Diary 27/4/05

Im currently into week 3 of 4 of my transition phase. I'm itching to go mentally and physically I'm about 90% injury free with my foot tendanitis. Some more stretching and core strength work and hopefully by Monday next week I'll be ready to resume training. Looking forward to building on this year and last years fitness and trying to take it to the next level. Can't wait to get back on the bike and hit those hills. Im really looking forward to focusing on my running over winter with a greater emphasis on building up my endurance and strength gradually.
Will add some variety over winter by entering a few bike TT with the cycle club.You'll probably see alot of me this winter cycling through the Royal National Park NSW. Im becoming a member of Kembla joggers and will compete in all there fun runs to build some speed into my run program. As for swimming I'll be down at the Continental pools over winter with my wetsuit pushing out a few LSD miles while I relentessly focus on improving my technique.

Fluro

Training for Efficiency

To be a successful Ironman athlete you need Endurance, strength and then speed. On top of this you need to be Efficient. If you lack efficiency in any of the three disciplines no amount of training will give you the endurance, strength and speed required to be a successful Ironman athlete.
Swimming requires the greatest amounts of time to be devoted to developing an efficient stroke. The winter period is a good time to focus a large proportion of training in developing efficiency on the bike and run. Naturally if you become more efficient on the bike and run you will be able to bike and run longer, faster and with less effort. When you look at the professionals racing they always look like they are moving along effortlessly. Peter Reid is a good example of a guy who when he races he never looks like he is moving along that fast. Yet his IM run splits are the fastest in the world at the Hawaii Ironman. This comes down to him being such an efficient runner.
In the past I have come to realize the benefits on working on my stroke in the pool. Relentlessly working on drills has refined my freestyle into a long and effortless stroke which enables me to produce a sub 1hour IM swim time with very little swim training. I will now apply this same strategy to my bike training and run training.
On the bike I will look at producing a pedal stroke that will become effortless at the speed I desire to achieve (ie av sp 36kph). By developing an efficient pedal stroke you will benefit greatly when riding into headwinds, up hills and towards the end of the IM bike leg. For the run the same principles apply. I’ll work on running as efficiently as possible. This will benefit me in terms of running strong when I’m tired and especially towards the end of an IM run leg.
Training for the Ironman is not just about getting out there and doing it everyday. To be good at it you need to refine the finer details on how to be a successful athlete. Addressing the efficiency in the swim, bike and run is one way of improving your overall ability to maximize your training. Get out there and drill away.
Fluro

The long brick session

Building Bricks

My focus during the base phase will be the Long Brick. By the end of the base phase my goal is to be doing a brick session of 5/2. Since running off the bike is my greatest limiter I will logically focus on running long off the bike. Poor bike pacing has been a big contributor to me not running to my potential. Therefore, I believe building a long brick session into my training program will address this issue. If I have to decide between doing either a 6hr ride or a 4/2 brick I think the brick session will yield the greater returns if executed correctly.
Each week I will alternate between doing a long brick session, followed by a week with a long run and long bike. Each brick session will be done at an easy to IMpace. The only time I will increase the intensity of the long brick is when I enter into the build phase. Then I will gradually reduce the volume of the long brick while increasing the intensity up to HIMpace for various length of time.
My goal is to build my long run up to 2:30 and my long bike up to 6hrs. I think to be a sub 10 hr IM athlete I need to long brick to build up a clear race plan that will have me racing right to my potential. To establish this zone of intensity I will need to do race rehearsals that will enable me to find the right intensity to race at without going over the edge and blowing up.
Long brick session will give me the confidence and knowledge I require to race to my potential. During the bike leg I can focus on pacing and setting up my nutritional requirements for the run. It will be important to treat the bike as just another long solid bike training day. The difference being mainly that I will be riding the majority of the time on my tri-bars and at a much more consistent pace. As a tip I will also weigh myself before and after the bike to make sure I’m taking in enough fluids. On the run the focus will be to find the right intensity and pace as quickly as possible. I think mentally I will benefit from knowing that I’m about to head out for a 2:30 training run and by the end of the run my goal is to think that I can still run for another 1 hour in order to complete the full IM distance. Therefore, my aim is to be able to ride for 5 hrs and av around 35kph with the right hr and to run around 30km at 5min k pace and still have something left over in the tank. If I do I think then I have paced my long brick well.
If I blow up during any part of the run I’ll know then I have done something wrong. I would rather blow in training rather then on race day which is what has been happening to me in the past.

Stepping towards a 9:30IM

Stepping towards a 9:30 IM

After competing at IMOZ05 I have come to the conclusion that in order to qualify for Hawaii Ironman in the 35-39 age group category I will need to go at least a 9:30. Even then I will more then likely be waiting for a roll down.
Step 1: How fast will I need to go?
Achieving a 9.30 is fast. I have been doing some research lately and to achieve a 9:30 I will need to accomplish the following times
Swim: 53-57 minutes
Bike: 5:00-5:10 hours
Run: 3:20-3:30 hours

For example, a 55 swim, 5:05 bike and a 3:30 run will result in a 9:30 IM time and more then likely secure you a spot for Hawaii.
Now lets look at breaking those times above down into speeds. To swim around 55 minutes I will need to be able to comfortably hold 1:25 per 100m pace in the pool. To ride a 5 hour bike split I will need to average 36kph. To run a 3:30 marathon I will need to be able to hold 5min per k’s. When you look at the speeds required to achieve a 9:30 IM they look achievable on there own. However, being able to pull it off into an IM race is what the challenge is all about.
At Ironman Australia in the 35-39 age group a top 10 finish will almost secure you a Hawaii spot. Therefore, to achieve this you will need to be a FOP. That is, a front of the pack athlete.

Step 2: Building a plan
Now that I know how fast I need to go, the next step for me is to plan a program that will maximize my chances at achieving a 9:30 IM. At the moment I can swim 57, ride 5:10 and run a 3:58. In theory I need to find 2-4 minutes in the swim, another 5-10 minutes on the bike and a whopping 25 minutes on the run. Already this tells me my running is my No1 limiter. Therefore, my IM program will be built around a run focus. Secondly, to run well I will also need to focus on achieving a bike spilt that will leave me feeling fresh for the marathon. My IM run goal will only be realized if I have paced myself correctly on the bike.
I have come to the conclusion that my two main limiters therefore are
Run: Aerobic endurance
Bike: Strength endurance

Step 3: The basic week
My basic week to address my two main limiters will be as follows
Run: 5-6 times per week
1 long slow distance run: 2-2:15 hrs
1 medium run: 1:30 hrs
1 strength/hills run: 1hr
2-3 recovery runs: 30-50 min
Total time: 5 – 7 hrs
Bike: 4 times per week
1 Long slow distance bike: 5-6 hrs
1 Strength/hills session: 2 hrs
1 Aerobic ride: 1.5- 2 hrs
1 Recovery ride: 1- 1.5hrs
Total time: 9.5 – 11.5 hrs
Swim: 3 times per week
2 squad session: 1 – 1.5hrs
1 open water swim: 30 – 1hr
Total time: 2.5 – 4 hrs

This will mean I’m looking towards training around 17 – 22.5 hrs per week. Previously I have been training on average 15 hrs per week.
The next step now is to place these sessions into a weekly training schedule that will maximize my opportunity to train consistently and recovery well between each session.

Table 1: Week training outline

Monday
AM: Run medium
PM: Swim squad

Tuesday
AM: Bike recovery
PM: Run hills

Wednesday
AM:
PM: Bike hills

Thursday
AM: Run LSD
PM: Swim squad

Friday
AM: Recovery day optional bike or run

Saturday
AM: Bike LSD
PM: Run recovery

Sunday
AM: Run aerobic
PM: Swim open water

Now that I have my basic training week on paper it will be up to me to execute the sessions consistently each week. If I’m failing to reach my weekly targets I will then reassess my plan and make the necessary adjustments. The most important aspect of training is making sure that I’m not missing any of my key sessions (highlighted in bold).

In my next article will outline my annual training plan (ATP).

Fluro

Week ending 23th April 2005

Monday
Run 30min. 6km, av hr 145bpm
Very light run at lunchtime today. hr is still higher then normal but has dropped 3bpm since my last run.
Wednesday
Run 30min, 6km.
Very easy run again.
Saturday
Bike: 2:30, 60km.
Light ride up to Northern gates.

Very light week of training. Mentally I'm still in recovery mode. Will do at least two more weeks of recovery work before I start training again

Week ending 17th April 2005

Monday
Nil

Tuesday
Nil

Wednesday
Run 30min, 6km, Av hr 148
My first run in my new shoes (mizuno mavericks). Hr is about 1-15bpm higher then normal. Still recovering from IMOZ. ITB's feel tight

Thursday
nil

Friday
nil

Saturday
Run 30min, 6km, av hr 147
Hr is up. ITB's felt a bit better today

Sunday
Bike 2:30, 55km, av hr 117bpm
very light ride to Northern gates. hr good. effort good.

Total hrs 3.30

IMOZ05 race report

My plan at IMOZ this year was to break 10hrs. I did IMWA in 10.06 (57/5.11/3.58) and thought that I would have a good shot at breaking the 10hr barrier. After IMWA I decided I could make the biggest gains by improving my Bike ME and to run more frequently. My aim at Forster was to swim the same time and bike the same time, but at a more comfortable pace. For the run I decided to aim for a 3.30-3.40 marathon. After a 4 week break from IMWA I kicked off my plan with the decision to start running 5-6 times pw. Things to my suprise progressed really well. After about 10-12 weeks it became very comfortable for me to hold sub 5min k's. In fact I was running around 4.30-4.40min k's at Aet. I was starting to believe I had a real shot at running a 3.30 marathon which is 5 min k pace. At 4 weeks out from IMOZ I entered a HIM in Canberra. Had a good swim and a good bike. When I reached the 10km mark of the run, my feet began to burn. Whenever I ran up a hill the pain was 10 fold and I couldn't work out why. By the time I finished the run it felt like someone had a blow torch directed towards my toes. I have never been in so much pain. The following week I booked into a foot podiatrist and was diagnosed with Metatarsalgia.(a result of having a really high arch and wide foot) I had some orthotics made up and was limited to running only 30min 3 times pw. I was still detemined to race and race well.Race day reportSwim 57min.Perfect just what I wanted. No troubles, held my line, found some feet and tried to maintain a close, level but good distance from a swimmer on my breathing side. Bike 5.19 (av hr 148, max hr 163bpm)Had a great first lap. Very comfortable, although it did take a good hour for my hr to drop back below 150bpm. The second lap was annoying, got caught up in packs and of 30-40 riders. I have learn't now its impossible to ride away from them as you eventually get caught again and if you let them go you get caught by another pack. I did get pinned for drafting and it was my on stupid mistake. It was at the 160km mark. I was tired I had my head down working hard into a headwind. I was on my own when two guys came past I ignored them and didn't realise they were unable to hold there speed. When I looked up they were there and so was a draft buster who was following them. I took the 10min penalty and continued on. Like I said it was my mistake and my fault for not maintaining my focus on the road instead of my hr monitor and being diligent right through to the end of the bike. Run 4.30 (av hr 135bpm)I managed to make it to the 2km mark and the pain just got the better of me. The blow torch was back and it was ripping my toes apart. I saw my girlfriend and family by the time I hobbled through to the 5km mark. I literally broke down in front of them. I was so distressed by this stage I didn't know what to do. It's the first time I have ever wept in front of my parents and I was trying so hard to keep it together but the pain was just too overwhelming. It was their journey too and I felt like I was letting them down. I stopped by the side of the road with my family and talked to them. They were very supportive. I decided that I must continue. I have never DNF'ed and I don't ever want to. I took my orthotics out and said to my family that I'll walk the marathon and finish this thing no matter what. Quitting is not an option for me. So I continued. I ran when I could and walked when I had to. The pain was getting worse and worse. At some points I couldn't even walk up a hill, so a walked up them backwards. It worked. I made it to the 16km and found a medical tent. I was no in some serious need of assistance. They couldn't help. I was after drugs at this stage. Anything to numb the pain. But there was no solution. So I just kept going. One step at a time. Each step sending a very acute distressing pain through my toes. By the time I got back into town I had completed 21km and had 21km to go. It took me around 2.30. My girlfriend had rushed off and bought some chalk and had written some very personal and encouraging messages on the road for me to read. It kept me going. My family were there cheering me on giving me every reason not to think about the pain I was feeling. I told them I would be at least another 2.30-3.00 for the next 21km. However, that wasn't to be the case. I don't know why but when I hit the 26km mark of the run. I found that I was starting to run again. I was even running further each time. The pain was starting to numb my feet so much so that I couldn't even feel them anymore. Why?? I have know idea. at the 30km I was literally striding out again back holding 5min k's. I can't explain how that is possible and I wish I knew why. I seems like I was able to work through a pain barrier. I was back and I didn't have to walk once for the last 12km. My time for the last 12km was 58min. I got back into town and realised that I was now about 1hr ahead of what I told my girlfriend and family. Yet you know what, they were there at the finish waiting for me. Never have I been through such an emotional experience and to be able to share the experience with those I love has made it one of the most memorable days of my life. My goal next year is to have another go at qualifying for Hawaii. Aim high
Cheers
fluro
IMOZ05
The morning of the race. It ended up being a very long and eventful day.

ATP plan for 9.30 ironman

In order to achieve a 9.30 ironman time I'll need to attain the following splits;

1. 0:55 swim
2. 5:05 bike
3. 3:30 run

At the moment my best splits have been

1. 0:54 swim
2. 5:11 bike
3. 3:53 run

So I need to swim the same, bike 6min faster and run a whopping 23min's quicker. It's a big ask but I think it can be down with the right training.

Running a 3:30 IM marathon

To run this time I will need to make running my focus. I'll start by do 30 minute runs 6 times per week. From there I'll build up my running each week, working on a 4 week on 1 week off cycle, until I'm reaching the following distances.

• 1 long run 2-2:15 hr
• 1 medium-long run 1:30 hr
• 1 Strength/hill run 1 hr
• 1 speed/skills session 40- 1hr
• 2 recovery runs 30minutes

All runs will be kept at a easy to Aet pace until I'm comfortable running the above protocol

My long run will be the most important run for the week. I will make sure I don't miss that session. It will vary from week to week when I do my long run but I will make sure I don't miss it and that I run it on fresh legs.

Bike 5:05

My bike leg is one of my strongest disciplines. I think I'll be able to achieve a 5:05 next year. However, the key will be able to ride a 5:05 and still be fresh by the end of it. Last year I rode a 5:11 at IMWA and felt comfortable coming off the bike. This year I will follow a similar approach to training. That is, ride between 10-15 hrs pw and ride hills as much as possible. It is a simple and straight forward approach really. Just ride as much as I can. The key to having a strong bike leg is directly related to volume. The more you do the stronger you'll be.

Only when the winter endurance phase is complete will I start incorporating specific IM bike training.

Swim 0:55min

Swimming is not an issue at all. I only swam 1-2 sessions pw this year and I still managed a 57min swim. Over winter I'll work of form and economy by swimming at least twice pw. At about 16wks out from IMPM06 I will increase my swim volume up to 4-5 sessions pw. By then I should have the bike and run endurance where I want hopefully.

The machine
This is my Giant TCR1. Best bike I have ever owned. It's feels good to finally be riding on carbon fibre. Ive setup myself up using the big slam theory. It works better for me, as I now have more power with less effort.

Paul and Buns at Forster

Triathlon goals for 2006

Today is my first post on this Blog. I'm doing this to share with you my attempt at trying to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman 2006. I'll be training up the Ironman Australia 2006.
At the momment I'm recovering from IMOZ05. Didn't have a good race there becuase Im suffering from metatarsglia, which really affected my run. I discovered I had it after competing in the sri chinmoy long course race 4weeks before forster. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get on top of the injury before the race.
At the the moment I'm in transition phase (4 weeks). I have two more weeks to go before I start my preparation for the Gold Coast 1/2 in October.
My goals over winter are to

1. (Goal IM run time 3:30)Increase my run frequency to 5-6pw. I'll do this only when I have fully recovered from my foot injury
2. (Goal IM bike time 5:05)Maintain bike volume of 10-15 hours pw. The goal here is to work on my strength over winter. I'll be riding in the hills as much as possible during this time
3. (goal IM swim time 55min)Maintain swmimming through winter. Weather permitting I hope to be able to swim at least twice a week in order to improve my technique.
4. (Overall goal 9.30) I think in order to qualify for Hawaii I'll need to go at least 9.30. At the moment my quickest IM to date is 10:06 (57/5.11/3.58)

At the moment running is my biggest limiter and I have yet to have a good IM run result. A lot of this comes down to poor bike pacing and lack of endurance. Through winter my main focus will be on running conisistently. Inbetween running I will then focus on improving my bike endurance.