1) What does a typical IM build week look like for you? I ride about 300 miles (with Saturday) being a long hard IM ride, swim 20-30k, and run 50 miles with Sunday being a long IM run.
2) How did you get your bike power to that level - volume or intensity (or both)? You can really only race an Ironman around 80% or less of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) so if you want to raise your FTP, do lots of VO2max intervals to 20 min FTP intervals. Once you FTP is higher, focus on working on your 5 hour power doing long rides at the proper 80% intensity or so.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

How much did you pay in airline bike fees? Ha! I haven't paid a bike fee in more than 7 years as I have been flying with a Ruster Sports Hen House...saves me money every time i fly with my bike!

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

what do you attribute this improvement to- more cycling miles behind you? A key run session? Just experience?I actually had a pretty similar run to Lake Placid, but slightly faster at IMMT. The small improvement was more likely from the years of Ironman experience, my training sessions are pretty similar to what they were in 2011. I did ride with slightly less power which could also translate to slightly faster run.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Hi Kevin,

If you are training your FTP you would likely do a lot of VO2max intervals up to 20 min intervals at or near your FTP. To train your 2 hour or 5 hour power, you would do intervals at roughly 90% of your FTP for your 2 hour power and 80% for your 5 hour power. These intervals should be similar to how you train your FTP. If 2x20 min is a standard set (I actually prefer 2x15 min), for training your FTP that is an interval of 1/3 of your FTP and a total work time of 2/3. I would tend to work at a rate slightly lower than 1/3 and 2/3 but something in that range.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Hi Dev,

I said all of my sub 3 hour marathons came after racing on a beam bike, not that I raced a sub 3 hour marathon after every race on a beam bike. I have not done an open running race in many years. I don't find them helpful or practical to training for an Ironman. Not that I don't enjoy running races, I just don't often plan on scheduling them into my season. I am able to stay aero for a long time on my Dimond and believe others would able to as well. I run 115 psi on my rear tire, but I hardly consider that the higher end of tire psi guys are running, especially for 74kg. I run 115 psi in my rear tire because I feel it is optimal for performance.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

100 duck sized horses...success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I actually switched to the Mantis position back in 2009 when I was still riding for Specialized. I do feel it helps with my bulging discs. I also ride with a saddle nose tipped slightly down.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I won't divulge any specific workouts because that is not fair to my coach, Cliff English, unless he wants to post them on here. As I said earlier, training for 70.3's involves lots of intervals at 90% of your FTP and training for an Ironman involves lots of intervals at 80% of your FTP. If you do a 5 hour ride with 3 hours of intervals at 80% of your FTP, you will be a stud.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Hi Brian, There really are no secrets to pacing an Ironman well. If you are training on a hilly course similar to the one you will race on, and you do intervals at your IM pace, you should pretty quickly be able to pick up how much VI you will have. You need some VI because on a hilly course you should be going slightly harder on the uphill and slightly easier on the downhills, but keeping it lower than 1.05 is pretty big. If you are racing a flat IM, then your VI should be even lower, but it still depends on the wind direction and speed as you should ride slightly harder into a strong headwind and slightly easier with a strong tailwind. I used the website Best Bike Split to determine what my AP and power ceiling should be for this Ironman it was pretty accurate. I did go slightly higher (but still less than my FTP) just to fracture the group.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I had 3 hip surgeries to repair torn labrums in my hips (2x right hip, 1x left hip). I fractured my sacrum. I have two bulging discs in my back sometimes slip and cause so much pain I can't bend over and tie my shoes. I had some tendonitis in my glute med (related to hip and back problem). Everyone deals with some of this. Being able to train without injury has been one of my challenges the past few years.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I'll sell you a Dimond whenever you are ready...I'll even sell you one of my used Dimonds if you are interested.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I do try to hide my head behind my hands, similar to the ski racer tuck, but my helmet will be above my hands and hit clean air, I just want to stop clean air from hitting me in the chest.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

 
1- For your 360 FTP, do you use a one hour test or one of the estimated protocols? I don't actually do a FTP test at all. I keep it at 360 because I don't train to raise my FTP and I've certainly had it higher than 360 but at the moment I don't feel I could do more 360 for an hour. I have a pretty good understanding of my abilities based on how I perform my short intervals and how well I can perform on group rides like the shootout in Tucson. If I am putting out 360 NP for 45 min of the shootout, then that is pretty close to my FTP.
2- Do you ever perform a submax (or max) 2 hour test? I only do a 2hour test when racing a 70.3, no actual power test and certainly not all out.
3- Where did you store 12 powergels? I keep my gels in flasks mounted to my between the bars aerobottle. I use 3 flasks each with 5 gels in them and use 3 different flavors.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

So far, I took monday and tuesday completely off, I swam 2k wednesday, I took thursday off but had a 90 min rolfing appointment, I swam 3k friday, I rode for 1 hour saturday very easy, I will swim 3k tomorrow and ride another hour. just keep the body moving nice and easy. I will run again on tuesday of next week.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I have them in a box at the Ruster Sports office...would you like me to send you a picture of them? They served their purpose and are officially retired. I haven't seen anyone replicate the idea, but would love it if you did.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

- Does the helmet get hot quickly or does it ventilate well? Do the vents help? The helmet does not have many vents at all, but it does leave the back of your neck and your ears exposed which are two crucial areas for cooling during a race.
- How was the experience using it in hot climates? Like in los cabos earlier this year? I don't mind wearing it in hot conditions, but I also don't have much to compare it to. I did some core temp testing with Crowie in Kona a few years ago and used the helmet for that. I was able to effectively keep my core cool even with the Casco, but it really depends on hydration levels.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Hi Ben,

I used the course profile from the guys at Best Bike Split to come up with a pacing strategy and would recommend you do the same. The course if definitely very challenging the last 12 miles, but if you pace correctly you can the most out of those hills.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I have Kona left on my schedule for the year. If I make that race count, I will consider this my most successful season of racing.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I am 5'10 (178cm). I like any ride that is about 5 hours with 3 to 3.5 hours of IM pace intervals. I don't even care what the intervals look like, just 3 to 3.5 hours of them.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I put my gels in flasks that i mount to the water bottle I keep between my aerobars. I use 3 flasks each with 5 gels in them (so i carry a total of 15 gels). my PowerBar gel blasts are in my Profile Design RMC rack.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

1. How many hour of sleep do you generally get in a week and do you sleep more or less post IM. I try to sleep 10 hours per day, 8 at night with a 2 hour nap. I sleep about the same post Ironman with the exception of maybe a couple of days of marathon 12 hour sleeps or 10+2 hour nap.

2. Do you do anything special with your diet during recovery weeks? For 3 days I eat whatever I want, so I had donuts, cheeseburgers, cheese curds, ice cream, etc. After that I will switch back to my plain old diet which doesn't vary much.

3. How early do you add intensity back on the swim and bike and when do you start running? I will add a bit of intensity after 2 weeks and start running of Tuesday of the second week.

Some questions related to running your company:

1. What special challenges do you guys have competing against global giants with massive marketing budgets and offshore manufacturing in Taiwan. We obviously don't have the deep pockets of our competitors, but we do have all our operations under one roof so our turnaround time is fast and we are very agile in our domestic manufacturing. We are positioning ourselves to be triathlon leader, but it takes a more direct message to our consumers.

2. What is your vision for Dimond 5 years from now? In 5 years, I see Dimond as one of the top 3 bike companies in the Kona bike count. I see us making a few models of bikes and expanding Ruster Sports into some other bike technologies (not just frames).

3. Will all your bikes use beam technology? No, we will put out regular double diamond frames as well using similar aerodynamic principles.

4. Would you expand into the touring market with a different price point frame? Yes, but that is a ways down the road for us.

5. If/when the UCI changes rules for the hour record would you like to see your frame under a rider trying to take a crack at Boardman's superman position record? Our director of egineering, David Morse, is more passionate about the Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) record.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Hi Damon,

The Dimond is extremely easy to travel with. My major design input on the bike had to do with making it easy for mechanics and fitters, and easy for athletes to fly with the Dimond. The rear derailleur hanger is removable as is the beam. I make a case called the Hen House which meets the airlines 62 linear inch requirement for regular luggage and avoids the bike fees. The Dimond packs into the Hen House with plenty of space for all the rest of your triathlon gear.

We have toyed around with the idea of some special vibration dampeners being placed on the beam/frame interface that we would actually lay up in the carbon, but haven't finalized anything yet. This would offer extended frequency absorption.

I hope to test the Dimond in December with the Alpha Mantis in the velodrome.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Cadence is very important. The faster you run the faster your cadence should get. It is a neuro-muscular development that needs to take place. When you run at pace you should work on keeping your cadence above 90. the best runners in the world all have a cadence over 90. if you are not running fast, your cadence won't be as fast.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

TJ, firstly thanks for sharing and well done. Second, do you still use an aero bottle between the bars in your preying mantis position? Do you know if such a placement is still (compared with flat bars and bottle) largely aero neutral?

I do run an custom made bottle between my bars while in the mantis position. I actually testes this in the wind tunnel and it was faster than not having a bottle while in that position.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com