How do you feel about 'not being a Kona contender because you haven't raced in the heat'?

Matt, thanks for doing a Q&A! What do you think led to you have a run time that was about 10 min faster than the next closest pro run split? Did you not overbike? It seemed like there were certainly others in the field capable of a sub 2:50 run, but you were the only one to execute.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
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Congrats on the win and course record in a deep field Matt!

I stumbled on a nice shot of your race day rig by Philip Shama at https://www.facebook.com/...025253636&type=1

Are you running a GT3 front wheel and why did you choose a tri spoke over a spoked race wheel? It obviously works for you but it's not something you see every day in triathlon.

Flat kit anywhere on the bike or no?

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Matt, I'm the only triathlete in my family but watching you win IM Texas on the live feed became something that the whole family enjoyed. My wife, my son and I were glued to the computer trying to see if you would break the course record. We were blown away by how dominating your win was and under such harsh conditions. You really fought hard for that win and it was inspiring.

Thank you for being yet one more example to my family of why I think triathlon is so cool and so worthwhile. Sometimes they just think I'm crazy but when they see races like yours they get a glimpse of the excitement that comes when one crosses that finish line wether in first place like you or waaaayyyy back like me. Well done and congrats on earning your ticket to Kona.

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http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

Matt, since you are from the mid west and it hasn't warmed up until recently, what was your training like leading up to the race? Did you do any heat acclimation training or did you try to get as fit as possible? do you just race well in hot conditions?
Congrats on the win. Exciting to watch

Matt,
Congrats. Do superstars (like you) get sore post race?
Thanks
Steve (yup, us AG'rs get SORE!).

Hahaha, well played, Francois. David told me you were a bit of a comedian!

Careful pacing on the bike is very key. Timing the "matches" that you use and trying to produce as consistent power throughout entire bike is important as well. Also, your nutrition plan on the bike is what fuels the run. I am able to push much, much higher calories/hour in on the bike than I can during the run (most people can) so I take advantage and down as many calories as possible. The metabolic cost of running just a little bit faster is much greater than many people realize.

Thanks for the pic. I ran into Shama post race and he said he had a few good pics from the bike.

Yes, I run the GT3 up front. I am certainly no expert in this area and rely heavily on my coach and a few other trusted sources for wheel choice. But according to every set of numbers I've seen, the GT3 performs better at low yaw. The Texas course typically has either a head or a tail wind. For Kona, it is quite possible that I run the Hed 90 front. The typical wheel is going to be good in ALL conditions. The trispoke is best in a few conditions and many just don't want to invest in an additional wheel.

I am running tubies right now, and I put Flat Attack sealant in them prior to the race. I don't carry a spare tire along on the frame. If I do flat, I have 3 CO2 cartriges on the bike. It takes me seconds to inflate the tire, and hopefully the sealant will do its job. If not, I'll ride until flat and fill again. Hopefully in that time I'll be able to flag down a moto for assistance.

Thank you. I agree. I love the family side of triathlon. I was lucky enough to be able to give my sister her finisher medal after completing her first Ironman on Saturday. It was a pretty special moment that I'll not forget.

Good question, glad you brought this up. I spent some time researching with my coach on best protocols for heat acclimation. We discussed sauna, hot bath, working out in the locker room at the college, etc. We decided to just focus on fitness instead. Being from Iowa, it was really difficult to get outside for rides until the end of April. Even when the weather was nice, I often opted for the treadmill or the trainer. One of those reasons was for heat acclimation (rarely use a fan for rides or runs under 2 hours). I also use the treadmill and indoor trainer so I can be very specific with all of my workouts. I am still working full time, so my schedule is very similar to that of an elite AG athlete. I do very few endurance paced workouts during a build. Every workout has a specific purpose and it is a lot easier to ensure that you are meeting that purpose when you don't have to worry about cars, stoplights, weather, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love training outdoors. But I find indoor work to be very efficient and useful for prepping for hot races as well.

Great race report and thanks for sharing all the info!! How did you get interested in using on shoes? Do they work best for s certain type of runner ie over protonator etc

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Follow me on Twitter @CK21TRHC
I use what I love: ISM, Blue70, Trek, FLO

Great race. One thing I learned from the report is that you were able to check your bike in on race morning. That seems unusual. Did they make an exception for y'all given the poor weather conditions the day before?

Nice report, excellent race- Congratulations!

What saddle do you ride on your QR?

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Proud Representative of Slowtwitch Anti-Atheists Society.

Congrats on the race, loved that an American won the US championship as well!

Your run is great and your bike has improved a ton over the past few years. Since you do most of your training indoors and have a job, what kind of workouts do you tend to do? I figure you mix things up but do you tend to focus more on intensity or duration?

Ha! We are all athletes just like you and definitely still get sore! Especially after a long car ride home!

I met Olivier with On when I was an AGer in Kona in 2013. I tried them on and remembered thinking they were extremely comfortable, but was "stuck in my ways" in terms of running shoes. After IMTX in 2014, I started talking with Olivier about possibly working together. He sent me a few pairs of shoes to demo and I'm completely hooked. Very light and comfortable. Saturday was my first marathon in the Cloud Racer and my feet felt great when I woke up Sunday morning (unlike the rest of my body). I am very picky in what I will use for running (and what I won't use!) and On met all of my requirements. Not to mention that everyone I have worked with at On has been extremely helpful.

Most Ironman races allow the pros to check in their bikes on race morning.

I ride the Cobb JOF 55

I do whatever my coach tells me to :)! We did an intensity focused build. In fact, In the 12 weeks leading up to IMTX, I spent more time training in zone 3 (tempo) than zone 2 (endurance) in both the bike and the run. I typically swim 6 times per week, but accumulate only about 5 hours total in the water each week. Bike and run varies significantly, but I would say I average about 7-8 hours on the bike each week and run 4-5 hours each week. During the summer (when the semester ends), these numbers will all increase significantly and I'll spend more time in the aerobic zones I would guess.

Matt - IIRC, you were part of the pro swim camp Tim put on this past Jan at The Woodlands, correct??? How did that camp work out for you and how much did you improve in the 30 days or so??? Bet you liked having John Kenney and Balazs there to push you in the workouts!!! From what I've read/heard, John K. is just a motor in the water:)

And of course, congrats on your great race!!!

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Matt, big congrats. Feel free answering some of the questions below or ignore (some pros may choose to keep this somewhat confidential)

• Height
• Weight
• Age
• Percent body fat
• IM Texas Bike Normalized Power
• FTP or IF (I guess we can derive on from the other)
• Current 10K speed
• Current 400m swim time
• average run mileage week last 6 months
• biggest run mileage week
• sport background
• next race before Kona

Sorry, you said "ask away" hopefully that's not too much :-)

Sports Background - He's a wrestler! Minnesota grown and now an Iowa boy...its in the veins and would guess it plays a big role in his mental toughness, heat training, etc.

Had to urban dictionary IIRC....but yes, I was part of the camp with Tim and Magnolia Masters. He is my swim coach, but we typically work together remotely. The January camp was a great opportunity for me. We focused almost exclusively on swimming. It was great to have John and Balazs as well as Cody and Justin to push me every day. I took around 3-4 second off my 100 hold pace for threshold sets. Essentially, I took about the same amount of time off in the course of a month as I did the previous 11 months working with Tim. As soon as my cycling and running volume and intensity returned in Feb, I was able to hold on to 2-3 seconds of the drop and as soon as I entered my taper for IMTX, I was swimming just as well as I was in January again.

Awesome result for a one month camp!!! Can you "share" your 100 scy threshold pace, or is that "privileged info"??? Also, how do you/Tim define "threshold pace", i.e. some people will say the pace you can hold for 20 x 100 scy with 10-15 sec rest, vs others will say 10 x 100 scy w/ only 5 sec rest.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Thoroughly enjoyed watching the race, and super congratulations on your win, Matt. Well done.

My question is about your nutrition, mainly on the bike; what was your bike nutrition, and how many calories? You mentioned you carried 4 full bottles with you, and picked up one in special needs; what were these? Do you stay in aero while consuming calories? What was your water strategy on the bike?

Lastly, how many calories do you carry with you on the run - just a 400 calorie liquid shot flask? Thanks!

Coming into IMTX, I was holding 1:01/2s scy pushing off at 1:25. In my full build, I was holding 1:03/4 on the same push off interval. "Threshold" was probably not the right term to use since, as you suggest, everyone does this differently. Tim has a very specific philosophy when it comes to swim training that centers around developing neuromuscular efficiency and connecting everything along the kinetic chain. He mentioned that he is thinking of doing a detailed write up on ST at some point shortly, so I'll let him address this as he sees fit.

On the bike I use EFS-PRO for all of my calories. Each bottle had 360 calories in it and I downed all 5 bottles completely (so I averaged 420 calories per hour). Yes, I stay aero while drinking whenever possible. I am sponsored by First Endurance, but also serve on their research board. I did some of the research and field testing with EFS-PRO and am really happy with the product that they came out with. My water strategy on the bike is to dump as much on me as possible, just like the run :). I did drink water at most of the bottle exchanges, but that wasn't my first priority.

On the run, I have 1 flask of EFS liquid Shot. I use a reusable flask that is 8 ounces and put 7 oz of liquid shot and 1 oz of water so it comes out a little easier. I usually down that by the half way mark then pick up another flask at special needs, this one has a scoop of pre-race in it as well (for caffeine). With Texas being a 3 loop run, I was a bit more conservative with the first flask because I couldn't pick up the second one until almost mile 20. I only downed 1/2 of the second flask. At the aid stations for the run, my first priority again is getting water on myself and ice/sponges down my jersey. I will take cola if I can as I run through as well whenever I can do so without slowing down. At the mile 25 aid station, I even tried a sip of Red Bull just to see how my gut reacted to it under stress.

No question.... just want to say when I was on my first loop in the trail area the 1st place male bike passed me I knew whoever it was would be moving and that trail is narrow. I stopped and stood to the side to watch you pass and even in the heat of your race you looked over and thanked me for stepping aside. Not a huge thing to do but wanted to thank you for the gratitude you showed at that point of the race where you had to be hurting.

Great race this weekend, and congrats on a course record.


I saw that your typical breakfast includes Ultragen. It's a product that I'm not familiar with. It looks like it's a recovery product, but seems to work well for you pre-race. Was that something you just tested with trial and error, or was it a recommendation from First Endurance? I'll be doing Ironman Florida later this year and pre-race nutrition is still way up in the air.

Holding 1:01s, and 1:04s even when tired, on 1:25 is quite impressive IMO but not too surprising given your very large engine plus your upper body strength from your wrestling years. A guy like you can prob continue to improve and get down to a 50-ish IM swim. Thanks for sharing your info:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Not only is Matt wicked fast he's quite possibly the nicest guy in triathlon. It's a pleasure sharing the pool with him when he's in town. Notice I didn't say the same lane. I'm in lane 2 and he's in lane 1.

Interesting factoid: the entire men's podium swam in lane 1 at Magnolia Masters with SnappingT (Tim) leading into the race. Matt has already discussed working with Tim. Joe Skipper spent about a month swimming with us while he was in town and Ronnie swam as well the week of the race.

Great race and thanks for the insights. Greatly appreciate the tips. Quick question...did you run with socks during IMTX?

I have a few requirements for my pre-race meal. In 2013, I was throwing up during the swim in 2 of the 3 Ironman races I did (not fun at all). I knew I needed to change things up to prevent this from happening again. I tried a few different things, but like the Ultragen the best. Frist, it has the carbohydrate to protein ratio that I want (and is supported by research) for a pre-race meal. It just happens that this is similar to most recovery recommendations as well. I can get the number of calories I want by having 2 servings. Since it is fluid, it empties quickly. Oh, and it tastes great. I want to get to the start of the swim feeling just a bit hungry, but knowing that all tanks are topped off and Ultragen has worked well for me. I did experiment quite a bit with the timing before the race by taking it at different times before my morning swims on the weekend. I found that 3 to 3.5 hours pre-race works best for me. I do not consume any calories in the window between breakfast and race start.

Yes, I used swiftwick socks inside my On Cloud Racers.

Thanks, always great to swim with you all. Wish I could do it more!

I've been working with Tim for about 20 months now. One of the best professional moves I have made. It was fun swimming with Ronnie and Joe the week leading up to the race. If you look at our swim times on Saturday, we miles well have been back in Lane 1. I think the three of us came out of the water within 5 seconds of each other.

Matt:

Great race and CONGRATS!!! It is always so cool to see someone who also has a regular job do so well.

1st - no solid foods for breakfast? Just Ultragen and the Optygen / Multi V?

2nd - No gels or solid food on the bike? Just 5 bottles of EFS Pro?

3rd - your build was mostly "tempo"? For most age groupers without hours and hours to train do you think this is the best course of action?

As a fellow USD grad and Verm-town native, well done.

I was thinking about what you were saying about the swim squad and beyond the swim squad it seems that those who came and stayed in Woodlands to do race specific prep did the best. They llikely had optimized blood plasma to deal with the heat and humidity. While not in your crew Angela Naeth came and trained with Outrival crew. Seems like Texas requires humidity prep like Kona. Those who just flew in had a tougher time at the pro level. My 2 cents.

Matt, You had a great race and I enjoyed watching you on the run. You looked strong the whole time. There was a little chatter on here and the video feed about the age grouper, Josh Terwoord, that ran right behind you for quite a while. I was wondering, were you aware of him shadowing you? If so, did it bother you at all, or did you like the company out on the run? I imagine it was nice for him to have you to pace off of as he went on to the overall AG win.

Yes, I got my doctorate from USD...but that is my only tie to "vermtown." I am originally from a small town call West Concord, MN and am currently living in Storm Lake, IA.

Yes, I saw this discussion in the "official IMTX" thread as well. No, Josh did not bother me one bit. We chatted a bit on and off. I typically pulled away from him in the aid stations and he caught back up shortly after. Honestly, didn't think anything of it. The last mile, I started to slow down a bit so I could get all of the sponges out of my jersey and get zipped up. He went WAY out of his way to go around me, which he didn't need to do at all. People were giving him grief for passing me at the end on another thread for some reason. I was slowing him down at that point, he should not have to alter his stride one bit because of me. We joked around a bit after the race when I ran into him, he seemed like a really nice guy.

Unbelievable!!! 8'07' while continuing to work full-time!!! You, sir, are awesome.

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Adrian in Vancouver

Hi Matt - great race!

I have a question about those 360 calorie bottles. Did you dial in the calorie:water ratio that you needed? I think I even read on EFS' website that they recommend 100 cals for 12 ounces of water. At 360 calories, either those bottles were super big, or you determined that the optimal ratio is different for different people or that it's different for bike vs run.

Which was it? Do you feel that you can handle a higher calorie to water ratio when biking?

Thanks for coming on here to answer questions!

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Chris Harris

I am sure Matt will answer this more in detail but EFS Pro is dang good, so far I have played with a lot stronger concentrations of it and had zero problems compared to their regular stuff. I used to have small vurps with most other things I have tried but have had zero problems with EFS Pro. Their mixture digest easier and quicker.

Any thoughts of taking a sabbatical of sorts in the fall to completely focus on Kona?

Chad-

I mix the bottles with more calories on the bike so I can be sure that I have enough calories to get me through the race. Through experimentation on my long workouts, I figured out how many calories I need to take in during the bike to still be able to run hard. So that's how many calories I put on my bike. I like EFS pro for a number of reasons. It has multiple sugar sources for one which helps with gastric emptying and absorption. It also has a very subtle flavor which is great for hot and humid days. The subtle flavor also allows me to mix it thicker without gagging on it. I do take additional water from the aid stations, so I am drinking more than 5 bottles total (I have no way of knowing how much water I drank since I pour a lot of it on myself as well). Yes, I can handle a much higher calorie to water ratio when biking.

Yes, agree. The first prototype that they came out with and sent me to test didn't dissolve quite as well in water so you couldn't make a "sludge" bottle. Still tasted great and had the same blends of cal/carb/electrolytes. They fixed the small issue, made a few additional changes (a bit less Mg to ensure no GI issues), and came out with an amazing product once all of the testing was done. It was a fun process to be a part of.

Honestly, I am not letting myself think of that just yet for a number of reasons. The last weekend and few days has been a whirlwind as I have traveled home and got ready to give some finals. The emotion of the weekend has not wore off. We have one week left of the semester so I am going to get through finals then sit down with all of the important people in my life and have serious conversations.

Have you considered putting your other day job on hold for a while and fully concentrating on Triathlon?

Great job. Can we pencil you, Potts and Hoffman in for the Podium with T.O. as the Wild Card in October?

Thank you so much!

-Chris

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Chris Harris

That's a wonderful thought, however it is fair to say there's 50 or so other guys from the rest of the world who would want to disagree with that outcome.

See the response just above your post :). Tough decisions ahead, just not today!!

doh!

Congrats on a great race! I had a good time watching you guys on the live stream while on the trainer. The footage was surprisingly good.

I have a few questions about what you wore on the day. Functionality questions, not fashion. You raced in Kiwami's LD suit but opted to toss a Huub swimskin over it for the swim. I know the Kiwami has a few pockets but they seem well shielded/tight so they wouldn't catch too much water. What do you think the rough time savings is between swimming in the Kiwami LD versus a dedicated swimskin? I realize saving just 1s/100m is valuable for a pro but for an AG on a budget, I can afford to lose 30 seconds to save $200.

Additionally, why not wear a sleeved top for the bike? Was heat a deciding factor?

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Texas 4000 for Cancer
Austin, TX to Anchorage, Alaska
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Yes, I raced in Kiwami's Spider WS1 1 pc tri suit. It is extremely comfortable, and does have a few pockets on the sides and one on the back. I did swim in the Huub Swimskin as well. I honestly don't know how much faster per 100 the swimskin is than the Kiwami suit, but it is faster. The Kiwami suit is great and would be fine to swim with. But as you said, even 1 second per 100 can make a huge difference in a race. I don't think of it necessarily in terms of saving time though. I think of it in terms of saving energy. On Saturday, I missed the front pack, but was sitting comfortably in the second pack. I could have swam harder, but if I did I would have been swimming alone or pulling the entire group. Either is inefficient. When swimming in the pack, efficiency becomes the key. Wearing the Huub swimskin, I am able to work just a little less at the same speed so I can save just a bit more for the bike/run.

Clothing fit is really individual. When I tested the Spider verses the Kona Wings (long sleeve) in the Velodrome, the spider was a hair faster. So that is what I will use. My years as a wrestler left me with forward shoulders, so there were a lot of wrinkles in the Kona wings while in aero. The wrinkles mean more drag. The long sleeve and quarter sleeve are much faster on many (most) individuals, the Kona wings just weren't on me.

Thanks! I generally try to stick to 100 cals per 12 ounces of water, + or - a little here or there, especially on the bike when I'm not jostling as much as when I'm running.

I would love to take in 400 cals per hour....but sucking down 48 ounces of water an hour over 5-6 hours is a lot.

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Chris Harris

How many calories did you drink per bottle. I know you did 2x strength. How many bottles of EFS pro did you have plus water. And what else did you drink. What did you take in during run?

I had 5 bottles of EFS - PRO with around 360 calories in each on the bike. The goal was about 420 calories per hour. It is impossible for me to guess how much water I drank throughout the bike course. I grabbed a bottle at most stations and drank some, poured some on me to cool down, and grabbed another bottle to throw in an empty cage if possible. I still poured a lot of water on me as I rode to the next aid station. No clue how much water I took down. I drank nothing other than water and EFS - PRO.

Run nutrition is always a bit difficult to recall correctly. I had a flask of EFS Liquid Shot for the first two laps, and another flask of the Liquid Shot with a scoop of EFS Pre Race in it for the third lap. I didn't take too much of the second flask at all, maybe 1/4th. I drank cola through maybe half of the aid stations and water at many of the others.

Awesome job!

So you had no solids at all? Also what was your recover either meal or drink right after? Ultragen?

I had no solid food from 8:00 p.m the evening before until about 2 hours post race. I didn't plan ahead far enough to have Ultragen with me at the race for the finish line. I think I had 4 cans of coke and whatever champagne found its way in my mouth on the podium :). I didn't leave race site since my sister was racing, and my stomach just wasn't ready for the burrito they had in athlete recovery. I grabbed something quick after my sister ran past on the second lap, then we went out to a nice family dinner after she recovered. Then I ate at midnight when I got home from the last hour celebration...again at 6:00 a.m., then again at 10....and again at the awards....and again......

Here's one that's sort of open ended- to what would you most contribute your success at going from an age group athlete to a very top-tier pro?

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

Very tough question. I have had a lot of great people in my life that have supported me tremendously. This is an individual sport, but in order to do well, you need a lot of support. I could not be where I am now without my wife and family behind me every step of the way. My coaches are also hugely important to every improvement I've seen.

Nice! Way to go, bro.

And yeah, I find the burritos not a good post-IM food choice. At least for me.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Matt,

WTYM.

Your interwebbing knowledge is very poor, but you seem to have the skillz to edumacate yourself. Do you think that this interwebbing skill will provide you the critical edge that you need to win Kona?

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Matt,

Thanks for sharing!
Whats your schedule like? Workouts early mornings, quick run at lunch and workout after work?

Matt,
Sorry if I missed this, how did you carry or get 5 bottles of calories during the event? 3 to start, 2 at special needs?
Thx

Haha...um...is this even in English? Speechless....just speechless.

I typically come into the office and prep for class/grade papers around 6:00 a.m. It is quiet and I can be really efficient with my time. I teach most mornings from 8 though 11:50 a.m. then sprint to the pool (conveniently just down the hall from my classroom). I swim noon to 1 monday through friday. Monday evening, I typically have a run and a strength session, tuesday and thrusday are bike and strength sessions, and Wednesday is a track day and strength session. Friday, I usually just do a short swim. I typically stay in my office until 3:30 or so, and am working out by 4. I am able to get dinner with my wife 95% of the evenings by 6:30-7:00 which is very important to me. I'll grade/prep for class most evenings as well. Weekend typically has a long ride one day and a long run and longer swim the other. In bed by 10:00 every night.

I actually put 4 bottles on my frame and 1 in special needs. I didn't know if I was going to take the one in special needs or not. If I was in a group, I wouldn't have wanted to slow down at all and would have just skipped it. I had 1 bottle in there just in case I needed it, and it turned out I could grab it being I was riding alone at that point. I would have got some calories at the aid stations somehow if I wouldn't have got the last bottle.

Thanks for your response Matt. So great that you make time for dinner with the wife so often, happy wife... You know.

Follow up question, you say you strength train 4 x per week, would you mind sharing some details of your routine?

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

How about that rear bottle cage mount to the saddle rails? Is that custom made or who makes that?

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- Jake
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Since I bought your shoes worn in your last IM win do they get a bit of extra speed now that you have won two IMs? Have not worn them yet since I am waiting for the right time to wear them. They have only been worn during a win I guess they have big expectations now! Either way great win and good luck the rest of the season!

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Twitter - Instagram

Specialized Reserve Rack mounted upside down.

Regards

David

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

Thanks!

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- Jake
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Nothing to do with triathlon, but what is your masters degree in?

Undergrad - Athletic Training
Master's is in Exercise Science
Doctorate in Education

1 night plyometric
2 night yoga (one on sunday too)
2 night strength training in gym (lower body and power lift emphasis)
1 night TRX routine

So impressive with your time management. What a beast!

Just as an FYI...while a popular benchmark within the triathlon community, in my opinion and experience, the 400m/yd; 1000m/yd; 2000m/yd benchmarks are fairly useless and actually a little counterproductive for "triathlon" swim training. It would be a lot more telling and indicative to find out what an all out 100 is and what pace he can hold a set number of 100s on with a small rest interval.

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http://www.magnoliamasters.com
http://www.snappingtortuga.com
http://www.swimeasyspeed.com

Thank you! I'm sniffing around here for pic of your setup.....

I agree with you on this. The metrics you suggested are more indicative of pack swimming. Actually post race, I had a conversation with Lionel Sanders along those lines. He said he swam 3800m solo and his pool times were not translating to open water. I suggested that the pro swim race is much more like a bike race and he had to get his all out 100m and 200m time down to get in the pack and had to be able to surge and take it up to stay in and be vigilant that gaps don't open. It's not like Frodo and Gomez and Potts are going to swim at a nice steady pace early. They will yoyo the pace to break as many hangers on as possible (not that Sanders is in position to do that, but others will do to him what Potts does to others). Sorry for the thread hijack. This thread should be about Matt, so Matt, how many were in your swim group and how steady or volatile was the pace in the first 5-10 minutes?

5 seconds rest? 10 seconds rest?

15 of them?

SusanH wrote:

Thank you! I'm sniffing around here for pic of your setup.....

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Tri_Bike_by_brand/Quintana_Roo/Matt_Hanson_s_QR_PR6_5089.html

Earlier in this thread I asked Matt about this and he said in his taper for IM TX he was holding 1:01/2s scy on 1:25.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I swim with SnappingT as well and while it varies, I'd say most of the time the rest works out to between 15-20 secs. For example, the main set for me this morning was:

3x100 on 1:35 with a 1:16 hold pace (repeat 5x with 1min rest between)

I did have to get out though after 3 rounds to get home to the kids.

I was specifically asking abotu this:





20s seems like a large rest interval to me.

Ha...thanks. There were a few times early on with some surges, but all-in-all the chase pack felt fairly comfortable to me. I was able to control where I wanted to be in the pack and pushed to the front 1/4 of the pack in the canal. Overall, I thought the swim was much slower than I anticipated having to go. No one really wanted to take charge and I guess I was in that same boat as well. There was a few times where we all ran into each other and it turned full contact. The first when the jet skier cut in front of the group and the second was right after the second left turn back towards the canal. Outside of that, it was a pretty benign swim with a fairly large group.

Recovery intervals are all relative to the intensity you are swimming at and the goal of the swim. For me, holding 1:03 on 1:20 is manageable (most days...), but to go 1:02, I'd need to go on 1:25, and to hold 1:01s, I would need to be at 1:30 or greater for send off. I don't believe there is any 1 swim workout that is a metric. Since you held 1:xx on 1:xx does not automatically mean you can swim 5x:xx. To get a good sense of this, you need to look at varying workouts throughout the course of the entire build. Nearly every swim that Coach Tim had me do leading into IMTX had very specific hold paces as well as send off intervals....and they were all set that way for a reason. Sometimes the swims were more aerobic based and "dense" with only 2-3 seconds recovery. Other times they were very anaerobic with up to 4 minutes recovery. The rest interval is determined by the goal of the set and by following sound physiological principles. Just my 2 cents of course.

Wow.

Don't take this the wrong way, but when I swam in college we would do 30x100 on 1:30 - I would typically hold between 65 and 68 depending on the surrounding training.

If you can hold 1:01 for a significant number on the 1:30 or any of the combos you mentioned - I'm flabbergasted you couldn't make the lead group last weekend. There were 1:45 to 1:48 200 freestyle swimmers on my team that couldn't hold 1:01 on that set.

I know that adds no value, and I mean no criticism - just my observation.

What you describe sounds very much like how we trained the mid-d swimmers in my college program.


Digressing -

It seriously makes me wonder about my overall training structure - as right now I'm able to do about 1:13/14s for 15x100 @ 1:35 SCM - which would be a 1:07 for SCY. I'd have to screw up some serious motivation to turn in 1:10 SCM (or faster) several times in a row - and I would bet money on me being able to swim a 52. SCY 100 something from a dive right now. Yet - I was able to swim a 52 last weekend at IMTX and it felt like a walk in the park. ETA: even some of the swim sets that jonnyo has posted that are staples - seem really intimidating/impossible to me now - and possibly even back when I was in college - and in much better swim shape.

/head scratch

Is that 30x100@1:30 scm?

Either way, that is very interesting. I'm sure those 1:48 guys would easily be front pack though because of that 1:48 speed. In my opinion, I think that major change of gears/speed is what is so difficult for us adult onset swimmers to develop, and something that can be crucial for the pro swims. I swim with a strong group of swimmers and can hang/out last them on those endurance sets, but a one off 100/200 and they smoke me.

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https://twitter.com/mungub

Yes, we train very similar to mid distance swimmers, because at least in the pro field, it is all about the start. I lined up next to Faris on Saturday. He got to speed WAY faster than me and as result, I missed the first pack. I've said this a few times on here already, but no one wanted to take control in the second pack, so a large gap opened up. I was not swimming all out and fully believe that I could have gone much faster. If I would have, one of two things would have happened. First, I would have swam by myself in "no man's land" came out of the water having expended much more energy than I had to on the day in the pack and would have had a whole group working together on the bike to chase me down. Second scenario would be to swim harder and have the entire group latch on to me and end up dragging the pack along expending more energy than everyone behind me. Then I get to the bike in a pack, but having worked harder than everyone else. Neither option is a good tactical decision (and likely the reason no one wanted to take control of the pack), and as Herbert embarrassingly pointed out on the bike build link (http://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_s_QR_PR6_5089.html), race tactics played a large portion in my game plan. It is very rare that you can just "race your race" in fields as deep talent wise as this one was.

In college so SCY.

You jumped onto the stage like you had not just accomplished the fastest course IM. The back of the room made a wincing sound when you ran up the steps as if we all felt the pain but you.

Great acceptance speech and great job!

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“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein

Matt,

Have to wish you congratulations of course. As I told you not too long ago, I've been following your results for a while and was eager to see how you were going to do at IMTX. I was very impressed and excited when I saw you took the lead, knowing it was very unlikely you'd lost that lead on the run.

About that run mileage.... On those normal 40-50 mpw, if you don't mind saying, how do you break those miles up? Surely your long run has to be over 15 miles, making it more than 30% of your total mileage for that week, correct?

When thinking about the mileage, I thought 40-50 miles seemed very low for training for marathons, but clearly it isn't since you're crushing the run in races. That's why I'm intrigued as to how that's all broken up during the week.

Best of luck in Kona this October. You'll be the one I'll be hoping gets the win for sure.

Scott the thing is pool metrics almost mean nothing compared to open-water triathlon swimming IMO. For reference, I have seen TJ just messing around in the pool go 1:51 for a 200 free. Then my main swimming partner Maik Twelsiak would be lucky to hold 1:11s on say 10x100 on 1:30. Yet TJ and Maik come out consistently together. Sebi can absolutely light Maik up in the pool, but then Maik lights up Sebi in open-water. There is a pro who was swimming like 53s for 10x100 on 1:30 yet regularly now comes out of the water behind me. I have never gone sub-1 on a single hundred. Then there are all the pros who are adult onset swimmers who are always talking about off-season gains and swimming faster in the pool yet swim no faster when it comes to open-water. The biggest conclusion I have come to for adult swimmers is:

- Swim often
- Practice true race swimming as often as you can - if you just race 1-2 Ironmans a year there is no hope for you as there is no way to truly simulate the starts in training
- Measure progress in races frequently against peers
- Don't talk about gains on Twitter/Facebook until you actual put them into practice in a race

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TG - I hear what you are saying but I think you are exaggerating a bit. I don't believe that there is any way that someone who can hold 53s on 1:30 for 10 x 100 is going to come out of the water behind someone who can't break 1:00 for a single 100. Sorry but that is just not believable to me after swimming most of my life. Certainly the whole "having enough sprint speed to make the front pack" has great validity but the front pack guys are still swimming pretty fast in the pool on their endurance set also, as well as in OW:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

No exaggeration whatsoever, that is a true story. There is some correlation in pool-open swimming, but it is very messy.

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OK but this may merit a separate thread to get the composite fish opinion:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

40-50 miles a week would seem low if I was training for a marathon, but I'm really not. When training for a stand alone marathon, most of your aerobic work is done running. While in the final build for IMTX, very little of my aerobic work is done running. Typically, my Monday run would be a 10-12 mile treadmill workout that included hill work. Wednesday run is a track day, so high intensity and low distance (I PRd in a 5k in one of these track workouts during the build). Sometimes I did another 10-12 mile strength workout on Thursday, but sometimes we just biked on Thursday. Then Sunday I did my long run which ranged from 20-28 miles and always at intended race pace or faster. I did very few "garbage" miles in the last build. With the time constraints that I had from March to race day, every workout had to be quality.

Matt,
Do you carry a spare kit on the bike?
Thanks

I did not carry a spare kit for this race. I ran tubular tires and had a sealant in them. In the Torhans bento box, I had 3 co2 cartridges. If I flatted, I was just going to keep inflating the tire until I could flag down help. If I would have had to change a full tubular, very likely my day would have been over in that field of athletes.

Matt, you would do a pretty long run on Sunday and then turn around on Monday and do treadmill with hills? You didn't find that to be too close together? Or am I misunderstanding something?

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

No, you aren't missing anything and typically I was able to handle that just fine. I have a recovery day on friday most weeks so I enter the weekend fresh.

Matt, can you give some example track workouts you do on Wednesdays during a build? Running a full 5k on the track is not a very typical track workout. Most people wouldn't go longer than 1600m intervals on the track.

..

The track session Matt has been doing on a wednesday is not a 5k individual effort. Rather a mixture of 400's & 200's totalling 5k (not all sessions but some of them).

Regards

David

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

Coach David already mentioned the 2s and 4s track workout that totaled 5k. I also did a quite a few weeks of repeat 800s. It all depends on where I am in the build and what coach David is trying to accomplish.

So the mentioned 14:50 5k is intervals, but this time does not including rest? Or these are rolling 400/200s where you are changing pace every other and you still covered 5k in 14:50?

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Yup you got it, rolling X times [200/400 (with a last 200) ]..... some days the total run was 5k other days less.

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

Wow, that is impressive. How much slower is the slower interval over the faster one? If you had to ballpark Matt's open 5k where would put it, 14:25?

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For Matt the difference is about 55secs per mile in pace.

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

The gap between the 400s and 200s depends on the day, the number of repeats, etc. It is variable. I have no idea what I'd run a 5k in and don't really intend on finding out any time soon. I am on the same page with Coach David that it doesn't make any sense to interrupt a build to find out how I could perform in a 5k, 10k, 40k TT, or even a stand alone marathon.

Sure, that is why I was surprised by your original post that maybe indicated a single 5k effort. With the change in pace you are talking about these are really classic intervals with rolling recovery though. Do all of your track sessions include rolling recovery?

This is Slowtwitch and we love to speculate about open times ... I'm going to speculate you have 2:20 open marathon speed. Which is pretty crazy considering how little run training you are doing now and you don't have a collegiate running background.

..

Speculate away :).

We do a variety different types of sets on the track. Some have "rolling" recoveries, some don't.

I think the gap between what age groupers do in open racing vs IM racing is wide (like 20-40 min). But when you get to pro triathlon speeds, you can't derate that easily by 20 min to get to open marathon speed, largely because of the physics of running that fast generally requires a body type that pro triathletes don't have. I think the fastest we have seen are Ryan Bolton and Christian Bustos who actually did low 2:20's. Mark Allen tried to break 2:20 and DNF'd at the Berlin marathon in 1994. On paper, Mark should have been sub 2:20, but his quads turned to wood somewhere around 20 miles before he could find out what he would really do. To go sub 2:20, you have to run a pile of miles at open marathon speed so that would be around 5:20 miles for a lot of the running volume. I don't think we're ever going to find out how fast pro triathletes can run open marathons, because it is pointless for them to try to run that fast. It would just take too many running miles and too high risk of injury and as Matt said, take away from their triathlon builds. I"m not even certain that Alistair Brownlee would break 2:20. If I plug in 29 minute 10K into MacMillan I get 2:16, but I am not sure that Alistair has the durability to withstand the training to go 2:20.

Brownlee ran a legitimate 28:32 on the track at Stanford in 2013. The guy that finished behind him went 2:16 in a marathon the year before. It is pretty rare to get a legitimate track time for triathletes. I'll take your bet that he couldn't break 2:20 in a marathon any day. Of course, we are never going to see it, that is why we speculate on countless threads...

Matt has gone 2:41 in an Ironman. The track session he is talking about certainly puts him in the low 2:20 range for speed. Maybe he would pull a Mark Alan, maybe not. Maybe Mark Allen just needed 6 tries to get it right. (he DNF'd his first Kona too)

..

With times like this in the pool, i would expect a athlete to be swimming 49-50min (front group) during a ironman without any issue. But once again, time in the pool dont always translate to open water skill/performance.

best of luck Matt for the reminder of the season. amazing performance last weekend!

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

This was my take too. No offense to Matt, his performance was nothing short of stellar, but with swim times like this in the pool, I would expect a very low 50, or high 49, even without wetsuit.

Matt,
I have recently reviewed video from the 2014 Kona beer mile. By lap 3, you looked like you were really struggling to hang on to the leading group. How would you compare that effort with your relatively easy day in the Woodlands? /pink

HA! I can honestly say that one of the first thoughts I had after the race was "at least now I have a legitimate excuse to not do the Kona Beer Mile again this year." Those short races just don't suit me. I didn't have a good game plan coming into that race. I thought I could just focus on the running part of things, but was caught off guard by the sheer volume of beer I would have to consume in a short amount of time in order to be a contender. AJ proved to be the better man on the day, it was a humbling experience.

Matt,

Is your pre-race breakfast made up of only liquids? If so, is that due to a sensitive gut?

Thanks,
Sylvain

No, I don't think I have a sensitive gut by any means. I seem to be able to abuse it pretty well on the bike without issue. I do an all fluid breakfast so I know my stomach will be empty by the time the race starts. Basically, I want to get to the start line feeling a little hungry, but knowing all of the tanks are topped off.

A very late follow up Q if I may (as I found this whilst planning for 2016): how much do you think familiarisation with the course (esp on bike) helped, if at all? Did you ride or drive the course in the run up to race day? As a 1 lap course I guess its hard to remember 112 miles of road though!