Endurance Nation coaches Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann introduce and discuss their system for preparing for and executing the Iron distance run leg using Pace. The text below is an introduction. Please read and then listen to the podcast. Be sure to also visit the Endurance Nation Podcast Channel to browse our library of podcasts.
At Ironman CDA 2008, both Rich and Patrick raced with powermeters and GPS devices. Putting our fitness (and our race strategies) on the line, we learned a great deal about what does and doesn’t work. What we realized is that just like the Endurance Nation Racing with Power Protocol, we can give explicit pace-based instructions for how to execute an Ironman run. No more guesstimating your IM run time off of past run/race performances or estimating finishing times based on your pace over the first few miles. With our pace protocol you will be able to identify your race day running potential and then set your sights appropriately out of T2. Soon triathletes will be able to combine this pace guidance with our Power Protocols and Four Keys DVD for the ultimate race day strategy and execution package!
Why Use Pace?
We race with pace because pace metrics give us precise measurements of the work your body is doing at any given time. One of the biggest challenges AG athletes face on race day is identifying the proper set of actions given the overwhelming nature of the environment they are in: other racers, managing nutrition, weather challenges, fluctuating heart rate numbers, etc. Pace cuts through all of this because:
- We define fitness as the ability to perform work at a specific race. Run at a specific pace, push specific watts on the bike. Racing according to pace ensures that you are never running faster than the pace you have demonstrated in training to be right for you.
- An 8:00 mile is an 8:00 mile, whether you ran it at home in the dead of winter or at mile two of the IM marathon. Pace doesn’t lie.
Pace then becomes the objective metric we use to tie together the subjective metrics of heart rate and perceived exertion. Tools like the Garmin 305 and CyclingPeaks WKO+ v2.2 allow us to analyze the training and racing data of our athletes, determine a pacing strategy that works, and communicate this strategy to them in a manner that is easy to apply on race day. This analysis is exactly the process that led us to our Racing with Power system and we’ve now applied this attention to detail to run pacing. The Endurance Nation Training and Racing with Pace eBook is in the works and will be available soon!
Pace System Background
The methodology behind the pace information in our training plans follows Jack Daniel’s Running Formula (book on Amazon.com), a carefully crafted approach that uses Pace instead of HR as the primary training metric. To give a very quick summary (not doing the topic justice), Daniel’s was able to quantify time-trial information into a VDot score. This score is then linked to specific paces that can be integrated into training for any distance race. For example, Ricky Runner does a 40:00 10k effort, yielding a vDot of 51.8. Using Daniel’s Running Formula, Ricky now has pace targets for various sessions as well as predicted race finish times for various distances all based off of his current fitness as proven in the TT.
How It Works
Endurance Nation athletes test their VDot scores throughout the season by performing 5k tests within their training plans. We use their final VDot score to determine their expected range of IM marathon time, then use this to develop their pacing plan. For example, based on a VDot of X, the athlete can expect to run the IM marathon within a range of 3:4x and 3:5x. To accomplish this, they will run at a specific pace for the first 4-6 miles of the run, then settle into another pace for the remainder of the race. Rather than running to what they think or feel they can do, they instead run the pace the data says they CAN do. The only way that TeamEN athletes can earn the right to run faster on race day is by lifting their VDot in training. This approach mirrors our power-racing guidance on the bike, where higher watts on race day are earned through a higher FTP achieved in training.
General IM Race Day Pace Keys
The goal of this approach is to have you run as best you can for as long as you can. Ultimately, the system was created to help you avoid walking huge parts of the marathon. For beginner IM athletes, this means going very easy at the start in order to negative split the run. For advanced IM athletes this means running as close to an even split as possible, sitting right on your race day running potential. Stick to the plan even it if feels easy and prove us wrong by drilling it the last 10k and passing tons of people.
- Execution hinges upon proper preparation; KNOW what you can run (based on your training) and run to that fitness level. Countless athletes ruin race day by competing at a given level based on how they feel in the moment instead of choosing the level at which that their body has consistently trained. This arousal control problem could be called “performance induced amnesia” it is so common.
- When determining your pacing plan, forget the minutae and start with a big picture plan to negative split your run. In other words, you need to choose a pace for the first half that is easy enough that you know you’ll be able to run faster in the second half.
- Remember that going easy at the start is the key; only doing that will allow you to keep running well at the end when everyone else is hitting the wall.
Conclusion
Our system helps you to generate a real Run Target Time based on actual fitness, not guesswork. Even if you have to adjust on race day, you will be doing a pace you have earned through training, not guesswork. Speaking of adjusting, our direction here to is have our athletes be prepared to select a proper run pace (and strategy) based on how long they have been on the bike. Generally speaking — even with the most dialed pacing plans — the longer you are on the bike, the more time you’ve had to accumulate fatigue in your legs at the start of the run. We’ve seen this in the power files of our EN athletes riding bike splits above about 6:15. The evolution of this system is largely an effort to deliver a better protocol to these athletes. A protocol that accounts for their increased fatigue, not some goal they cooked up four weeks ago with their buddies.
While our Racing with Pace Protocol is still in development, hopefully you can see just how powerful this tool could be for race day performance. Knowing your fitness (vDOT) means knowing your potential; knowing your potential means you can prepare to race accordingly or train to a higher potential. Regardless of what you choose, this approach is sure to change your race day results. We will soon release a Training and Racing with Pace, for Multisport, ebook.
Next week we will put it all together, sharing the training and racing lessons we’ve learned so far from the results of our athletes as they’ve applied the tools our system to their races at IMCDA and IMLP
Like what you’ve read and heard in the series so far? Join our Team today!
Part IV: Putting It All Together
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