Since the beginning of the year, Lionel's plan has been to be at his peak in October at Kona. We are well aware that its a long year, and he needs to have some blocks of hard training, some easier recovery work and some key races as part of that preparation. Lionel was doing equally hard work last Feb & March and was in great shape in Sept (his 4th at 70.3 Worlds) and Nov (his win at Ironman Florida). As a young guy, we are still learning about his body, but I can tell you that he has recovered faster than any athlete I have ever seen in 30+ years and his passion and enjoyment is working hard and preparing properly for a limited number of races. We had looked at Dubai, but in a year where we wanted to go slowly and build towards Kona, we decided to stay in North America and start in Oceanside in 3 weeks. With lmited travel experience and a need to continue improving his swim, we decided that being closer to home was wisest. Finally, much has been said about Lionel not doing mega swim workouts this winter. He tried that in the past and it did not seem to work for his physiology and skill acquistion. Less swimming, more focus on better technique seems to be helping him improve (as he just did a life time PB by 30 seconds with that format).
I would say the biggest thing we are observing (and is likely obvious to most elite coaches) is that great athletes are very unique and they all don't need to do the exact same training program. Lionel is not going to be a lead pack swimmer in 2015. We are not being negative, we are simply being realistic. He is improving, everyday looking more like a swimmer, but swimming is a very technical event and "just trying" harder doesn't mean swimming faster. His progressions in the water will be modest and consistent, and that means we know he will have a time deficit to make up, coming out of the water in most of the key races.
The nice thing, is that if races truly execute fair and consistent draft marshaling, Lionel is more than capable of having some of the most impressive bike and run splits in any of the races he enters. Mt Lemmon was a great gift to Lionel. He loves the mountain, and gains energy from being on it. Some people have a favourite trail they run on, some a great lake they love to swim or paddle. For Lionel Mt Lemmon is an inspiring few hours. For those who have never had the luxury of being on the mountain, you need to make a road-trip to Tucson. It is a truly amazing road, where every few miles the images, climate and visuals change.
I think any athlete that raises positive, conversations about Triathlon is a great addition to the endurance family. Lionel is just a baby in race years, who will gain a lot of wisdom in the next few years. While I am sure we collectively won't do everything proper this year, the most important thing is he is loving the training and new life, inspiring many people around him, and adding to the interest in the sport. None of those are a bad thing.
I would say the biggest thing we are observing (and is likely obvious to most elite coaches) is that great athletes are very unique and they all don't need to do the exact same training program. Lionel is not going to be a lead pack swimmer in 2015. We are not being negative, we are simply being realistic. He is improving, everyday looking more like a swimmer, but swimming is a very technical event and "just trying" harder doesn't mean swimming faster. His progressions in the water will be modest and consistent, and that means we know he will have a time deficit to make up, coming out of the water in most of the key races.
The nice thing, is that if races truly execute fair and consistent draft marshaling, Lionel is more than capable of having some of the most impressive bike and run splits in any of the races he enters. Mt Lemmon was a great gift to Lionel. He loves the mountain, and gains energy from being on it. Some people have a favourite trail they run on, some a great lake they love to swim or paddle. For Lionel Mt Lemmon is an inspiring few hours. For those who have never had the luxury of being on the mountain, you need to make a road-trip to Tucson. It is a truly amazing road, where every few miles the images, climate and visuals change.
I think any athlete that raises positive, conversations about Triathlon is a great addition to the endurance family. Lionel is just a baby in race years, who will gain a lot of wisdom in the next few years. While I am sure we collectively won't do everything proper this year, the most important thing is he is loving the training and new life, inspiring many people around him, and adding to the interest in the sport. None of those are a bad thing.