its been about 5 months since i did IMNZ. leading up to IMNZ i took a 6 month sabbatical to train full time, logging about 18-25 hpw solid aerobic S/B/R plus some yoga/core/strength and a few 28-32 big weeks.
IMNZ itself was not the breakthrough i had hoped for. Emotionally and psychologically I was flat, without a passion or reason to race… probably due to massive uncertainties with my life’s direction after IMNZ. But I was also probably quite overtrained. My body held up admirably over the 6 month period but that was a massive and unprecedented dose of consistent S/B/R for me (as I have only about 2 years of experience in this sport.)
At any rate, after IMNZ I returned to the states and got a job teaching high school in Tucson. Since school started I have been completely and awesomely immersed in the job - i do love fitness and training outdoors but it made me realize how much of my extreme focus on tri these last 2 years was fueled by my extreme dissatisfaction with my corporate law job.
So here is the nub of the story: I have not been doing much lately tri-wise but my performance and body composition is off the charts! Last weekend I did my first fixed gear century + 10 mile ride and it was no big deal (OK the last 10 miles were pretty cruel, but that was only because at the outset of the ride I had no idea I was going for 110). The weekend before that I crushed an 8mile hilly run - my aerobic pace (guessing) was at least :30 secs mile faster than usual and I felt awesome. Also my quads and hams are shredding themselves - i always had thick linebacker legs, but they are looking more and more like a long distance runner. Swimming aerobically too seems truly effortless for the first time… I finally feel like I have found that easy go all day bl/3 I never had.
So, my conclusion is that I am seeing now the work I did primarily in the 6 month build to IMNZ on top of the steady 2 year training. Will I lose it in another 6 months if I dont stay on top of it? Of course. But I just think it is funny that people sometimes ask things like “Is 12 or 16 weeks enough time to train for an IM?” or think that if they train harder in the 3 months leading up to a race they will be faster in the race. I think 2-3 months out from a race you are just trying to prepare yourself, not improve yourself. That means staying fresh, nailing some confidence boosting key workouts, and accepting & understanding your current level of fitness so you don’t blow up on race day!!! It is possible to keep pushing yourself until much closer to race day and still perhaps taper adequately, but that work I reckon won’t be available for withdrawal until well after race day. We think weeks, the body thinks years.
“I think 2-3 months out from a race you are just trying to prepare yourself, not improve yourself. That means staying fresh, nailing some confidence boosting key workouts, and accepting & understanding your current level of fitness so you don’t blow up on race day!!!”
Excellent point. I have never looked at it that way before, but I agree. I think 12-16 weeks of training can be enough to cross the finish line in decent shape, but it is not enough time for a competitive person who aspires for his or her best IM race ever: That kind of race result is built on a foundation of fitness that takes a much longer time to develop.
I have made the same observations about others as well. A friend of mine has been in triathlon and training “all volume, all the time” for 20 years and he seems to be able to turn it on at will. He and I could do the same volume for two months preceding a race and he would still beat me by 25 minutes on race day at Half IM.
A number of people have been irritated by the comment Steve Larsen made that noted he was only training six hours a week. Well if you have been training 30-40 hours a week for 10 or 15 years then the next year of six hours a week is like an extended taper for you. It doesn’t last forever and soon you have to go back to putting in the high-volume aerobic training, but I agree completely with your theory that what you are capable of depends on what you did last year, not last month.
I agree a lot with what you’re saying. I actually have two ways of showing it. My junior year of college cross country I ran about 90-100 miles leading up to the season, wore myself down on work I didn’t care about and running that was fairly uninspired. I got to the season and my body just was flat, about 2 minutes slower in 8ks than my sophomore year. So the whole season I took a light hearted approach to running, spent workouts in the back of the packs and by the end of the season after running about 10 weeks of 50mpw(very low for me). I ran close to my previous PR. It was my ability to remove myself from my training that made me run faster, my body had deep down in it from months previous a lot of training.
2nd I tried to do a H IM(my first non sprint triathlon) with a goal time of sub 4:30 and blew completely up on the bike at 40 miles and 1 hour 40 min I was averaging 24 mph, by the end my average was 22.4. I went from a guy who was typically a top 5 in the run split, to a guy who waddled in at 1:36(I’ve ran 1:17 off only bike training in open half marathons). I tried for my 4:20 something off about 2-3 months of serious 15 hour a week training. Maybe with a little more brains I could have hit under 4:35 instead of my 4:47 but 2-3 months just isn’t enough to be competitive. I realize 4:47 is a good time, but losing to 3 others in my AG, when I had been the top person in my AG two weeks before by over 3 minutes in a sprint was a tough beat.
2nd I tried to do a H IM(my first non sprint triathlon) with a goal time of sub 4:30 and blew completely up on the bike at 40 miles and 1 hour 40 min I was averaging 24 mph, by the end my average was 22.4. I went from a guy who was typically a top 5 in the run split, to a guy who waddled in at 1:36 I’ve been here before only I ran a 1:13 and was only managing 1:35 off the bike.
(I’ve ran 1:17 off only bike training in open half marathons). I tried for my 4:20 something off about 2-3 months of serious 15 hour a week training.
The same friend who I referenced above once told me that to really race and push your limit at Half-IM you have to train almost like an Ironman. For him that meant 20-25 hour weeks. I had the top end speed to beat him at events that lasted an hour, but never finished closer than 25 minutes to him at Half-IM. He was like the energizer bunny at events past two hours.
I thought it would be a lot easier to break 4:30 at Half-IM and I still haven’t managed it quite yet. I’m pretty convinced it will take a solid three or four months of 250-300 mile bike weeks to really be able to ride hard for 56 miles and still run afterwards.