Endurance Nation | Online Triathlon Coaching & Community

Part One of Four Installments; Please visit the Endurance Nation Podcast Channel for the podcast that accompanies this article.

Coach Patrick getting it done at IMCDA’08

This article is the first in a four part series. Today we will analyze Coach Patrick’s performance within the context of the Endurance Nation Four Keys of Long Course Triathlon. In Part Two we will discuss his application of our racing with power framework. In Part Three we will discuss a new tool for us: racing with pace and what we have learned from our performances and those of our athletes. Finally, in Part Four, we will discuss what we have learned with regards to building IM fitness, refining IM execution, and our plans for applying those lessons to our Endurance Nation members.
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Strauss IMCDA’08 Race Report

10:25:42, 15th AG, 97th OA

Sorry I’m a little late. I did this as a podcast earlier in the week but didn’t like it. I’ve since had my head wrapped around some other things.

One Thing(s)

1. Execute the best race I can.
2. Run under 3:40
3. Go under 10hrs

If you’ve read Patrick’s race report you have a good idea of our pre-race stuff. We had a long admin list and it didn’t feel like I was able to turn my head off until sometime Friday evening. Not a big deal though.

On Saturday we slept in, hung out at the condo, and then check out bikes in. We hooked up Steve Cramer and his wife Amy, in town to register for CDA, over lunch. Much to Steve’s chagrin, I risked the race on a bowl of chili. Happy to report that all was well downstairs. Patrick and I each had a Vanilla Bourbon Stout at the CDA Brewing Company. Very tasty!

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Pre Race Talk, EN Style

It’s official…Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2008 is in the books! After much planning and training, EN descended on the Northwest US on a mission. With more than 15 folks racing the big day, we had quite a big footprint. It was really cool to be a part of such a large group…you almost couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a fellow EN member!

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Stats: 1:07 swim / 5:23 bike / 3:26 run, add transitions for a race time of 10:04 which was good for 7th AG and 46th OA. I picked up a Kona slot from the rolldown (there were 6 slots, 3 rolled and 1 was added, so it went to 10th place in the group). Geeks, please see the power data at the very bottom.

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Short version (from an EN Athlete) of how I got it done…long version follows:

• During IM training, launch a new business.
• Make sure your business partner is in a time zone 3 hours different than yours so you can always be at odds on scheduling.
• Schedule a race in mid June so you can rack up lots of TSS on the trainer or suffer frost bite.
• Be a father to a toddler.
• 8 weeks out, have another baby.
• 6 weeks out, get in a head-on collision.
• 4 weeks out, travel 6 hours by car while still recovering from accident to put on camp.
• Chase a bunch of yahoos around IMUSA bike course in car and be forced to sleep on air mattress to accommodate clients (aka yahoos)
• Give up all hope of racing IMCDA due to inability to walk after biking. AKA – forced taper.
• 3 weeks out, say WTF, I feel ok, I can do this.
• Race Day: Rip it up and post one of your best times ever.

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Still working on the EN wrap up from IMCDA, but saw this in the EN Forum yesterday and wanted to pass it along. Tom Evans, teh men’s winner in a time of 8:34, gave a real quick race report and outlined two key things that are very similar to how we get work done here inside Endurance Nation:  (1) trading long, aerobic efforts for quality sessions in the pool and on the road; and (2) waiting until the 10km mark of the run to really start racing.  Read the full report on Slowtwitch here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.c…;so=ASC;mh=25;

All  of this will be outlined in our Long Course Manual (due any day now!!!!) but it’s really interesting to see that even elite athletes, like Tom, can do less and get more out of it.  No ride over 4 hours, no runs over 2 hours. Plenty of intensity in his long ride and run…and even in the pool. I love that he cites work constraints as holding him back…sounds like an Age Grouper to me!!!

As for the racing element, waiting until the 10k mark…well, that sounds an awful lot like our Four Keys to Long Course Triathlon, where we recommend folks don’t think of the race as starting until Mile 18. I guess the pros have a bit more flexibility in where they apply their work…but it’s not all that different!

Do Less, Get More…
Go Harder, Get Faster…
No 7 hour rides and 4 hour runs…
Sounds like triathlon is getting to be fun again!

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