Category : Training

Performance in ironman almost always comes down to the run, a good or bad bike may mean a difference of 5 minutes but a good or bad run could see a difference of up to an hour or more. The run always brings up the most questions with athletes and coaches alike on how to train and perform come race day.

The run in ironman is not anything like a stand alone marathon and training for it the same way you would a marathon will not bring the desired results. The ironman marathon is starting for most athletes 6-7 hours into the race, so legs and body are anything but fresh at this point of the run.

To run well in ironman you need an efficient running style and good running economy. These 2 factors can both be addressed using a treadmill in your training to enhance performance.

Lets start with looking at an efficient running style, if you watch the top athletes run you will see the best runners make the run look easy, they run with a very high turnover and very little body movement.

When i say high turnover i am talking 180+ steps per minute – our body has an elastic response mechanism in our hamstrings that is designed to pull our foot up off the floor on impact. This response enables us to run and protects out muscles and joints from increased forces and injury. In order for this elastic response to work our foot needs to leave the ground 0.2 seconds maximum after impact – if the foot is on the ground too long then this response cannot be used and instead we have to switch to using muscle force to bring about the movement and absorb impact.

There are technique and equipment problems that we need to address to ensure we utilise this elastic response.

With technique we need to focus on a shorter stride and ensure our foot lands under our centre of gravity and not in front of the body – if we land in front of the body there is no way we are going to be able to pull the foot off the ground quickly as .2 seconds after impact the foot may well still be in front of the body.

Looking at footwear is also very important, for the the elastic response to occur our brain needs to be able to feel when we hit the ground immediately, if you are wearing thick soled shoes or soft shoes with too much cushioning then the brain have a delayed response to hitting the ground and the elastic response will not occur again leading to muscles and joints taking over.

So how can a treadmill help with this, a treadmill provides a great controlled environment in which to train, we can provide constant gradient and speed so our sole focus can turn to technique. Also running on a moving belt forces a faster cadence, you will find if your technique is not efficient that running on a treadmill is hard work, by this i mean your regular speeds from the road will feel much harder on a treadmill – if this is you then more time on the treadmill is going to have a big impact on your performance.

If we watch good runners in ironman you will see they seem to run flat – there is no bounce, by this i mean if you watch their heads they are always in the same position not moving up and down. On a treadmill position a mirror in front and you will be to see if you are moving up and down or staying flat. You will see some runners at the gym get on the treadmill and seem to be all over the treadmill and the treadmill is almost bouncing with them and creating a lot of noise, this is exactly what we don’t want – we should almost be seeking silence!

Developing an efficient run style takes time and should be a gradual process, make your treadmill runs interval workouts starting with small intervals with focus on technique and then as technique becomes solid start to increase interval length.

Once you have developed an efficient running style we can start to use the treadmill for developing run economy. Run economy is basically using as little energy as possible for the pace we are running. Ironman is at a performance level a challenge of fuel so by becoming more efficient at speed we are going to increase performance level.

If we look at pro athletes in ironman there is a prevalence of older athletes seeming to get faster and faster at an age we would expect decline. We know from numerous studies that as we age we see a decrease in maximal VO2 which has long been seen as one of the keys in endurance performance but what we are seeing is athletes running economy increases with age and this increase outweighs the loss of VO2 max. A good example of this is Cameron Brown winning events into his early 40’s.

To improve running economy we need to spend a lot of time running at our desired paces, treadmills are the perfect tool for this as we can set pace and we simply have to run. Trying to do this outside is not the same as we are faced with many more challenges such as weather, gradients, temperature, obstacles such as roads, traffic and if running with other athletes competitive nature really can mess with developing economy.

Running intervals at set paces on the treadmill is one of the most efficient ways to develop run economy and boost your ironman run performance.

Aside from running style and economy the treadmill has other benefits that can be utilised by an ironman athlete. It is widely held belief that you need to run at 1% gradient on the treadmill to simulate running outside – so running at 0% is like running on a slight decline. If we run at 0% on a treadmill we can run at a faster pace than on the road for the same cardiovascular stress and reduced impact stress – for an ironman athlete training on tired legs this is going to have a bog impact of run development and recovery that will enhance the consistency of your training!

One more benefit of the treadmill is in developing specificity, we can be extremely limited to terrain we run on due to location and this can lead to problems if we are racing on terrain significantly different to that which we train on, the treadmill with varying gradients gives us the ability to simulate the stresses we are going to face in any race. A lot of athletes will see this as the ability to run up hill but much more important is the ability to run downhill without smashing your legs – downhill running is extremely damaging to the legs due to increased range of motion and impact – modern treadmills do provide negative gradients so athletes can get used to running downhill if they happen to live in a flat geographical environment.

If you want to improve your run off the bike then its time to stop thinking like a runner and start thinking like an ironman athlete – get on the treadmill, improve your running style, improve your movement economy at set paces and you will see substantial performance increases in your next ironman.

Enjoy your training!

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

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Train with ironguides!

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

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

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

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

The Secret Training Plan

November 28, 2017

Recently we had a new sign up for our monthly subscription training plan and on the same day, we received an email requesting a refund. The athlete said the reason was that he saw nothing special compared to previous training plans he had used before, the workouts were simple and therefore he was not satisfied.

It reminded me of another situation in which two of my athletes, who were friends, started training together but were having different results in terms of performance. The athlete who was not improving as much asked me if I had sent a special training plan to his buddy.

I often also get questioned about the type of training my high performance athletes are on. What’s so special about their training that makes them perform so well, win their age groups, qualify to the Ironman World Championships and so on.

What’s the secret training plan that these athletes are on?

This type of question or the attitude towards feeling that you are missing some secret recipe also means you are admitting that there are some special training sessions, a kind of secret training plan. Some athletes have the privilege to have access to that, making them faster.

But it is important to understand that if we want to improve our swimming, get stronger on the bike or have a more solid run, we need to pursue these improvements by increasing our training load, building a good consistency and getting the “right mix” of training. These are the best starting points and a balance of these things will guarantee your improvements. The truth is, there is no secret training plan, as they simply do not exist!

In 10 years of triathlon, I had the opportunity to meet many successful coaches and when I joined ironguides I came across a methodology somewhat controversial in our sport. Part of our training approach can be similar to some other coaches around the world, but certainly the most controversial is Australian Brett Sutton, coach of Olympic Champion Nicola Spirig, 4-time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington among others. Brett is arguably the most successful trainer of triathlon in the history of this sport.

One of my colleagues and co-coach Vinnie Santana, was coached by Brett and says most of his strength is in the way he motivates his athletes. He makes them believe that what they are doing is the right thing and that there was no limit to what they could achieve. Brett has the skill to change how his athletes think. The training itself was certainly hard work, but it was very unsophisticated and repetitive based on some of the training plans Vinnie shared with me that included some of his own sub 9 hour Ironman performance and Team TBB Kona build (Chrissie’s first win). What I learned from this is that the belief in what you are doing is more important than what you are actually doing.

Behind a victory in a race there are no secrets, but YEARS of consistent practice-Photo Leo Moreira 2011 Ironman Brazil champion in 9h05min, Leo has been an athlete for almost three decades.

Before Ironman 2014 I had many conversations with some top coaches to gather information on how I could improve my own marathon since it was my main limiting factor in races. In one of those conversations, I was told that increasing run volume while pulling back on intensity could be an option since I was recovering from a foot injury. I also had the opportunity to quickly talk to Ironman World champion Chris McCormack and asked him about this, he told me to decrease the intensity and avoid running on very hard surfaces. With these two ideas in mind I designed my new ten week program for the race. During this period, I saw some athletes doing and talking about different things, but I never questioned what I was doing or was annoyed. I had chosen a path and moved on. Pick and stick as they say. The result was that I was able to do my best Ironman marathon, fifteen minutes faster than my previous best time and this led me to my personal best time.

Despite comparing different realities of an age grouper triathlete and professionals, the message remains the same, the secret is having the knowledge and the understanding of why you are doing what you are doing. That’s the secret! Belief is essential in triathlon. Workouts or sets are only the second piece of the puzzle. When you find these key sessions, place them in your training program, work with a coach to do this, and most of all, try to understand why these sessions are important to you. When I think of all the sessions that I or any athlete of mine is doing, none is more important than the other, but I understand why we do each. All sessions that I, my athletes or professional athletes do, can be adopted by each of you, but when, where and how, is what is really important. Get the “right mix” is the key to better results over time. But we must be patient and understand that these results do not appear from night to day, instead, are built over months or years with a lot of consistency, discipline and hard work.

We never knowfor sure when we are getting enough when it comes to triathlon training. Be open to change and be prepared to try new things in your journey to become a better athlete. In this sport, it is not as difficult to improve as it seems. Often the biggest problems is not worrying about the process, but the result.

Enjoy your training!

Rodrigo Tosta

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)

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

1 Key to a Better Ironman Run

October 25, 2017

The big news out of the 2017 Kona Ironman World Championship was how new male elite champion Patrick Lange of Germany ran through the field and win the title in a record breaking time of 8:01:40. Lange came out of T2 10 minutes and 23 seconds off the lead and at 11^th place. When Lange was done, his race-best 2:39:59 marathon split gave him his first Kona title.

For the age grouper, whatever the goal is, gunning for a podium spot, hoping to break a personal record, or simply dreaming for a decent run split, the marathon after a 180km bike is where those dreams live or perish. Here is one key to a better ironman run:

GET STRONG ON THE BIKE

You can log all the miles you want on running to improve that marathon split, but you will never put on a decent time if you don’t get your miles done on the saddle. Getting strong on the bike means you can ride at your goal pace for 180 kilometers, and still have the legs to run a marathon. The long endurance ride and run off is a staple in ironman training and the one that eat most of your training time. It is important not to just pedal away just to reach the desired mileage or hours on the saddle. Train smart by incorporating this workout from ironguides:

Here is one cornerstone long brick workout from our ironman training plans: (weeks 10-14 Learning to Endure Phase). Do this workout if you have built your endurance riding up to 4 hours of riding.

BIKE

Long Bike, building to include hard effort:

Start easy, build to moderate and continue to build the effort so that the final hour is HARD.
Finish stronger than you start!!!
Optionally, you can add distance to the easy and moderate portions of the ride.
270-360 minutes with final 60 minutes Hard

Execution Notes: Use each and every one of these sessions to rehearse your Ironman Race. Practice using the same fuel and drink, equipment (other than race wheels) and eating and drinking schedule.

RUN

Run off the Bike:

40min as: 30min of (30sec Fast / 30sec Easy) 10min easy c/d

Execution Notes: Starting to mix in “pure” race simulation with a race effort run after the longer bike. Focus on keeping your stride rate high over 96 (step per leg) and really work the fast efforts. Use the easy recovery to prepare for the next fast effort.

Prior to this phase, heavy gear pedaling on the bike and high-cadence running are often prescribed in the weekday workouts. Heavy gear pedaling (around 70 cadence at heavy gear) recruits more muscle fibers and when done consistently, will make you stronger leading to your long endurance rides. Running at high stride rates meanwhile will recruit the motor skills required to improve your run efficiency.

On raceday, if you followed your steady goal pace at the bike, it is normal to feel tightness and wobbly legs when starting the marathon run. Keep in mind the high-cadence training runs and just start with shorter strides and you will feel your legs open up. Resist the temptation to race others and stick to your goal pace, especially early on the run.

While there are numerous factors that would play on your ironman marathon time, this workout gives you a good foundation to accomplish a better ironman marathon performance.

Want a complete ironguides ironman training plan? Click here>>http://www.ironguides.net/plan-ironman/

Stroke Rate – Cadence – Stride Frequency

September 19, 2017

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

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

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

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

SWIM

Tool – Finis Tempo Trainer Pro

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

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

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

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

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

BIKE

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

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

RUN

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your training!

By Alun Woodward, coach, ironguides.net

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Train with ironguides!

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

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

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

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

Race Prep: The Half Ironman Taper

September 13, 2017

Home, Race prep, Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DOs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DON’Ts

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Shem Leong
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Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

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

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

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

Ironman (USD145 for 20-week plan)

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

Ironman Performance – When things go wrong

September 5, 2017

Home, ironman, Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

TIME FRAME

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

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

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

EVENTS

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

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

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

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

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

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

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

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

Enjoy your training

Getting the job done

August 30, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BIKE

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

RUN

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

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

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

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

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

More info at www.ironguides.net

–

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KABOOM – dont blow up on race day

August 16, 2017

cycling, Home, ironman, Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5hour ride to be ridden as

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your training.
Alun “Woody” Woodward

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Ironman Performance – The Final 4 Weeks

August 2, 2017

Home, Race prep, Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your fitness!

Alun “Woody” Woodward

Train with ironguides!

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