one and the same! A slow progression to race weight is always the best.

Having said this judging how many calories you need is a hard one to judge so how do you know if your not getting enough? Look for the following symptoms and act upon them!

Feeling more cold than normal

If your feeling cold more than normal and others around you are not noticing this then its a sure sign your not getting enough calories by a long shot!

Have you become the GRUMP

Have you found yourself becoming grumpy at times when everything seems to be going se well for you, no idea why your feeling like this – its quite simple – you need to eat more. I see a lot of athletes who eat well and very healthy meals who very quickly get into this state and do not understand it – the problem is the meal size/ calorie load was just not enough for the demands being put on your body. Studies have shown that ab libitum feeding post intense exercise is not enough for replacing calories expended.

If you often find yourself in this state or maybe ask those close to you if your becoming like this then its time to make a big effort to up your calorie load and see your mood come back on track.

Lack of progress

If all the hard training your doing is not translating to improved fitness and speed then once again limiting calories could be your issue. We need to train hard to improve but if your not fuelling

the hard work your body will not be able to adapt, imagine building a wall of bricks without using cement – the wall will always have a limitation and keep falling down as there is nothing to hold the bricks together. If you want your body to adapt and improve you need to be providing not only the training stimulus but also the fuel for growth.

ADDING VOLUME THROUGH SOCIAL TRAINING

Another issue athletes often fall guilty of is too much social training once the weather turns, not that training with others is a problem in itself the issue is more jumping into more training just because friends are heading out and thinking another couple of hours on the bike will make no difference as its easy! While this may seem like no issue the problem is more that the additional hours added to your training load can just be too much and too much training stimulus can also stop adaptions occurring. So if your getting lots of invitations to head out with others make sure that the sessions closely match your plan and your not adding too much volume to your overall plan.

Not only the added volume of social training needs to be considered but also the competitive side of the sessions, all too often that easy ride with friends turns into a race especially as everyone is desperate to prove their fitness after all the hard indoor sessions that have been done during the winter. Resist the urge to join in and be confident in the work you have done and remember the time to show your fitness is race day!

If you look back at last years you will generally find the friend who was sitting at the back of your group of seemed to be suffering during training sessions is the one who is up front on race day not the guy who is always charging away at the front of training sessions!

NEGLECTING RECOVERY

The arrival of spring makes us feel invincible with the added energy it seems to bring, the increase in vitamin D levels through expose to the sun is a boosting hormone and we just feel so much more alive than we did during the winter time.

This not only brings possible issues with everything above but this feeling of invincibility tends to lead us to forget the importance of recovery methods in our training program. On those cold dark winter nights it is easy to find a little time in the evening to jump on the foam roller or do any rehab strength exercises we may need to keep on top of to prevent injures but once spring rolls around we all too easily put these things away and do not think about them again until injuries hit.

Spring time with the change in training plan and intensity mentioned above is a time when we need to be even more diligent with out recovery, if your training harder the muscles are under more stress and you need to work harder to look after them in order to get the most out of yourself as an athlete.

This spring make sure you consider all we have talked about and implement them into your training plan accordingly and you will reap the rewards with improved fitness and accelerated adaptions to your training.

Eat well, eat more, recover hard and you will have the best summer race season ever.

Enjoy your training ,

***

Alun Woodward, ironguides Online Coach

–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Ironman Performance – Overcoming a Frustrating Season

October 26, 2018

Triathlon can be very rewarding and when things are going well with training and racing all seems perfect but when we are chasing ironman performance this is not always the case. Its very easy to get stuck in a negative situation with injuries or sickness effecting plans and compromising both performance and the enjoyment we used to experience from training.

We all experience this at times as sickness is inevitable but if your not careful its easy to go through a roll coaster of sickness after sickness and before you know it a whole season has passed by in this state.

Lets start by looking at why this happens and then we will look at how to get back to full health and start enjoying and progressing once more with your training.

Firstly ironman training for performance is very stressful on the body, the simple fact of training to improve performance means we have to stress our bodies in order to force the body to adapt to that stress and progress our fitness.

The big issue that most athletes face here is balancing stress, yes we have to stress the body in order to improve but the level of stress required to bring about adaption is a lot less than most athletes think. Not only is the level of stress required less than we think but if we put our bodies under too much stress then adaption simply stops as the body cannot keep up/ adapt fast enough.

This state of being overstressed with too much training is where most athletes are, they train very hard yet see very little if any change in performance over time. Now factor into this that lifestyle stresses also play a role here. When i say lifestyle stresses i am talking about how much sleep we get, how demanding our job may be, hours spent driving or commuting for school or work, household chores and dietary stresses are all major influences on our stress levels. The body does not differentiate between training stress and lifestyle stress, so if you are overloaded with lifestyle stress and try to increase training stress then things are not going to work out well.

What happens when we do this is our bodies start to break down, our immune system is one of the first to suffer, our body is trying so hard to adapt to the stresses of training and life that our immune systems not longer have the resources available to fight off basic infections. We simply end up picking up infection after infection that normally our bodies would fight off with ease.

If this sounds familiar to you then its time to take action and make some changes. Stop looking at vitamin bottles and recovery drinks and assuming these are going to be the solution, that your simply lacking something in the diet, this is very unlikely to be the case and will not prevent this pattern of repeated infections.

Firstly we have to look at all the stresses going on and figure out which ones we can reduce in order to get our health back on track. If you work 8 hours a day with a 1 hour commute this is not generally something you can change whereas a 30min commute and 30minutes in the supermarket twice a week is something you could change by trying online shopping. If you use a gym twice a week that requires a 30min commute for strength training then maybe investing in some basic strength equipment at home would free up even more time and reduce stress.

We also have to look at training volume and intensity, this is the one area an athlete will look at last and find it hardest to change. If you generally train 10 hours a week maybe you need to reduce this to 6-8 hours a week and see if you experience better health and improved performance. I have seen time and time again with athletes that amazing performances can come from very little volume and its quite simply a result of everything being in balance and just ensuring that the body is receiving adequate stress from the training in order to force adaption.
Learning to go easy and really hard are also a lesson many athletes need to learn, so many train almost always at a moderate intensity that is very stressful on the body. For example the long run is a foundation to almost every training plan, this should be a very easy run, heart rate low and you should be able to maintain the effort for hours, you should not be finishing your long run if its 90min long feeling like your done in, you should be finishing feeling fresh and full of energy! On the other side of the equation you need to go very very hard for short periods, this is how our bodies are built, we adapt very quickly to this kind of stress so long as the intensity is short enough and hard enough, the issue most athletes have is they are so tired from going too hard on their easy workouts that when they try to go hard they are really not much above their moderate pace and so no real stimulus to adaption is going to take place.

So how do we make changes to stop this pattern reoccurring and wasting another year. Firstly you have to accept that a change is needed, and you need to accept that it is going to take some time, i like to set aside 8-12 weeks for this initial change before reevaluating.

With training we need to look at the most important sessions for health as a starter, that means we need very very easy aerobic sessions and some very very hard short duration interval sessions. What we need to take away from our training programs is all the moderate effort and long duration hard interval sessions as these are too stressful on our bodies while we are trying to recover optimal health.

Lets set 1 long run and 1 long ride per week into the schedule, on these sessions you need to keep intensity low, using a heart rate monitor would be wise here and keep volume to 90min run and 2hr30 bike – for the bike heart rate below 120 and for the run below 130 – if you need to walk to do this especially on any hills you may encounter then thats what you need to do.

Add into this program 2 short duration high intensity sessions, these are safely done on the bike or in the pool to avoid possible injury. For these to be effective the duration of interval needs to be between 30 and 45 seconds and the intensity is all out with long recovery between efforts, for example

6x40s all out effort with 3minutes very easy active recovery between

Keep the warm up and down relatively short for this session, the stimulus is coming from the all out efforts not the duration of the session, a session like this should typically take 40-60minutes no longer.

This basic program will already give you 6 hours of training in the week and add in a couple of additional easy sessions and your at the volume you should be sticking at for the 8-12 week recovery period.

So looking at your week you may now have a plan as follows

MON – ALL OUT INTERVALS IN POOL – 60min

TUE – ADDITIONAL EASY BIKE – 40min easy

WED – EASY ENDURANCE RUN – 90min

THUR – ALL OUT INTERVALS ON BIKE – 60min

FRI –

SAT – ADDITIONAL EASY RUN – 40-60min

SUN – EASY ENDURANCE BIKE – 2.5 hours
This plan may look very basic and volume low but there is plenty of training here to create stimulus and the lack off volume will allow you to push much harder on your all out intervals to help deliver the desired adaptions!

Be patient and ride out this program for the duration, do not be tempted to increase volume or intensity duration even if your feeling great and refreshed, that feeling is the desired effect and if your feeling this way then the plan is working – if you straight away increase then you will go straight back to where you were and start once more on your roller coaster of sickness.

Enjoy your training

–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

How to Deal with Ironman Blues

July 13, 2018

By Coach Alun Woodward

Ironman is an epic undertaking and can take over our lives for a significant time period as we plan, train and mentally prepare for the big day! Not only does the training side take a huge commitment but there is so much more involved from making sure your getting the best nutrition to fuel your training, keeping your equipment clean and in good condition and also making sure other area’s of your life are maintained. For an athlete with family and working long hours this can mean very busy times in the run up to ironman, having this full on life suddenly stop after the event while we may crave it at times during training is usually greeted with despair after the race and leaves an athlete feeling lost and not knowing what to do. There is so much information on getting ready for this big day in your lives but very little advice and guidance on what to expect after ironman and how to deal with it.

Following your big day you will be sky high, remembering every little detail from the event and telling your story time and time again to friends and fellow competitors. This glory though does not last forever and along with the pain and aching muscles you will experience after the event it will fade and be replaced by a feeling of loss! Not only are you lost without a goal but so many friends family and colleagues will have been building you up to the event, always wondering and asking things are going, what your doing and usually in awe of the task your undertaking. Having this removed post event and just that return to ordinary life can be hard.

This is not a phenomenon just for ironman it is seen a lot with professional athletes when they retire from sport, this is an extreme example as sport will have been dominating their lives for years but at the very top level in sports like American Football there is a documented high incidence of depression following retirement.

Like anything in life when one thing has dominated our thoughts and daily routines for so long having it removed will lead to a sudden feeling of loss. Maintaining training and staying active can to some extent can help but it does not remove the feeling of loss and you will find these feelings wash over you again and again for a period of time, this feeling is the ironman blues.

So what can we do to overcome this and avoid these feelings?

Firstly when planning your season and especially your first ironman try to ensure that the ironman event is not the final event of your season, having one or two other goals following the ironman can be a big help in avoiding the ironman blues. Your goals do not have to be sport related they can be family or business goals just something significant for you to focus your time on after your ironman event.

A family event such as a holiday can be great immediately after the ironman. This is a great way to say thank you to family who have supported you during your training and no doubt suffered from your absence and distant behaviour at times while training. Also having a family holiday will allow you to fully recover from your event without the thought and temptation of training, being away from your normal training grounds and group of friends is a good thing at this time.

Once you are recovered and back to training its good to have some new goals to focus your training on and there are many different things you could look at either related to triathlon or not.

Strava has provided a great platform for setting mini goals and many of you will have used strava in your ironman training, maybe you have a favourite route and have always fancied having a go at seeing how high you can get up the leaderboard on your favourite segment but have never done a stand alone effort as it simply did not fit in with your training. Now you can focus your training on becoming as fast as possible at climbing or prepare for an all out 20min effort or 10mile time trial.

Off the back of your ironman training you will have a great aerobic base and a few weeks of work focussed on developing speed and pain tolerance will see some great performances over shorter distances. There is a great example of this at the famous Noosa triathlon which takes place over olympic distance 3 weeks after Ironman Hawaii, so many top australians following great performances at ironman have rested after the race and travelled out to complete at this event and had some of the best races of their careers!

Maybe you have always fancied seeing how fast you can run a 5km, the popularity of Park Runs taking place every Saturday morning throughout the country have made this event easily accessible to all and a change of focus to pure speed and pain tolerance over a 6 to 8 week time frame should see you get very close to your potential over the distance off the back of your ironman training.

Your events and goals do not need to be specially triathlon related, in fact having something outside of your triathlon goals can be a great motivator and help refocus your mind to a new task and avoid the blues altogether. Maybe its something that was risky to carry out when training for your ironman or something that would have effected your performance on race day.

A great example of this might be strength training, while you may have been doing this as part of your training maybe you have held off trying heavy weights as this does carry an injury risk especially when you would have gone into sessions heavily fatigued from your triathlon training. Developing the strength for a heavy squat or deadlift for example where a good sign of strength is to be able to lift 1.5x your own body weight – a great target for most individuals.

Maybe you have seen some athletes in the gym performing the olympic lifts, the Clean and Jerk and Snatch and always wanted to try this. Now would be a great time to look into doing this, these are very complex lifts and essential that you get some technique coaching to help you stay safe and lift effectively.

The olympic lifts can be a great addition to your training as they are full body moves that require speed, strength, muscle balance and mobility – working on all these areas will always have a positive effect on your triathlon performance once you start back into training.

A little planning of your time post ironman and you can easily reduce the effect of the post ironman blues or not suffer from them at all.

Enjoy your training
–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

The Ups and Downs of Ironman Training

July 9, 2018

If you have ever trained or are in training for an Ironman, you will know that it is an experience like no other, especially if you are an ironguides coached athlete on a daily dose of The Method training programme.

Whether you are an Ironman veteran signing up for your 7^th tour of duty, a top 70.3 age – grouper stepping up to race with the “big boys”, or a brand newbie that’s caught the bug and wants to get one under your belt ( “What’s all the fuss about?” ), the demands of Ironman training will stretch you to your physical, emotional, psychological limits.

The Ironman training cycle is a crazy rollercoaster ride that can take you from good days, filled with hope and confidence to nightmare “off” days that will leave even the fittest athlete discouraged and questioning their ability to even cross the finish line.

This article offers advice on how to spot the patterns of overtraining and how to minimise the “down” days for a more balanced, manageable and effective training cycle.

OVERTRAINING

If you are forcing yourself to get your sessions done for fear of losing fitness and you find yourself half-heartedly “going through the motions”, while getting more tired and desperate as your performance drops- Listen up!

The most common presenting symptom of an athlete who is over-trained is not “Coach, I am so tired, I need a break”. Rather, it is “Coach, I’ve been training hard but I am not improving, I think I need to do more.” The athlete’s drive to excel is so strong that they end up burning the candle at both ends, giving up personal “down time”, recovery and sleep to maintain high levels of work, family and triathlon training commitment. From my experience, the most tell tale signs of an athlete that is overdone are:

Malaise and constant fatigue
Immune-compromised state
Unhealthy obsession with (lack of) improvement
Loss of enjoyment of the sport
Loss of trust and faith in their training
Continual weight loss
Decreased motivation
Flat/ jaded personality
Refusal to admit that they are over-done.

Without timely and well considered guidance, this athlete is headed for trouble.

The risk of overtraining is especially high in the last 6 weeks pre-race- in the middle of the final loading phase. An athlete that has been training hard for the last 4 – 6 months will want to push even harder in order to “cram” in more training before you winding down and resting up for the big day. Here are 3 common situations that can make this last month and a half a tricky patch to navigate:

1) Your dedication and consistency have paid off and you’re fittter than you’ve ever been. You feel invincible and the temptation is to push even harder through the “home stretch” looking for that last 5%.

Quick Fix: If you are feeling good at this stage keep up the good work and don’t bury yourself in the “hardcore” tunnel. Aim to finish each session feeling great, keeping something in the tank for the next day. Aside from getting more rest- don’t change a thing! Unless you have planned it carefully with your coach, don’t turn up the volume or intenisty knob all of a sudden. Overreaching requires a carefully thoughtout recovery period.

2) You only have a handful of weeks left before you need to taper. Your preparation has been a little patchy and your insecurities are surfacing. You think that by hammering every session in the last few weeks will make up for lost time and missed sessions earlier on.

Quick Fix: Don’t panic. Speak to your coach and let him know exactly what has been going on and how you are feeling overall. Recap calmly what you have done and how far you have come since the start of your journey. Chances are that you’ve caught it early enough to salvage the race and you realise that you’re not in that dire a situation. Your coach will know how to tweak your plan to freshen you up while highlighting the key workouts that you must get done. At this point you may need to manage your race day ambitions but this doesn’t mean that you can’t have a great day out.

3) Because of your high training load and the length of time that you have been at it, your body’s immune system, normally used to fight daily germs and bacteria, has been working overtime to regulate muscle and tissue recovery instead. As a result, you fall into an immune-compromised state and pick up colds and flus that don’t go away. You try to train through it but end up even sicker, performing worse and fearful that you’re losing fitness.

Quick Fix: Alert your coach immediately and spell out clearly how long you’ve been under the weather and what training you have done while ill. Your 1st priority is to return to 100% fitness. Load up on Vitamins and antioxidants, get as much sleep as you can and drop the volume of each session to a maxium of 40mins and back off on the intensity by a few nothces too. By doing this, you are are keep the relevant systems “open” and “warm” but not enough to affect your immunity any further. Your coach should tweak your plan for a few days of “unloading”.

In all these situations, you will notice that bringing your coach into the equation is a critical and one of the the first things your should do. It will make the difference between “getting though the race” and arriving at the start line fresh, focused and full of energy. The sooner you speak to your coach, the quicker he can get you back on track rested and refocused on the end goal- your best performance on the big day. This brings me to my next point…

COMMUNICATION

A coaches job extends much further than dishing out training plan after training plan. Don’t wait until you are a burnt-out zombie, shell-of-a-human-being before approaching your coach for help. Timeliness is key.

Your coach’s role is to get you as fit as possible for race day. At times, this might involve a gentle nudge or cracking the whip- at other times, his job is to rein you in from the edge of burnout or in the worst case scenario, nurse you back to health and sanity. A good coach will know:

Your personality/ lifestyle
Your current training load
How far along the training cycle you are
The current stressors on your life

At times, it is difficult to consider all these factors from inside the Ironman bubble so if you need a little extra guidance make the effort to elaborate on how your training has been going. Together with the usual training parameters and assessment of your current perceived level of fitness, some feedback on how you are feeling and your emotional state ( especially your doubts ) will provide your coach with a good insight into how you are coping and what you need to work on.

A good coach will not judge you on what training you have/ or have not completed. Stay open to your coach’s questions and suggestions and share openly with him your goals and motivations. If you catch it early and nip it in the bud, all that maybe required is a weekend off or a few days/ a week of unloading to get refreshed. But keep these things to yourself and you run the risk of digging yourself deeper into the lonely hole of overtraining.

ENVIRONMENT

Even before you sign up for an Ironman, there are a few simple steps to tip the scales in your favour.

The majority of age–groupers today work a demanding 10 hr day. Many are married / with a long term partner and have young families. Before jumping online at 4am to wait for registration to go live, examine your calendar 6 months before race day. Are you getting married/ having a child/ moving house/ country/ changing jobs/ starting a new business/ going to be involved in other big “life” situations? All these things will factor into your training, recovery and performance, especially the 2 months before race day. You will enjoy a much more balanced and successful journey if the forecast of life’s big stressors and events reads relatively “normal” and “boring”. Of course there is no way to predict the future, but an uneventful half year window is a good place to start your Ironman dreams.

Secondly, have that chat with your partner/ wife – The one that starts with “Baby/ Dear/ Darling, I am thinking
of doing an Ironman next year…”

It is of utmost importance that you have buy-in from your loved one because, as much as you think you’re doing all the hard work, they will be the ones playing a major supporting role. Extra understanding and support could make or break your race preparation.

Explain what is an Ironman and why you want to do one (or another one). It is important to give them an idea what kind of training hours are involved. This will help them to appreciate and give reason to what you will be putting yourself through. Your coach is the best person to advise you on the different time commitments required for the different phases a typical Ironman training cycle.

By including them into your decision making process, you are also giving your partner a time frame so that they can appreciate and be mentally prepared for those days/ weeks when you don’t need the extra distractions and social gatherings because you will be more tired than usual. In all fairness, it also allows them to look forward to when they can have a fully present and energetic partner back in their lives!

It is a good idea to take it a step further to roughly plan out your allocated training hours with them. As you proceed, daily duties and responsibilities will surface, and together you will be able to discern much more clearly which are the most convenient tasks for you to stay engaged in to pull your weight.

CONCLUSION

I hope this article has given you some insights into some of the common pitfalls surrounding Ironman training and how to avoid them. Training is not all a bed of roses nor should not be viewed as an excuse for unlimited hours of swimming, biking and running. To get it right and nail it on race day requires a delicate balance of training and recovery guided by a close working relationship with your coach and an understanding and supportive home base from which to launch your adventures and live your dreams.

–

Enjoy your training.

Shem Leong

–

Train with ironguides!

Download our free e-Book “Triathlon Secrets” – Training methods of olympic medalist, ironman and world champions revealed

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

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.

Iron-Distance Performance – Post Race Recovery

June 8, 2018

By Alun Woodward

We are hitting mid season now and in the northern hemisphere that means a flutter of ironman events and for most of you this is the key race of the year you will have been training for.

For a lot of you these races will be Kona qualifiers and for others it may also be one of 2 ironman events during the year. We see a lot of information on how to prepare for ironman but very little on the recovery process following ironman and how to get back to training and racing.

You just have to look around at athletes immediately after the race and in the days following to see the damage the event does to our bodies, for most it takes 3-4 days before they can walk normally again and get back to regular activities.

Our bodies are amazing at achieving extreme feats like ironman and other endurance events as the body functions on a work now pay later system. We see this in play all the time when we do an activity that is out of the ordinary for our bodies – in the 24-36 hours following the activity we get delayed onset muscle soreness, for example if you do no strength work and then start with a set of push ups you can expect to be very sore for a couple of days, if you do this regularly then you will not get the same level of soreness.

Ironman is an extreme sport and the damage goes way beyond delayed onset muscle soreness, the event places a great stress on our bodies and vital organs and is not something we recover from in 2-3 days, the general soreness and inability to walk may pass within this timeframe but the more internal damage is still just peaking at this time.

One of the symptoms a lot of athletes suffer from is swollen fingers, hands and feet. This can be alarming at first as it can also come on during the race and the swelling can be significant. If your lucky enough to escape it during the race then you will most likely experience in the hours and days following.

The temptation after the race can be to take some anti-inflammatory medication but this not the way to go as your just masking the problem and preventing the bodies natural recovery response.

Inflammation of any sort is part of our bodies recovery process and following ironman we have to allow this process to complete its course. This inflammation and recovery process takes around 10 days to complete its course and we need to make sure that any training we do does not negatively effect this recovery process.

Feeding our bodies to ensure optimal recovery is also very important at this point. For so many athletes the whole process of getting ready to race involves healthy eating and meticulous diet and the temptation following a race is to just eat anything and everything we have denied our bodies for so long. Bad nutrition causes a lot of inflammation within our bodies and at this time when your body is recovering its not the time to be adding more stress into the body. For sure its ok to have some treats in the day or 2 following your event but make sure you get back on track with your diet at this time to optimise your recovery.

So looking at a time frame of recovery and what training we can do,

DAYS 1-4

This is the time of peak soreness and inflammation, i would recommend at least 2-3 days rest within this period and any activity you do should be very low intensity and short in duration. An example of this might be biking between 40 and 60minutes. Swimming is also fine at this time but no running as any running will delay your recovery process at this point.

DAYS 4-6

At this point soreness is starting to fade but you will still be feeling very tired and lethargic, while motivation is there to train you will find you become tired very quickly following any training. You can start daily training at this point but still no running and the duration of any training should be maximum 60minutes.

DAYS 7-10

At this point in your recovery you will find your very sleepy and any efforts in training or general activity such as walking upstairs cause your legs to burn and you become easily breathless. This is a clear sign from your body to keep everything very easy with intensity as deep recovery is in its final steps, don’t fight against your body at this time. So many athletes interpret these feelings as a sign of losing fitness and start to add in some intensity at this point, doing this is just preventing you getting the fitness gains from the race and will leave you feeling tired and flat for weeks.

At this time you can think about adding in a first run and even taking your sessions up to the 90min range just making sure everything is very easy – your not training for fitness here your just keeping your body moving and more for mental stimulation than anything else.

DAYS 10-14

At this point the recovery process should be coming to an end and you will start to feel normal again. We are all different so we still have to listen to our bodies, i will ask my athletes to let me know how they are feeling 1-2 hours after training as this tells a lot more about recovery than how we feel when training at this point. If you feel normal 1-2 hours after training then you are good to get back to regular training again, if you are feeling very sleepy and lethargic its a sign your body and immune system is still in a recovery process and you need to maintain easy training for a few more days.

The next question is when can we race again? Again this is very individual but if you follow the recovery process outlined above you will get a free race around 3 weeks post ironman as your fitness will actually be peaking at this point as you get all your gains from the race!

The key takeaway point here is to take a step back after racing and listen to your body to ensure you fully recover from your race, if you do this you will not loose fitness but actually take a giant leap forward and not only will you be ready to train physically you will be mentally refreshed and motivation will be high to get back to work and race again!

Enjoy your training
–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Iron-Distance Performance- ENDURANCE BLOCKS

May 14, 2018

Finally after months of preparation the big ironman events of the summer are looming and its time for that final event preparation. Assuming you have followed your plan and trained consistently over the last few months you will be ready for the final endurance boost to take you into your race.

While of course you will have been doing endurance training in your plan i like to plan for special endurance blocks in the final weeks leading into the race, normally 2 blocks of between 3 and 4 days depending on the athlete and positioned in the final 6 weeks leading into your race. The vast majority of athletes can’t commit to spending hours training every weekend as thats too much time away from family and other commitments but planning 2 long weekend in an ironman build when friends and family know you will be unavailable does work out much better than not being around for weeks on end leading up to your race.

The purpose of these endurance blocks is twofold – both to build confidence and show the athlete they have nothing to fear from ironman and the other is to get a big boost to your endurance capacity leading into the race.

Also knowing these blocks are coming allows the athlete more confidence to follow their plan which may appear light on endurance work in the lead up – most of us believe we need to be training a lot more than we really do.

CONFIDENCE

A lot of athletes like to have covered the distance before the event, this is very understandable but from a training perspective we do not want to cover a whole ironman in training during a day as it is just too much to recover from and would have a serious impact on training consistency, even the individual events in a day can be too much for some athletes so i like the endurance blocks as it gives a concentrated time period when the athletes will go above and beyond normal training for a short period with planned recovery following.

With the 2 endurance blocks i would typically look for an athlete to cover their normal weekly training load plus a little extra in just 3-4 days – not really looking at intensity in this period just spending the duration training! For example if your normally weekly training load is 12 hours then an endurance block may look to cover 12-16 hours over a 4 day period.

3-4 days works really well for most athletes, it is not long enough to overload the body to a point it will effect your regular training, it is a time frame that is acceptable to get away from work and family commitments, and also its a short enough period for most to tolerate the increased food lead that needs to accompany these blocks. Never forget its not always the training that is the struggle its fuelling enough to get through them and come through the other end in one piece – while almost everyone can get the work on very little calories the difference is if you do not load up enough you will take a lot longer to recover and return to normal – this is why a lot of athletes who go away for week long camps have great training but then take weeks before they return to normal training levels as their body is smoked from the volume of training one and the lack of calories consumed.

So in terms of confidence we want to address the main issues

SWIM

* Cover the distance – 1 swim during the weekend should be at race distance or over.

BIKE

Cover the distance at least one – aim for a long ride of 180-200km on day 1

RUN

Can you still run after a long TT effort – aim for a 120km ride with at least 80km of this at race pace and include some race pace run intervals off the bike – no more than 16km
I will not have athletes ever run 42km in training – rather look to complete 42km during the 4 days

My aim is always to have athletes finish their endurance weekend knowing that they are going to have no issues covering the distance on race day – this is very calming for the athlete and also allows the focus to be maintained on training over the final weeks rather than stressing over their ability to complete the course.

ENDURANCE BOOST

There are 2 sides to endurance training i like to look at, the physiological adaptions that occur with endurance training sessions such as ATP development – this is a long slow process and is why we have our weekly long swim, ride and run in our programs – to get these adaptions does not require epic endurance sessions more just a case of regular endurance work anywhere from 60min to 2 hours on the swim and run and 2-4 hours on the bike.

The other side of endurance adaption is how the body burns fuel – this is very interesting and one of the main reasons the endurance weekends work so well for ironman performance. In order to perform well in ironman we need to move fast but efficiently – by this i mean we need to go as fast as we can while using as little energy as possible – to do this we need to burn fat efficiently as fuel and this is what the endurance weekends teach the body to do very well.

A good way to look at this is if your not at all fit and decide to just go out and ride 4 hours hard – its not going to be pretty – you will more than likely end up in pieces after 2-2.5 hours if you even make it that far. Now following this ride if you were to repeat one week later you would find you could go much further at the same intensity without any problems experienced in your first attempt. In one week you have not gained any measurable fitness – its too short of a time frame but your body will have learned how to use its fuel more efficiently to allow you to cover the distance.

This neat trick of the body can be used to our advantage with ironman training and is why we get such a huge endurance boosting effect form the endurance weekends. This adaption or learning from the body starts to disappear after 2-3 weeks to its important that we have an endurance weekend or at least 2 days of good volume in the final 2 weeks before the race!

As you enter your final weeks of preparation now is the time for your final endurance boost leading into your race – make the most of all your hard work with these focussed weekends and make sure your confidence is soaring for race day.

Enjoy your training
–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Iron-Distance Performance – Preparation Races and Training through a Race

April 27, 2018

By Alun Woodward, Online Triathlon Coach, ironguides.net

Spring has most certainly arrived and those first races of the season are just around the corner. For most of you targeting a major ironman race you will be coming into the final 2-3 months of your program and endurance should be ramping up now in preparation.

While training is ramping up and the focus must be on following your program training races are also of great importance at this time. One of the mistakes a lot of people make at this time is thinking they need to do lots of endurance events as practice, i believe the complete opposite to be true. An endurance event such as a half ironman is very demanding on the body and will cause a major disruption to your training plan both before and significantly after the event. We all know consistency in training to be the key to performance so we need to choose events that give us the practice we need while not interrupting the consistency of our program.

Ideally if we are looking for training races they should be shorter in duration such as sprint distance or possibly Olympic distance triathlons. When choosing our races we need to look at our preparation and training hours, if you have been consistently hitting 12 hours a week then an olympic distance event should be easy to bounce back from, but if your weekly hours are more in the 6 hour range at this point then a sprint would be the wise choice in order to not over stress the body as endurance is also starting to increase in training.

Remember here this is personal and we need to get out of the habit of looking at what the pro’s do, a typical pro can be training anywhere from 20-30+ hours a week and with that training volume a olympic distance race or even a half ironman can actually be easier than a typical training day so will not create any disruption to their training program. Also a pro is making a living from the sport and has to go where to certain races for sponsors and of course prize money.

So lets say we have looked at training volume and decided upon some training races to include in our program, how do we now go about fitting these in so as not to disrupt training.

First step is forgetting about the taper, there is an obsession in endurance sport with tapering and freshening up for events but very little evidence this actually improves performance. So often athletes well feel great during training but terrible in races after reducing training into the event, your body is used to performing under a certain level of fatigue and things go wrong when we take that base level of fatigue away.

Going out to fast in a race is one of the biggest stumbling blocks many athletes face to achieving their best results – go out too fast and you just won’t be able to recover enough to do yourself justice – the result is the event hurts a lot more than it should and speeds can be lower than training speeds which is very frustrating. Taking fatigue from training into an event provides an insurance policy against this problem, if we are tired we loose that top end speed and are forced to start a little slower than we might want too but the end result is we can progress through the race and perform at or above our training paces and get a great result.

Don’t forget the taper was designed for anaerobic sports, sports lasting under 10 minutes not for endurance sports than are based around aerobic performance.

So looking at fatigue in a more positive light we can go into our training races without really changing the program, i have seen time and time again athletes hitting best ever performances in olympic distance events the day following a long endurance ride and carrying a lot of fatigue.

So if we train as normal into a race do we then just carry on training as normal after the race, this is where things need to change a little.

The training program may well need to change a touch for the first 2-3 days post race depending on the athlete and how the race goes. Firstly we need to look at immediately after the race. If the race was held on a Sunday and this was an athletes long run day then i may have the athlete complete a long cool down run to ensure we still get an endurance run into the program as this is essential at this stage of the year building towards our ironman event. For example if the athlete has completed a sprint distance race in 75minutes and would normally do a 2 hour run on this day i would send them for a 45-60min easy cool down run immediately following the race.

In the 2 days following the race we want to make sure we touch on the systems we would normally be training while reducing the total load to reflect any fatigue or soreness that may be present from the race. For example if you normally have a interval run session on the Tuesday of say 6x1km hard efforts you would not jump into this session as you will have hit a similar intensity on Sunday during your race, instead we just want to touch on the leg speed we would have experienced in this session but not have the same cardiovascular stress put on the body. To do this we could change the session to 6x400m, running at the same pace as we would for the 1km efforts and add in a little extra recovery.

If an athlete has raced a longer event or had a bad run and not really touched on any speed during the race then the Tuesday run may change all together to be a pure leg speed session to make sure the athlete does not go too many days without any speed stimulus but also the session reflects the body is under stress so is not stressful to the cardiovascular system. An example of such a session could be 6x200m very fast with 400m very easy jog between.

Once the athlete hits 3 days after the race they should be good to resume their normal training program.

Within this final 2-3 months before your main event training consistency and endurance should be your priority but following the guidelines above you can easily jump into some training races and not have them impact on your overall training program.

Enjoy your training.

***

Alun Woodward, ironguides Online Coach

–

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Navigating the Ups and Downs of Ironman Training

April 24, 2018

Navigating the Ups and Downs of Ironman Training –

INTRODUCTION

Whether you are an Ironman veteran signing up for your 7^th tour of duty, a top 70.3 age – grouper stepping up to race with the “big boys”, or a (relative) brand newbie that’s caught the bug and wants to get one under your belt (“What’s all the fuss is about?)- The demands of Ironman training will stretch you to your physical, emotional, psychological limits.

This article offers advice on how to spot the patterns of overtraining and how to minimise the “down” days for a more balanced, manageable and effective training cycle.

OVERTRAINING

The most common presenting symptom of an athlete who is over-trained is not “Coach, I am so tired, I need a break”. Rather, it is, “Coach, I’ve been training hard but I am not improving, I think I need to do more.” The athlete’s drive to excel is so strong that they end up burning the candle at both ends, giving up personal “down time”, recovery and sleep to maintain high levels of work, family and triathlon training commitment. From my personal experience, the most tell tale signs that an athlete is overdone are:

Malaise and constant fatigue
Immune-compromised state
Unhealthy obsession with (lack of) improvement
Loss of enjoyment of the sport
Loss of trust and faith in their training programme
Continual weight loss
Decreased motivation
Flat/ jaded personality
Refusal to admit that they are over-done.

Without timely and well considered guidance, this athlete is headed for trouble.

I find that the risk of overtraining is especially high in the last 6 weeks pre-race. You’ve been working hard for the last 4 – 6 months and now you’re in the middle of the final loading phase- the big push before you wind down and rest up for the big day. Several factors make this last month and a half a tricky patch to navigate:

1) You’re consistency has paid off and your fitness is at a high level. You’ve been getting just enough rest and you feel invincible. The temptation is to push even harder through the “home stretch” looking for that last 5%. ** (If you are feeling good at this stage keep up the good work and don’t go “hardcore”. Aim to finish each session feeling great, keeping something in the tank for the next day. Aside from getting more rest- don’t change a thing!)

2) You only have a handful of weeks left before you need to taper. Your insecurities are surfacing and you want to hammer these last few weeks to squeeze in what you can to make up for those missed sessions earlier on.

3) Your body’s immune system, normally used to fight daily germs and bacteria, has been working overtime to regulate muscle and tissue recovery and repair instead. As a result, you fall into an immune-compromised state and pick up colds and flus that don’t go away.

If any of these situations sound familiar to you, let your coach know immediately. It will make the difference between “getting though the race” and arriving at the start line, fresh, focused and full of energy. The sooner you speak to your coach, the quicker he can get you back on track rested and refocused on the end goal- a stellar performance on the big day.

COMMUNICATION

A coach’s job should extend much further than dishing out training plan after training plan. Don’t wait until you are a burnt-out zombie, shell-of-a-human-being before approaching your coach for help. Timeliness is key.

Your personality/ lifestyle
Your current training load
How far along the training cycle you are
The current stressors on your life

At times, it can be difficult to consider all these factors from inside the Ironman bubble so make the effort to elaborate on how your training has been going. Together with the usual training parameters and assessment of your current perceived level of fitness, some feedback on your feelings and emotional state will provide your coach with a good insight into how you are coping.

A good coach will not judge you on what training you have/ or have not completed. Stay open to your coach’s inquiries and suggestions and share openly with him your goals and motivations. If you nip it in the bud, all that maybe required is a weekend off or a few days/ week of unloading to get refreshed. But keep these things to yourself and you run the risk of digging yourself deeper into the lonely hole of overtraining.

Finish the race – well

ENVIRONMENT – Setting yourself up for success

Even before you sign up for an Ironman, there are a few simple steps to tip the scales in your favour.

The majority of age–groupers today work a demanding 10 hr/ day, many are married/ with a long term partner and have young families. Before jumping online at 4am to wait for registration to go live, examine your calendar 6 months before race day. Are you getting married/ having a child/ moving house/ country/ changing jobs/ starting a new business/ going to be involved in other big “life” situations? All these things will factor into your training, recovery and performance, especially the 2 months before race day. You will enjoy a much more balanced journey if the forecast of life’s big stressors and events reads relatively “normal” and “boring”. Of course there is no way to predict the future, but an uneventful half year window is a good place to start your Ironman dreams.

Secondly, have that chat with your partner/ wife – The one that starts with “Baby/ Dear/ Darling, I am thinking of doing an Ironman next year…”

Explain what is an Ironman, why you want to do one (or another one) and most importantly what kind of training hours are involved. This will help them to appreciate what you will be putting yourself through and why. Your coach can advise you on the different time commitments required for the different phases a typical Ironman training cycle.

By including them into your decision making process, you are giving your partner a time frame so that they can appreciate and be mentally prepared for those days/ weeks when you could do without the extra distractions and social gatherings and when you will be more tired than usual. In all fairness, it also allows them to look forward to when they can have a fully present and energetic partner back in their lives!

It is a good idea to take it a step further to roughly plan out your allocated training hours with them. As daily duties and responsibilities surface, together you will be able to discern much more clearly which are the most convenient tasks for you to stay engaged in to pull your weight.

CONCLUSION

I hope this article has given you some insights into some of the common pitfalls surrounding Ironman training. In order to do well, training is not all a bed of roses – and it should not be viewed as an excuse for unlimited swimming, biking and running. To get it right and nail it on race day requires a delicate balance of training and recovery guided by a close working relationship with your coach and an understanding and supportive home base from which to launch your adventures and live your dreams.

Shem Leong.

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!

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)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Top 7 Mistakes Age Groupers Make in Ironman Marathon

April 10, 2018