The Iron Journey

Success Traits

1. Confidence: Respect for yourself as a person and respect for your athletic abilities
2. Focus: during times when an important outcome is on the line, such as a race or a hard workout, successful athletes have the ability to concentrate their mental and physical energy on the task at hand.
3. Self-sufficiency: Successful athletes also take full responsibility for their actions during a race.
4. Adaptability: Successful athletes have the ability in the heat of competition to analyze the situation, solve, and adapt to a new set o circumstances.
5. Emotional stability: Some athletes cannot maintain an even keel emotionally. All of this takes its toll on energy levels and focus and can often lean to lackluster race performances despite physical ability
6. Quiet cockiness: Talented athletes know they have what it takes physically to succeed. The most successful ones never brag about this, at least not out loud. However, their assuredness is obvious to anyone who watches the way they behave and carry themselves.
7. Mental toughness: When the going gets hard, mentally tough athletes hang in there.
8. Appropriately psyched: There is an optimal level of arousal necessary for every sport and for different situations within a given sport. Successful athletes know how much mental psyching is necessary and respond accordingly.

What Does it Take?

Hours

• The focus of your training should be on our key workouts and recovering.
• Success is correlated to the duration and intensity of your key sessions, not your total volume.
• Weekly key workouts for your first iron-distance race would be:
  • One long swim of 75 to 100 minutes
  • One long ride of 4 to 5 hours (always run 15 to 30 minutes after long bike)
  • One long run of 90 to 135 minutes
  • Everything else should e oriented toward strength, aerobic maintenance, or skills

Training

• Rest when you are tired
• Make the hard days hard and the easy days easy
• Set a few clear and simple goals for the year
• Have a plan for achieving the goals
• Every workout has a purpose
  • Recovery is very important. Don’t train when you are tired. You will need to increase your sleep when you increase your training
  • Gradually increase your training volume in each sport
  • Take a rest week every third or fourth week. Drop the volume way down.
  • Ride long on the weekends
  • Join a masters swim squad for technique tips. Work on form and general endurance in the water. When you are starting out there is no need to swim hard. Gradually extend one of your swims each week until you can swim a total distance of 4000m (in a session, not in one go).
  • Race at least two half ironman-distance races to learn
  • Focus on time spent working out and ignore distance. Don’t get caught up on having to run 25 miles a week, etc
  • If you must take two days off per week, try not to have them be two days off in a row
  • Racing is high-intensity training
  • There are no shortcuts to fitness; it takes time to get good

Weekends

• Don’t combine your longest run with your longest ride
• Put your long run midweek and your long ride on the weekend (better for recovery)
• For example: ride long on Sunday, swim long on Friday, and run long on Wednesday

Physiology of Fitness

What are the Components of Fitness?

Aerobic Capacity

• Aerobic capacity is a measure of the amount of oxygen the body can consume during all-out endurance exercise.
• It is also referred to as VO2 Max–the volume of oxygen the body uses during maximal aerobic exercise.
• Aerobic capacity is largely determined by genetics and is limited by such physiological factors as heart size, heart rate, heart stroke volume, blood hemoglobin content, aerobic enzyme concentrations, mitochondrial density, and muscle-fiber type. It can, however, be enhanced by training to a certain extent.
• As we get older, our aerobic capacity usually drops, as much as 1% per year after age 25 in sedentary people. For those who train seriously, especially by regularly including high-intensity workouts, the loss is far smaller and may not occur at all until the late thirties.

Lactate Threshold

• Aerobic capacity is not a food predictor of endurance performance.
• Lactate threshold is the level of exercise intensity above which lactate begins to rapidly accumulate in the blood as metabolism quickly shifts from dependence on the combustion of fat and oxygen in the production of energy to dependence on glycogen–the storage form of carbohydrate.
• The higher this threshold is, as a percentage of VO2 Max, the faster the athlete can ride for an extended period of time.
• Once the lactate reaches a high enough level beyond the threshold, there is no option but to slow down in order to clear it from the blood because lactate is one of the causes of muscular fatigue
• Compared with aerobic capacity, lactate threshold is highly susceptible to enhancement by training

Economy

• Studies reveal that an endurance athlete’s economy improves if he or she has a high percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers (largely determined by genetics), low body mass (weight-height relationship), and a low psychological stress
• Like lactate threshold, economy can be materially improved by training. Not only does it improve by increasing all aspects of endurance but it also rises as you refine sport-specific skills
• This is why drill work is critical in the base training phases as well as being a component of the year-round training regimen

What Type of Fitness is Required?

• Generally speaking, two to five years in triathlon or other endurance-type sports is recommended before attempting an ironman-distance race
• ==At minimum, athletes who are considering an ironman-distance race should be able to finish a half-ironman-distance race under 8 hours, swim 3000 meters, ride 5 hours, and run 2 hours without requiring extended recovery time==

The Training Triad

1. Endurance:
   • If endurance is poor, race fitness will also be poor.
2. Force:
   • This element, which could also be called strength, is the ability to apply force to the pedal, to the ground, and to the water.
   • Successful ironman-distance racing does not require significant maximal force but does require excellent muscular endurance (the product of force and endurance), particularly on the bike.
   • Many athletes who ride a lot of hills find that their flat time trialing will suffer, specifically, the ability to push a solid gear in the flats–an essential skill for success in long-course racing.
   • With cycling, be very cautious about riding hills at cadences under 50 to 60 rpm. When training on hills at a low cadence, an athlete should aim for a moderate heart rate and not seek to drive it sky-high.
3. Speed skills:
   • The ability to make the movements of the sport efficiently at race pace or faster is very important.
   • For endurance athletes, this means speed frills such as isolated leg drills or spin-up drills on the bike, strides and step counting on the run, and technique drills in the water to minimize drag.
4. Muscular Endurance:
   • Muscular Endurance (ME) is where force meets endurance. For the experienced long-course athlete, it is the critical component of fitness because it is the ability to apply a fairly large force for a fairly long time and is essential for cycling.
   • Examples of ME workouts would be to ride (1) relatively long hills, taking 15 to 40 minutes to climb at a heart rate 10 to 15 beats per minute below your lactate threshold; (2) a flat route in the big ring with efforts of the same duration; and (3) a rolling route with the same effort level.
5. Anaerobic Endurance:
   • Anaerobic Endurance (AE) is the ability to generate super-threshold power and pace.
   • Heart rates and power outputs are high–heart-rate zone 5b and CP6 power zone–and therefore, the effort cannot be maintained for very long.
   • High lactate levels are generated at these paces, and these workouts are painful.
6. Power:
   • Power is the ability to apply maximum force quickly and economically.

Limiters

• Most athletes train the way they want to train. Athletes who are able to consistently improve season after season tend to train the way they need to train.
• The intelligent athlete is one who is constantly addressing his or her limiters.
• Using a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the “worst” and 5 being the “best”, rate your swim, bike, and run proficiencies. A score of 5 means that you are among the best, 3 indicates average for your category, and 1 places you at the bottom of the category.
• It is important to know, first of all, which sport is holding you back, Second, you need to rate your endurance, force, and speed skills, using the same scale for each sport.
• Bike strength responds well to weights, followed by ME bike work.
• Seated hills are also a good way to build bike strength.
• Although cycling helps running, running does not appear to help cycling as much.
• Athletes seeking to improve their run times should remember that long-course running required very little raw speed (have a look at the results sheet for any ironman-distance race). What is required is the ability to swim and bike a long way at a solid aerobic pace without accumulating substantial fatigue.
• Overall endurance and bike muscular endurance are the key factors for being able to run well in an ironman-distance race.

Critical Success Factors

• Nutrition:
  • Eliminate as many processed foods as possible
  • Get the majority of your nutrition from lean protein, fresh veggies, and whole fruits
  • Use starches and sugars in moderation, and only during and after training
• Once you establish your endurance, you need to practice the ability to ride at a good pace for a long time in the flats. These are probably the most difficult sessions in which to maintain an even pace.
• ==There isn’t a much harder session to do perfectly than a 4 to 5-hour steady ride in the flats because that is a very long time to concentrate==
• It is beneficial to race more because we all benefit from enhancing our ability to push. These pushing skills are not needed at the start of a race. Anyone can push at the start of a race, and the smart athlete is the one who is able to show patience. ==The end of a race is when the smart athlete spends his or her mental strength, knowing that the most time is gained then.== The hard fact is that if you slow at the end of the race, it is either your “process” (nutrition, hydration, and/or pacing) or your “mind” (mental strength) that has let you down.

Training Overview

Review of ATP Periods

• Preparation Period

  • The period of training between Transition (off season) and the early Base period is the Prep period.
  • Most athletes will have a Prep period that lasts from four to twelve weeks.
  • The exact length of the Prep period will depend on the timing of your first A-priority race and your experience in the sport.
  • The main purpose of the Prep period is to ease the body back into structured training, develop a training strategy for the upcoming season, prepare the body for the increasing requirements of the Base period, and improve fundamental and technical skills.
  • Early in the Prep period, sessions should be relatively short and skills-oriented. It’s also a good idea to include a considerable amount of cross-training activities, such as hiking, mountain biking, etc. These sessions should gradually stretch your endurance while keeping training intensity low and developing general fitness.
  • Weekly volume should be very comfortable, typically two to five hours lower than what you believe you can handle. Despite the lower volume, a recovery week is still recommended to maintain mental freshness and ensure continual physical adaptation.
  • Highly motivated athletes may be tempted to increase the intensity and duration of their key sessions. Particularly in the first Prep block of the year, be cautious with higher volume and intensity, as training at such levels during this period is counterproductive. It’s not possible to maintain race fitness throughout the year. Attempting to do so will only lead to overtraining, burnout, or injury
  • Weekly volume should be very comfortable, typically two to five hours lower than what you believe you can handle.

• Base Period

  • Once you have completed the Prep period, you are ready for the Base period of training. The Base period is the most critical period for ironman-distance racing. After this base of fitness is laid down, the Build period begins, with workouts that increasingly mimic the demands of the event for which you are training.
  • Although many athletes believe that the key to race performance lies in the Build period, it is essential that you complete your Base period with the strength and endurance necessary to achieve your race goals
  • Coaches and athletes have used the analogy of the triangle–the broader the bottom of the triangle (Base), the higher the peak.

• Build Period

  • When training for an ironman-distance race, the training in the late Base period and the Build period is essentially the same (other than volume)
  • The purpose of the Build period is to prepare for the specific demands of the A-priority race. That means a lot of endurance and muscular endurance work plus force training under conditions that mimic the targeted race’s course.
  • For an experienced athlete, ==the key physiological limiter is nearly always cycling muscular endurance==.
  • You should schedule one or two race-simulation workouts each week. Typically, an athlete will do only four to seven of these key race-simulation workouts, so you should ensure that you are fully prepared for each session

• Peak Period

  • The goal of the Peak period is to start the process of bringing you to a physiological peak for your ironman-distance race.
  • The two most important elements of this period are intensity and recovery.

• Race Period

  • There is one goal for all athletes during race week–to arrive at the start in the best condition possible.

• Post-Race Recovery

• Transition Period

  • After four to eight weeks of unstructured training, you will sense that you are ready to start back on your program.
  • When coming back from a training break, emphasize frequency rather than duration or intensity. Simply put, frequency is your friend.
  • We highly recommend that there be no efforts above heart-rate zone 1 for the first four days following a half-ironman-distance race and for ten days following an ironman-distance race.
  • Sleep is far more important than training during this time.
  • Eat high-quality foods
  • Walk and stretch as much as you want

Breakthrough Workouts

• A Breakthrough (BT) workout is any workout or group of workouts that requires more than thirty-six hours to recover from. The nature of your BT workouts will vary throughout the year.
• ==BT workouts should be designed to focus on your A-priority race limiters. Your role is to design appropriate BTs and allow enough recover time.==
• Early in the season, a four hour easy ride could be considered a BT workout, but as your endurance increases, such a session could become an aerobic maintenance workout
• Generally, novice or older athletes should not schedule more than two BT workouts in a week.
• Experienced or elite athletes who recover quickly may schedule three BT workouts a week. Stronger athletes may also be able to stack two or three workouts into a “BT day”
• In the race season, BT quality is most important. Most athletes will find that they require additional recovery period from the toughest sessions. ==It is far better to recover from a limited number of high-quality sessions than to push the volume up and do lots of “moderate” sessions.== This becomes more important as your A-priority race approaches.
• BT Workout Tips:
  • Timing is an important consideration in scheduling your BT workouts. Most athletes that they have higher-quality BT sessions when they are able to complete their key sessions in the afternoon.
  • Some athletes will benefit from a cup of regular coffee taken 60 to 90 minutes prior to the start of a BT session.
  • All longer BT sessions should begin with a low-intensity warm-up to allow your body to build into the session. This is particularly important for the longest BT sessions as well as those that incorporate high-intensity workloads.
  • Pain, specifically during high-intensity sessions, should be carefully monitored. Build period BT sessions are difficult, and late in the workout athletes will be training through fatigue. The ability to train through fatigue is an important skill for you to learn. However, you should never train through pain. Knowing when to back off is important.
• BT Workout Recovery Tips:
  • Balanced hip stretch
  • Walk around for four to eight minutes
  • “Legs up the wall” exercise to help get blood flowing to your vital organs, allowing you to recover more quickly.

Role of Volume, Intensity, and Frequency

• Volume

  • Most competitors will compete in no more than one ironman-distance race per year, and it’s normally timed for the end of their local race season. A few athletes will do two, but they are normally close together, which is effectively the same thing.
  • The volume that is appropriate for you depends upon your base, the time of year, your non-triathlon obligations, and your physiology,
  • ==Be particularly careful with your running volume. Many athletes run far too much for ironman-distance racing. Remember that the best place to building endurance and aerobic fitness is on your bike.== Running eats you up, and the greatest challenge for most folks is how fast they can recover. There should be a specific purpose to each run session.
  • When training at high volume, most athletes can handle only one high-intensity session a week.
  • For your first ironman-distance race, ==you should target three key sessions each week (one for each sport): one long swim of 75 to 100 minutes, one long ride of 4 to 5 hours, followed by a 20 to 30 minute transition run, and one long run of 90 to 150 minutes.== Everything else is filler.
  • Training on a four-week cycle, your schedule may look something like this:
    • Week 1: Bike and swim week. Include one extra swim and one extra ride; for your running, the key workouts would be a transition run, a long run, and a Strides session.
    • Week 2: Run week. Include an extra run this week, and have the additional session focus on your greatest running limiter–for most athletes that would be a moderate-duration endurance session.
    • Week 3: Bike and swim week, as per week 1.
    • Week 4: Recovery week. Maintain your workout frequency but at 50 percent of training-week volume, and schedule some testing toward the end of the week
  • ==Remember that your greatest time gains will come from focusing on your limiters. Your endurance target is to be able to swim 4000 meters, bike 5 to 7 hours, and have the ability to run a marathon.==

• Intensity

  • High-intensity training is powerful medicine that should be used sparingly and treated respectfully.
  • Consistency beats intensity in nearly all age-group situations.
  • The hardest workouts of the year should be limited to the Build and Peak periods because high-intensity workouts are the most potent stimuli for both improving and maintaining fitness.
  • Even during this time, workouts should be no more intense than slightly above the effort level at which you expect to race.

• Frequency

  • How often your work out is the most basic element of training for long-distance triathlon.
  • Novice athletes typically work out five to six times a week, whereas an elite athlete may work out twelve to eighteen times in a week. The appropriate frequency varies for each level of athlete.
  • As your fitness improves, you will see increased benefits in active recovery instead of total rest days. Active recover workouts are just that–and easy spin on the bike, an easy technique swim, or some other form of nonimpact light aerobic exercise.

VO₂ Max or Anaerobic Endurance Training

• The toughest part of VO₂ Max training is the initial time trial (TT)
• We recommend that you train your skills and endurance, then muscular endurance and finally anaerobic endurance.

Time vs Distance

• When scheduling your weekly workouts, think in terms of total training time, not distance traveled.
• Distance is even less relevant for cycling, where terrain, wind, and road surface all impact the nature of a ride.

Structuring Base and Build Weeks

• Base Week Structuring:
  • The primary goals of the Base period are to develop aerobic endurance, strength, and skills in each individual sport. There are three phases (Base 1, 2, 3). Depending on your limiters, it may make sense to extend your base training right up until your goal race.
  • Base 1:
    • Improve endurance and maximum strength.
    • Endurance workouts are longer, and the focus on technical skills increases.
  • Base 2:
    • Sport specific ME work
  • Base 3:
    • Weekly volume reaches a peak
    • Intensity also rises slightly with the addition of more ME training
    • Athletes need to be very careful with intensity during their BT workouts, as individual tolerance for this kind of training varies tremendously
• Build Week Structuring:
  • To properly schedule workouts for the Build period, it’s important to know two things: what the demands of your key races are and how your athletic strengths compare with these demands.
  • Build period planning is not recommended until your limiters have been identified.
  • In the Build period, the workouts become increasingly similar to racing, cumulating in the Peak period, when the workouts are essentially mini-races at levels of intensity greater than those reached on race day.
  • Often, actual races of lower priority may be substituted for workouts in the build and Peak periods to better prepare for A-priority events.

Key training Indicators

Heart Rate

• Heart rate by itself does not tell you how well you’re performing in a workout or a race. One of the physiological side effects of improving aerobic fitness is an increased heart-stroke volume–more blood is pumped per beat.
• Simply put, you need to work harder to get your heart rate up owing to your increased fitness
• Heart-rate training zones are best tied to the standard of lactate threshold.
  • Often maximum heart rate is used to determine zones; however, exercising at such intensity may not be safe for some athletes. LT is a better indicator of what the bodu s experiencing, as percentages of maximum heart rate as basing zones on LT.

Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

• Perceived exertion is one of the best measures of intensity. One of the most important skills for a novice athlete to acquire is the ability to link RPE to the other indicators of training intensity.
• A low heart rate and a high RPE are a sign that fitness and well-being are probably good.
• A high heart rate and a low RPE suggest that something isn’t right.
• Think your way through the various possibilities.

Power

• When it comes to cycling performance, comparing heart rate with power is an excellent way to measure changes in fitness.
• If heart rate is low and power is normal to high when compared with previous performances, then fitness is high.
• If heart rate is high and power is high, you are still building aerobic fitness.
• If heart rate is low and power is also low, you may be experiencing fatigue, lifestyle stress, or even overtraining

Pace

• Swim and run pace on established courses may be used in conjunction with heart rate, just as power is used on the bike
• For example, after running or swimming a given distance at a given heart rate, the resulting time may be compared with previous such tests to gauge progress.
• As with five heart-rate training zones, there are five levels of pace. The steady pace usually forms the bulk of your training program. This is the pace at which you train your oxygen-processing mechanisms.
  • Easy: Easy pace is mainly used for a warm-up or as a main part of a longer session. The pace is very comfortable. Heart rate corresponds to Zone 1 intensity.
  • Steady: Steady pace is one gear up whereby the heart rate corresponds to Zone 2 intensity. This is a pace where you can still have a conversation but you are slightly out of breath.
  • Moderately hard: This pace requires concentration to maintain the intensity, although when you are fit you can keep this up for a longer period of time. Heart rate corresponds to heart-rate Zone 3 or Zone 4 intensities. The oxygen supply still keeps up with the oxygen demand and therefore your metabolism is still efficient as all the lactate produced is being cleared.
  • Hard: At this pace your muscles will accumulate lactate, which causes a heavy sensation and rapid depletion of your energy stores. Hear-rate intensity is threshold.
  • Very hard: This is close to maximum pace, also called sustained speed or ${VO_2}$ max pace. Most athletes can sustain this pace for approximately six minutes.

Cardiac Drift

• Cardiac drift is a condition in which the heart rate increases as the workout progresses despite no increase in pace or power.
• Fatigue and hydration are probably the most common contributors
• Heat stress will elevate heart rate, but probably more from the beginning of a workout than over time. However,, heat stress speeds the onset of fatigue, thereby contributing to drift.

Fundamental Skills

• Movement skills such as walking, running, skipping, jumping, hopping, leaping, and bounding assist in the ability to move the body from one place to another. Non-movement skills, also known as stability skills, consist of balancing, turning, and twisting.
• Awareness skills relate to movement of the body within the athletic arena. These skills include spacial awareness, depth perception, proprioception, and rhythm as well as the abilities required to process visual, tactile, and auditory feedback.
• Athletes can benefit from incorporating a range of fundamental skills into their training programs:
  • Alphabets (best performed without shoes): Stand on your right leg and trace large letters of the alphabet with your left foot. Change your support leg and repeat. Close eyes to increase difficulty
  • Leaning Tower: Start with two legs as support. Lean forward, backward, and sideways. As skill level increases, move your feet closer together, then try with a single support leg. Once that is mastered, try with your eyes closed.
  • Single-leg Squat Touches: Perform a single-leg squat and touch the ground. Touches should be to the front, side, and rear. Use either hand for touching. Touches that involve crossing over the body decrease difficulty. When squatting, bend at the ankle, knee, and hip. Movement should be slow and controlled. Once mastered, close your eyes for increased challenge.
  • Lines: On a bicycle, ride a straight line–edges of roads and parking lots are a good place to find these lines. Drill difficulty can be increased by looking down, looking over one shoulder, or reaching fora water bottle. AS skill level increases, try to stay on one edge of the line.

Running Technique

• What is good running form? In out experience, it is:
  • Smooth: The athlete looks comfortable; the head, shoulders, and hips are stable and travel in a consistent horizontal plane. In other words, there is very little vertical movement of the head, hips, and shoulders.
  • Balanced: The athlete’s legs, hips, and arms all contribute to forward (as opposed to lateral) movement. Viewed from behind, the athlete has no lateral movement and the pelvis remains stable.
  • Relaxed: The athlete’s shoulders, jaw, and arms are relaxed. The only tension in the is specific muscle tension required for running.
  • Although heel striking is a sign of poor economy, it is a symptom rather than a cause of poor form.
  • An athlete can easily eliminate a heel strike by pointing his or her toes at the moment of impact. The heel strike will disappear, but the overall stride will be no more economical. In fact, this modification can lead to a wide range of overuse injuries, as the muscles and tendons of the lower leg must decelerate the runner with each impact.
  • So where to start? The most effective approach is to seek a combination of ==correct body alignment and cadence.== These two factors account for the majority of economy gains you can attain.

  • Body Alignment

    • A technique for maintaining good body alignment is to focus on running tall, with an open chest and pelvis.
    • Watch out for excessive trunk lean (bending forward), tight shoulders, and a head imbalance (head tilted up or down too much).
    • The “Stance Line” is the proper configuration is for the shoulder, hip, and ankle joints to all be aligned

  • Cadence

    • Watch any good runner within a group of novices, and you will quickly note that he or she almost always has faster leg turnover. Leg turnover in itself is not necessarily economical because it is important for foot strike to occur at the base of the Stance Line requires the athlete to support the body as it moves over and beyond the point of impact.
    • Most runners should seek a minimum cadence of 85 cycles per minute for their long slow distance pace and 90 cycles per minute for 10k pace and faster

  • Strides

    • Simply doing drills will not improve running economy. The most effective approach is to use specific drills to teach specific movement patterns and enhance an overall technical awareness.
    • Strides are short bursts of fast running with perfect form. Strides are an excellent way to improve running technique. Tips for strides:
      • Protocol: Do strides at least one a week. A single set per session is sufficient, with six to eight intervals per set.
      • Recovery: Recover by walking back to the starting point. Remember that this is a skills session, not an aerobic training session. Therefore, the recovery interval is intentionally long to ensure that you maintain perfect form throughout the session.
      • Timing: Novice athletes should undertake Strides at the start of a run session or as a stand-alone workout
      • Pacing: Strides should be done at between 800-meter and 1-mile race pace, about 90 percent of maximum speed
      • Distance: Each stride should last for thirty left-foot strikes, a total of sixty foot strikes. You will find it easiest to count to foot strikes on one side.
      • Cadence: Aim to complete each stride in about 19 seconds; this implies an overall cadence of 95 cycles per minute. Athletes can enhance leg speed by doing downhill Strides as well as running downwind.
      • Equipment: Strides are best done barefoot on grass. When weather or safety conditions do not permit bare feet, a very light show can be used. Barefoot Strides increase the natural feedback that occurs when an athlete is heel striking. Much of this valuable feedback is lost with a highly cushioned shoe.

  • Form Drills

    • Mirror Drill:
      • Stand sideways in front of a full-length mirror and draw your left heel up your right inseam, allowing your toes to hang down.
      • You may find that your heel tends to pull forward or backward. You want your heel to track straight up your inseam (note that your inseam is along your Stance Line when you are standing still).
      • When learning the mirror drill, start with a slow movement, one leg at a time. Keep your foot relaxed as you lift your heel.
      • Once you have mastered the movement pattern, hold your upper body in your running stance.
      • Continue with this drill until you are able to perform rapid heel lifts with perfect tracking and form.
    • Marching Drill:
      • The next progression is the marching drill. With a full-length mirror at your side for feedback, alternate heel lifts.
      • Start slowly, and gradually speed your transitions from leg to leg.
      • When you feel comfortable with your form, take this drill outside and slowly move forward while combining perfect heel lift with slow forward motion and proper arm carriage.
      • Remember that the goal of this drill is to teach your legs the correct movement pattern. The speed of forward motion does not matter. Indeed, many athletes will find that they make very little forward progress at all.
    • Toe Drill:
      • When you feel that you have mastered the marching drill, you can progress to the toe drill. In the toe drill, you complete each heel lift by moving onto the toe of the supporting leg.
      • This drill enhances your proprioceptive skills and increases pelvic stability.
      • It should be done with slow to moderate pacing, as the benefits are balance and strength related.
    • Skip Drill:
      • The final step in the drill progression is to add a skip to the toe drill. This is called the skip drill. As you move onto your toe, insert a slight forward skip. The skip drill enables you to increase your cadence and train the rapid firing of the muscles required to generate heel lift.
      • When it is done correctly, the head, shoulders, and hips are stable with minimal vertical lift.
      • The toe and skip drills are complementary and can be included in your warm-up or inserted into the middle of the walk-back recovery used during strides.

  • Running Drills

    • These drills can be used as part of a warm-up for a sustained speed session and as part of a running-strength/core-conditioning session
    • With economy training, it’s best to do short workouts frequently rather than long ones infrequently.
    • Sideways Running:
      • Step to your right with your right foot and then bring your left foot up to your right without crossing over it.
      • Continue this movement—you will be almost bouncing. Repeat drill in the reverse direction.
    • Sideways Crossovers:
      • The same as sideways running, only this time you cross over and rotate your hips (but not your shoulders) as the left leg moves in front of and then behind the right leg. Think fast feet on this one. It’s best to start slowly and then build up the speed.
    • Backward Running:
      • Hold normal running form and jog easily backward. Speed can be increased over time. You can also do quick accelerations to forward running from the backward running.
    • Hands-on-head Running:
      • Alternate between normal running and hands-on-head running. If you have any lateral movement in your normal running gait, then it will become more pronounced. This is a good drill for promoting running stability.
    • Front Bench Drill:
      • Face a bench and place your left leg on the bench. Draw the right heel quickly up toward your butt. The goal is a quick movement up and a minimization of ground contact time. Hold arms in regular running position.
      • Start with 10 repetitions with each leg and build gradually toward 30.
      • Once you hit 30 repetitions, drop back down to 20 and add another set.
      • The purpose of this drill is to train the ability of the leg to fire quickly and lift the heel up the Stance Line.
      • This is an explosive drill and should be done only by strong and experienced athletes.
    • Rear Bench Drill:
      • Facing away from the bench, place your left leg up on the bench behind you (knee bent, toe resting on the bench), draw your right heel up toward your butt, and hold your arms in normal running position.
      • You may find that you need to do a little jump with your right leg to get it off the ground. The resting leg does not contribute anything to this drill (aside from balance).
      • Aim for a quick action with minimal ground contact time. Start with 10 repetitions with each leg and build gradually toward 30. Once you hit 30 repetitions, drop back down to 20 and add another set.
      • Like the front bench drill, this is an explosive drill that should be done only by strong and experienced athletes.
    • Knee Lift:
      • Come up onto the ball of your left foot while raising your right knee. Grab your right knee and lift up while maintaining proud form.
      • If you have trouble with balance, keep your supporting foot flat on the ground. Speed is not important on this one.
    • Quick Feet:
      • For this quickness drill, take baby steps and work on a very, very fast leg action. Arms and feet move very quickly.
      • There should be little in the way of knee action; movement is on and off the balls of the feet.
      • Forward speed is not important, as the goal is to quickly fire the legs so that the heel travels up the Stance Line.
    • Bounding:
      • Running tall, extend the push-off phase and bound. Relax the shoulders and use your arms as part of the drive phase.
      • This is a plyometric drill designed to build run-specific strength; it can be incorporated into warm-ups, hill repeats, and endurance running sessions.
    • Loping Run:
      • From a crouched position, bound forward with a side-to-side component. Your feet should strike the ground about 5 feet apart. Rather than driving forward, the body is driven side to side. In the previous drill, you push straight ahead; in this drill, your arms swing from side to side.
    • Two-legged Jumps:
      • This is a great drill to load the legs before doing an interval, or just as a drill on its own. Swing the arms forward when jumping. Start from a low position. Absorb the impact by bending the knees quickly on landing.
      • The legs act like springs, coiling down on impact and springing forward when jumping. It is important that the legs, rather than the knees, and hips absorb the impact.
    • Low Walking:
      • Get into a crouch with your thighs parallel to the ground and arms folded across your chest. Walk around in this position, or stay still and (ever so slightly) oscillate up and down.
      • Maintain until the quads start to burn, then maintain some more.

  • Cycling Skills

    • Bike-handling skills are perhaps the most neglected single aspect of cycling. Triathletes with superior bike-handling skills will complete their bike legs faster, more comfortably, and with lower energy consumption.
    • Pedaling:
      • Pedaling a bike seems simple, but few triathletes are really. good at it. When you ride with someone who pedals efficiently, there is an obvious difference, but it is difficult to describe. To improve your pedaling skills. it’s important to smooth out the leg’s directional changes at the top and bottom of the stroke.
      • The best place to practice pedaling is on an indoor trainer, as there will be no distractions such as traffic, dogs, or other riders to break your concentration.
      • Here are a few pedaling drills:
        • Horizontal Pedaling:
          • ==Don’t think about the pedal stroke as being up and down or even circular. Think of it as horizontal;== at the top and bottom of the stroke your legs are transitioning to go the other direction–either forward and down or back and up.
          • An increase in energy output here decreases the need for a very high effort at 3 o’clock.
          • There are several elements of the stroke you can focus on to develop this horizontal-pedaling skill.
          • The best mental focus for most riders involves driving the toes toward the ends of their shoes at the top of each stroke.
          • Another mental cue that works for some is scraping mud off at the bottom.
          • Yet a third focus involves throwing the knees over the handlebars.
          • Concentrate on only one of these at a time.
        • Isolated Leg Training (ILT):
          • While riding on an indoor trainer, place a chair on either side of the bike. Place one foot on a chair and pedal with the other for 30 seconds, focusing on your critical-stroke mental cue from above.
          • Then switch legs and pedal 30 seconds with the other. Keep your cadence at around 90 rpm throughout.
          • After working both legs, pedal normally for another minute with both legs, sustaining the same sensation of proper technique. Repeat several times.
        • Dominant Leg:
          • While pedaling with both feet clipped into the pedals, use one leg to do almost all of the work for 30 seconds while the other leg is “lazy”. Otherwise, this drill is just like the ILT drill.
        • Heel Above Pedal:
          • Don’t allow your heel to drop below the level of the pedal on the downstroke–keep the heels slightly elevated. This effectively “rotates” the crankset forward and sets you up for horizontal pedaling.
          • It will take some getting used to, and you’ll probably find that your legs become fatigued sooner for the first few days after you adopt this technique if you’ve been an “ankler” in the past
        • Increased Cadence:
          • Continually working on raising your cadence improves your economy.
          • Each of us has a comfortable cadence range. Any time we get outside it, we feel sloppy.
          • By discovering your range and staying near the top end of it several times each week, you can shift your comfortable range upward.
          • One way to do this is to buy a handlebar computer with a cadence monitor and check it during your rides.
        • Spin-ups:
          • This drill helps you become more economical at higher cadences.
          • Either on the road or on an indoor trainer, while riding in a low gear, gradually increase your cadence over a 30-second period until you begin to bounce on the saddle.
          • Then slow the cadence until you are no longer bouncing and hold it for a few more seconds.
          • The key to this drill is relaxation.
        • Pedal Recovery:
          • What you do with the leg that is on the recovery side of the stroke is critical to your economy. If this leg rests on the pedal, the other leg will have to work harder to lift it. Be careful not to pull up with the recovery leg because it will cause a tremendous waste of energy. Instead, try to simply “unweight” the recovery pedal.
        • Bottle Pickup:
          • Place your water bottle on the pavement while riding slowly. Then turn around and come back to pick it up. To make these moves, you will need too stop pedaling and keep your foot low on the side you lean to while ensuring that the front wheel stays straight with the frame.
          • Go slowly at first, and as you get the hang of it, gradually go faster. A tall bottle will help you get started, but the progress to a shorter bottle.
        • Slalom Ride:
          • Set up four or five water bottles about 8 feet apart in a straight line. Practice riding a slalom course through the bottles by leaning the bike–not your body–to the inside of each turn.
          • Take one or three pedal strokes between bottles so that the inside pedal is always up.
          • It should feel like a rhythmic dance when done smoothly.
        • Bottle Jump:
          • Lay an empty plastic water bottle on its side on the pavement. Ride at it fast several times and attempt to jump the bottle without touching it. Try it in both the upright and crouched positions.

      • Aero Position

        • At speeds greater than about 12 mph (20kph), more than half of the total mechanical work done by the rider is spent overcoming air resistance.
        • Air resistance increases exponentially relative to velocity rather than linearly as you might expect.
        • Compared with sitting upright on the bike with the hands on the tops of the handlebars, a standard aero position reduces frontal area by more than 21 percent on average.

      • Braking

        • To control speed, the rear brake is used more often than the front. This brake is often “feathered”, meaning that pressure is applied gradually and in small amounts to reduce speed, as when preparing for a corner.
        • In an emergency situation where an immediate stop is needed, both brakes are applied, with the front brake given the most force.
        • When descending a hill, you must be careful when using the front brake. Pulling it aggressively can easily result in a crash. Apply the rear brake primarily on a fast descent, feathering the front brake only if more slowing power is needed. It is most stable to do the majority of braking before heading into a turn; braking in the middle of a turn can unbalance a bike and result in a crash.

      • Cornering

        • The most important time in taking a corner is the early part. If the critical speed and line you have selected are right, then you will have no problems.
        • Practice approaching corners repeatedly at various speeds.
        • A fast speed required a more gradual and sweeping turn than does slow cornering.
        • Sit in the middle of your saddle, not on the nose or back end of it, This position will help you better maintain balance.
        • As the turn starts, stop pedaling so that the inside knee is high, put most of your weight on the outside pedal, and lean to the inside. The lean of the bike should be greater than the lean of your upper body. To accomplish this, keep your head upright so that the line of the eyes is parallel to the surface of the road. Never lean your head int a corner.
        • When the bike becomes more upright as you come out of the corner, begin to pedal again. It is common to stand up out of a corner and accelerate.
        • Many athletes are afraid to corner. Given that confidence is essential for good cornering, these athletes will benefit from pre-race reconnaissance in which the technical aspects of the bike leg are reviewed, ridden, and practiced.
        • Large time savings can be easily achieved from a detailed review of technical sections. These time savings require no additional fitness, merely an investment of time.

      • Climbing

        • Body mass has a lot to do not only with how well you climb but also with how you climb.
        • Bigger riders climb more effectively seated.
        • Top riders between these extremes often alternate between sitting and standing when climbing but spend more time seated.
        • ==The standing position is less economical on a moderate grade ,but on a steep hill standing reduces the feeling of effort.==
        • When starting a long, steady climb, select a lower gear so that the cadence is relatively high. As you progress up the hill, shift to higher gears. This helps you prevent fatiguing muscles early in the climb, allowing you to finish strongly.
        • When standing, allow the bike to sway gently from side to side without weaving off line. Do not exaggerate this movement. It should happen naturally as the pedal goes down and the hand on the same side pulls to counterbalance the leg force.
        • When seated, scoot back on the saddle and place your hands on the brake hoods or bar tops rather than on the drops. This position will keep your head up so you can better see what’s ahead and open up your chest to allow for easier breather.

      • Descending

        • If speed is your goal on a descent, the tucked position with the hands on the aerobars, the back flat with head close to the hands, knees in, and the cranks parallel with the road surface will let you fly.
        • If your skills are solid, and you have confidence in them, you can descent on the aerobars provided there are no side streets. blind corners, traffic, or other potential dangers.

Training for the Swim

• In addition to becoming a better swimming, the benefits associated with swim training are:
  • Non-impact aerobic work: Swimming provides additional aerobic training in a low-impact environment. This combination enables most athletes to achieve a greater volume of aerobic work without compromising their recovery from their other training.
  • Recovery: Because it promotes overall circulation, swimming can be used for active-recovery sessions.
  • Improved race efficiency: For slower swimmers especially, the reduction in time spent in the water means that in a race situation, they are able to start replenishing themselves sooner. Although there are often greater time savings to be found in focused bike and run training, decreasing the time spent in the water can have clear nutritional advantages.

Technique

• Essentially, there are two ways to swim faster. ==The first is to decrease drag by streamlining body position, and the second is to increase propulsion by improving aerobic and anaerobic fitness.== Reducing drag has the potential to produce the greatest gains.
• If there were only two things you could do to improve your swimming, they would have to be increasing workout frequency and a focus on technical improvement. Technique and the ability to maintain stroke mechanics over time are the most important aspects of swimming for all athletes.
• Given that swimming is a very technique-intensive sport, workout frequency plays an important role. ==Specifically, it is difficult to achieve a material improvement without a minimum of three 60-minute swims per week==
• There is a natural progression for most sqimmers:
  • Develop an efficient body position by focusing on balance, relaxation, and smoothness through all aspects of the swimming cycle
  • Increase the effectiveness of each stroke by improving your catch and pull mechanics
  • Using superior balance and stroke mechanics, increase stroke rate while maintaining technical excellence and distance per stroke.
• Focusing on bilateral breathing can greatly increase swim economy and help you learn to relax in the water. However, you need to be willing to endure the transition period where you ma y slow as your body adjusts to the new movement patterns.
• In triathlons, efficiency may not always translate to improved swim times; however, reduced energy expenditure in the water will translate to more energy for your bike and run

• Key Stroke Issues

  • The key elements of modern freestyle are:
    • Horizontal body with no vertical shoulder movement on entry
    • Immediate catch with vertical alignment of hand, wrist, and forearm–minimal downward pressure post-entry and rapid transition to horizontal pull. This is a clear limiter for virtually all triathletes
    • Head down at all times (look down or to the side when breathing)
    • Hips and shoulders rotate together and to the same degree
    • Legs are kept within the body shadow
    • Kick rotates with hips
    • Upper arm aligned with shoulders for pull and recovery (though for swimmers who have inflexible shoulders)
    • Streamlined feet
  • Learning to keep your head in the water will help you keep your hips higher and make you faster. If you have trouble getting to the air, force yourself to rotate your hips, then your chin, a little farther. A good cue for this technique is to “breathe from your hips”
  • Technical challenges facing triathletes and some idea for addressing them:
    • Balance:
      • Improved balance and high hips are the quickest way to faster times. Side-kicking drills can be very useful to improve your overall balance as well as your comfort in the water.
    • Head position:
      • It is instinct for us to want to have our whole head out of the water when we breathe. It is also instinct to want to be completely vertical when breathing. When swimming, your head should be steady, in line with the spine, and looking down at all times.
      • The breath cycle is initiated by the hips and shoulders rotating together and completed with a slight head rotation that is led by the chin.
      • Focus on keeping your head down, as this position will keep your hips up.
      • ==If you lift your head when you breathe, correcting this error should be your sole objective until you have mastered the technique!==
      • When breathing, remember to swivel your head and rotate your chin up for air, then turn your chin back down to swim and exhale, always keeping your head in the water.
      • Hips lead your chin. By starting at the hips, you get a solid rotation and also engage your trunk and back in the stroke.
    • Exhale underwater:
      • If you find that you don’t have enough time to breathe or that you are not getting a full breath, ==then ensure that you are exhaling in the water.== If you try to exhale, then inhale with your face out of the water, you may get only a partial inhalation. As soon as you are able to get a full breath, the urge to lift your head will be reduced.
    • Offside arm:
      • In an attempt to push their heads out of the water, many swimmers will push down with their offside arm when breathing. Remember to let your leading hand float for a little bit when breathing.
    • Pressing the T:
      • If you have a tendency to drag your butt through the water (uphill swimming), keep your head down and focus on pressing your chest down in the water while maintaining a long body line. Many swimmers think they are pressing the chest downward when they are really leaning their heads, so watch for this mistake.
    • Distance per stroke:
      • Focus on a long, relaxed, smooth stroke. Count your strokes and try to maximize distance per stroke.
    • Hand entry:
      • Swimmers who have a tendency to cross over should docus on “skating” from hip to hip. Swim as if you are on two rails, rotating from rail to. rail.
    • Legs together:
      • or scissor-kickers, this is an excellent time to relax and work on keeping your legs in your body shadow. Swimmers typically split their legs when they are uncomfortable rotating or breathing.
      • Improving your in-water comfort through balance drills can quite often eliminate this challenge.

  • Bilateral Breathing

    • Bilateral breathing refers to breathing on an odd stroke count, typically every third stroke.
    • Experienced athletes will find that they can breathe bilaterally quite comfortably up to heart-rate zone 3 level.
    • With bilateral breathing you will initially be forced to slow down, giving you the opportunity to work on your stroke mechanics.
    • Offside improvement: Nearly every athlete can improve the efficiency of his or her “away” arm when breathing. Swimming bilaterally helps you even your stroke.
    • Improved stroke and balance: Stroke imbalances are very easy to detect when swimming bilaterally. Once these areas are discovered, it is far easier for you to correct them.
    • Improved timing: Bilateral breathing has a smooth rhythm and helps develop the stroke and kick timing. it is also beneficial to the timing of flip turns because it offers you the opportunity to breathe on either side coming into the turn.
    • Improved breathe control: The breath control that you learn from bilateral swimming will enable you to improve your flip turns. Being comfortable with a moderate amount of oxygen debt is very useful for race starts, rounding marker buoys, and bridging forward to a faster group of swimmers
    • Improved rotation: Many athletes find that they rotate well to their breathing side, then “flatten out” without rotating at all to their offside. A flat stroke can increase the load on your shoulder and result in a swimmer’s shoulder. With more rotation to both sides, you are able to pull through your stroke much more easily and increase the power of your stroke.
    • Confidence: The feeling of breathlessness that you may experience in the water is not a lack of oxygen rather, it is a buildup of CO2. Learning to live with this sensation is an important skill for swim starts, turns, and pool swimming. Knowing that you can swim bilaterally is a real confidence booster if you miss a few breaths during a race.

  • Stretch Cords

    • The quicker you are able to rotate your shoulder and set up the pull, the better. All athletes can afford to be stronger in the initial phase of their catch. One or two stretch-cord sessions of 10 to 15 minutes per week will be beneficial.
      • Half Pulls
      • Forward Rotations
      • Full Pulls
      • Standing Straight Arm
      • Tricep Extensions

Building Endurance

• Swim regularly!
• When focusing on endurance, it is best to slow down and build your long-workout duration. Frequency is also very important; we recommend swimming three to four times a week.
• An endurance swim session follows:
  • ==Warm up: Bilateral swimming:==
    • ==50/100/150 meters… upward to a peak, then… 150/100/50 meters downward==
    • ==5 to 10 seconds’ rest at the end of each interval==
    • ==Pyramid to a peak based on length of desired warm-up==
  • ==Main set: 400 meter sets (repeat as desired)==
    • ==Odds–4 x 100 done on 15 seconds rest: 1 and 2 are steady, 3 is moderately hard, and 4 is easy==
    • ==Evens–400 bilateral breathing, easy to steady on 20 seconds’ rest==
  • ==Cool down: 200 meters non-freestyle==

Training for the Bike

• Cycling accounts for roughly half of your race day
• When purchasing a bike, consider only comfort, safety, and value.
• There is only one cycling accessory you really need–aerobars. Race wheels and other “go-faster” products can wait until you are more experienced.
• Unless you have excellent flexibility, be very cautious with aggressive cycling positions.
• The largest gains are made by making yourself comfortable, powerful, and aerodynamic.
• One of the best investments you can make in setup equipment is an adjustable stem.
• Although hit may seem obvious, remember that you will be running a marathon when you get off your bike. Triathletes who “race” the bike leg tend to walk their run leg, which is very costly in terms of overall time.
• Although a single rider can impact the pace of a long-distance cycle race, the overall pace of a bike race is governed more by group dynamics than by the personal decision of any one rider. In triathlon, the intelligent athlete is typically the one who is able to avoid the temptation of dueling with the athletes around him or her.
• The sections describe the overall life cycle of a novice cyclist and the seasonal periodization of an experienced cyclist:

• Stage 1: Endurance, Skills and Technique

  • The most important component in your cycling development is to build the endurance necessary to complete your, race distance.
  • Volume:
    • The core of your week is your long, slow distance (LSD) session, and you will want to plan on building your ride up to 5 to 6 hours.
    • A good rule of thumb is to limit increases to 10 percent in terms of long workout duration and/or weekly volume
    • Be conservative on the long stuff. This approach will enable you to recover quickly, maintain consistency, and avoid injury.
    • ==The two most likely times for injury are during high-intensity training and when you run after a long ride. We recommend avoiding these kinds of sessions.==
    • For cycling, “long” starts at 2 hours.
    • For athletes who are new to long-course training, it is best to slowly build their long bike up to 5 to 6 hours.
  • Cycling Economy:
    • Economy is a rating of sub-maximal work output in the relation to oxygen consumed. For example, if we tested two riders with the same VO2 max and discovered that Rider A used less oxygen at 300 watts than Rider B, we would say that Rider A is more economical.
    • There are two keys to improve economy. One is to refine the movements that take place at the top and bottom of the stroke, when the leg must shift from “up and back” to “forward and down”, with the reverse situation at the bottom of the stroke. At the top of the stroke, the foot should feel as if it is pushing forward in the shoe. At the bottom, you should get the sense that mud is being scraped from the shoe.
    • The other key is to focus on the relaxation part of the pedal stroke. Tensing more muscles that are needed to apply force to the pedals is wasteful and uneconomical. Start with the muscles you have the most control over–the face and the fingers. Once you can relax them, try relaxing your calves and toes while spinning.

• Stage 2: Overall Strength

  • Muscular endurance in hilly terrain:
    • As you begin to establish your endurance base, you will want to begin increasing your muscular endurance using hills and steady long rides in zone 2.

• Stage 3: Time-Trial Strength

  • Most strong cyclists will find that time-trial strength is their key limiter. ME interval sessions, cruise intervals, and big-gear work are the best sessions to address this limiter.
  • Tips for selecting the right session for your needs and the time of the year:
    • Early in the season, interval duration and intensity should be shorter and lower
    • For long-course racing, most athletes will benefit from building toward longer, sub-threshold intervals
    • Athletes who are force-limited will benefit from intervals that incorporate large-gear, low-cadence work. When doing strength-oriented intervals, keep your heart rate down and focus on making smooth, powerful circles.
    • If your greatest limiter is the ability to focus, then 5 to 25 km subthreshold time trials ca be an excellent way to enhance focus
    • If focus or endurance is your greatest limiter, then high-intensity intervals should be avoided; you will reap greater rewards from consistent steady rides that incorporate cruise intervals
    • Your economy will benefit from interval training at the limits of your comfortable cadence range
    • The most effective interval session for ironman-distance racing is a series of moderate intervals incorporated into an endurance-oriented BT workout

• Interval Guidelines

  • Pacing: To get the best results, build into each interval and each set. If you are aiming for a heart-rate target, then you will need to be very patient at the start of each interval and each set. Control your effort and build toward the target at the end of the interval.
    • In the first quarter, your body is fresh and free of lactate; the goal is to hold back
    • In the second quarter, maintain your goal interval pace/effort
    • The third quarter is when most people have a dip in output, and this is where you should focus on maintaining your effort while holding perfect form
    • The final quarter can be tough if the interval intensity is high. However, for ironman-distance racing, we are rarely doing very high-output intervals. If you have paced yourself through the first 75 percent of the repetition, then the quiet satisfaction of a solid repeat should bring you home
  • Temperament: Intervals are a great way to get a look of how you are likely to perform in a race situation.
    • Do you fade toward the end of the main set? You will need to focus on mental toughness or better front-end pacing
    • Do you consistently fry yourself in the first few repeats? You will need to leave your ego at the race start
    • Do you want to quit in the middle, struggle through, then feel great at the end? You will likely benefit from visualizing strong performance in the middle of a race

Training for the Run

• The duration of your long run should increase by 5 to 10 percent (5 to 15 minutes) each week in your training cycle
• Once your long run is between 90 and 150 minutes, you should consider extending the duration of your second longest run.
• There are very diminishing returns from running longer than 2.5 hours. The reason is the risk of extended recovery being required after the session, as well as the risk of injury.
• Raw speed is not a requirement for race success. What is required is a long apprenticeship that safely builds endurance and speed as the body adapts to constant training.

Racing Long

Race Day Checklist

Swim-to-Bike

• Towel (optional)
• Cycling shoes (can be on bike)
• Cycling helmet
• Cycling jersey (optional if using a tri-suit, can be worn under wetsuit)
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen (applied pre-race)
• Cycling gloves (optional)
• Cycling socks (optional)
• Sports bar/gels/salt tabs (held together with elastic band and secured to bike)
• Race belt

Bike-to-Run

• Running shorts (optional if using tri-suit)

• Running socks

• Hat or visor (useful for placing other items inside and wrapping with elastic to save time)

• Sunscreen

• Vasline

• Sports bar/gels/salt tabs

• Race belt

• The Swim

  • Athletes who expect to swim in less than an hour should seed themselves toward the front
  • Athletes who expect to swim longer than 75 minutes should be toward to back
  • The swim should feel really easy for you
  • No matter what speed you swim, you want to be cruising for 95% of your swim
  • If you find yourself struggling from starting too hard, use a little backstroke to relax your breathing. Then swim into some clear water and regain your composure. Once you have settled, get back into the flow and look for a draft to take you around the course.
  • Occasionally, you will find yourself swimming among some aggressive swimmers. In this situation, it is almost always best to let those swimmers pass (and follow them if the pace is right for you). These athletes often provide an excellent draft around the course.
  • ==Turns are key points for any race. Most swimmers will slow as the come into the turn. In races that have a long distance before the first turn, swimmers are all forced together at the turning buoy. These two reactions provide the intelligent racer with an opportunity to improve his or her position by finding a faster draft or bridging forward to a faster group.==

• Swim-to-Bike Transition

  • Many athletes race through transitions. Given that you will have been horizontal for an hour or more, it is best to move steadily rather than speedily through transition. Going from the swim to fast running is very stressful on the body.
  • At this stage of the race, you want to minimize the stress on your body. Rushing transition can put an undue strain on your lower back, hamstrings, and digestive system.
  • Move smoothly to your bike and settle into your ride

• The Bike

  • Your goal for the early part of the bike should be to settle into your cycling rhythm and start replenishing the energy that was used in the swim. Specific hydration and nutrition recommendations are discussed later in the chapter.
  • ==If you feel that you are “working” at any time early in the race, you are going too hard.==
  • A conservative bike strategy pays dividends later in the day
  • Before deciding to ride harder, please remember that athletes who are strong cyclists will almost always be tempted to use their bike leg as a “weapon”. This is a serious mistake because difficulties in the run are very costly in terms of time lost. Quite often 5 to 10 minutes on the bike can be a difference between being able to put together a solid run or walking.

Pacing Guidelines

Segment	Goals	Effort	HR	Notes
Mile 1-30	Settle into a comfortable cycling rhythm	Easy	Upper Zone 1	You should be holding back through this whole segment
Mile 21-60	A continued emphasis on nutrition and hydration	Steady	Zone 2
Mile 61-90	This is the meat of the ride. Here is where early pacing pays off or takes its toll. Goal should be to work a little harder than goal effort. Athletes who have paced properly will begin to move up the field	Steady	Upper Zone 2 with short periods of Zone 3 when climbing	Concentrate to maintain your focus. Receive mental boost as they start to move through the field
Mile 91-112	Athletes should maintain cycling momentum and continue to eat. Almost all athletes will have lost their appetites, but continued nutrition is essential for a strong run	Stead to moderately hard	Zone 2 effort with periods of Zone 3 when climbing

Bike-to-Run Transition

• Many athletes spend a long time in the second transition. You should move through the transition area steadily and efficiently.

The Run

• Many athletes find that they are able to run very fast in the early part of the marathon.
• Again, having patience and holding back at this stage will pay off.
• Early in the run, athletes should focus on maintaining a steady pace while doing their best to ensure that their nutrition and hydration needs are met

What Do I Eat and When?

• Pre-Race
  • Don’t pig out. Eat normally.
  • Increase table-salt intake for the 48 hours prior to race day
  • Hydrate normally with water. Drinking gallons of water is not required
  • Eighteen hours before the race start, go on a low-fiber diet.
  • The day before the race, eat small meals frequently.
  • On race morning, consume 600 to 1000 calories 3 to 4 hours before the start. Target breakfast completion for 2.5 to 3 hours before race start. Two hours is okay unless you are eating a high-fat breakfast that will digest slowly (which is not recommended)
• Race
  • Drink 10 to 16 ounces of sports drink (slightly diluted) or consume one gel with half a bottle of water, 5 to 8 minutes before the race start
  • Consume nothing else until your heart rate has settled on the bike (5 to 20 minutes out of the first transition)
  • Most athletes benefit from drinking half a bike bottle of water before starting to eat because it settles the stomach and ensures that the food is more easily absorbed
  • On the bike, consume gels, sports bars, and sports drinks as required
  • If you are using gels and bars, drink plenty of water to aid absorption
  • Eat right up to the end of the bike. On the run, anything can happen, and it is wise to have a calorie buffer
  • On the bike, the following schedule could be used:
    • 0-20 min: water only
    • 20-40: 200 cal
    • 40-60: 200 cal
    • 60-120: target 200 calories per 20 minutes
  • The second transition, consume one or two gels if you can stomach it, and chase with water
  • On the run, alternate between cola/water and sports drink/water at every aid station. Start on the cola immediately. If you are peeing a lot, drop the water, but keep alternating between cola and sports drink
  • Many athletes can never eat anything solid or semisolid during the run

How Much Should I Drink?

• On the bike, drink only water until your heart rate has settled, then drink one to two bike bottles of water alternated with sports drink per hour.
• If you are peeing more than once an hour, back off on the water and switch to sports drink

The Role of Sodium

• In general, 400mg of sodium per hour is enough for most athletes. Some athletes require up to 1000 mg of sodium per hour, and others require no supplementation at all

Equipment

Bike

• For a bike, always choose comfort over aero.
• It is generally accepted that carbon fiber frames offer a more comfortable ride, titanium frames are the lightest, steel is the most responsive, and aluminum gives the harshest ride
• Road bikes are the most comfortable, with a 73-degree, seat-tube geometry. This arrangement is often referred to as a “relaxed” position, placing the rider a little farther back, and is the best climbing position. A bike with triathlon or time-trial specific geometry is more “steep”, at about 78 degrees. These bikes tend to be the most comfortable (and efficient) when the rider is down on the aerobars.

Wetsuit

• There are three major benefits to a properly fitted wetsuit: safety, speed, and warmth.
• Your wetsuit should feel snug and almost uncomfortably tight when not in the water–it should be tight around the waist and legs, and there should be no leaks around the neck. Once you are in the water and swimming, your suit will expand slightly and feel comfortable.
• A good wetsuit can conserve a considerable amount of energy during an ironman-distance swim. as much as 5 minutes or more, depending on your swimming ability.

Running Shoes

• The general rule of thumb is to replace your shoes at least every six months or after one ironman-distance race
• You can also go y milage–every 250 to 350 miles of running

Nutrition

• Eliminate processed foods from your diet
• Obtain the majority of your energy needs from whole fruits, fresh vegetables, and lean protein
• Limit your use of starchy and sugary foods to during and after your longest or most intense sessions