We have a lot of cool projects on the burner back here behind the EN Curtain, one of which is the “EN Black Belt Project,” a collaborative effort with our Team to share with you their experiences and secrets for taking their training and racing to the next level.
One topic for discussion has been “What is the definition of a good run?” I’d like to share with you our thoughts:
Goal vs Practical Application
First, let’s figure out what flavor of “good” are we trying to answer?
- Goal: “Given my run fitness, what would be a good run for me on race day?” Through analyzing the run performances of our team this season, we’ve decided that the EN definition of a good run goal is to run the Ironman marathon at the E-pace of your VDot (read the Jack Daniels Running Formula). For example, 3wks out from IMCDA you determine that your VDot is 49, yielding an E-pace of 8:40 per mile. Your goal “good” run time is then an 3:47, which is 8:40 pace.
- Practical Application: while it is certainly helpful to define this, mostly for the efficacy of post-race analysis, I’m personally more interested in answering the question of how do we get there with the training, fitness, and execution tools we have available. I’m a “how do I use the hammer” kinda guy, I guess.
Below are our observations:
You Gotta Run Fast to Run Fast
Our athletes are all on the same page, and nowhere else has a community reached this level of agreement, that “most” of running faster on race day is about proper execution, not training. Which is to say, there are many, many folks out there who are under-running to their potential because they just don’t execute well…and I’ll talk more about that below. But, execution aside, the fundamental basis for a faster run is the ability to just run faster. That’s not rocket science.
What Endurance Nation does differently is we build that faster running potential in the off-season. If you haven’t already done so, please read our Off-Season Intervention Series, and download our most recent free ebooks for more detail: Endurance Nation Off-Season Training Guide and Heart Rate Training Redefined.
Of course, we assume a degree of endurance and durability at the start of the Out-Season, but our aim then is to focus on building speed here, not endurance. Our experience is that we can focus on speed in the out-season, get our folks MUCH faster while still keeping them healthy. We have months and months to build their endurance and durability.
Then You Put Far/Durability on Top of Fast
When we move to General Prep, we begin to put volume on top of this Fast, building Far (endurance) and durability. We keep it rolling through Race Prep as we get closer to race day.
The Four Running-Specific Race Day Execution Keys
The Endurance Nation athlete, with toe in the water at the starting line, knows that all she has done, through months and months of training, is to build a vehicle. Race day is about driving that vehicle successfully and we, as a team, are very focused on creating excellent race day drivers — race execution ninjas, if you will 
- Define success and get your mind right about OUR definition of success: Ironman = not slow down at the Line, usually Mile 18, where it gets very tough very quickly.
- Don’t over-cook the bike: We have tons and tons of data that says your stupid, ruin-your-whole-day potential is highest in the first 45′/120′ of an HIM/IM. We drill it in your head how high this potential is and urge you to not be stupid. In our experience, if you’ve done it right for those first 45′/120′ minutes, you will likely pace yourself correctly for the rest of the bike leg, largely because your discipline has survived the high arousal portion of the bike and you’ve now got your head screwed on straight and smart.
- Don’t overcook the first 6 miles of the IM run: The Team had a BIG shift in our thinking about run pacing guidance this summer, between IMCDA and IMLP. Our refined guidance is now to run 30″ slower than E-pace for the first six miles of the Ironman. After that you settle into your goal/E-pace, wait for mile 18, then get it done by focusing on not slowing down. However, at IMWI and IMFL, we STILL saw race reports from our own members that they were STILL having problems executing this first 6 miles correctly. What we learned is that if we, as a team, are drilling into their heads the importance of that first 6 miles, AND we are giving them a no-kidding pace to hold, AND many of them are running with a GPS and constant pace feedback, AND we are still not acheiving 100% compliance from them with our first 3/6 mile pacing guidance, we can only imagine how bad it is for the rest of the field. Total SWAG, but based on this above, I’d say less than 10% of the field are doing it right in the first 6 miles of the run.
- Race with your head, and heart, through the dark place at the end: Patrick and I have observed that some just have the ability to turn themselves inside out…and some don’t. The ability to put yourself into a nightmare and turn yourself inside out for the last 60-90′ of the IM run is something that very few coaches and athletes focus on. At first pass, you could say that you can’t teach that to someone. However, as Patrick pointed out to me on a call yesterday, we are giving our athletes the opportunity to become very familiar with pain several times per week, and to face and survive a LOT of pain at least twice per month. So what they WILL have on race day, that 80% of their traditional, old skool training competition will not have, is a familiarity with PAIN and the confidence that comes with overcoming it. We’ve all seen this. Some people can just make themselves suffer more when called upon, some just can’t. We, as a Team, are realigning their perspective on what pain is, and that will be a very handy tool for them on race day.
So as you look at your season and your season plan, picture your run developing across the weeks and months according to this outline above. Most importantly, begin to pay very close attention to the painful stuff, and assign it a “this will be very valuable to me on race day” poker chip that you plan to cash in on race day. When you are out there hurting, take a second to project this pain onto your A race on the calendar months and months away and visualize yourself feeling, and overcoming, your pain. Condition yourself now to overcome the pain in June, July, August, etc.
What is your definition of a good run? What is your take on our perspective above? Please leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you!
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