Endurance Nation | Triathlon Coaching, Ironman Training, Half Ironman, Beginner Triathlon

The kids are back to the books, leaves are starting to turn and the evening and morning temperatures are starting to cool off – or at least they are here in the North. Just a few sure signs that it is September and must be time for Ironman Wisconsin in Madison.

While the bike course showcases the states dairy farmland, the swim and run stay right in Madison – home to Big Ten Conference University of Wisconsin Badgers and Camp Randall Football Stadium. Participants on Sunday will get to run two laps inside the stadium as part of the run course although none of the 80,000 plus seats will be occupied.

Here’s a snapshot of the TeamEN athletes racing. As always, remember you can track Team EN and our athletes during race week and on race day via the Endurance Nation homepage. If you will be in Madison this weekend, be sure to check out EN’s FREE Four Keys Talk on Friday 10am, by Ford Display in Expo…or view our full schedule of events online here.

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BRYAN BIGARI
First IM for Bryan. Aside from some half marathon runs, Bryan says this will, in fact, be his first triathlon since a sprint in 1991. His thoughts on race day: “I’m trying to keep all expectations out of my head, and just worry about executing on my plans. The times will fall out where they will but I can’t control that. I’ve got 2 “One things”. The lofty one is I want my kids to see that you can achieve Big Things with persistence and hard work. My more banal, “in-case-of-emergency-break-the-glass” one thing is in all my years of running races I’ve never been reduced to uncontrollable walking, and I’m certainly not going to start now!”

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BILL WISEMAN
This will Bill’s 4th IM but first time in Madison. For race day: “My expectations for the race can all be bundled into one sentence….”enjoy the experience”. We train for months for one MAJOR day of testing, and it goes by so quickly….yea, the run drags on and on, but before you know it, you’re on the plane home wondering what races to plan for the next year.” Oh, ain’t that the truth! Bill’s ‘one thing’: “My one thing is to make all race day decisions to accomplish good, solid running in the last 10k of the marathon. I’ve never focused on this before, and certainly never accomplished it. The single goal I have for this race is to run the marathon in less than 4 hours, period. If I can accomplish that, everything else will take care of itself.”

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JOHN DANNENFELDT
In 2005 John raced his first Ironman in Madison after a losing 60 pounds during his training preparation. If you remember 2005 was the ‘hot one’ in Madison. This year John returns to Ironman Wisconsin for his second IM and down yet another 20 pounds! John says he is “feeling good after DecOS, several run/bike challenges and the bike Power Hack.” His race day goal is one of great personal gratification: “to move from AgeGrouper(53) Back-Of the-Packer to Mid-pack AgeGrouper(57) in swim, run and bike times by executing well.” His ‘one thing’: “My one thing is to run between all the aid stations.” John’s wife Teresa will once again be at the helm for IM support crew.

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DAVE BARR
This will also be a return to Madison for IM number two for Dave Barr. His first IM was in Madison in 2007. Dave has struggled this training year with a stress fracture since July that has limited his running. His expectations: “I am expecting the swim and bike to go well, hoping to be able to make it through the run pain free. I’m looking to improve on my 2007 time if my leg agrees. My one thing is to show my daughters that if you really want to do something, it is possible, no matter what other people might think or say.”

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JOSHUA CHOATE
AKA “the Noodle”, from Prior Lake, MN, is ready for his first Full Ironman experience. This fall in Madison, Wisconsin Josh will be celebrating a significant milestone in his life. Two years ago in October of 2007 he decided that enough was enough and started the process of losing weight and getting in shape. Little did he know at the beginning of this adventure that he would not only lose 84 pounds and get healthy, but he would become a triathlete and be racing Ironman. After a year of training with EN, a summer racing, swimming lessons and just getting out there, he is excited to cross that finish line and hear “Joshua Choate you are an Ironman!” He has a first timer request. If you see him out on the course, yell, “Noodle! You rock!” Josh’s “One Thing” for race day is: The finish line.

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MATTHEW ANCONA
Matt is going for IM number two and second time in Madison. His first endurance event was the Chicago Marathon in 2004 which set him in motion to finish and Ironman. In 2007 he did just that – racing just to finish. With the IM goal in tow he shifted his focus to the pinnacle: Ironman World Championship in Kona. He has spent the last two years improving all three disciplines and racing in shorter races. His race day focus: “My race day focus this year will be executing well during the swim and the bike in order to set me up for a great run. I am racing for a trip to Kona for my first child (due in February).”

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JESSE SPATES
This will be the second attempt at an IM Wisconsin for Jesse. IM Wisconsin was the site of his first IM attempt in 2007. Jesse said he had a plan in 2007 but really didn’t follow it on the bike as close as he should have. The off-plan racing impacted his run and he DNF’d 2 years ago. He is back this year with Endurance Nation education under his belt ready to re-write the history book on Madison. As you may have guessed, his ‘one thing’: “Reclaim some confidence that I left in Madison on the course during my last attempt at IM WI in 2007.”

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Coach Rich and Coach Patrick discuss why you don’t want to run a marathon in the off-season, at least not for the purpose of improving your Ironman run time.

Coach Patrick

Coach Rich

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On September 15 we will email the 350+ members of our Waitlist with a link to create a FREE Endurance Nation trial membership. This link will be turned off after 100 trial memberships have been created – or – on September 30, whichever comes first.

Trial Members will have through September 30 to check out the Team, the Coaches, our resources, and the Team vibe. We’ll even give them a sample 1wk training plan and other resources that they can take for a spin, for free, with no obligation to purchase or become a member.

Interested in one of these 100 trial membership opportunities?
You must join the waiting list before September 14 to receive an invitation.

Click here to join the Waitlist.

Why the free trial through September 30?
Over the years we’ve found it very difficult to explain, on the outside, what the Team and everything that comes with it is like on the inside. Our best filter has been to just let you come inside to interact with us, the Team, our mojo and our resources. If we are a good fit for you, you’ll figure that out. If we’re not, you’ll figure that out also. This will help ensure that we only have new members who really want to be a part of our Team.

Why join Endurance Nation in October?
Hopefully you’ve seen the results and testimonials of our athletes. Many of you have seen us and the Team at the races: 25-35 athletes, and families, at every US Ironman. Kona slots, podium spots, huge PRs. Local “sleeper cells,” member-organized training camps, and even the EN Gang Sign…these things are all products of the training, learning, and Team vibe we create in the OutSeason.

We have taken steps to ensure that the 2010 OutSeason will be our best yet, by asking most of the Team to aim for a November start. This will give new members four weeks to get integrated, plan their seasons, and much more. The fact is that the longer you can be inside our house, especially during a time of year when we are not distracted by racing, the more you can take advantage of our training, learning, and accountability systems.

The net is that our fastest, smartest, best-est, most fun-having athletes have traditionally started with us in the OutSeason. This is simply just the best time to join Endurance Nation!

Interested in receiving a trial membership invitation and possibly joining our Team?

Join the waiting list today.

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In Part I we introduced you to the notion that fitness is in the muscles, not the cardiovascular system. In Part II we discussed the principles of Specificity and Return on Investment, urging you to delete that 4th newsletter this month espousing the benefits of off-season strength training. Let’s put these together in an example that illustrates the Endurance Nation training method compared to traditional endurance training. It’s TeamEN against TeamYou and to make things interesting, we’ll be playing tug-o-war!

The Teams

Our teams are going to pull against each other on the rope. You figure that the match might last a long time, so you’ll need to train your aerobic fitness. Off-Season Training Article Number 57 that you’ve read this winter tells you that running and cycling at low to moderate intensities are excellent ways to build your aerobic fitness, as measured by your heart rate. So you and your team follow this advice, while poundiit’s ng out lots of bench presses, squats, bicep curls and seated rows. You’re very serious about this whole business and all this varied training requires 10-13 hours a week…in the cold and dark of winter, shoehorned into holiday shopping, family activities, and closing out those end-of-the-year projects at work.

We, however, take a look at our team and see that some of the dudes are wearing blue shirts that say “Team Slow-Twitch.” Others are in red “Team Fast-Twitch” shirts. We put them on the rope and see that the blue guys can pull all day with a moderate amount of force. The red guys can really yank on the rope a couple times but then they are done and need to sit on the bench for a while to recover. They all have real lives and can only train 6-8 hours a week in the winter.

To accrue the biggest bang from training time dollar spent, the TeamEN plan might look like this:

• If you want to get really good at pulling on a rope, pull on a rope! Since all the muscles have to work together to pull the rope, doesn’t it make sense to work the muscles in this same fashion? What’s a better way to do this than applying the principal of specificity? Why work these same muscles in a different capacity and then try to transfer the strength? More importantly…we’re busy. If our job is to pull on a rope, the most efficient use of our time is to meet in the sand lot, tug on the damn rope, then go about our business.
• Our Game Day Strategy is to start out with the Blues, since they can pull all day. Then, as the competition requires more force, we will bring in the Reds and stick them on the rope as needed.

TeamEN Training
So how does this ROI-driven, Principle of Specificity strategy manifest itself in training?

• Have the Blues pull hard on the rope for a long time so they can become stronger and longer rope pullers.
• Have the Reds pull hard a lot—if some can convert from Reds to Blues, then more Blues can be put on the rope and we can all pull longer before Reds are needed from the bench.
• When working on pulling, Blues and Reds pull hard—both groups need to be the strongest and longest they can be.

The Showdown
After 16 weeks of training the two teams meet. Remember that each team has 20 members: 15 Blue (Slow-Twitch) and 5 Red (Fast-Twitch).

First, it’s Blue on Blue. The pulling starts and since our Blues are very good at pulling on a rope (remember, we’ve focused on higher intensity, event specific training sessions, not lifting weights, etc), we only have to put eight Blues on the rope to your ten Blues. We still have seven Blues and five Reds on the bench, while you only have another five Blues left. Your Reds are sitting there in the team bus, where they’ve been all along, not being called upon to do any work.

You call in another two Blues to help pull—we match that with another two of ours. Since our ten are pulling at a smaller percentage of their own individual strength because they’ve become very, very strong Blues, and very good at pulling on a rope, we have more capacity — and still haven’t called in the rest of the Blues or even touched the Reds yet. We want to make that happy hour at the local pub so we have two Reds join—they yank that rope and the competition is done. We’ve still got three Blues and three Reds on the bench—you’re whole team is face down in the sand. Your Reds are still on the bus, untrained and unused.

The Translation
It’s a funny example, but it’s very relevant: endurance training is no different from what we have explained above. Here’s why.

Motor Recruitment: Each training session is nothing more than an opportunity to recruit motor units. The more you activate a motor unit, the more it begins to take on slow-twitch characteristics.  As you increase the intensity of the training session, you recruit all of the slow-twitch fibers and begin to recruit fast-twitch. Each flavor of muscle cell becomes better and better at what they do. The slow-twitch fibers become really good at being slow-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers begin to take on the characteristics of slow-twitch fibers: they can go longer. Your capacity for work will increase: slow-twitch fibers become better and stronger at what they do.

Adaptation Through Use: If you only ride or at very low effort levels, you will primarily recruit and train slow-twitch fibers. The fast-twitch fibers in the quadriceps will not be recruited significantly, so they will not adapt or change. However, if you do a significant amount of moderate or high intensity work, you recruit a higher percentage of ALL of your muscle fibers — slow, intermediate and fast-twitch — causing a shift in their characteristics towards slow-twitch. As a result, they produce less lactate and improve their fatigue resistance, which drives up your lactate threshold and sustainable pace/power.

The Value of Lactate Threshold Training: Training at an intensity that approximates your lactate threshold intensity effectively raises your speed/pace at all intensities. Your slow-twitch fibers are recruited and the frequent use of your fast-twitch fibers helps them take on the characteristics of slow-twitch fibers…this is a big win-win in the endurance world.

The Training is Low-Volume, because It Simply Needs to Be: Your reality, as a age grouper training in the winter, on the OutSeason, is cold, dark, short days, and numerous personal comittments, at the beginning of what likely be a very, very long training season. This reality demands that you keep your training time investment as low as possible, for as long as possible. You need to achieve a high ROI on a minimum time investment.

The bottom line is that the best value for your limited time is to focus on sport-specific activities. If you want to swim, bike, and run faster and longer, you’ll need to spend time swimming, biking and running. Build your faster now, in the winter, when the calendar, weather, and other considerations are stacked against you. Adding “far” isn’t hard at all, especially once the seasons change. And since you’ll be faster from a winter of quality training, going further will be a lot more fun!

Interested in learning more? We’d like to invite you to attend our FREE five week “Rethinking the OutSeason” Virtual Seminar. We’ll cover these topics above in much greater detail while also teaching you the basics of training with power, pace, annual scheduling, and much more. During the seminar you’ll receive our OutSeason, Training with Power, and Training with Pace eBooks (3 total).

You’ll also automagically become an ENFan, receiving a FREE Four Keys DVD, 10% training plan discount, and an invitation to create a FREE 14-day trial membership to TeamEN, September 20 through October 4!

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Download it here. Or if your a visual person, then watch the coaches recap of the race week adventure here!

Tune in as Coach Patrick talks about the Team, the race, some insider tips…and some other administratively fun stuff. No, really.

But he refuses to explain this photo:

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