April 1st will mark the third birthday of Endurance Corner LLC. This week I’m going to outline the decisions that cost us the most money in our start up phase. These themes pop up in many areas of my life so, I hope, you can learn from our experience.

The original concept for starting EC was to help people. I'm not sure if I've ever told you but a personal goal is, over my lifetime, to reach one million people with a message about using personal athletics to change the direction of their life (one article at a time).

In wanting to help people, I need constant reminders that making things "easy" isn't a help! Most of the money that I have wasted so far (I'm sure that more mistakes are to come) is due to a misunderstanding of human nature.

A bit of a departure this week from my regular focus on high performance athletics to discuss the level of fitness required to complete an Ironman race in under 17hours.

Before I whip out the scalpel and start dissecting, a couple of quick observations on the psychology of the Ironman finish…

Having the chance to coach some first time IMers has been an interesting experience. Not so much from the physical side of things, as I point out below, the physical equation for an Ironman finish is quite simple – get the athlete fit, strong, and teach appropriate pacing. But the psychology of an athlete’s first attack on the Ironman distance is a thing of pure beauty.

In my experience, a first time Ironman has a perspective that often fades as the athlete morphs into a ‘mid-packer’. The magnitude of an Ironman finish is not lost on the first timer and the accompanying fear offers real, pure, motivation.

I'm leaving Australia today and the way my schedule worked out, I'm probably going to take a "zero" in the training log. Not a big fan of zeros as I do best with a dose of exercise every 12 hours, or so.

Earlier this month, my buddy, Tony D, flew half way around the world to train with me and see what he could pick up in terms of training secrets. I did what I could for the guy and I think he learned quite a bit from the experience. Tony doesn't have a blog so this article is a summary of what I hope he picked up!

It's fashionable to say "there are no secrets" and "there is no easy". We should all HTFU and JFT...

That's true but it is also an over-simplification. There is a tremendous amount of experience, and knowledge, that goes into what's required to perform at a high level. This week, I'll highlight four key concepts that have helped me in academics, finance and athletics.

With whom do we work?

• We work with long course triathletes
• Exercise is a fundamental part of our lives
• We love to teach by training with you

What are my Endurance Values?

• Achievement is a product of work
• Coaching is about creating great people
• The value in athletic competition comes from testing your honor and personal fortitude

Where are we world-class?

• Understanding the specific performance requirements for Ironman racing;
• Understanding the athletic progression from mid-pack to the front of the race;
• Guiding working-athletes on the long-term role that athletics will play in their well-being;
• Training for long-course triathlon with power; and
• Triathlon stage racing and extreme volume training.

This has been a tough winter. Especially for my UK athletes. It seems that the UK has been hit by a perpetual winter storm that has lasted most of the season. Needless to say, they are ready for this winter to be over and to get out of the gym and back on the roads.

On the upside, the indoor time has allowed us to really hone in on 2 critical abilities to Ironman racing – steady (trainer) cycling and pure strength. Many of my athletes are at or on the verge of life best strength numbers at the moment. As we emerge from the cold, it will be my job to transfer this potential ‘gym strength’ to real ‘rubber meets the road’ strength....

I wrote this article for the USAT Coaching Manual. In so far as I have an "endurance training protocol" this provides a good summary.

You'll find the latest version of the eBook attached below.

If your browser is unable to "see" the attachment then the direct download link is here on Google Docs.