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10 Marathon Tips

September 27, 2017

Home, Running

1. Taper – A well structured taper is essential to run a good one on race day. It gives your legs a chance to fully rest and “soak up” the many kilometres that have been put into them in training. It is NOT an excuse to do nothing and “Carbo- Load”- Please! There are many factors that will determine a good taper- training load, recent race history, recovery from injury, etc. As a rule of thumb, cut down on total weekly volume to 75%, 2 weeks out and then again to 50% in the 1 week leading up to race day. Retain some speed work and intensity to keep the specific neuro-muscular impulses firing – this will help maintain a high stride rate.

2. Visualisation – Spend some time in the weeks/ days leading up to the race thinking about the race. Put yourself in different points and situations throughout race day. This will help you to prepare well when December 6 comes round. For example:

a. Pre race: How are you getting to the start line? What time do you want to be there? How am I going to carry my gels?

b. Race: How am I going to pace myself? How am I going to feel at the half way point? What is my nutrition plan like? What happens when I hit “the wall?” How am I going to respond?

c. Post Race: How am I getting home? Where can I get a snack after that? How do I recover properly from a huge effort like a marathon?

3. Gear– Plan your outfit. You should use the most comfortable running gear you have. How are you going to carry your gels? Is it time to treat yourself to a new pair of running shoes? Don’t leave this till last minute because you need break in them beforehand.

4. Nutrition – Read the labels. Know what you will be putting in your body as fuel for your big day. Try to get at least 150 calories every hour after the 1st hour of your run. You can get this from sports drinks (e.g. Powerbar Endurance Formula) or gels (e.g. Powergels). This works out to about 1 gel every 40 mins. Larger athletes will need more than this. Remember that it is important to wash your gels down with water because it helps with absorption.

5. Nutrition – If you are a heavy sweater (you sweat through your shoes) it is essential to replace the lost electrolytes as the race wears on. Excess loss of sodium though sweat will affect your muscles contractility. Replace these with salt tablets/ Nunn Rehydration tablets/ “extra sodium” gels. * Try sucking on a Nunn tablet – I find this works well. When you’ve had enough, and you will know when, simply spit it out.

6. Hydration – Aim to take in moderate amounts of water at regular intervals at the aid stations. In most cases a few mouthfuls is often enough. Do not wait until you are very thirsty and gulp down a whole litre! This will disrupt the concentration gradients in your stomach and may lead to bloating – a very uncomfortable situation when running.

7. Pacing – Start EASY! The adrenaline and atmosphere at the start will have your heart rate 10 beats above normal and raring to go. HOLD BACK. No matter how good you feel, do not sprint off at the start- Take a few kilometres to let your body find its natural rhythm – and then back it off a little more. Yes! The energy you “put aside” in the first half of the race will pay big dividends in the closing stages of the run. Try to get the 1st 10 km out of the way as effortlessly as possible. Remember – START EASY!

8. Pacing – If you are following my advice to START EASY, you should be able to reach the halfway mark with no problems. This is the time to make an assessment- if you are feeling fantastic, showing no signs of fatigue and still raring to go – then you could increase your effort a little. If you are feeling OK – no problems, nutrition on track, legs still in good shape, relatively fresh- maintain the current effort because a marathon has a way of biting back after 30km!

9. Pacing – Running a marathon will never be a simple, painless stroll in the park. At some point, you will have to grit your teeth and “Man-up”! Whether this happens with 10km to go or 500ms before the finishing line, the important thing to know that from here onwards, the race is run in your head. Stay strong and focused – Nothing else matters, just hold your form and run tall.

10. Enjoy your race – Enjoy putting your body to the test! Relish the fact that you are able to run a marathon – that in itself is special. Remember everyone that has supported you and be thankful for them. Encourage those having a tough time on the day with a smile or a few kind words. “Never give up!”

by Shem Leong, ironguides.net coach

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

–

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)

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.

Stroke Rate – Cadence – Stride Frequency

September 19, 2017

Home, Training

One of the 5 systems we look to train when designing a program is called neuromuscular, this term simply means the link between brain and muscle.

When we see a regular program we might expect to see sessions set to heart rate or effort levels and even power but the specifics of neuromuscular development are often left out, and with major consequence come race day. So many athletes complain of cramping on race day that they never experience in training and first their response is always bad nutrition and lack of salt but I think more often than not its poor neuromuscular development to the demands of racing.

To look at this, say the majority of your riding is done on flat terrain and you typically ride at 80-90 cadence when riding, let’s say your training for a hilly Ironman race such as Nice, this event has a long section of hills over the first 100km of the race and those hills, while not overly steep will require power riding and will have you riding more in the 60-70 cadence range. If you have done the vast majority of your riding in the 80-90 range, then on race day you’re riding at 60-70, you simply do not have the neuromuscular conditioning to cope with this demand. As a result after 90min or so your muscles will experience overload to this stimulus and start spasming, cramping.

So when designing a training program we need to look not just at the physiological fitness but also the neuromuscular demands we will face on race day. Let’s look at the 3 sports and how we can set sessions to work on neuromuscular development and told we need to do this.

SWIM

Tool – Finis Tempo Trainer Pro

With the swim stroke, rate is the key to performance and an area often ignored. From the beginner all the way to elite swimmer, we all can improve with some specific stroke rate work.

With the beginner swimmer, one of the biggest obstacles to good swimming is thinking. If we think too much when we swim, we tend to develop a very robotic stroke with lots of errors and dead patches where we have no forward momentum. The brain can’t cope with too many instructions so thinking about the front of one stroke while trying to kick and perfect the end of stroke with other arm – all just goes bad. The main problem is the stroke rate is just so slow and too much time for things to go wrong. With the tempo trainer in play we can set a stroke rate and the focus goes from thinking about stroke to just keeping up stroke rate to the beeps of the tempo trainer.

As a start I would look to achieve a stroke rate around 34-36 strokes per minute and then build up towards 36-38 strokes per minute. When we swim with this tempo we remove the dead points of the stroke and have a more continuous forward momentum which leads to after swimming.

For the more experienced swimmer it may not be a case of dead points to the stroke, but more a case of the swim stroke is long and slow which, while fast in a pool does not translate well to open water and too many factors can put off the stroke. Speeding up your stroke rate will ensure you swim faster in open water – for the more experienced swimmer a stroke rate in the 38-42 strokes per minute range would be my target.

Also, we need to factor in what the race environment will be like – if it’s in the ocean or a river we have tides and current to contend with and we need to think a faster cadence into the current and slower rate when with the current in order for latest swim.

BIKE

Tools – cadence sensor
The bike section of any triathlon is the longest in terms of distance and duration so neuromuscular fatigue is one of the biggest factors at play in performance. We tend to see that the best running off the bike in races happens on hilly or undulating courses rather than flat courses which would seem counter intuitive at first glance, but when we look closer makes a lot of sense. In a flat race we tend to stay in the same position and ride at the same cadence for the whole duration – this is stressing the exact same muscle fibres for the duration of the bike and leads to more fatigue off the bike, whereas on a hilly undulating ride we change position many times and ride with a variety of cadences so spreading the workload over more fibres and leaving the legs fresher and more prepared for the run off the bike.

All bike programs should have specific instructions on cadence built in to make sure the rider is well trained and conditioned to riding at a variety of cadences come race day.

RUN

Tool – stride rate counter – found on Garmin and Polar devices

With running we want to train for the specifics of running off the bike not running fresh. There are many technique implications here and we want to run with a technique that utilises the body’s natural running reflex action rather than running muscularly – i.e with long loping strides. When we get off the bike in Ironman we have little strength remaining and can’t run with muscular strength rather we need to run with a fast stride rate that stresses the cardio system more than the muscular system.

While we can go and look for a technique guru to change running to be optimal for Ironman, working on stride rate alone will fix almost all running technique issues. As a simple instruction set stride rate to 180 steps per minute and your technique will be significantly changed for the better. The harder you find this initially, the more of a difference it will make on your running off the bike once you have the neuromuscular pattern set.

When we run at this stride rate we do not have time to over-stride in front of the body and also no time to push hard off the foot – this reduces impact at the front of the stride so reducing injury risk from impact and reduces push off which reduces the likelihood of calf strains and achilles injuries.

So have a look at your training plan again with new eyes and make sure you add in the neuromuscular element to your plan for a more rounded program and improved performance come race day.

Enjoy your training!

By Alun Woodward, coach, ironguides.net

More info at www.ironguides.net

–

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)

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

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!

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!

By Shem Leong
–

Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

Monthly Training plans (for all levels, or focused on one discipline): Only USD39/months

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

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

Thanyapura, Together with Ironguides, Launches Thanyapura Online Triathlon Coaching

September 7, 2017

Home, Newsletter

PHUKET, THAILAND – Thanyapura Health & Sports Resort, Asia’s premier sports centre for world-class training and in partnership with Ironguides, has officially launched Thanyapura Online Triathlon Coaching – a service which extends Thanyapura’s and Ironguide’s commitment to provide world-class training guidance and support to goal-oriented triathletes all over the globe.

“This is a collaboration like no other here in Asia. The sport of triathlon is booming here, with concurrent addition of triathlon events in the region. Thanyapura is right where it should be in providing athletes with the necessary facilities to aid in athlete performance. With Ironguides working with Thanyapura in its online coaching platform, we can reach and support many goal-minded triathletes all over the world,” said Vinnie Santana, ironguides head coach.

Ironguides, a Bangkok-based company with over 10 years’ experience coaching athletes of all levels, has been guiding triathletes online – from professional Ironman champions to first-time triathletes. With this collaboration, Thanyapura’s expert triathlon coaches provide valuable knowledge and insights online, where triathletes can access professional coaching from the experienced coaching team.

The Thanyapura Triathlon Team won 12 titles in the 2016 Asian professional racing. World-class professional triathletes such as the 2-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert and multiple Ironman and Challenge Champion Fredrik Croneberg held their training camps at Thanyapura’s facilities.

Triathletes who trained at Thanyapura have the opportunity to continue their improvement by having direct and responsive online communication with the coaches who trained them onsite.

With the growing popularity of triathlon in Asia and the world, there is a huge need for structured guidance for triathletes. With Thanyapura Online Triathlon Coaching, triathletes have access to training programmes to suit their varying needs, from trying to gain a podium spot, age-groupers trying to beat their personal records, down to beginners who want to finish their races in the best possible way.

The online facility aims to help the sport’s newcomers, time-starved triathlon enthusiasts and intermediate to advanced athletes with demanding challenges and goals.

Triathletes who sign up with the programme learn more about training time management, technique improvements for swimming, biking and running, as well as improved physical ability, race strategy and tactics.

Athletes can purchase set training plans based on ability and race distance in English and Thai languages.

The expert team of coaches in this online coaching facilities bring different sets of unique skills and specialities to all the training programmes. They are:

Ricky Phanthip, Head Coach of Triathlon
David Escolar Ballesteros, Swimming and Triathlon Coach
Tom Topham, Sports Scientist and Personal Trainer

“Thanyapura’s Online Triathlon Coaching adds in another element of online coaching. It goes beyond the online aspects as athletes can visit their coach to train in one of the best sports facilities in Asia. The coaches at Thanyapura are always exposed to some of the best training methods through elite triathlon coaches and athletes visiting our sports complex,” said Alexandra Lochmatter, Director of Business Development.

Aside from the Thanyapura coaching team, the partnership is supplemented with Ironguides coaches based in Bangkok and Singapore.

For more information about Thanyapura Online Triathlon Coaching, log on to www.thanyapura.com/sports/triathlon-training/

Ironman Performance – When things go wrong

September 5, 2017

Home, ironman, Training

When training for performance in extreme endurance events such as ironman there is always the possibility of things going wrong. We are always pushing the envelope in training looking for peak performance and that brings risks of injury and sickness before the event but also so much can go wrong on race day.

On race day we can only control so much and there is always going to be the possibility of nutritional problems, mechanical breakdown on the bike and a host of other issues that could occur to derail all your best laid plans and either prevent you achieving goals or even not completing your chosen event.

With ironman likely being the major focus of your year it can be devastating when something like this happens and can leave you with a feeling of having wasted a years worth of training and all the sacrifices that come with that training. The knee-jerk reaction from most athletes is to completely stop at this point and contemplate time away from the sport or to enter another event right away. One of the best pieces of advice i ever heard was “Do not let emotions rule decisions in the days after an event”.

While it is very hard to not do any of the above – if something has occurred in your main event try to treat the days immediately after exactly as you would had you executed a perfect race, have your easy recovery days following the event, even if you did not make it through the whole event your body is not only recovering from the physical demands of the day but also the mental demands of the whole build up and this is so much more demanding on the body than most athletes think.

When you are a few days post event and everything had calmed down emotionally then start to think about what you want to do. You have great fitness and finding another event might be the direction to go, depending on availability you might get to use that fitness without having to really put too much training time in. If the only events are a little while away you need to consider how training might impact the weeks you had planned other activities such as holidays or family time.

If you decide to race again then the following are some things you need to think about

TIME FRAME

If you can find an event within 2-4 weeks from your race then you really do not need to be looking at gaining fitness rather just maintaining fitness, you need to resist the urge to train hard at this time as this will just leave you physically drained for your new race. If you completed your race just not to the expected level for whatever reason then you are going to gain fitness from the event for up to 3 weeks with very little work, you almost get a free race from your body at this time.

Finding a race 5-8 weeks away is going to mean a little more planning with training, you are going to have to put another block of endurance work in preceding this event. This time frame can be extremely successful or a complete disaster depending on planning. The issue with this time period is one of mental preparation and fatigue, with the event a decent time away motivation to get back to hard training is high and its all too easy to jump into hard training and this can feel amazing as fitness levels are so high. What tends to happen without correct planning is 2-3 weeks into a training block motivation levels dive and you start to question what your doing. I rarely see fitness being an issue in this circumstance and my focus would always be on having the athlete make sure they were mentally fresh and ready to race over trying to fit more fitness into there program.

For most of us there is only one time a year where we can put a sustained block of hard work into training for a major event. So if something goes wrong and we sign up for a second event then we need to consider this factor, we need to take things back a step from our previous training. This may mean just knocking watts back by a few percent, reducing long rides a touch and maybe one or two less sessions a week to allow more recovery and stay mentally fresh. Your mantra at this time should be one of maintenance, if you manage to dial back training a touch for this reason you will most likely actually find that performance rockets for race day.

EVENTS

It is not always going to be possible to find another ironman or even triathlon event that is accessible so you may be forced to look at alternate events and challenges. This can be an exciting prospect maybe there is an event that you have been keen to do for years but avoided due to possible injury risk or effect it may have on your triathlon performance. A great example of this may be a group bike race which certainly holds allure for many triathletes but the skills of pack riding and the inherent injury risk just prevent you from taking apart. If you decide to go this route make sure you develop those skills leading into the race and do not just focus on fitness.

Learning the skills to ride in a pack can only be learnt by riding in a pack so search out your local bike team and see if they have local group rides or criterium style training sessions. Ask around and find out if there is a rider locally who has a reputation for being a top technical rider and ask for lessons and advice.

Just remember riding in a group race at speed is not the same as an easy group long ride with friends!

The booming swim run sport Breca is taking the world by storm right now and maybe you can find a local event and discover something new but still using your triathlon skills. Plus the team side of this could add a new dimension to both training and competing to refresh you after a sole focus on triathlon.

Maybe you have have always had your eye on an ultra running events, whatever it is you are in a great position to jump into an event like this. Fitness levels should be peaking so a few weeks of specific preparation is all that would be needed to get ready for a new challenge.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

So in conclusion if something has gone wrong and race day did not go to plan step back from the emotional response – carry on with recovery exactly as you would after a perfect race then a few days later see how your feeling and make plans!

Once you have your plan its very important that you listen to your body, if your tired and unmotivated do not push on with the training – take a step back and remember what your doing and why, remember fitness is these signs are a sign you need to take things easy not push harder – mental strength at this stage is the most important factor to a successful follow up event.

Enjoy your training

Getting the job done

August 30, 2017

Home, Training

Triathlon training is very demanding on our time and even the best plan will create time issues when we have so many other at times uncontrollable issues to deal with such as family, jobs and general life!

I have talked before about the key to success in endurance sport being down to consistency of training over a prolonged period of time, looking back its quite uniform that if an athlete commits to a program and that program becomes part of life the level of performance will continue to rise until reaching a level beyond initial expectations at between 3-4 years.

You want to succeed in endurance sport you simply need to get the job done – its making sure the job is right that we need to focus on.

The initial process of setting up a plan is tough as we all want to maximize the number of hours available to train. We look at our lives and pick a number of hours that we feel is available to train. In general I will knock about 20% off this number and use this as a base for plans – this is a much more realistic number and a number the athlete is likely to hit long term week by week without suffering burnout.

When I say burnout I am not talking about over-training, simply mental fatigue from being in a constant rush from one thing to the next to fit everything into the day. There is only so long we can maintain that level of business without breaking down in some form and for athletes it gets to a point where training simply stops for a period of time.

So let’s say you think you can train 16 hours a week, take 20% off this and we are now at 12 hours a week – a good number and one that I have seen produce Kona qualifiers from athletes new to the sport within 3 years. So the goal is to set up a plan that fits around your life and will not have you feeling permanently rushed. Once set, it’s time to GET THE JOB DONE week after week after week!!

Now we come to the hard part and that is putting the training into your life list. We all make lists to some extent but some of us are really into our lists and if a task is added to the list IT HAS TO BE DONE and all is not right in the world if something is not done!!

I am certainly not saying you need to go to that extent to be successful but there are lessons from these individuals we can apply to make it easier to get the work done.

One of the first steps is knowing your plan and knowing what you have to do every day. Once we know that, we can go ahead and create our list. This is best done at night; spend 5 minutes reviewing the day and then writing out the list for the next day. With such busy lives the addition of triathlon training makes things even busier and being able to complete tasks early in the day is key to getting things done. If at all possible try to get training done early as this prevents thinking about training all day and building things up in your head.

Also if you have a family at home completing training before the rest of the house wakes up will free up your time to spend with the family and you will find you’re much more productive in the morning without any distractions.

So you have planned your morning training session to start the day, before going upstairs to sleep make sure you have everything you need for the session, if need be have a checklist at hand – very easy to put one of these together once you have your training plan put together.

As a coach I have seen so many little mishaps get in the way of training, for example turning up to the pool only to discover your swim trunks and towel are sitting on a radiator at home instead of in your swim bag – this one seems to be a regular occurrence! Another classic is going to the gym for a treadmill run only to discover you have forgotten trainings or as one of my athletes always seemed to be missing one shoe for such sessions, funny but at the same time the regular missing of sessions like this is why the performance level in races ends up being below expectation.

SWIM BAG – towel, goggle, swim suit, wetsuit if open water session, shampoo, work cloths if heading to work after.

BIKE

Check tires are inflated night before – nothing kills time like having to fix a flat
all kit for riding indoors and outdoors if necessary as weather is unpredictable
Watch, power meter, Di2 all charged if needed
if your riding to work do you have work cloths ready

RUN

Run shoes, run kit for weather possibilities
Watch charged
Work cloths ready for after session

Everyone’s lists will be a little different but you can see by being prepared you can maximize your time and limit reasons for not getting the training done.

Lastly learn to a little flexible, I mentioned above those athletes that simply have to get the list done or all is not right in the world – the major disadvantage of this mentality is that if something goes wrong this athlete can’t see past the session. So for example if the session was a 1 hour ride with 30minutes of intervals at race pace, what happens if you wake up and find your tire has burst overnight and requires fixing? This process might take 10minutes and so the window for training which you had at 1 hour might now be just 50 minutes – it is surprising how many athletes will simply see the session as lost and do nothing, always remember something is better than nothing, you may not be able to do the full session but you can still get a solid workout in and make sure the body gets some training stimulation.

So you want to make that next step in your training and up your performance levels, start creating your lists and spend a little time each evening making sure your set for the next day and you will make much better use of your time and end up missing less training sessions due to little mishaps!

Enjoy your training, plan and get the job done!!
Alun “Woody” Woodward

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Train with ironguides!

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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)

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Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

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

Appropriate race day swim gear can make you swim faster

August 22, 2017

Home, Swimming

As the triathlon world has its eyes on the Ironman World Championships this weekend, in the warm waters of Hawaii, you will likely see most of the participants using a speedsuit for the swim leg of the Ironman.

The speedsuit is an option for non-wetsuit swims, and while it may look like an ordinary triathlon suit, it is very different and much faster.

The article below was written based on years of watching age group triathletes in South East Asian races, in which the wetsuit isn’t legal as the water is just too hot. You will learn the options that you have when it comes to race day gear for the swim portion.

You will also learn about the different in training needed in case of a wetsuit swim as it’s the case with many Ironman races done by Asian athletes since wetsuit swims is the normal rule in most triathlon races around the world other than South East Asia and some races in the Southern Hemisphere.

Most beginners may not be able to spot the different of a speedsuit to a standar trisuit as they look similar but perform very different in the water
Some beginners may not be able to spot the different of a speedsuit to a standard trisuit as they look similar but perform very different in the water
Benefits of a speedsuit

A speedsuit is a thik, tight and hydrodynamic layer that you use on the top of your trisuit or tritop/trishorts. It’s likely one of the best investments you can make towards a faster overall finish time, and it will also give you some more comfort and benefits on the bike and run, understand below why.

Hydrodynamic – Faster in the water

The fabric used on the speedsuit is water repellent, which means that it’s even faster than the human skin, and much, much faster than the lycra that is used by most of the triathlon suits these days. When it comes to numbers, the below is the average result of a test I ran with my training squad, please note that it does vary from athlete to athlete depending on their technique and also brands and models.

Speedsuit VS human skin (on a tight/race swimsuit) = 1sec/100m (15 seconds faster over 1500m swim)
Speedsuit VS a decent/shortcourse trisuit (no pockets) = 3sec/100m (60 seconds faster over 1500m swim)
Speedsuit VS a slow / long course trisuit or two pieces, both with exposed pockets = 5sec/100m (90 seconds faster over 1500m swim)

Now go and think how much you work you need to put in to improve 1min of our time in a 1.500mts swim race. This makes the speedsuit a great investment as you lost virtually no time to take it off in transition (should be no more than 5 seconds)

Benefits on the bike and run

The benefits don’t stop there. The speedsuit also allows you to race with your favourite trisuit or two-piece, especially on long course events that you may want to have pockets to stock up on gels and other things. It makes this combo the best of both worlds, fastest in the water and most comfortable out of the water

Strategy Benefits

For the very high performance athletes, it may be the difference of swimming “one pack ahead” which can be a decisive factor on who you will be riding with. Another way to see it is that you will be 1-2min ahead of your usual pack on the bike, so you can take that time to take it a bit easier early on the bike and wait until they come, you will be fresh and ready to go while they will have started the bike too fast. This will make a big difference for the rest of the day. Pacing off strong athletes on the bike isn’t anything new and every second on the swim counts.

Using a speedsuit, allows you to run with a two-piece underneath with no time penalty in the swim
Using a speedsuit, allows you to cycle and run with a two-piece underneath that may be superior in comfort and with no time penalty in the swim

How to train for a wetsuit race

Now that you understood the benefits of a speedsuit for non-wetsuit swims, which is the reality of most races in South East Asia, you need also to learn about the wetsuit, the rubberized equipment that is allowed and even compulsory in most other races, including East Asia and Australia, two popular racing destinations for Asia based triathletes

If you ever swam on a wetsuit before, you know that it can make your shoulders fatigue a lot earlier than the usual. This happens as a combination of a different body position & restricting shoulder movement, event the most advanced and flexible wetsuits aren’t as loose as a non-wetsuit swim stroke. The good news is that you can do something about it to improve that feel and make sure the swim won’t drain you more than it should:

Train with it:

Try to use your wetsuit once a week in the last 6 weeks leading into the race. If the pool water is too warm you can take 2 bottles of iced water and make yourself cooler by drinking it and pouring on your head on the intervals. If water temperature is over 26 degrees, then use the wetsuit only for the warm up or first half of the session, then add the pull gear as explained below. Alternative, do an extra swim session of 20-30min with the suit.

Tools that simulates it

Use pullbuoy/paddles/bands for your long swims even if your programme doesn’t say so. The pullbuoy will lift your body like the suits does, while the paddles will also add some strength load on your shoulders simulating the extra load of the suit. Ankle bands should only be used by experienced swimmers (faster than 1’50/100 on 1.5k), as you won’t need to kick much with the suit and you want to get used to swimming that way

Tips for race day

The neoprene absorbs and holds the water for ~24h and that makes it more flexible. Just like before your swim training with the suit, on race day you should also take your suit to the shower as it will be moist and way more flexible than if you just put it on and swim on race day.

Pull the arms all the way to the armpit for more comfort
Pull the legs all the way up to your groin
Let some water in before you swim, it will let the suit “settle” and also moist. Do it by pulling the suit collar in the water
Let some water in before you finish the swim. Just before you exit the water, pull the collar and let it it.. It will make transitions much faster
You may consider cutting your suit if its too long in the legs, the buoyancy gains there are minimal and they can get stuck on your feet in transition. The appropriate height is in the middle of your calf.

by Vinnie Santana – ironguides coach – Bangkok

More info at www.ironguides.net

–

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)

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Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

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

KABOOM – dont blow up on race day

August 16, 2017

cycling, Home, ironman, Training

You’re flying along enjoying your first Ironman then you hit 120km and KABOOM!!

How many athletes experience this at 120km in an Ironman ride, it’s amazing how often this happens and athletes have a very logical but false impression of how to prevent this. Our natural response is we do not have enough endurance and therefore need to do more long rides and runs!!

Ironman is a scary prospect and as such we all make damn sure we get the long rides and runs done in preparation to prevent the KABOOM moment but so many times it still happens. Most athletes will ride 5-6 hours for their long training rides or at least try to get one ride of 180km done in preparation so is this experience of blowing up really due to lack of long ride distance?

Then we have the athletes who cope fine with the bike and hit the run only to end up walking after 5km and start thinking they are lacking run endurance.

So what is going on and why do so many athletes experience this at 120km into an Ironman bike? To understand this we need to look at what happens and what training effect we get from our long easy rides.

The long weekly ride that is a fundamental of any training plan tends to end up being an easy ride focused on distance. When we ride all easy like this we end up training only a very small part of the muscle. If we look at how a muscle is made we can simplify things to say each muscle is made up of 100 fibers, to bring about a movement we need to activate a certain number of these fibers and our brains control this and brings about movement in the most efficient way possible. When we ride easy our brains will use maybe 20-30% of all the fibers as these are the most efficient and energy saving for this intensity.

What we have to think is our brain wants us to survive and does this by using as little energy as possible for everything we do. The more we train, the more our brains learn to use less energy so we become more energy efficient – a great adaption for endurance performance but in extreme examples like Ironman, we run into problems as once we hit that 120km point, those efficient fibers for endurance suddenly hit a point of fatigue and stop working forcing other fibers to have to take over the role. If we have not trained those other fibers once they come into play we will feel a little uncoordinated and then they fatigue so fast that we get that KABOOM moment as we have nowhere to go from there!!

So when looking at training endurance for Ironman, we need to look beyond the simple long endurance sessions in order to get through the race without that KABOOM moment and to optimize performance.

In order to do this we need to find a way to train more of the muscle fibers and share the workload over more fibers so that point of fatigue is pushed back and performance increases.

What we essentially need to do is trick the brain and force the body to switch on more muscle for a given task. This principle has been used very successfully in body building but is not really considered when looking at endurance training. In body building it is common to start a set of lifting heavy then reduce weight and increase reps to get a much bigger response. The first heavy lift forces the brain to activate all the muscle fibers and then the following lifts at reduced weight will still hit all the fibers but with more reps we get a more rounded training effect with enhanced strength and size in all the fibers.

So how do we apply this to bike training to enhance endurance?

Let’s look at 2 ways we can change the endurance bike day to bring about enhanced endurance adaption in a wider range of muscle fiber.

Firstly let’s look at a long endurance ride of 5 hours, I want to increase the endurance element but I do not want to extend the ride. I would do this by placing some low cadence high power work very early on in the ride to fully activate muscle fibre recruitment in the bike specific muscles and then later in the ride the focus would be on race cadence work, for example:

5hour ride to be ridden as

30min easy warm up
2x20min in biggest gear pushing hard against resistance with 10min easy between
3hours easy
30min hard effort @ race cadence
easy cool down

By setting the long weekly ride this way we get an endurance training effect in a much greater percentage of muscle fibres. The result being on race day we have more fibers trained to share the workload and therefore, increase endurance.

Another way we can get a similar training effect is to add a double bike day into a training week, these sessions only need to be short but can create a huge gain to both speed and endurance.

So let’s say you have an hour to train in the morning and the evening, this is one way you can set the sessions to enhance endurance.

Morning session – 1 hour including 30minute of hard intervals at low cadence

Evening session – 1 hour including 20 minutes of intervals at race cadence or above.

What we want to happen here is to totally fatigue the biking muscles in the morning session and then as we start the evening session we force the brain to activate more fibre to get the work done. A very unpleasant experience when you start as the evening session has your legs burning with very little speed gain for the effort but as you adapt and build fitness you will start to fly in the second session and really see a big change to both speed and endurance come race day.

Want to have a great ironman performance and avoid the 120k KABOOM – follow the advice above and rather than increase the duration of your endurance rides simply change the content to get a much bigger training effect that you will really feel come race day.

Enjoy your training.
Alun “Woody” Woodward

More info at www.ironguides.net

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)

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

Race Day – Avoiding Mistakes

August 8, 2017