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IRONMAN PERFORMANCE – BIKE SPECIFICITY IN TRIATHLONS

September 7, 2018

cycling, Home

When coaching any sport for performance we need to be looking at the specific elements of fitness and any other specific factors that might effect performance. We then need to make sure we are building these specific factors into the training program.

When it comes to specificity timing is everything, we do not want to be looking at specific work all year round as the focus on this always sees a decline in general fitness. We also see that once specific work starts in any program that the body adapts very quickly to any change and within a short period of time we stop seeing any noticeable improvements.

For example if you are racing on a hilly bike course then we would need to be looking at incorporating hills and technical descent training into the program. Riding hills simply asks the muscles to contract in a different pattern to when we ride on the flat and also we will ride at a different cadence we need to make sure that we are used this on race day or else we will fatigue quickly and not perform to our best. If we watch events like the Tour de France we see the riders really suffer when they leave the flat riding of the opening week and head into the hills – they need a day or 2 to find their climbing legs – these riders will have prepared in the hills before the race but so many hours of flat riding in the opening week of the race sees the legs get used to this pattern of riding and its a shock to their legs when they suddenly face the demand of climbing.

Using the above example of a hilly bike course on race day, a lot of athletes will look to make they endurance ride hilly as this would seen to make sense in increasing bike fitness on the hills, if we look at the stats of this type of ride for sure we will get more hill riding but what goes up must come down and during a hilly ride there will be a lot of dead time in terms of fitness. A 3 hour ride in the mountains for example might see only 2 hours of real riding time due to all the descents and free wheeling, a 3 hour ride on flatter terrain would get more general fitness development and the hill specific work could be put into a shorter session during the week so we preserve the fitness development of our endurance rides.

Timing is everything and really when we are looking at specific work like this then the final 5-6 weeks into the race are when we need to start hitting the specific work that will allow us to race to full capacity on race day.

Putting specific work into the program not only needs to be carefully looked at in terms of its effect on general fitness but there is a safety aspect too. Specific work also brings extra demands to the body and increases injury risk. From a technical point of view crashes happen, there is a very true saying in cycling – “there are those cyclists who have crashed and those who are going to crash” – descending hills/ mountains is dangerous, we are travelling at much greater speeds and that brings with it risks – no matter how technically good you are as a rider there is still a risk – you can hit a stone, get a puncture or hit a wet section of road and crashes happen.

We need to factor this into rides, we need to develop technical skills but we want to minimise risk – if the day of your hill ride comes and its pouring rain then maybe you need to change plan and save that ride for a dryer day – yes we have to ride in the rain on race day but in training the risk is not worth it.

When we look at specific work it needs to be specific – its no use training in extremely steep hills if race day is going to see you riding long but shallow gradient hills. For example if we are training for the bike course at Ironman Nice which sees long but gradual hills then you need to simulate this in training – riding on the flat in a slightly bigger gear would actually work really well here competed to training in the hills if you only have access to short but steep hills.

When it comes to cycling the turbo trainer is a great tool that allows us to simulate hill riding, we can raise the front wheel slightly to get the bike into a climbing position – this does actually effect how you sit on the bike so is worth doing, resistance from the trainer is not the only thing we have to consider!! Have a go at riding a 30min hard effort on the trainer with the front wheel on flat ground and then try again with the wheel raised 3-5 inches – you will notice a big difference in how the muscles work and how you sit on the bike.

Specificity is not only about the course you will face on race day but also the weather conditions, an athlete training in the cold or dry climate who is travelling out to race in heat and humidity faces a big challenge on race day. Again though this is something we can work into our training program in the final weeks before the race.

If we are racing in humidity and cannot access that weather close to home then again the turbo trainer comes into play. We need to create a humid environment in which to train, this can be done on differing scales depending on resources. I have seen sports labs at universities use perspex boxes in which the athlete and bike is placed – the humidity within the box is high as the athletes is perspiring and working. We can recreate the same thing on a budget by simple erecting a tent at home and placing the bike inside for the session – very unpleasant but very similar to race day conditions.

As with the climbing example this sort of specific training comes with benefits but also risks. The demands of riding in such environments are extreme on the body, we are going to sweat more and loose more body salts – this is good for training as it allows us to get used to taking on more fluid and test race day nutrition but it also depletes the body a lot more than training in cooler dryer climates and if we do not factor this in then we will end up suffering not gaining from the specific work.

When we look to simulate race conditions like this we need to factor in that recovery time from such sessions is going to be longer than regular, that means we need to look at the structure of our plan around these sessions to make sure we are recovering fully and not compromising our bodies too much with the specific work and end up losing general fitness.

To race to your full ability you need to make sure you have great general fitness and that you have incorporated specific work into your plan in the final weeks leading to your race so you are ready to perform and enjoy your fitness!

Enjoy your training.
By Alun “Woody” Woodward
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IRONMAN PERFORMANCE – SWIM TRAINING

August 23, 2018

Home, Swimming

When we look at the pro side of our sport over the last 10 years one point jumps out, you simply can’t afford to have a weakness anymore and that point plays particular focus to the swim. In the past there were iconic athletes who always struggled in the swim but were able to use their dominating bike or run performance to bring themselves back into the game, athletes such as Normal Stadler, Thomas Hellriegel and Peter Reid come to mind when thinking about such athletes.

In recent times we have seen the performance level of our pro’s rise and rise to the point we have huge packs coming out of the swim together and heading onto the bike together, so many athletes so close together is changing the dynamic of the race with these packs of riders driving a pace very different to what we have seen in the past with single riders, even if the athletes are legal distance apart the mental advantage of not being all alone on the road is a huge performance booster and is changing the race.

We saw the same thing happen with the ITU short course racing, yes its a different race as drafting is allowed but we see in those races that if you miss that front pack out of the swim the race is over, as a result all the athletes have raised their games and now we see a huge pack all leave the water together.

Every year watching the coverage of Kona we listen to Greg Welch say the very true words that the race can’t be won in the swim but it can certainly be lost.

This dynamic from ITU racing had filtered up to ironman and now it is very rare to find a pro who struggles in the swim and still manages to perform at the top level. When we start looking at the results of the top age group performers we can see the same trend occurring – the top performers are raising their game in the swim and if your not there in the mix out of the water you are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage.

So the hot question is how do we step up our swim performance? My answer is you need to learn to SPRINT!

A top pro swimmer once told me “stop focussing on endurance and learn to swim 200m in 2minutes, then you will never have a problem in the swim again”. These were the wisest words i ever heard and following them did exactly what he promised.

When we look at an ironman swim from a performance athlete we do not see a steady away 3800m swim – what we see is a very very fast 200-300m start and then the athletes settle to a steady pace.

While drafting is banned on the bike it is not banned in the swim and drafting in swimming plays a huge role performance. Just go along to any masters swim sessions and see the athletes frantically pushing off the wall at the start of the interval to get on the feet of the athlete in front even if told to wait the recommended 5seconds – if the athletes are actually waiting 5 seconds you will see a frantic sprint to get on feet of the swimmer in front then all calms down! We have all done this and we all know it makes a huge different, as much as 5seconds per 100m.

So if the athlete at the front of the race can swim an average of 80 seconds per 100m and you can swim 85 seconds per 100m then if you swim alone your coming out the water 3minutes and 10 seconds behind, but if you can get onto the fast swimmers feet then you will swim the 80 second pace with the same effort as the 85s pace you train at.

The next thing that happens is that the fast swimmer is very aware of this fact and does not want other swimmers taking a free ride so will swim a lot faster than their regular 80second at the start of the swim to make sure they take as few passengers as possible on their boat!

Physiology does come into play here though and there is only so far the fast swimmer can push this sprint speed at the start of the swim without sacrificing their performance over the whole race, the distance they will maintain this speed phase is generally going to be around 200m and from that point they will drift into regular race pace allowing the body to recover from the metabolic cost of their rapid start.

So knowing that this is what is going to happen in the swim we need to be building our training around this fact. We still need to be swimming strong, we need good swim endurance as i am sure has been the focus for most of your swims but we need to add a new element to your training and that is sprint speed, we need to be able to start FAST over the first 200m to make sure we can take a free ride on that lead boat for the last 3600m of the swim!

Sprint speed comes from 2 main area’s in our swim training.

Pure Speed – very short intervals with big rests to ensure full recovery – you may have a few or many intervals of this style in a session.

Speed Endurance – a short number of long intervals maintaining close to max effort for 150-300m intervals with long rests.

I am sure a lot of you are thinking we already do that but do you really do that and do you really know why and how to get the most out of these sessions.

As triathletes and especially ironman athletes we tend to think everything is about endurance and going to the pool, sprinting a few lengths and taking long long rests really does not follow our endurance training protocol. We may do our sprints and feel within a few seconds like we could go again but the energy system we are trying to change, the strength we are trying to develop is using a system that will take as much as 3minutes to recover fully and be ready for the next interval. I know many of you are reading this and will have had these sort of sessions in your plan and will have never ever stuck to the required rest interval or anywhere near the correct rest interval as you felt fine and were sure performance was the same on your sprints after you took a few seconds rest rather than your 3 minutes set – and after all less rest means more distance can be covered in the session which is just how we all think as endurance athletes!

The development of sprint strength and speed takes time, the visible gains in the training pool are going to be minute, you have to be patient and stick with the task at hand. Many of you will have been banging away at your swimming for years without seeing any real gains, continue to do that and you are not going to see anything different. Be patient, if you have long rests in your program they are there for a reason, if your program calls for you to swim ALL OUT then thats what you need to do and then take your rest so you can repeat ALL OUT INTERVALS – if you cut the rest short the effort will still be ALL OUT but you will be sacrificing speed and strength as the session progresses and you will not experience the development the session is designed to bring about.

This development of speed is not going to happen overnight, its such a gradual development especially for an endurance athlete but stick with the plan and over a period of a few months and come race day you will blow your old swim performance out of the water, not only will you be much further up the field out of the water but i guarantee you will find the swim both easier and more enjoyable as a result.

ENJOY YOUR TRAINING
Coach Alun “Woody” Woodward

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Increase your chances for a Kona slot

August 22, 2018

Home, kona

Every year a few weeks ahead of Kona all triathletes start to get excited about the big show, wondering if one day they could be a part of the Ironman World Championships as a competitor themselves.

Having done the race when I was a professional triathlete and having worked with many athletes who qualified for the race in the past few years, I have found there are some very clear rules on what it takes to qualify – apart from hard work.

The below article will cover both how you should pick a course profile that will provide you a better chance of qualifying as well as a run down on what to expect at most Ironman qualifiers from around the world

Race your strength:

When it comes to Hawaii, there is no easy way – you have to risk it at some stage. If you are fit enough to do a race with qualifying for a Kona slot as your goal, it is very likely that you have done an Ironman before so “simply” finishing is not a goal anymore. That makes it easier mentally to take more risk during an Ironman, even if it doesn’t work as planned and you bonk at some stage of the race.

If you are a first-timer then your goal is to finish. Of course there are secondary goals, with the most popular one to run the run, and your whole training and racing should be focused on that objective.

A very common profile of triathletes is the strong biker with a mediocre run. If you want to qualify for Kona we are talking about high-performance age group triathletes. If running fast isn’t for you, if for any reason you feel that running 3h30 or quicker isn’t possible, but you feel great on the bike, you might do better by riding close to 5h and then do your best to run 3h40-50. With those splits you will very likely break 10h, which puts you very close to a Hawaii for most age groups in several races apart from the super-fast races in Europe or those with a stacked field.

Of course your training will have to be tailored to that. You will need to develop an extremely efficient run technique and, of course, bike strength.

Swim faster:

The swim is roughly 10% of an Ironman. Why bother with the hard work necessary to go from an 80min swim split to 65min? In fact, it could take a year of swim focus to improve those 15 minutes – you might think that within that timeframe you could improve more in your bike or run splits.

Think again. Once you are fit and skilled enough to swim 65min, you are not only saving time, but starting the bike and run much fresher, with a lower heart rate and less muscle fatigue which will translate into faster bike and run splits.

Another benefit is that you are around much fitter athletes during races. There is no need to waste energy on overtaking hundreds of riders which can be physically and mentally stressful. Not to mention that you have more space in the water and experienced swimmers near you which usually makes the swim leg less stressful as everyone is confident and knows what they are doing.

Pacing is another benefit of being a front-of-the-pack swimmer. You save a significant amount of energy when you are “riding with” a group of steady athletes instead of playing catch-up.

ironguides high performance training has been qualifying athletes every year since 2007 for the Ironman World Championships in Kona. Pic: Team in 2011 with 11 athletes

Attention to details:

When it comes to Kona, every second counts. I have seen a number of athletes who missed out on a slot by a couple of minutes. They may have gone faster by paying more attention to details before and during the race.

Equipment:

The old saying “Never try anything new on race day” is getting more and more important as the triathlon industry throws all those new technologies and gadgets at us. Walking around the Expo days before an Ironman and seeing all those items that you don’t own yet but are supposed to make you go faster can be very tempting. Don’t give in. An extreme example comes from one very fit athlete who was reduced to walking the marathon due to blisters caused by his brand-new compression socks.

First of all, you do NOT need the best and most expensive equipment to qualify. In fact, in many situations you might go faster if you choose the cheaper options, since that what is usually designed for the world-class professional athlete may be out of the age grouper’s range of fitness or skills to handle.

Diet:

You should have a very straightforward nutrition plan for race day. It has to be something you have tried and tweaked over many races and training sessions. Stick to it – the last thing you need is slowing down as a result of getting your nutrition wrong, which can cause stomach discomfort or lack of energy, which will in turn result in a slow day even when physically you were very fit.

Experience:

As I’ve written in one of my articles before, there is no perfect Ironman race. Something won’t go as planned, period. That said, the more experience you have in dealing with new situations, the easier it will be for you to pick the best choice for each surprise.

If you think you are still a few years away from qualifying, use this time to get to know yourself better, race different courses and conditions, see what suits you and what doesn’t – be aware of your weaknesses and work on them.

However if qualifying is something is a realistic possibility for your, do a tune-up race in preparation for the big day – ideally a half ironman event 8-10 weeks out on a similar course (consider wetsuits, ocean or lake swim, hills on the bike and run, and weather). Use the same equipment, strategy and nutrition that you plan to do in the qualifier race, even if by doing that you might go a bit slower than you could by racing according to the 70.3 distance.

Understanding Ironman races around the Globe:

Now that you have an idea on what to consider when picking a course that will suit your strengths and maximize your chances of qualifying, you also have to understand the specifics of racing on each course and part of the globe.

Things to consider:

Matching course profile & your profile

As we discussed early in this article, finding a course that suits your strengths and won’t make you lose too much ground on your weakness should be the priority number one. Once you have picked the races around the world that fits that, consider number of slots, level of competition and traveling time, in that order.

Number of Slots

Slots per race vary as little as 30 to as much as 80 – that makes a huge difference as depending on your age group and race you go, you have a chance even if you place 15^th or so if you are at the M40-44 age group for example and you are lucky that some athletes ahead of you will turn away the slot. On the flipside, races with little number of slots make it much tighter, unless you are on the top 5 of your age group, chances gets smaller.

Level of your competition

Certain races tend to attract certain types of athletes. If you want to qualify at the fastest ironman on the planet, you may as well be ready to race very, very fast. Ironmans in Europe, except a few races, are known to have a very high level of athletes, since the locals are in peak shape at that time of the year and they prefer to race their “home turf” due to logistical reasons. Showing up at Ironman Frankfurt which is the European Championships to qualify for Kona will require a perfect race regardless of your level. Prefer the races where historically finisher times are slower.

Location & Traveling requirements

Apart from the obvious fact that many athletes can’t afford too many days off work or away from home, time zones are also important when racing such a long event overseas. The general rule of thumb is a day of rest for each hour of difference, if you can’t afford that make sure you are a good traveler otherwise it may be a wasted opportunity.

Another detail to think about is the time of the race within the year and the qualifying season. Races later in the season are usually less competitive such as the ones late in August (Canada and Japan comes to mind), as most of the very fast athletes prefer to qualify earlier in the year so they can afford to take some time off, recover from their efforts, before building to Kona again. While the late races are in a way a race of “last resort” for people trying to qualify, as they need to back it up with Kona in about 5-6 weeks.

So, which race to pick? See the Pros and Cons of the most famous ones below:

Ironman races in the Americas:

Most Ironmans in North America offers a higher amount of Kona slots, which is already a very attractive feature. Another benefit is that the level of the competition isn’t as high, since there are several Ironman races within weeks of each other and the fast athletes tend to spread thin around the races from the country. Not many overseas athletes get to go to races in NA. Most races in NA also sell out very fast, another reason that may leave fast athletes outside of the race

Ironmans Brazil and Mexico do offer a moderate amount of Kona slots but the competition may be slighter faster than in North America and Canada. In Brazil for example, if you are a Man in between 30 and 40 years, you may have to break 9h30 to have a chance.

Oceania and Asia:

As of the time of this article, we only have an Ironman race in Japan when it comes to Asia. The local level of athletes isn’t as fast as Europe or Australia and the late time of the race will also make this slightly less competitive since most of the top athletes prefer to race earlier in the year so they can recover and train specifically for Kona.

On the flip side you have races in Australia that are very different than Japan. Busselton and Melbourne are probably one of the hardest races in the world to qualify, they are early in the season, fast courses with fast athletes. If you are on a competitive age group and depending on the year, you may go 9h15 and be out of Kona. They are great for PB’s but for a Kona slot only if you are a very experienced and fast triathlete. Ironman Cairns and Port Macquire on the other hand do offer a less competitive field and a slower race and course in general, increasing the chances of intermediate level triathletes.

Ironman Races in Europe:

In Europe you got everything. From the easier races to qualify such as UK and Wales, that are later in the year, slower course with slower competitors, but they can be very unique when it comes to course profile, you better be ready for a lot of technical ups and downs and bike course, if you live on a flat area and aren’t used to technical rides, this may not fit you.

The traditional European races such as Frankfurt & Austria are also a mini version of the world championships, don’t be surprised to see several athletes breaking nine hours if you are from a competitive age group.

You may also find extreme conditions in Europe that may fit in like a glove for a very few number of athletes, which is the case of Ironman Nice for very technical and climbers bike riders, or Ironman Lanzarote for strong climbers that won’t need to be as technical but will need to handle the heat.

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With the above information you have now a clear map for your “road to Kona” – unless you are a very experienced and fast ironman triathlete with several Kona starts already, picking the right race will increase your chances and make the dream a reality. And make sure you back that decision with specific, smart and hard training.

Good luck and hope to see you on the start line in Kona one day!

Vinnie Santana

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

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

Mastering the Long Ride

August 17, 2018

cycling, Home, Training

The long ride also known as the long bike, or endurance ride is a staple in triathlon training. Including the Long Run, these are integral sessions if you are planning to race a half-iron or an iron-distance event. And most likely, the long ride will also be your longest training session in any given week. So making it right, efficient and hassle-free is essential if you want to make the most out of it.
• Get a Proper Bike Fit
Assuming you are using a triathlon bike, it is a must that you stay on your aerobars tucked in, and producing good power for an extended period of time. If you cannot stay in your aero position, and oftentimes resort to your handle bars on long straight roads, then you must invest of having a professional bike fit. Staying comfortable in the aero position will make you and your bike a steady producer of good power. It may take a few rides to adapt and several adjustments on your positioning so communication and feedback is important with your bike fitter.

• Build Endurance Gradually
Here at ironguides, in the first weeks of a long distance program, we always start off with Easy Long Rides. The foundation to build endurance, fat burning and fatigue-resistance start with these 2-3 hour Easy Rides. If you are starting your race season, or coming back from a race, doing the long rides at easy effort will you build the endurance base without overloading your body, and will also hasten recovery. This is also a good time to fine-tune body position (see post above).

• Ride Early
The night before your ride, prepare your bike, your gear, and your planned nutrition. That way, you avoid delays in the morning that will dampen your mood when something isn’t right, say a flat tire when you are about to go out the door. Riding early on a weekend gives you less traffic, safer roads, and it gives you the opportunity to finish the session early, before family and social life activities gets in the way.

• Never Leave without Cash and Mobile Phone
This is essential especially if you ride alone. Any number of things can go wrong in a long ride. Cash will buy you food or drinks if you go bonk. It will also provide you transport if a mishap happens along the way. Last option in an emergency, call a spouse or a friend to pick you up. Even if you don’t have an emergency, it’s always great to have cash to buy you good coffee.
Make sure you also bring a set of basic tools to fix or tighten a loose bolt or to make small adjustment on your bike fit if you need. A couple spare inner tubes and a hand pump is also very handy, light, small and can be the difference of seeing you cutting the session short, to continue with the planned workout after a quick stop to fix a flat

• The staple of the ironguides long rides are starting out easy, maintaining a moderate pace and finishing with a hard effort. This training develops the discipline in bike pacing. It allows you to estimate and gauge one’s ability to put out a specific effort on the right time, given the remaining time and distance to be covered. There will be days when you will mess up and miscalculate your efforts. But with repetition, consistency and discipline, you will master proper bike pacing.

• Practice planned nutrition
While it is ok to have breakfast or coffee stops on your rides, you can get away with these on your first few long rides. Allocate your build and peak periods practicing your planned race-day nutrition. Nutrition is very personal, so what might work for you may not work for someone else. With practice, you can experiment on what type of nutrition works best for you.On the final block of training leading into your race, use your race day nutrition at least every second long session

• Simulation Rides
Near the end of the training plan, it is required you go through this simulation rides. It involves everything, from your planned bike set-up (placement of nutrition), race-day nutrition, your planned apparel, and your target pace for your ride. This is the ultimate test if you are ready for race day, and also this ride will give the most feedback.

Start with 30-45 minutes of easy spinning. Then spend the most of your ride in your planned pace on race day. Stay aero for most of the time and also avoid stops, save for that needed bottle refill. If you are racing an ironman, this could go on from 2-5 hours staying aero and nailing your goal pace.

Afterwards, a transition to a 20-30 minute run is a staple on this simulation days. The feedback you will get is essential: from learning where apparel gives you the chafes on your body, adjustments on your bike nutrition set-up so you stay low and aero while eating your nutrition and adjustments on your pace and the like. The training and information you get means less guessing on what will happen on race day.

Road to Kona: Picking the Right Course

August 13, 2018

Home, kona

Road to Kona: Picking the Right Course

Alun Woodward

We are at a point where registration for the new Ironman season is open and this is an important time for athletes looking at qualifying for Kona in the next season: not only does following the races provide a chance to see what sort of performance is required in your age group at the various events, the days – or even hours – immediately after can also be the only opportunity to enter them for the next year as registration comes online and sells out fast.

To make the most of your abilities, giving yourself the best chance to secure that Kona slot, you need to know which courses best suit your strengths and be ready to enter as soon as the event registration opens!

When looking at your Ironman options, you need to consider your strengths and look for an event that plays into your hands. Let’s go over the individual disciplines and what to look for in choosing the right one for you.

SWIM

The first thing to consider is the water temperature, i.e. is the event likely to be a wetsuit or non-wetsuit swim? If you are a good swimmer relative to your rivals, then a non-wetsuit swim will likely increase your advantage. Conversely, if you are a poor swimmer, choosing an event with a wetsuit swim will limit your losses to the leading athletes. If you suffer in the cold, then avoid races with very cold swims and opt for events that tend to be borderline wetsuit legal such as Ironman Austria.

Aside from the issue of water temperature, we must also think about location: does the swim take place in a lake, ocean or river, and how does each of these impact my performance? An ocean swim tends to be wavy and offers a navigational challenge. If you are afraid of the water, an ocean swim may well be one to avoid as rough waters can really leave you feeling isolated and scared.

Lakes and rivers tend to be the easiest for navigation and there is no need to worry about sharks!

The race start is also a big factor to weigh in your decision: many athletes are scared of the large mass starts and tend to hold back or stay wide of the group – this tactic will cost you time and when looking for a ticket to the Ironman World Championships, these few seconds (or minutes) can be the difference between qualification and missing out. Some races have wave – or time-trial starts offering a calmer experience, which can be beneficial for athletes intimidated by swimming in bigger crowds.

While it is true that the swim will not win you the race, a bad performance in the water can sure derail your possibilities of qualification. Consider all the factors above to choose an event that fits you.

BIKE

The bike is going to take up the biggest proportion of your race and most time can be won – and lost – here so this is the key area to look into. While a great athlete can race well on all courses, they will always perform the best on courses suited to their personal strengths. A great example of this is Chris McCormack: he won many times over the Ironman distance including in his first attempt at Ironman Australia but could not step up to the table in Kona at the first try, failing to even complete the race. He finished the following year, in 2003, but far down the ranks, followed by another DNF in 2004. In 2005 he managed to finish sixth, before moving up to second the next year. In 2007, Macca was rewarded for his hard work and persistence, earning his first Kona victory, a feat he repeated in 2010.

Kona is not a course that suits McCormack and he had to work very hard to overcome the obstacles of the conditions in order to win. Let’s look at what we need consider in choosing a bike course.

Firstly, we need to check out the profile of the course, along with the technical nature of it. We can take two hilly courses into consideration here such as Ironman Nice and Canada: both offer big hills but Nice also throws a very long and very technical descent into the mix. Choosing Nice because you can climb well is not going to work in your favour if you don’t also possess the technical ability for the descent. You might gain 5 minutes on your competitors on the ascent, but lose 15 on the way down.

Canada’s bike course, on the other hand, offers some solid climbs without overly technical descents, so this course may be the one for you if downhill cycling skills are lacking.

Bigger athletes tend to ride better on flat course, while smaller athletes typically outperform on the hilly ones. We also have smaller athletes who ride very well on the flats, but it comes at a price as the run off the bike suffers. From your past experience and training, you should know what terrain suits your strengths.

A major factor many athletes forget to take into account is injury. If you suffer from a bad back, hip or some other constraint that is brought on, or worsened, during cycling, you have to think about that in relation to a course profile. Riding a flat course such as Ironman Florida where you very rarely change position is going to exacerbate any problems like a bad back or hip, and negatively affect your race.

Instead, you might want to choose a course with plenty of undulations that will see you regularly change position to prevent these problems from occurring. Ironman UK, for example, would fit this description.

RUN

With the run being the final section of the race, it is also the most crucial to qualification. The races are becoming more and more competitive every year, especially at the top end of the field, so a good run is vital to success. Most Ironman courses are predominantly flat so terrain is not the biggest issue here.

I find the question of crowd support and temperature the two factors that need to be thought about. A bigger athlete may find conditions tough in hot or humid races and that would lead to a sub-par performance, while a smaller athlete might struggle to perform in colder conditions.

In Kona itself, we have seen athletes with various body types struggle and succeed over the years. Craig Alexander is a smaller athlete who thrives in the heat and humidity and this has shown in his success and consistency at Kona, whereas athletes such as Tjorbjorn Sindballe have really struggled with the conditions due to their body size and have had very varied results.

Also you need to look at your motivation: do you thrive in big crowds or do you prefer running in isolation just focusing on your own performance. Ironman Regensburg, for example, offers a run through the city in an amazing atmosphere that really inspires the athletes, whereas the run at Ironman UK can be very lonely at times.

OTHER FACTORS

While we have looked at the main factors that should be taken into account, there are a few other components to consider in finding your ideal Ironman event.

Allergies can really affect your performance which means that going to a race in peak allergy season for a given area is not a great plan. Also, races that tend to take place in humid conditions can negatively impact athletes with breathing problems.

Time of year is another key factor to keep in mind. For example, entering a race that’s held in March when you are going to have to train through a freezing winter may not be the wisest decision.

Also consider the environmental conditions you will be training in at home compared to those you will face during the race, and how they might impact your performance. For instance, for an athlete in Texas training through the mid-summer’s hot and humid conditions there for a race such as Ironman Louisville might leave them depleted and unmotivated during the long Ironman-specific training. As a result, this athlete wouldn’t be in the best mental or physical condition for the race, so in that case you’d rather aim for a race in spring when training weather is more conducive.

One final factor to take into account is whether course takes place over multiple laps or a single one. Some athletes love the multi-loop courses as it breaks up the distance, while others prefer one big lap. Compare for example the three-lap bike course in Ironman Arizona with the one-loop ride at Ironman Canada.

As you can see there are many factors to take into consideration when planning your attack on Kona qualification. With the ever-increasing level of performance and the growing number of athletes chasing a limited number of spots for the Big Dance, we need to be more and more dedicated to finding a race that suits our individual strengths so we give ourselves the best possible chance to be on that magical start line in October!

Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

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

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

How to Incorporate a 2nd Workout in a Day

August 6, 2018

Home, Training

The Art of the Double Day

Many top age groupers train twice a day as this is a logical and practical way to increase their training load while still putting in a full day in the office. Adding double session days into your weekly schedule is a great way preparing for that special goal ’ A’ race coming up later in the season.

If you are consistently putting in a 60 – 70 minute session per day on the weekdays with the requisite longer endurance sessions on the weekends, and your Family, Work and Life is well balanced, then you could consider using this strategy to get even fitter. But be warned; the uninitiated should handle double days with care because of its implications on increased recovery needs, dropping immunity and risk of injury. If you simply combine 2 days’ worth of training into one day, as and when, you will find yourself very quickly fatigued, flat and in the worst case, injured.

As with each session in a schedule of single session days, double days should be planned, thought out and completed consistently every week; not done as afterthought on a day that you have an extra hour free in the evening.

If you’re new to double days ease into them using the following guidelines.

Aim to start with just 1 double day in the week for at least 8 weeks before even thinking of putting in a second double day into the weekly training schedule. This allows your body to adapt gradually to the increasing demands on its immunity and the recovery functions.
Start with 2/3’s of a ‘full session’ training load in each of your double day sessions and gradually increase the training load each week. Do not start with 2 ‘full’ one hour sessions twice a day. The more time you give your body a chance to adapt, the more you’ll be comfortable transitioning to the new load and able to maintain consistency

Put the priority session 1^st and then the ‘filler’ session as the second session of the day. While all sessions are important, and produce a specific training stimulus, the 1^st session on the day, should work the system that you are currently developing (Eg – speed/ tolerance/ heart rate/ endurance). Training this system while you are fresh off a night’s sleep will increase the probability that the quality of this session is high. Practically, you also get the essential session done and out of the way.

Leave at least 3 – 5 hours before the second session of the day. This will give you some recovery time in-between the 2, even if it’s just sitting at the desk/ walking around the office. The break is also important as it allows you to refuel. As a habit, make sure make sure you stay hydrated in between sessions and treat yourself to a healthy nutritious meal so that your body has enough quality raw material to repair and recover between sessions. If you sweat a lot, top up with simple effervescent electrolyte tablets in your water.

While it is a luxury for many age-group athletes working regular office hours, a short nap of even 20 minutes will help to shift your body into recovery mode that sets up the process of rebuilding.

When starting off with double days, think of the second session of the day as a ‘filler’ session but do not regard this as an ‘Optional’ one. In fact, while the 1^st session of the day elicits a certain physiological response it is the second session that is often used to build fatigue resistance. Simply put – that is the ability to keep pushing when your arms and legs are already tired. This characteristic is especially useful when training for the Ironman distance.

The second session of the day should be of a lower intensity and volume; a 40 minute session is physically much less demanding than keeping it going for the full hour. It should also be loosely structured so that it is not mentally stressful to start, execute and complete. Furthermore, the more open these sets are to your own interpretation the better as this will give you the freedom to listen to your body as you ‘go by feel’. For example, a 40 mins run done as 10 mins easy/ 20 mins moderate/ 10 mins easy allows the athlete a wide range of intensity to play with.

On double days that simply aren’t going to happen, do not try to squeeze both sessions in back to back. The accumulated load of 2 sessions done continuously is much higher than if they were done separately. Recovery needs are much higher and risk of injury or falling sick increase dramatically. Chances are that if your day is too busy for a double, then it is also too busy for a large combined single session. So just get the 1 session of the day done well, forget about the double and move on.

There is no hard as fast rule whether it is better to work the same or different disciplines on the same day. It depends on a number of factors:

The current area of weakness that you are trying to improve on,
Your individual capacity to recover,
The most convenient session for you to perform,
The training session on the day before and on the day after the double day.For example, it you are working specifically on improving your overall bike fitness, you could plan 2 sessions on the bike trainer. The 1^st one could be a Tolerance style, high cadence, short rest interval type of session while the 2^nd one, to be performed in the evening after work, would be something that could safely build strength on your already fatigued legs without stressing the cardiovascular system too much – something like a steady big gear time trail comes to mind. Of course you would want to make sure that the next day is easy on the legs – so a swim with paddles and pullbuoy or a very easy 40 min run is in order.

So the take home message is not to rush headlong into a heavy schedule of multiple double days in a week just because so and so is doing this that and the other.

Instead, ask yourself if you have been consistent enough on your daily tasks to deserve to a double day. Firstly, examine your current life situation and consider if you can manage training twice a day without negatively impacting the other areas of your life and secondly, do you currently need to be logging a high training load. Are you in a specific build phase towards a key race or just keeping fit in between races? Because when it comes to entering that dedicated training ‘tunnel’, as busy age groupers with the full spectrum of other important life demands, we can and should only do so a few times a year.

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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)

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

Rest Days and Focus: Learning How to Read your Body and your Actions

August 3, 2018

Home, Training

Learn how to read your body and think about what you’re doing.

By Shem Leong, Certified ironguides Coach – Singapore

This article is written for the obsessive competitive streak in all triathletes and runners. Every athlete putting in dedicated training to a well-thought-out plan will eventually approach their physical limits for that season of their athletic career.

Getting this far along is very commendable, but having invested so much time into their pursuit of peak physical potential, many athletes begin to dream big about breaking through to their next level. It could be a sub-5:00 half ironman, a 4:30 marathon or a 2:30 Olympic distance triathlon—deep down, everyone has that time they would love to beat. In looking for that last 10% of performance improvement, many make the mistake of hammering away at harder and higher training loads. This would probably work if you had the luxury of ample training and recovery time, coupled with sound guidance from a good coach. However, for the majority of us, time-crunched athletes, the extra time required is simply not available and the “cherry on the cake” towards a truly satisfying race performance may feel so close, yet so far away.

Think back to the last race you did a PB. You’ll need to run that race again—and then some! Where could you have pulled back precious minutes and seconds? Chances are that you could have made significant gains from handling the low-energy patches of the race better; such as the moment you decided to ease up three-quarters into the run so it became a whole lot less painful, or when you couldn’t find it in your legs to keep up with that bunch you had been riding with. Regardless of your level of fitness, there comes a point in every race when we have to decide whether to bite the bullet and suffer more, or whether to ease up and cruise for a bit.

Between two identically trained and fit athletes, or two versions of yourself, the one who is able to stay focused and push through the body’s signals of suffering is the one that will cross the line first. That sounds obvious—because it is. Yet I often get this question from my athletes, “How do I tap into the mental edge.”

“Focus” is the uninterrupted connection between the athlete and their task; that trance-like state of deep concentration when you are aware only of the things relating to your performance; that sense of effortless control and a total absence of self-consciousness when the boundaries of self and task have melted away into one seamless activity. Some athletes refer to this as “flow” or being “in the zone”.

Focus should be practised by tuning into your body and body movements while training and competing. This will result in an awareness of key feelings when things are going well. Think back to the last time you were able to push hard, perform well, and really enjoyed yourself. You may have experienced this for a few seconds, a few repetitions or, if you have been practicing, for the whole training session. Yes, focus can and definitely should be practised whenever we are out there.

Practise controlling irrelevant and distracting thoughts (dissociative thinking) during training and competition. Replace them with task-oriented and positive thoughts. Consider your form, breathing pattern, stride rate, hydration/nutritional state, race strategy and redefine your perceived effort to perform more effortlessly. This is known as associative thinking and the tougher the going, the more it’s required to stay competitive.

Here are a few tips to help you stay focused:

Relax.

For the 10-15 minutes before training, as you’re making your way to the track or pool, or are setting up your bike on the trainer, clear your mind of the daily distractions. You only have this slot in the day to get it done so make it count and put aside thoughts about those last few items of your to- do list.

Meditate, on the coming task.

How did you perform it last week? How could it have been improved? Remind yourself of what it feels like to swim/bike/run with good form. How your arms feel in the water catching a good pull, how you ride better turning perfect circles, what it’s like to run tall and light. Don’t simply rush through the warm-up (or, worse still, skip it) and charge headlong into the set thinking, “I’m going to smash myself this set.” Remind yourself of the purpose of this set. Is the focus on strength building, leg turnover, spending time at threshold or just getting some volume / distance in. Taking a step out of the “training tunnel” and studying the big picture for a while will help you align your training efforts with the intended purpose of the task at hand.

Have a mantra.

Repeating choice words will direct your mind away from negative or distractive thoughts towards a positive experience. An effective mantra addresses what you want to feel, not the adversity you want to overcome. Use short, positive and instructive words to transcend the suffering you’re feeling. Choose one word from each column to create your own verse. Have a few favourites to get you through different sections of your race.

A B C D

Run Strong Think Power

Go Smooth Feel Speed

Stride Quick Pull Brave

Pedal Light Be Steady

Be Fierce Hold Courage

• Performance checklist. It is important that you are able to access how you’re doing in that moment, while on the go. Practise going through this list to make little adjustments to improve efficiency. While running, start from the top down:

o Is my face relaxed?

o Is my head bobbing around?

o Are my shoulders relaxed?

o Are my arms swinging smoothly?

o Breathing: Is it regular? Can I exhale a little deeper while still keeping a lid on it? Am I gasping for breath? Is it getting ragged? Am I breathing deep from my diaphragm?

o Form: Am I running tall?

o Stride rate: If you don’t have a foot-pod device, simply count. Is it up there at 90 strides per minute?

o Foot strike: Am I striking under the hip? Are my strikes light and powerful, so that I am spending minimal time in contact with the ground?

o Pacing: How far am into my race? How do I feel? How should I pace myself for the rest of the run? Does my perceived effort match my race strategy?

o Nutrition and hydration: How long ago did I last take in some fluids? Do I need electrolytes or gel? How does the stomach feel?

What about swimming or biking? Maybe you could share with me some thoughts that keep you focused while out there on the road and in the pool.

When the all the physical training is done, it’s the psychological factors that most affect our performance. Think about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

Enjoy your training!

Shem Leong, Certified ironguides Coach – Singapore

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)

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

Triathlon Cycling: High or Low Cadence?

July 20, 2018

cycling, Home, Training

With the Tour de France just behind us and the top cyclists back in the news, much of the cycling and triathlon media will have made plenty of comments about the higher cadence at which top cyclists rides. Unfortunately, nothing has compromised the average triathlete’s ability to improve on their bike more than the common assumption that maintaining a higher cadence equates to improved performances on the bike regardless of the rider’s ability and fitness. Not only do professional cyclists compete at far higher power outputs than the typical triathlete, but they also do not have to run at the end of the bike and can afford to push their legs and body much closer to the point of exhaustion by the end of the bike.

To better understand the importance of cycling cadence and effort in triathlon, you first need to understand how your bike cadence relates to competing in a triathlon as a whole, and how changes in cadence impact your body while you train or compete.

The easiest way to visualize cadence and its effect on your body is to picture the bike segment of a triathlon as an amount of “work” to be done, like a huge boulder sitting in your backyard that you need to move from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. You can equate trying to move the boulder in one exhaustive effort with trying to complete the bike segment with one enormous pedal stroke using a huge chain ring like the one John Howard used setting the world land speed record on a bicycle. The work you need to do to move that boulder in one go or to pedal that bizarre contraption is going to take a huge amount of muscular exertion that will exhaust you by the time you get to Point B.

Your other option is to break up the boulder into a large number of small rocks that you carry from A to B – you’re on the right track here, unless you break up the boulder into so many pieces that you spend a lot of time hurrying back and forth, increasing your heart rate and putting a lot of aerobic stress on your body as you hurry as quickly as possible to move all those stones. This equates to using a very high cadence to move from A to B on the bike.

The ideal strategy lies somewhere in between: That is, breaking the work up into many manageable-sized pieces so that you can move as much of the boulder with each trip from A to B and can complete the work in as little time as possible. In other words, the right cycling cadence balances the stresses placed on your aerobic system by higher cadences, and the stresses placed on your muscles using a low cadence.

To understand this a bit better, you can picture the contraction your leg muscle makes with each pedal stroke as momentarily blocking the flow of blood into and out of the contracted muscle. A short contraction (high cadence) enables blood to flow into and from the muscle more often, which supplies nutrients and oxygen to the muscle and transports waste products and carbon dioxide away from the muscles more often – but at the expense of a greater stress on your aerobic and nervous systems. All those contractions force the heart to work harder and the nerves to fire more frequently. Conversely, a longer contraction (low cadence) blocks the transport of oxygen and nutrients into the muscle and traps breakdown products in the muscle for a longer period – that’s the “burn” you feel when you are riding with a slow, high contraction. However, your aerobic and nervous systems are not taxed as much.

The right cadence balances these stresses so that you can apply the greatest amount of force for the longest possible time. But contrary to what you might expect, “manageable” in the above context does not mean “relative to my fitness level.” Manageable means relative to the amount of work you are doing – in other words, the right cadence for you is relative to how much power you can produce on the bike, which depends by and large on your fitness and cycling-specific leg strength.

In other words, don’t compare yourself to what professional cyclists are doing – instead, look at what you are able to deliver on the bike. The stronger you are, the more forceful the contractions you can make on the bike. The fitter you are, the longer you will be able to make these contractions. And the greater the sustained force of the contractions you can make, the more you need to increase your cadence and “break the work up into more pieces.”

There’s one more piece to the puzzle, however. Unlike cyclists, as triathletes we also need to consider our approach to cycling in context of what comes next and keeping in mind that our goal is not to have the fastest bike split, it’s to have the fastest possible overall time at the finish. What you do on the bike in triathlon has to be understood in context of the demands you face on the run, too.

The reality of our sport is that we are always running on tired legs. That means that trying to run with a more forceful, longer stride rate in triathlon will quickly lead to disappointment because your tired legs have much less to give after the bike you’ve just done!

Instead, if you look at run speed as the product of stride length x stride rate, the most effective way to run faster in triathlon is to increase your stride rate (which can be learned), rather than trying for a forceful leg contraction. The price on your body for this faster rate of contraction is greater fatigue in your fast twitch muscle fibers.

A faster stride rate also means your motor neurons fire more frequently, which over time more quickly fatigues your motor neurons. This results in less forceful nerve signals, which in turn results in less forceful muscle contractions. But there’s ways to stave off this fatigue – recent research indicates that nervous system fatigue can be delayed by reducing the rate at which your nerves fire (Postactivation potentiation: Role in performance, British Journal of Sports Medicine: Volume 38(4) August 2004, pp 386- 387).

What does all this mean? In a nutshell, you need to ride your bike in a way that reduces the stresses that you will encounter on the run and keeps those systems as fresh as possible. The slow contractions of a slower cycling cadence (think of your legs as boa constrictors squeezing powerfully to drive the cranks around) will recruit fast twitch muscle fibers to a greater degree, which spares your slow twitch fibers for the run. And because a low cadence fires your motor neurons less frequently, you will reduce nervous system fatigue and enable fresher, stronger nerve signals on the run, resulting in stronger run muscle contractions than you might otherwise be able to generate after riding with a high cadence.

As well, because slow twitch fibers don’t contract as explosively and by definition not as often, you reduce the strain on your aerobic system. By riding with a lower aerobic intensity, you also burn less glycogen and can preserve this muscle fuel for the run. Your lower heart rate will also save some of your capacity for lactate tolerance for the run segment of the race.

Is it really this straight forward? Well – yes and no! “Yes” because by and large, triathletes need to factor in all of the above and should opt for a slower cadence between 75-85 pedal strokes per leg, per minute. As well, most age group triathletes do not have the aerobic conditioning or strength to generate the kind of power that requires higher cadence. By training at a low cadence against high resistance, however, you will quickly develop leg strength while reducing aerobic stresses in training – in effect, you tip the balance in your training from a more catabolic (a “breaking down” of the body) type of stress (aerobic system stress) to a more anabolic (a “building up” of the body) stress.

If you are new to triathlon or if you have bought into the “high cadence” approach to cycling for a long time, you’re giving up an opportunity to train strength and recruit more muscle with each of those puny little pedal strokes you’ve been taking! Try a few weeks of pushing a bigger gear, maintaining your speeds while reducing cadence into the low 80’s or lower – remember, you are training for your race, and that means applying effort in a way to improve performance with a goal in mind. Simply turning over the pedals at a slower cadence will not lead to improvements if you’re not forcing the muscles to work harder at the same time!

At the same time, I said “No” above because there are exceptions to the low cadence approach as your cycling abilities improve. As well, the shorter the distance at which you compete, the higher the power you are able to generate. If you are in the top echelons of performance in your age group you will need to increase your cadence for sprint, Olympic and even half

Ironman events.

Putting all this together at ironguides, we use some fairly simple tactics and tools to improve our athletes’ cycling splits in a triathlon-specific way. One of the sessions most of our athletes see on a regular basis is best done on a spin bike or computrainer, or a windtrainer you can rely on to generate very high amounts of resistance. After a thorough warm-up, complete anywhere from 10 to 30 efforts of the following:

60sec against heavy resistance

followed by

60sec zero-resistance easy recovery

We assign a cadence of 40 to 45 pedal strokes per leg per minute for this session, with a note explaining that the cadence should be this low because the resistance is so high that you could not possibly push any faster! For example, a 40-45 Age Grouper we coach pushes 20 of these efforts at 520 Watts – no wonder he’s been winning all of his sprint races this year and frequently placing top five!

You can create variations of this approach by pushing a massive gear out on the road, too, for longer intervals and aiming for that “boa constrictor” feeling, while staying in the aero position to simulate your race position as much as possible. Your consistent efforts to push hard against resistance will recruit more muscle and train your bike-specific strength quickly. With a properly structured training program, your all out, high-resistance efforts over varying durations will not over-stress your aerobic system while they consistently develop your leg strength.

It’s important to remember that a “properly structured training session” does not mean that you should use power goals to outline the session. Instead, each athlete completes his or her assigned sessions on a “best effort basis.”

You can use your power readings to provide feedback on how you are improving over time or to quickly spot fatigue and track improvement. But it is the structure of each session that generates the physiological changes we are after, whether these are high-resistance short intervals that do not overly fatigue your aerobic system while developing strength, or longer time trials done at the end of long rides that develop lactate tolerance.

Putting it all together, if you want to improve your overall triathlon times and your abilities as a triathlon cyclist, you need to adopt a lower cadence than you would use if you were training purely for cycling.

• If you’re a typical age group triathlete, avoid emulating cycling styles and approaches that are used by the top professionals, especially in cycling. We triathletes lack the combination of specific cycling strength and fitness to implement these approaches effectively.

• Remember that your cadence on the bike as a triathlete can be tailored to take into account what the run demands of you. A lower cadence than a cyclist would use for the same power output will contribute to fresher fast twitch muscles and less-fatigued motor neurons, helping you run faster.

• As a triathlete, you can’t ride to exhaustion. Using a larger gear and lower cadence reduces your heart rate and spares glycogen, while leaving capacity for you to run longer at threshold levels.

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E.Y.T. – Enjoy Your Training!

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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)

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

How to Deal with Ironman Blues

July 13, 2018

Home, ironman

By Coach Alun Woodward

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your training
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