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Three Tips For Ironman SuccessAt our Spring Training Camp in Tucson, we had each of the coaches present benchmarks for Ironman training and racing. Each of the coaches answered the question slightly differently. Alan Couzens shared his ideas on benchmarks across the year. You can consider these steps the key goals of a three-part season. While each athlete is different, these ideas are important for each athlete to consider. Friel's Performance Triangle - early in the season AC likes to focus on the three performance building blocks of Strength (Force); Endurance; and Quickness (Speed). For Ironman, the main emphasis should be on strength and endurance. Mean/Max Power Profiling - once base endurance is well established, AC reviews the athlete's mean/max power curve to see if there are any gaps in the athlete's profile. Specifically, he looks for not less than 6% reduction in performance as the duration doubles. Workouts are designed to specifically target areas of the curve which lag. Even for long distance triathlon, AC believes that short duration performance needs to be developed to support moderate intensity goals. Metric Ironman - the specific preparation phase is built around completing race simulation workouts that are, roughly, 2/3rds distance of the main event (2400m, 112K, 26K) -- if appropriately paced then the athlete should finish "ready to go". [Ed Note: I found the Mean/Max part of the conversation quite interesting. AC will present more on this for EC-Boulder. We're going to video each of the talks at EC-Boulder and should have those available in the summer.] Justin Daerr shared his ideas on what-it-takes. Threshold Benchmarking - a 30-40 minute fast effort that is done off Base Training -- ie no specific preparation. Novice Monster Ride - for new IMers, a 120-mile race sim ride which is done... 8 miles Easy then 112 miles at goal IM effort, with minimal breaks. The goal being to finish the ride feeling ready to run a marathon, which requires a LOT of pace discipline. Experienced Athlete Big Riding - the next level in development once the Monster Ride has been figured out. Saturday: Solid 90 min swim / 2:30 Ride which contains some blocks at Half IM effort The above workout would be done no more than 4x in the Specific Prep phase. "Do not fully test yourself in training because making an "Ironman Weekend" a regular part of your week will wear you out long before race day". Sim Weekend - for experienced athletes, four weeks out from race day, only done once in the Specific Prep Period, combine the Big Ride (Sat) with a Long Run (Sun). Jeff Shilt is an MD that’s qualified for Kona multiple times; trained in my (Gordo’s) elite squad in Boulder for a summer “vacation”; served as USA Triathlon’s team doc at World’s and lives in the real world with his wife and two kids. Jeff took the question in terms of swim/bike/run performance benchmarks. He shared his favorite benchmarks with us: Swim – 4x1000 descend each one for effort, average HR and time. The four efforts that he chooses are Easy; Steady; Maximum Three-stroke Breathing Pace; and “all-out”. When fitness is well established each segment is quicker and the splits provide useful data for deciding on appropriate race effort. Bike – Grey zone power benchmarking // the goal isn’t grey zone training but, depending on the time of the year, the relative effort of this session changes. Jeff chooses a power target that is half way between his in-season Ironman and Half Ironman efforts [in this case 200 watts]. He sets his trainer up and holds 200w and watches what happens with his heart rate. As fitness increases, he is able to hold the power output at a progressively lower heart rate. Poker Pacing Run – a progressive long run. Jeff chooses a benchmark effort that is the middle of his Steady and Mod-Hard intensity zones. He splits the run into thirds. First third: stay under the target; Second third: sit on the target; Final third: run above the target. When fitness is well established; each increase in effort/HR results in an increase in pace. When pace slows, despite an increase in effort, the target HR was to high for the athlete’s current fitness. Jonas Colting - 2x Ultraman Hawaii Champion Three key points for the final month leading into your Ironman race: Big Day Training - Colting likes to use a very big day of training three to four weeks out from the goal race. The goal being total work (swim/bike) being at, or over, race levels and sustained efforts at goal race intensity. Off the bike, he likes a transition run that should feel "great". The transition run is not long (less than <60 mins, always) but he ends it knowing that he could continue strongly. Pre-race Race - He also likes to have a short duration race scheduled 8-10 days out from a goal Ironman. This race is a high intensity session (less than an hour), which starts the final freshening period into the race. Rest - His final tip was to rest! It is easy to let nerves carry us away and do too much during the final freshening period. Stay active but ensure that you rest up for the big day ahead. Colting notes that he always feels a little sluggish and fatigued in the final few days. Do enough training to keep yourself sane but resist the urge to test yourself.
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