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Ironman Performance – The Final 4 Weeks

August 2, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your fitness!

Alun “Woody” Woodward

 

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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

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Ironman Recovery Guidelines: Learn how to get back into training

July 25, 2017

As soon as you cross the finish line of an Ironman, it is normal you will already start planning the next season and races you want to do. However, taking a rest after the Ironman is import for both body and mind, after all, you spent months of extreme dedication, your weekends were practically sitting on the bike, and you endured various dietary restrictions.

But what is the best way to recover from an Ironman? How many days you must rest and what is the best type of workout to do once you are back to a training routine?

The article below explains in detail everything you need to know about resume training after an Ironman.

The negative impact of an Ironman race in the human body

To do an Ironman race is not in the nature of the human body. Over millions of years, the human body was designed to either exercise at low intensity and high duration, or short but high intensity, that is based on the needs of mankind evolution and what our ancestors had to do. To exercise at moderate intensity (gray zone) for nine to seventeen hours is not natural or even healthy to us, and a simple blood work before and after an Ironman can detect be some problems as:

Hormonal imbalance:

An Austrian study concluded that takes three weeks for antioxidant levels return to healthy patterns, as well as muscle injury and inflammation markers to settle.

The immune system plays an important role in helping your body recover from intense workouts, but the immune system is overwhelmed during prolonged exercise and stay at low levels for up to three days after this type of activity, leaving him exposed to viral infections and bacterial.

This combined response with a fall of hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, and an increase of cortisol (stress hormone) complete the total hormonal imbalance after competing in Ironman.

Kidney overloaded:

With the high rate of muscle cells breakage, there is an increase in blood levels of myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein and harmful to the kidneys. Some athletes report change in color of urine after an Ironman race, which is a sign of rhabdomyolysis, a medical condition that indicates overload the kidneys due to muscle damage.

The combination of dehydration and ingestion of Advil (Iboprufen), may further worsen the picture of the kidneys, in some rare cases even get in renal failure. Therefore taking advil for an Ironman is never recommended.

The good news is that while the response of your body to an effort such as an Ironman race sounds serious and dangerous, you can mitigate some of these downsides with appropriate recovery and training once you are done with the race. Here’s how:

Phase 1 (1 to 21 days after the race) – Recovery Guidelines

Day 1 to 10 after the Ironman:

Beginners or intermediate athletes should take as many days off as you want, this will do you good not only for your body but also the mind, you have worked hard and now is the time to recover. If you think some easy exercising will help you feel better and less bloated or tight, do 20-40min swimming or cycling but at very low intensity. Do not run during this period.

High performance athletes should take a few days off completely and rest during this period, but active rest with some  swimming or cycling, both at low intensity, will help you recover faster. Do not run during this period.

Day 11 to 21 after the Ironman:

Beginners or intermediate athletes should start back wish some activities at low intensity and little structure. Try to keep the activities (note the word activity and not training) shorter than an hour. You can also get back to some running and exercise daily. However if you still feeling like resting fully for the whole day, do it without guilt, the time is now.

High performance athletes will benefit from daily activities and some accelerations in the pool using paddles and on the bike pushing some heavy gears, this will help you recruit your specific muscles but still keeping your heart rate low. Some days you should also do double training, keep in mind that two short workouts is less aggressive for your immune system and hormone levels than one longer session.

Phase 2 –What to train after the 21st day after your race

Once you get back to a proper training plan, it should not only consider the races you want to do from that point, but also the specific training for the Ironman you did in the previous three months.There are several fitness aspects targeted in a training plan, and you must understand that your Ironman preparation required specific sessions and you spent most of your workouts in the “gray zone”, at moderate intensity but long workouts.

This type of training is important for a good performance in Ironmans, but considering that this type of training begins mostly in the last twelve weeks before the race, it means that other important aspects of your fitness, such as strength, speed and high intensity aerobic training, were left aside on that final Ironman prep.

Once you complete your recovery protocol, your best option is to start a training block focused on short races, even if the short or medium term goal is another long or middle distance race.

Understand that just maintaining your endurance in your post Ironman training is enough to maintain good endurance as you will be coming off months of endurance focused training.

Add weight training in this phase can also be a good idea as it will help your hormonal level to balance out again and give you some general strength.

Phase 3 – Plan your race calendar wisely

Avoid any kind of races for at least 3 full weeks after the Ironman. Then starting on the fourth week, you can schedule some short events that will give you the opportunity to also test the short course training you will be doing and acquire skills and race day strategies that will be useful for long races in the future.

If you have a long race scheduled 4-6 weeks after your Ironman, you do not need to go long in your training as you would had you not competed in the Ironman, your endurance will still be at a decent level (refer to graphic above).

A Common error is to run a marathon under 4 weeks after the Ironman as the risk of an injury is huge, not only during the competition itself, but also due to reason the athletes will focus more on running after the Ironman and that should be the discipline you will train the least!

Nutrition after the race? Tips for athletes of all ages, sports and historical levels

Post race nutrition – How your ability, age and background have an impact on it.

It is normal and will do you good to let the diet go a little after the race. Even “pigging out” some and putting on some weight is fine and will help you to recovery.

But there is profile of athlete that must hold back a little and think ahead before putting on five or more kilos in the weeks after the Ironman. They are the masters athletes (forty-five years or more) at a high performance level. The reason is that as you age, weight loss becomes increasingly difficult, and you fought so hard to get to this excellent physical shape and run the risk of lose it all and start all over again.

That would be fine if your goals ended up there (such as placing at a major Ironman event or qualifying for Kona for example), otherwise, you will deal with the challenge of being a little heavier right at the beginning of the first block of training after the Ironman, and combined with the intensity of the short course training that follows your Ironman recovery, this can be a recipe for an injury. High performance master athletes should find a good balance of letting the diet go a little to get that mental break, but don’t overdo it.  For all other types of athletes, either at a beginner level or the younger that can lose weight easily, enjoy the off-season, eat well and do not rush to resume training.

Enjoy your training.

Vinnie Santana
vinnie2

>>> Check ironguides 4 weeks Ironman recovery training plan for only 39USD, all the above information structured in an easy to understand routine.

 

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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

 

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Free Speed Indeed: Drafting for a Quick Swim Split

July 19, 2017

You work hard in the pool 2 – 3 times a week. You buy all the latest swim toys, take stroke correction classes and analyse YouTube swim technique videos all for the sake of faster swim split. But many age groupers have not wised up to fact that drafting is the easiest way to an impressive swim split. The fear of getting hit and pulled under/ swum over in the in the opening seconds of each race drives you to ‘take it easy’ at the start. This is exactly the reason why they get caught up in the mess with everyone else in the 1st place!
 
The trick is to start the swim hard and latch onto a slightly faster swimmer that will 1) shield them from the barrage in front and 2) pull them clear of the as much of the pack as possible. Yes, it is a little bit of a roller coaster ride getting there but once you have experienced ‘leaving the pack’ behind a few times in a race situation, you‘ll never want to be bogged down in the tangle of arms and legs again.
 
For many swimmers, lack of confidence is the main factor holding them back from fighting for a draft. They seldom practice ‘starting hard’ in their training and do not know how to change gears in the water to manage their effort levels.  If this sounds like you, read on!

 
Finding the right draft

 
If you are swimming at a steady effort and holding a good rhythm to stay on the feet in front of you, chances are you have found the right draft. Just pop your head up every 10 – 15 strokes to ensure that you’re getting towed in the right direction. This is your ticket to a swim split PB – don’t let anyone come in between you and those feet in front of you. If you need to swim ‘tough’ to defend your territory – so be it.Don’t budge! Take a few knocks and don’t hesitate to bump back, let them know that you’re there to stay. A high stroke rate with a straight arm recovery and wide hand entry and is a clear signal for other swimmers to stay out clear of your territory.
 
If you lose this draft, you’ll be regretting it for a long time.
 
Your draft is too slow if you’re bumping into toes in front of you and you are struggling to get into a good rhythm because of the continual acceleration/deceleration cycles. Test this out by coming out of their wake and accessing how much effort it is going to take to go on your own. Yes – it will be harder, but can you handle it for a period while you settle into your own rhythm and search for a slightly faster set of feet?

 
Keep your eyes peeled for a swimmer or a train of swimmers moving steadily pass you. Wait for them to pass, put in a mini surge of a few powerful strokes to get on their toes, tuck right in behind them and settle in.
 
Or if there’s no such luck, look further up the field for a stronger swimmer to bridge up to. What is it going to take to bridge up to them? Can you make it across in 30 seconds/ 60 seconds/ 90 seconds with a dedicated effort to bridge up? Leap- frogging from one set of feet to the next faster ones has resulted in many fast swims times – and if well executed, can have you swimming significantly beyond your ability.

 
On the other hand, you’ll know if you are drafting ‘out of your league’ because even though you’re pushing hard, his/ her feet keep disappearing into the water ahead. There’s a good chance that you’re not the only one hanging on for a free ride and there will be other swimmers behind you. Pull over to the side, let them pass and duck into the slip stream of the bigger group once they have passed – exactly like you would on a pace line on the bike.
 
Applications to training:
 
As you can see, the swim leg of a triathlon is a very dynamic effort requiring short hard surges to catch up to faster feet, extended periods of steady and solid swimming, while on your own looking for the next draft, and the ability to recover “on the go” when you have made it across the gap.
 
While the long steady swims are useful for building endurance, and a flat set of 100’s is good for tolerance, the best way to master the ability to change pace on the go is to train specifically with variable speed sets. These sessions will have your heart rate up and down and everywhere in between to mimic the conditions of a real race situation. With practice, you will learn how to mix up aerobic and anaerobic efforts in the water. This, in turn, will give you the confidence to take the risk on race day to hunt down the best feet to follow. There are 2 of my favourite variable speed sets to get you started. You can change the number of reps according to your ability.
 
Set 1: Total Distance – 2.7km
 
Warm up

300m done continuous as 75easy free/ 25m butterfly

4 x 50m as 25m All Out /25m easy – 30sec rest

 

Main Set is 4 x through this block

 

4 x 50m hard – 20sec rest
200m moderate – 30sec rest
100m easy – 1min ‘reset’

  • Option to add paddles and pullbuoy in the second half

 

200m easy cool down

 
Set 2: Total Distance – 2.6km
 

Warm up

500m done continuous as 75easy free/ 25m butterfly

 

Main Set

6 x 100m swum as (25m All Out/ 50m easy / 25m ALL OUT)

  • 60 sec rest
  • No gear

6 x 200m swum as (50m Hard / 100m easy / 50m Hard)

  • 90 sec rest
  • Paddles and pullbuoy

Cool Down – 3x 100m easy with paddles and pullbuoy

 

If you don’t do this type of swim session at least once a week, try it out. Get used to going into the red and then ‘recovering on the go’. Paying attention to holding your form especially on the easy sections as you will be fatigued from the preceding hard efforts. And don’t forget to put this into practice the next time you toe the line!

Good luck and enjoy your training!

 

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!

image-2132.jpgShem 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.

Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching:  Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 
By Shem Leong

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Swimfit

July 5, 2017

Swimming is often overlooked in Ironman as it’s seen as a short warm up before the main event. This thinking has led to swim training being overlooked or the bare minimum of work being done so athletes can complete the swim distance come race day.

I have heard many athletes gleaning to be pure endurance athletes as it takes them so long to warm up onto the bike in Ironman events. But looking over their training the truth is, more often than not it takes them so long to recover from the swim before they can start to even access their bike fitness.

Same goes for great runners wondering why despite being in amazing run shape they can never access this fitness in an Ironman, they will often blame nutrition when the real culprit is the energy cost of the swim and the debt accumulated recovering from this at the start of the bike.

So many athletes fall into the easy trap of blaming nutrition for things going wrong and not performing to expectations but I have seen time and time again the athletes who come to the races well trained and balanced fitness through consistent training really don’t seem to have these nutritional issues!!

In Ironman we want to swim well but more importantly we want to get out of the water as fresh as possible so we are not taking a debt into the remainder of the race. One big element in this is of course pacing the race correctly to your current fitness but this point is for another article. In this article I want to look at swim fitness specific for Ironman.

First and foremost, the Ironman swim is a long way, you need to be able to not only complete the distance but complete it comfortably – of all the 3 sports the swim is the only one I would recommend regularly going over distance on in training.

When looking at the swim in Ironman I would class it as a strength endurance test, it’s quite simple to demonstrate this if you happen to have both a 25m and 50m pool available for training, simply spend a few weeks training in a 25m pool which is great for fitness and technique development and then take that fitness to a 50m pool a do a time trial swim of race distance, you will end up very frustrated as despite feeling very fit you will just feel drained and slow very early on, breathing will be well under control as you simply will not be able to go hard enough to put a stress on your cardio system as the strength system will have been maxed out.

The reason for this is the short rest you get in a 25m pool on every turn is doubled in a 50m pool and this has a huge effect on the build up of fatigue. We can tell the fatigue is muscular as you will find breathing is very controlled and just no way to push harder in order to stress the cardio system. Now if this effect is seen from a jump to 50m you can imagine it will be multiplied many times in a 3.8k swim with no breaks.

Taking this into account, the most important part of any swim program has to be a long strength based endurance swim. To make a swim strength based we can do several things depending on what your circumstances are.

Using a pull buoy is the first step in incorporating strength into any swim session; the pull buoy takes the legs out of the stroke and forces all momentum to come from the arms so isolating muscles. A further addition to the pull buoy to make your arms work even harder is a band tied around your ankles – this prevents you from kicking and will really emphasize any lack of symmetry in your stroke and make forward progress really hard work!!

When using a band ignore the clock as it will really slow you down and can leave you very frustrated – when using a band perceived effort is your guide and just use the clock for calculating recovery between intervals!

Finding a comfortable band is hard and my tip is to find an old wetsuit and cut off a section of the leg about 2-3 inches thick and use this for your band. This proves perfect tightness and comfort so you will have no excuses for not doing your band work.

Paddles are a great tool for building strength and also promote good technique as a bonus. Adding paddles to the second half of a hard swim session will really work on strength and you are forcing already fatigued muscles to work even harder.

So an example strength endurance swim using the above may look something like

20×100 pull bouy moderate + 15s rest

 

5×200 pull buoy / band  @ 1 easy / 1 hard + 30s rest

 

2×400 pull / band / paddles @ 1 moderate / 1 hard + 30s rest

Having a swim like this as part of your weekly training will have you strong enough to cope with the demands of the Ironman swim come race day and allow you to get onto the bike fresher and ready to go from the first meters.

Now that you are strong enough to get through the swim, we need to look at what is likely to occur in the swim and the demands it will place on the body. Open water swims will involve swimming around markers and these present another fitness challenge. When swimming in a group, the dynamic of the group will always change from steady swimming into the turn to accelerating around the turn, just as in bike racing those athletes at the back of the group will have to slow right down as they approach the turn due to congestion and then accelerate hard out of the turn in order to catch back up to the group. The demands of these accelerations are high and if you don’t train them you will quickly become tired and no longer be able to stay with the group you were swimming with.

After a warm up perform the following set twice, second time through add paddles for more of a strength challenge.

 

100m all out + 1min rest

4×50 hard + 10s rest

3×100 moderate + 10s rest

50 all out + 10s rest

2×100 moderate + 10s rest

150m easy + 1min rest

 

When swimming this set expect breathing to really be out of control the first time, focus has to be on maintaining consistent pace for each effort level through the whole set.

These 2 sessions will form the backbone of a good Ironman swim program and ensure you are ready to go on race day. Some pools and regulations can prevent the use of paddles and bands so we need to find a way to simulate the same challenge without the tools, some tips on doing this

 

Paddles not allowed

  • Use drag shorts to increase resistance or even better board shorts
  • Turn 2-3m before the wall and then you have to accelerate back to speed without a push off

Bands not allowed

  • Cross your legs to prevent any kick – just remember to alternate legs each length

Moving forward work hard on your swim with the above focus in order to not only improve your Ironman swim but to unlock your true potential on the bike and run!!

 

Enjoy your training

 

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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

By Alun “Woody” Woodward

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Turning the page

June 28, 2017

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

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

Illness

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

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

SWIM

Panned session

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

Adapted session

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

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

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

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

Mechanical issues – travel related?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your training

Alun “Woody” Woodward

 

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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

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IRONMAN PERFORMANCE – RESPONDER OR NON RESPONDER

June 14, 2017

The human body is amazingly adaptable and we can accomplish amazing feats through training and specific preparation, we read time and time again about the stories of sedentary individuals suddenly taking up exercise and within a short period of time transform themselves from being unable to run for a bus to completing marathons and ironman competitions.

As a coach though i routinely hear from athletes who have lofty goals but keep failing in their pursuit of fitness. These individuals have been told they are non responders to training, they just do not seem to adapt to the stresses off training and improve as others around them.

When i work with these individuals we have to look at what is happening and why they may not be responding to training, i truly believe we are all capable of improving performance in endurance sports but the recipe to do that is not the same for all individuals yet within the endurance world we are constantly fed the same recipe for training and all seem to follow this with varying degrees of success and failure.

When faced with a non responder to conventional training we need to look at 2 aspects, what they are doing in training but also their general and nutritional health needs to be considered.

Lets start with the health side, when i say health i am talking about deficiencies that could be stalling any progress. If you imagine trying to bake a loaf of bread but you have no yeast then no matter what you do the dough is not going to rise. The same goes for training – our bodies need certain ingredients in order to adapt to training and progress fitness.

As an example iron is a essential nutrient for aerobic adaption, if you are iron deficient then typical symptoms include fatigue and nausea. These symptoms are also seen as normal when training especially when unfit, these are not pleasant and having these symptoms continue is why a lot of athletes quickly stop training and return to their sedentary lifestyle.

Iron deficiency is more common that we think especially in modern athletes. Foods that contain high levels of iron are rarely eaten by athletes who think they are eating healthy, they avoid red meat and the best source liver is rarely eaten by anyone these days. When you consider this and then on top of this the fact that iron absorption is compromised by consuming coffee which seems to be the number one ingredient in most busy athletes nutrition plans then its not a surprise iron levels tend to be lower than they should be. I have seen time and time again the removal of excessive coffee drinking and the addition off liver into the diet 2-3 times per week make a huge difference to the progress of athletes training.

If you feel like you stall every time you try and get fit maybe its time to start a different way, go and get a full health check and blood test and check your healthy and body is ready to commence a training program. With modern medicine doctors can test for all sorts of deficiencies within the body – getting healthy and making sure your in a good place health wiser before commencing a training program will make a big difference to your progression and also how much you enjoy the process.

Once we have looked into the health side and made sure the athlete does not have deficiencies present that are preventing the body from adapting to the training then we need to start looking into the specific training routine.

Within sports we all have different talents, some of us are good at sprinting while others are more gifted at endurance events, this is all to do with how our muscles are built genetically. While an athlete predisposed to endurance will always struggle with speed an athlete built for speed can develop very good endurance with the correct training.

To start we need to look at volume of training, very rarely will an athlete be training too little to adapt and most jump straight in at the deep end and train too much. Too much volume too quickly can stall progression as everything gets backed up, this is linked to the health side in that not enough nutrients are present to allow the body to adapt and rebuild after training so progression simply does not happen. This is something i see a lot in not only beginners but also pro athletes.

Reducing training load can be all that is needed to start seeing significant progression in fitness. Always remember our bodies are made to adapt, so long as we give the right stimulus adaption will happen.

Now if changes in training load are not leading to any changes then we need to look at the content of the sessions. First thing i look at is the endurance work within the program, as an example if an athlete completes their long run every week at an appropriate pace and still struggle with the session week on week then something needs to change. Taking this athlete though a 4-6 week block of work focussed on short duration sprints in the 20-40s range with long recoveries and then going back to the endurance work results in much improved results and limited fatigue in endurance sessions when compared to before the sprint work.

Looking at the reverse we have athletes who never have issues with endurance sessions, wether fully fit or after a long period of rest they can go straight out and do an endurance session with little stress on the body, yet these athletes can really struggle to see any development in these sessions. These athletes are natural endurance athletes and no amount of training is going to really develop this area and to move performance levels up the focus would be on longer duration hard intervals in the 3-4minutes range with short recoveries.

Training really is individual and coaching is the art of finding the right recipe for each athlete.

If your sick of the same performances and stalled progression then maybe its time to take a real look at your training and find out what is stopping your progression. After all training is defined by applied stimulus to the body that brings about improvements in performance – if this is not happening then your not really training!

enjoy your training
Coach Alun “Woody” Woodward

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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

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Ironman 70.3 Triathlon: Q & A

June 6, 2017

For someone who can only train 10hrs/week (between 8-12hrs) for a 70.3, with no particular strength/weakness – all swim bike run are equally average, how would you allocate the training hours and at what intensity?

Typical age groupers that need to balance work,family and training usually have one hour a day and a little longer on the weekends for training. 10 hours a week is plenty for a decent 70.3 if you are able to dedicate this amount of time consistently every week.

Here is the short answer –

Swim – 2 x a week (2 hours altogether)

* 1 hour each

* One Strength session and one long steady aerobic session.

* Use paddles to build upper body strength

Bike – 3 x a week – (4 – 5 hours altogether)

* 2 x 1 hour on the trainer – one strength session/ one tolerance session – learn to suffer!

* 1 x long steady ride on the road 2.5 – 3 hrs. (usually weekend)

Run – 2 – 3 x a week (3 hours altogether)

* 1 x 1 hr speed / tolerance session depending on proximity of race and your running background and current fitness.

* 1 x long steady aerobic run with structure built in.

* Short run off the bike as the race draws closer.

Here is the thinking behind it:

 

  • SWIM – Once you are ‘there’ with your swim, unless you can swim a lot (upwards of 4 times a week), significant gains in swimming are very hard to come by. You can try to improve your ‘technique’ all you want – but honestly, when you’re caught in the fray, all bets are off – strength is going to be your best friend. Short hard sprints with paddles will build strength and a longer steady aerobic swim will work both ends of the ‘spectrum’ of swim fitness, leaving the ‘overlap’ to take care of everything else in between. That’s why 2 swims is the minimum required to maintain your current level of swimming.

Unless you decide to do a swim focused block of training, and are willing to let the bike and run go for awhile, I believe that ‘technique’ is better left humming quietly in the background to develop naturally and gradually over the months and years as your cumulative time in the water adds up and you intuitively develop a better sense of balance, rotation, timing and stroke.

  • BIKE – For an athlete that is equally average in all 3 disciplines, the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ in terms of gains in triathlon performance would be to work on bike strength. The stronger a biker you are, the better your chances of putting in a solid bike and still having decent legs left for the run:

Consider Athlete A (average biker / super runner) vs Athlete B (strong biker / average runner). Say they exit T1 of a 70.3 neck and neck and start the bike together. While Athlete B pushes out a solid, steady and well-paced ride of 2.5 hours, Athlete A digs deep and smashes his legs for that same bike split, to enter T2 together. Now who do you think is in a better position to run off the bike? No matter how strong a runner Athlete A is, his legs are already fried from the bike and he’s going to struggle to even put one foot in front of the other. Athlete B, on the other hand, still has relatively fresh legs and is in a much better position to put his ‘average’ running fitness to good use.

Bottom line – for training in Singapore (and other countries with poor outdoor cycling options), get a bike trainer and learn how to use it. The uninitiated will use every excuse not to get on the trainer while those in the know dutifully climb on board and kill themselves for the better part of an hour – twice a week – and then ride away from the rest of the bunch on the group ride. Think of trainers session like track work for cycling.

10 hours a week? How much of that time is used up actually getting out the door and riding to a spot where you can do some meaningful bike training in Singapore?  Now multiply that by 2 cos you have to ride back. Now one of your riding buddies is running late so you need to wait for him. A little further into the ride, the traffic light has just gone red in the middle of your 10 min Time Trail effort. Never mind – we’ll start over – hang on – mind that idiot driver, mind that pot-hole. Someone’s dropped a bottle/ needs to stop to refill etc… Sound familiar?

Bike trainer scenario – wake up, brush teeth, pull on bibs, plug in your ear buds, turn the volume up and jump on the trainer. 15 min warm up will wake you up/ 2 x 20 mins head down, eyes closed, best effort Time Trial / 5 mins easy recovery in between/ 5 mins easy spin cool down.  You’re done in an hour. Your legs are dead but you are buzzing from the suffering that you have just lived through. Shower. Quick bite. Off to work. Do 2 different sessions a week and you’ll see improvements in no time.

  • RUN– Typical Age Group triathletes simply don’t have the time to put in the long easy miles or several different types of running workouts; Speedwork/ Tempo Runs/ Cruise Intervals/ Long Runs etc etc. So the best way to overcome this is to build multiple ‘layers’/ structure into each run we do so that we’re covering as much of the necessary ground as possible

Strength work in the form of hill repeats or short hard intervals will actually teach your body how to run faster. It is great for hard wiring good running technique and posture as well as developing a high stride rate. At the same time, pushing All Out, for short bouts at a time, also ‘opens up’ the cardiovascular system and takes the ceiling off previous levels of perceived performance. These types of sessions are best done regularly for the 1st half of a 12 – 16 week 70.3 training block.

It’s a good idea to switch to tolerance work for the 2nd half of your training block to bring about the cardiovascular adaptations that will allow you to manage the ‘redline’ better on race day. The speed and strength work done in the 1st phase of your training will trickle down to enhance your sub-threshold and race pace efforts as you get closer to the day.

Likewise, it is a good idea to build structure into your weekly long run. A simple negative split effort; dividing your run into thirds – easy, mod and hard, will teach you how to pace on race day.

Or you could finish up a 90 min run with 3 x 2km hard repeats or 10 x 1 min hard/ 1 min easy to squeeze in a little quality work at the end. Structuring your runs will also teach you to hold your mental focus for the whole time (staying in the moment) instead of drifting off at an easy ‘all day’ pace. Learning to read your body’s feedback at different effort levels through your breathing/ form/ flow and stride rate will give you the confidence to manage the race day effort to your best ability.

In conclusion, when it’s time to train –TRAIN! Put everything you have (however much or little it may be on that day) into that precious hour. Learn to focus and stay in the moment for the duration of your session. Tune into what your body is doing and how you can do it better – breathing / stroking/ pedaling / holding form. Experiment, test and work at accurately gauging your perceived effort level during all different types of training sessions. This will come back to you on race day through a sharper mental focus and an intuitive ability to pace yourself perfectly through the 70.3 miles.

When the session is over, get back to the rest of your life – being a good and responsible Husband/ Wife/ Dad/ Mum/ Employee!

Enjoy your training!
Shem Leong
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Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching:  Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

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

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for athletes of all abilities. We provide coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, health and fitness products to help you learn and live a healthy lifestyle. Come get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services, a Tour de France bike tour or a triathlon training camp in an exotic location! ironguides also provides Corporate Health services including Corporate Triathlons, Healthy Living retreats and speaking engagements. At ironguides, your best is our business!

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Video: This swim workout will simulate a swim race start, run to transition and run around a lap buoy.

May 25, 2017

A triathlon race start can be stressful for athletes of all levels, often it begins with a faster than planned beach run fueled by adrenalin, and by the time you start to swim, your heart rate has reached closed to your maximum.

Then you either need to run around a buoy for lap two and start to swim again, or run to transition, both can let you feeling a bit dizzy and weak. The workout explained in this video by one of our coaches will help you to cope better with it.

Enjoy your training,
ironguides team

–

Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching:  Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

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6 Tips to Improve Your Run

May 22, 2017

Here are some tips that can be incorporated into your running workouts and can help you on race day:

1st – Try to use a good pair of shoes, because for us to run well, we need first of all, comfort and protection for our feet!

2nd – Just as with bike workouts, respect the recommendations made by your coach in relation to the intensity of training and also, do not neglect the issue of heat. .

3rd –  Combine cycling and running, so your body gets used to this practice, because in triathlon you always run with tired legs! If you are training for a triathlon bike or against the clock, try to keep in the clips most of the time, as this position will be save the muscles that will be used later in the race.

4th – Make time for training up hills or use repeated intervals with slopes on the treadmill to gain strength in the legs! A good choice is to alternate between these two options each week. It is “hard”, but you will not regret it !!!

5th – The most appropriate way to run is stepping with the anterior part of the foot, which promotes the forward projection of the trunk, causing less impact on the spine and maintaining a constant center of gravity, and decreases the time the sole of the foot contacts with the ground (a good practice is to run barefoot in the grass, for it allows this part of the foot to step on the ground first).

6th – The stride need not be long, nor is it necessary to try to kick your heel to buttocks. The longer the stride is, the further the hip line is extended; taking more to stop the movement, with greater impact and time of contact with the ground, which means more wear. So decrease the amplitude in order to increase the frequency (number of steps per minute). Jack Daniels, renowned American track and field coach, analyzed numerous Olympic runners from sprinters to marathoners, and found that, regardless of distance or duration of the tests, 90 strides per leg per minute was the norm. Count the steps you take to the right or left foot for 20 seconds and make sure you are doing at least 30 steps. Initially you will feel “weird” but over time will get used to it. Try to focus the whole time. Practice!!!

Enjoy your training!
By Rodrigo Tosta – ironguides coach, Rio de Janeiro

 

ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for athletes of all abilities. We provide coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, health and fitness products to help you learn and live a healthy lifestyle. Come get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services,a 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)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

 

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Controversial video – pacing on the bike on non-drafting triathlon races

May 19, 2017

While watching any triathlon race or videos, have you noticed how the professionals triathletes are always riding in a group, close to each other but still not getting any drafting penalties? Learn in the below video, how this dynamic works for high performance triathletes and how you can benefit from it, while still respecting the races rules.

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Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching:  Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

X-Terra (USD65 for 12-week plan)

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

 

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