A great way to monitor your improvement and work on appropriate pacing strategies is to set up training loops. Depending on the length of your ride or run you would ideally cover the loop between 3 and 12 times…or more. This then gives you a tremendous amount of data to look at and see where you start to slow. If you keep track of your average HR and lap splits, you can also compare week to week or month to month to ensure you’re making gains in your training. There are a few different ways to go about tracking your loops:
#1. Peg your HR at a particular level and just keep running or riding while taking splits every lap. You’ll most likely notice a drop in time after every loop – but the fitter you are the less that drop will be and the faster your overall time will be at the conclusion of your chosen distance.
Those of you who follow Chuckie V’s blog know that he advocates walking as part of your training – time on your feet equals time in the training log. You’ll help strengthen your feet, and if you think about proper form you can also engage your glutes and back muscles much like a run stride.
Our number ONE reason for incorporating walking as part of our training is for those three days pre-race that you always end up spending on your feet. No matter how much you plan it out, have everything ready, and set aside time for naps and relaxation – you’ll most always end up walking and standing on your feet 10 times longer than you had anticipated. There’s the registration line up, the walk to and from your parking spot or hotel that you thought was only a mile away, the mandatory athlete meeting, bike check in, groceries, finding a restaurant, picking up a piece of gear your forgot or finding your favorite gel. All that on top of the time you spend checking out the course and going through your pre-race routines. It’s tiring!
So, add some walk time to your training. Don’t substitute a run or ride with walking unless injury is at hand, but use it as some extra credit training. I bet that 15 minute drive to work through town is only a 25 minute walk at a brisk pace. Once or twice a week in addition to your normal routine is all it would take.
There is no question that having the best, and usually most expensive, equipment can benefit you on race day. However, if you have limited financial resources to devote to Ironman Triathlon, these are our thoughts on where best to spend your hard earned money.
When you look at the time you spend riding in an Ironman it is tempting to spend a bunch of money on a fancy new bike. A great bike does make a difference, but keep in mind the overall goal is to hit the finish line as fast as possible, not to roll into T2 so you can brag about your fast bike split. You may want to hold back on the $3000 wheel set and the 200 gram savings of the carbon bars so you can spend that money elsewhere. Here are our suggestions:
With the high training volumes that go into preparing for an Ironman, skin irritations are inevitable. Chaffing, sunburn, blisters and the dreaded sore red skin around the saddle area are common examples. If you have sensitive skin and have had to squat in the bushes on a long ride, contact dermatitis from mystery plants can also be an issue! Watch out for poison oak! Penaten cream – a product that you will likely find in the baby products section of your food or drug store (it is used for diaper rash) is one of the best all-around creams out there to help heal and prevent skin irritations. I apply it to my skin wherever the chamois may irritate – it really helps your sensitive areas from getting sore and red (helps them look more aesthetically pleasing too!), and can prevent saddle sores. It works well to dry up blisters, sooth and heal sunburns, and it stops itchy skin from itching pronto. I’ve had the same container for over 5 years now and it looks like it has hardly been touched, but it gets used daily. It lasts a long time, and a little goes a long way. Add Penaten Cream to your Ironman recovery arsenal, your skin will thank you.
Today’s post is a long but Heather the science geek wanted to shed a little light on all of this antioxidant stuff that we hear about and give a bit more in-depth background to support the take home message: eating plant-based whole foods, not relying on antioxidant supplements, is paramount to your recovery and will help you soak up all those hard Ironman training sessions.
A paradox in metabolism is that while the vast majority of complex life requires oxygen for its existence, oxygen is a highly reactive molecule can damage living organisms by producing reactive oxygen species (ROSs – nasty things like the RUSs in the Princess Bride). ROSs are highly reactive ions or small molecules that have unpaired valence shell electrons. Huh? what? Basically they are just hyped up molecules that have all this energy and want to react with stuff so they grab at anything… say lipids in the membranes of your mitochondria. Enough unquenched, super excited, ROSs nipping at things and you can get cell death. Because of this, organisms contain a complex network of antioxidant metabolites and enzymes that work together to prevent oxidative damage to cellular components like DNA, proteins and lipids. Reducing agents, (I’m double-O-carotene) like Beta Carotene and vitamin C neutralize ROS’s and prevent them from causing damage – “leave that cell membrane alone, it’s me your after!”
Working on run form is important. With these 3 simple drills you can teach your body to improve your run stride and efficiency, as well as muscle activation patterns. They don’t take long, 5 minutes at the most. Throw them in as part of your warm up, during a recovery walk/jog, or at the end of a long run.
You’ve probably heard of the benefits to running uphill. No doubt they’re true and no doubt hill repeats will help make you faster, stronger, and more resiliant. If you don’t enjoy running up and down the same hill over and over again, simply try and make some of your runs in hillier terrain. It will work wonders.
As far as intervals go, you could serve up a multitude of different lengths, grades, and efforts. All of which have certain benefits depending on the type of training you’re doing. With limited time in your day, we found the greatest gains for the Ironman marathon were to be had by the 5-8minute repeats up a very steep hill. Keep the HR low (High Aerobic Range) on the way up (you may even need to do a fast hike if the hill is steep enough) and watch the tendons and knees on your way down. Start with one or two and see how you feel the next day. If you’re looking for a longer steadier run, you could also slog your way uphill for an hour or more. Running down that far, however, can be a bit overkill so having a friend or coach at the top to give you a lift down is a great option. Keep in mind consistency is your number one friend when it comes to improvement in triathlon, killing yourself on any one day is of limited benefit. Build up to it.
After a few months of daily tips we’re going to move to a more managable weekly tips site. This will give us some time to put together a couple videos, as well as put a bit more detail into each tip.
A lot of athletes that are new to the sport of triathlon, have a bad run in with a snobby bike store guy, a know-it-all swimmer, or a self proclaimed hardcore runner – and become afraid of asking questions and looking stupid. While figuring things out the hard way is a sure fire way to learn lessons for life, a lot of time and effort can be spared by probing a little and asking questions. If someone starts talking about a great track workout, ask why they do it. How many repeats? What is the goal? Don’t know what the difference between SRM and SRAM? How exactly does one do 7/8’s catch up drill? Ask Ironmantriathlontips! You may be pleasantly surprised by how wiling people are to help you out.
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