CF Update: June 18

Hi,

One last update before I pack the bike for CDA. 

IMCDA Pre-Race Talk
If you, or someone you know, are racing IMCDA, don’t forget about my pre-race talk: Friday, 9am, near the swim start/bag check area.

IM Wisconsin Training Camp
Since I advertised the camp less than a week ago, I’ve had 13 people register.  The camp will close out at 20 participants.  Details here.
Please forward this information to anyone who may be interested.

 IMFL Training Camp

I’ve had such a good response to the Wisconsin camp that I have decided to offer a Florida camp on the course as well.  Details to follow, but expect the date to be mid to late September. 

 IMCDA Forum is now open

For the past 6 months I have been coaching a group of 25+ athletes to the race.  I have opened up the private forum.  Lots of good information here, so be sure to check it out.

Disney Forum

We have also been asked to be training advisors for the Disney Tri Team.  The team has 100+ members (!!!) training for the Malibu Tri in September.  Brandon and I are writing a series of educational emails for the team, to provide them with context and an overview of their training.  These updates will be archived in a new forum I have created.  Please drop in, take a read, and help us answer questions.  If you are a vet, it’s time to pay it forward and return the help you got when you first started J.  Our most recent additions are discussions on “Improving your body composition” and “Event-Based Volume.”

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What is the ideal body composition for male and female athletes?
Ideal body comp depends on a number of issues and is different from person to person.

Strictly speaking, ideal = healthy.  As an endurance athlete, your body comp should be "good" without compromising your training or recovery.  As you lose body fat, your body becomes more sensitive to many things and your immune system can be affected.  At some point, continuing to reduce BF compromises your recovery and training (too weak to train effectively, get sick, etc.).  Where this point is depends on the athlete.  Some elite males can train and race at 5-6% BF.  Others get sick when their BF drops below 10%.  Low BF numbers for females have even more issues.  So ideal, in terms of health, depends on genetics.

I think the more important issue is lifestyle and race goals.  As your race goals become more and more aggressive, you need to seek out every edge you can get.  Being lean is definitely an edge. How lean therefore can depend on your race goals.  Just as certain race goals demand a certain level of training, that level of training can be further enhanced by paying commensurate attention to your body comp.  If you are training hours and hours per week but don't apply similar attention to your body comp, then you are not realizing the full potential of your training. 

An alternative method of structuring your IM season:

I've begun to modify my perception of an IM season, and I've heard Gordo allude to a structure different from the Base1-2/Build 1-2/Peak paradigm, as outlined in the Triathlete’s Training Bible.   Gordo calls the progression General Preparation, Specific Preparation, and Peak. G, sorry if you've talked about this before, but I'm thinking out loud and this is my first time putting my thoughts down.

General Prep: "training to train." Develop the foundation of IM strength, simple endurance. At the same time address key limiters. These are usually swim technique, cycling force, running form and force.

·        Swim: drills, drills, drills.

·        Bike: long rides in z1, maybe z2 from time to time. Low cadence cycling and hills to address force limiter. Progression of tempo intervals to increase the athlete's top end fitness in a very time efficient manner.

·        Run: conservative progression of long run, moderate overall volume. Strides and other form work to improve efficiency. Moderate hill running, but nothing crazy.
Personally, I would hold off on the Steady intensities, instead banking lots of z1, aerobic endurance time.

Specific Prep: focus shifts from preparing the athlete to train to actually training race specific fitness systems. For me, we make a shift from developing top-end fitness to increasing the percentage of this top-end power they can hold for 5+ hours. This has become a critical distinction for me in the last 8 weeks. Accomplish this by beginning to work in AeT/Steady time, especially on the bike.

·        Swim: maintain form focus but begin to introduce longer intervals with form as a pace and distance limiter (only swim as far and as fast as you can still maintain good form).

·        Bike: bank lots of Steady time. Use big gear work to continue to develop and maintain sport specific strength, but not at the expense of aerobic volume.

·        Run: high to moderate volume as a result of moderate intensity and frequency. Intent is to make the athlete more resistant to fatigue. If they get faster, bonus. Overall, most long sessions should be at, just under or just over AeT. As a coach, this is where I would be drilling the hell out of race day plans, pacing, nutrition strategies, race rehearsals, etc.

Peak: keep the intensity rolling but begin to reduce volume. Continue to refine pacing and nutrition strategies, with the intent of making the athlete very confident in their fitness. In my experience, the fitness is there at this point and the focus is on giving the athlete the confidence needed to apply this fitness to the demands of race day.

Summary of Training for the Ironman Run
When I need to refocus on my run training objectives, this is what I say:

“I form my Ironman fitness and endurance on the bike.  Race day is about the application of that fitness to a 140.6-mile day.  I apply that fitness through sound nutritional, pacing, and decision-making skills.  My run training supports this idea by making me more resistant to fatigue.  The longer I resist fatigue and continue to apply these skills, the longer I maintain focus.  The longer I maintain focus, the less I slow down.  The less I slow down, the faster I go.”

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Half Ironman Pacing
Swim: highly variable, depending on athlete experience. Always try to go easier than you think you should be, but expect your HR to be higher than you want it to be. Make sense? Most of the time your swim HR is what it is.

T1: HR through the roof, as you run to T1, get on your bike, etc.

Bike: HR will start through the roof. Try to get it down to low z3 as soon as possible. Ride the first 30 miles or so in the lower half of z3 and then see how you feel from there. You may want to push it to the upper half of z3 later in the bike. You should not spend any significant time in z4. For long hills, place an HR cap of low-mid z4 and do not exceed. Stop racing the last 1-2 miles of the bike. Spin in small chain ring, stretch, and try to get your HR into high z1, low z2. Lower the better.

Run: Build to low z3 in the first 3 miles. Hold there for next 3. At half way, start to push to upper z3. Last 3 miles pour on the gas and finish strong. Throughout the run, expect your HR to be elevated by 3-5 bpm due to the effects of a long day, heat, slight dehydration, etc. If your HR is greatly elevated (7-10 bpm over what you would expect) this is a sign that you are dehydrated on a hot day. Slow down, for a mile, take in fluids, and try to fix it.
 

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Finally, let this picture serve as a warning of just how far this sport can take you down the road of “a good idea gone bad.”  Some of you have seen my bike and others have only heard the rumors.  Well, here it is.  I think it has an ejection seat that activates under 23mph.

Coming soon to a race near you: