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

Every year Team Endurance Nation holds a February bike challenge to liven things up a bit. Anyone on the Team can play, and point are awarded on an intensity basis such that even indoor riders can be “competitive” with their west coast / warm weather teammates. During the 2010 edition, 26 total athletes earned points!

• 1pt = 60′ of JRA/Zone 1
• 1pt = 30′ of Work/Zone 3
• 1pt = 15′ of FTP/LTHR/Zone 4
• 1pt = 7′ of Very Hard / Zone 5 / 30-30s
• BONUS: 3 points for riding all 3 days!

Boyz vs Chicas
There was an information BvG challenge, and it wasn’t even a contest. The Chicas totally dominated, putting up 112 points over the three days while the Boys managed a measly 64 points. Total domination!

Individual Leaders
On the boyz side, the overall points leader was Dave Halligan with 20.77 points. For the ladies, Marianne Park took top honors with 19 points…that’s legit!

Videos & Pictures
We had a video montage from Coach Mike and indoor helmet cam action from Hayes S and a post-bike ride check in from Nemo. There were even plenty of pictures to be had. Here’s one from Nemo taken pre-ride and all smiles!

All in all, it was a killer event and well “attended” given the time of year. Hope you can join us for our next challenge or see you next year!

Patrick

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Question: Are marathons required, or even useful, for triathlon training, especially Ironman?

Rich Strauss: In general, as a training tool I answer with a loud no/not very and here is why:

• I’m a triathlon coach
• You are a triathlete = you want to swim, bike, and run faster
• In my world:
  • Faster Bike = interval training creating higher watts/speed at threshold which are translated to faster cycling all distances once we put endurance under it.
  • Faster Run = Higher VDot number (per Jack Daniels methods for training with pace), creating faster HIM and IM run times once we put endurance under it.
• Marathon training then creates some significant opportunity costs for the triathlete looking to become a faster triathlete

1. At some point marathon training begins to compromise get-faster-on-the-bike training.
2. Marathon training, in my experience, is not the best and most time efficient tool to make someone a faster runner, to lift their VDot. Stronger, more durable, can go longer…yes…but for me that’s what we do in the last 16wks or so before an IM. Before that we focus on making you faster.
3. The net is that you don’t really get that much faster at either: your marathon training isn’t super great cuz you’ve still got your triathlete hat on = riding a bike, etc. And your bike doesn’t get much faster because you’re having to compromise your bike training because of all the marathon running you’re doing.

• The significant accomodation/recovery hole punched into your schedule: 2wk taper on the front end, and the 3-4wks required to recover for a marathon on the back end. That’s a BIG 4-6wk “accommodation hole” which, depending on the time of year, distance from your race, etc, can be a total non-starter.

Me, tri coach, sez to you, triathlete, that’s NOT a good idea to do a marathon if your goal is to improve your triathlon times.

That said, this is all just a game, your fitness is a vehicle for doing cool stuff and, for you, maybe this marathon is just something you want to do. I totally get that. If you read all of the above and it makes sense…but you just gotta do the Podunk Marathon because you’re running with your twin sisters and dad will be there to watch…go for it! Just don’t expect it to help your tri-mojo, may likely hurt it, but if you’re cool with it, go for it. However, if you are going to run a marathon, I recommend taking off the tri-hat all together and just train for an run a very, very good marathon.

Or train for a marathon and run a half marathon instead, as the recover cost of that course of action is MUCH smaller than doing the actual marathon.

This opportunity cost, accommodation hole conversation is one I’ve had with about a thousand athletes over the years, especially fast dudes/ettes racing Boston in route to IMCDA or IMLP. Just a bad idea, but I get it, and support them, when they still want to do it.

Rich Strauss

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This post is part of a new series of articles exploring core elements of the Endurance Nation team and training concept. With over 400 members from all walks of life and levels of experience, Endurance Nation has a veritable repository of triathlon training and racing experience. Our goal is to highlight common elements we all share as triathletes, as well as place the spotlight on some of our most powerful member groups such as our 50+ “boomer” clan and of course the incredibly powerful women’s vibe.

If you’re a beginner to the sport triathlon, you’ve likely caught the bug and you’re excited about training.  Welcome.  You have found a community of athletes that embraces new folks and has an incredible way of helping people rise in the ranks and achieve everything that they wanted — and sometimes even more than they ever anticipated.  The journey is a long one and there will absolutely be challenges on the way. But know that the only thing that can stop you from realizing your tri-potential is you…stopping yourself.  Which brings us to the second point: train like a beginner but don’t think like one.

• Start small.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
• Take incremental steps, keep the volume low at first, make it fun, and pick cool events.
• Don’t over-reach and sign up for an Ironman in your first year.
• Keep it social and have fun with the sport.
• Grow with the sport as your physical abilities develop.

But whatever you do, don’t THINK like a beginner.

You don’t need to handicap your own development by putting yourself in a special wave. Other triathletes certainly won’t treat you as second class, and your new experiences and fresh perspective will do a lot to improve the game of everyone around you. You aren’t a liability; you are an asset. You don’t need to be coddled right now; you need to be challenged.

• You can think like a veteran out of the gate.
• You can strive to have the best transition in the world.
• You can have a pro bike fit, or at least a really solid bike.
• You can build a great training schedule.
• You can start riding with a local group of roadies and develop an “A” cycling game.
• You can bring incredible focus to nutrition and recovery.
• You can train with intensity, or power, and start getting stronger and faster today.

Most importantly, you can skip several years down the path to realizing your tri-potential by avoiding all the mistakes your fellow triathletes have made. There are no rewards for following previously blazed paths. No merit badges for making the same mistakes.

This is perhaps the most powerful element of Endurance Nation; the ability to share with — and learn from — your triathlon peers. But it’s not something we own or have copywritten; there are awesome triathletes willing to connect with your right in your own neighborhood…you just have to find and engage them.

There are so many different components that make the sport of triathlon highly personal.  There’s how to train and what to race; there’s what you wear and what you eat.  There’s what you are good at and what you need to practice. You will rise to each challenge along the way, in your own personal way, as part of your journey. In other words, we’ll all cross that finish line at the end of the day, it’s more a function of how you get there than whether you’ll make it or not.

If I could go back in time to my early days in the sport, I would give myself two pieces of advice:

Take better care of your body and set reasonable expectations on it’s ability to progress; and
The more you think and behave like a smart veteran triathlete, the sooner you’ll actually become one.

Good luck!

Coach Patrick

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Meet The Team: Tucker McKeever

Coach Patrick talks to Tucker, a relatively new member, about Endurance Nation, training in Jersey, making his own wine and preparing for a killer 2010 season. Check it out!

Click Here to Download the File

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Question: what power zones/levels should I be targeting during my Ironman training?

Rich Strauss: The power training world speaks the power language described by Coggan and Allen in “Training with Power,” the WKO+ software, etc. This is based on Functional Threshold Power (FTP), or your average watts for a 60′ time trial effort. Training and racing zones are then prescribed as a percentage/fraction of this power.

In my experience, the zones described in the book above and in WKO aren’t very descriptive and are too broad. This is how we work the issue with our athletes. Below are percentages of FTP.

• 70-75% = Ironman-flavor intensity. Per my earlier post on this thread, we spend more time here closer to the race, as this is where you’re going to race at.
• 80-85% = Half IM intensity, spend more time here closer to an HIM. It’s also the default training zone of our athletes, as it really, really racks up the training stress of a ride very quickly. Very time efficient place to sit. It’s described as “Sweet Spot Training.”
• 95-100% = “make you faster” intensity. We do lots and lots of intervals here, in order to drive up FTP, making the athlete faster at all intensity.
• 120% = Vo2 Max intensity that we usd for very special purposes in our off-season.

In short, the answer to your question is “it depends on what you’re trying to achieve, where you are in your season plan.” You dial in different zones to achieve different effects and you target different effects depending where you are in the your season.

For much more detail and insights on the “how to train for Ironman” question, please read these blog posts.

• Five Keys of IM Training, Part I
• Part II

Rich Strauss

Want to take part in a conversation with us? Just follow TeamEN on Twitter, and Tweet us your question, link to your forum or blog post and we’ll do our best to share our ideas with you and your friends!

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