With Ironman season in full swing I want to throw out some thoughts for your sagacious commentary and criticism. These observations are based on my own (admittedly limited, I’ve only done 3 IMs) experience and on the rather substantial resevoir of experiences by our customers at Ironman distance. In no particular order, consider these thoughts:
Some people think Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run. It isn’t. It is a half marathon when you are absolutely destroyed. As we observe the performance of our customers we learn that many of them have excellent races up to the last half of the marathon, then begin loosing large chunks of time.
Reduced to its essence, Ironman is 9.5- 12.5 hours of moderate, consistent, non-stop exercise. Using the physiologial principle of “specificity” (train for what you are doing by doing it) you have to ask yourself the question: “When was the last time I exercised non-stop for 12.5 hours in preparation for an event?”
There is a popular saying among professional cyclists in the Tour de France that “The Tour is won in bed.” They mean the athletes who can recover the best will have the best results when it counts, in the later stages of the event when fatigue, injury, mental factors and other stresses begin to exert an adverse influence on an athlete’s capabilities. I see a similar trend with Ironman preparation. What do you do PROACTIVELY to recover? Massage? Nutrition? Sleep? The great Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna was so fastidious about his sleep (Formula 1 racing is a physically grueling sport)that he always insisted his head face to the south when he slept. I don’t know why he did, but it is an example (albeit a seemingly eccentric one)of an elite athlete paying exceptional attention to recovery.
Without giving away too many ironman secrets that some people pay a lot of money to get, I think 3-4 hours/day of training, day-in-day-out, is much more tiring and much less expedient and specific than big weekends of 7-9 hours one day (say, a 1hr swim, 6hr bike, 1 1/2hr run) and a long run the next (using a race-day nutrition scheme), followed by 5 days of +/- 1hour/day.
Plus, you can only train about 5-6 weeks for an Ironman (100mile rides, 2 hr runs, etc.), few people have batteries for more than that.
It’s not how much you do, it’s how much you really get done.
You have hit the nail on the head as to how you do “well” in an Ironman - RUN a “fast” 1/2 marathon while being absolutly trashed and bonked out. If you can to that, you will do “Well” in just about every IM race that you go in. Now, how you do that is a complex issue. Point# 2 below is a good starting point
You have pointed out the fundamental paradox of training for an Ironman. It’s a 9:00 - 12:00+ event for most. Basic fundemetals of physiology dictate time and again that training for an event has to be as specific to the event as you can be. However, who has the time or the body that can handle 9:00 - 12:00+ training sessions?
Rest and recovery is key for any type of endurance training program and getting a good nights sleep almost everynight is a huge part of that ongoing recovery. They say 8 - 9 hours a night is what is needed. Easier said than done if you are a “normal” person with work/family/social commitments that cut into your sleep time.
In my mind #3 almost contradicts #2, at least when coupled with most people’s miles, miles, miles, training philosophy. Epic weekend outings are only usefull if you are rested and ready for them, otherwise they turn into death marches. #1 is very true, most people fall apart during the mararthon, I know I have. I think too many people train long in order to learn how to suffer through the marathon, if not the whole IM. I good point about the IM marathon is that it’s not about going fast, it’s about not slowing down, or slowing down the least. I think it’s true, but people misinterpret is as meaning that they have to learn how to keep going when they are completely blown. I think it means that you have to be prepared to run the marathon at your prescibed pace after the swim and bike. That means your swim and bike have to be easy enough that when you get off the bike, you KNOW that you can run a marathon at the pace you want. In training, too many people do a 100 mile bike and are practicaly dead afterwards, but they lace up their shoes and slog through a long run because that is what they think their IM is going to be, and it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. What they need to do is get strong enough on the bike, so that the 100 miler is a no brainer, and they finish it ready to run, not dreading it.
Fleck, I think you have it wrong. It’s not about running a fast 1/2 marathon while completely thrashed/bonked, it’s about not getting thrashed/bonked in the first place.
However you arrive at that final 13 miles of running, the bottom line is if you can keep going at the pace you set out at or faster YOU WILL do “well” in an Ironman.
The multiple loop course at Ironman canada( 3 loops) gave me an interesting insite into this. Many people - hi-ranking, MOP, and BOP were ALL running/walking/moving at the same pace in the latter stages of the run.
While most people don’t run the same pace, we all pretty much walk the same pace. That is why it is imperitive that you don’t crack during the run. I don’t care if you can run a 2:26 open marathon, if you lose it, you aren’t just going to slow down to 3:00 pace. If you want a 3:00 IM marathon, you better get off the bike in pretty damn good shape so you can maintain your pace the whole way. I don’t think 100 mile bike/12 mile run (death march) training does that.
It’s all about balance. You need to be able to get off that bike and be able to run the whole way. It has less to do(some would say nothing to do) with how well you run in straight up running races. However, I think that it helps to have a solid run back ground. The key is to be able to maintain that initial run pace, whatever that is for the whole way, and big part of being able to to that is have huge bike fitness going in and not overdoing it on the bike during the bike leg.
I agree with this 100%. I think it is critical to arrive at the run with a hefty amount of resolve, mental toughness and physical ability to keep running. We did have one customer who contradicted this however, his name was Ken G. and he is the former president of an excellent local triathlon club (F.A.S.T.) and a very accomplished Ironman. Ken would walk through each aid station. How this guy summoned up the resolve to start running again I don’t know. I am a member of the school of thought that once you start walking, you are done. In '97 at Canada I went 3:40something on the marathon and didn’t walk a step. In '99 at Canada I walked through an aid station and wound up going over 4:10 for the marathon. It really is about not losing time.
Walking through aid stations isn’t nescessarily bad, if that is you plan from the beginning. If you are going to run 7 minute pace and walk for 30" through each aid station, you are still going to ‘run’ a 3:16:24 marathon, so if you have to walk the aid stations to run 7 minute pace the rest of the way, why not. Usually though, you are right, and walking signals ‘the end’ for most people, it is mentally giving up for most people.
Dude, the only guys I know who could actually knock off 7 minute miles at IM distance are you and Todd B. I am thrilled if I am going through the mile markers at 8:00-8:30 per mile. To me, that is flying. The guy I mentioned, Ken G., did have (as you suggested) a very regimented plan that included walking the aid stations. It worked great for him. I think I am like a diesel engine: I need time to get up to speed, but once I do, I am best left running. You and C. going to N.Z.? It will be cool.
Now the question becomes, “How do you get strong/fast enough on the bike to cruise to a decent bike and be ready for the run?” I say, I don’t care how many miles you do at 17-19 mph, you aren’t going to magically go over 20 for the race. This doesn’t mean you have to be able to train (long) at 20+, but you better be able go much faster than you plan on going, so your body knows how to do it. Too many people train their bodies to go bonk and go slow, rather than go fast.
Tom, I was just using 7:00 pace as an exteme example, and I wish I could run at that pace for IM. I am with you, it is really hard for me to get the boiler re-fired after stopping/walking. Last year at IMMoo, I overcooked it on the bike and was really worried about the run. I forced myself to just keep running, and actually had my best IM marathon (3:44).
You hit on a good point though, having a plan, the more detailed the better, and sticking too it.
In '97 Canada I had a very easy bike ride (for me) and used a heart rate monitor to keep my heart rate below 150 bpm. I prepared using the (then popular) “Maffetone technique” where I did a lot of miles at very low intensity. My fitness was bombproof, slow, but bombproof. I could go all day no sweat. My bike split was exactly 19.6 mph on what is the most mountainous Ironman course according to the altigraphs on IM USA website. I got off the bike and ran a 3:51:05 (8:50 pace) which also felt very easy. After I crossed the line and hit my HRM stop button it said my heart rate average for the entire event was 150 bpm. Perfect. I felt like dancing after the race, and actually did. It was a great day. I felt like I could have gone 30 minutes faster! I went back in '98 and got a fever three days before the race and didn;t race. In '99 I was back and had a cracking good bike at 20.5 mph average (according to the official results archive, my cyclocomputer said my average was exactly 21mph)on a hot, humid, windy day but melted down on the run and wound up going 4:23:20 on the “run” (I walked) which was utterly humiliating. Oddly, I was 335th overall in 97 with a 10:43:20 but 305th overall in ‘99 with an 11:07:00. The big puzzle for me is how to ride 112 miles at an average of 21 mph without it affecting me. How does a brotha’ do that? I’m still looking for that “Great Ironman Day”.
I think a lot of low intensity miles can work, if you absolutely limit yourself during the race, which most people can’t. If you can go all day at 19 mph, and only train at 19 mph, you better not try going 19.1 mph on race day. I believe that the way to get faster at low intensity, is to go WAY faster at higher intensities. I did a lot of high intensity training before Eagleman and threw down a 2:18:47 bike at @24.2 mph. I wasn’t expecting to go that fast, I was going on effort. If you look at my HR plot, it drops precipitously for the first 1/3 of the bike, builds during the 2nd 1/3 (headwinds), then drops again as I prepared for the run. I was going at my planned intensity, and preparing for what turned out to be my fastest 1/2 marathon ever (1:27:14), open or otherwise. 4 weeks before the race you saw me running 6 minute pace and biking at 24.8 mph at Willow, speed begets speed.
…i rode a moped behind him as he even split the two halves of a 3:03 marathon en route to a 9:04 IM on an accurately measured course.
you and he might be mincing words and coming at the same conclusion from different directions, and maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t know how to do it, but fleck did it nonetheless.