Endurance Nation

BOOM! And so begins perhaps the most unique spectacle in all of endurance sports — the Ironman swim start. Nearly 2500 bodies and 5000 arms and legs churning the water to start a 140.6 mile day. Below are our tips for surviving, and excelling at, the Ironman swim.

As an example, here are the links to Coach Patrick’s review of the Ironman Lake Placid Bike and Run courses from our 2011 Triathlon Rally. This talk is divided into five separate sections, so fire up your Internet connection, grab a nice beverage, and get ready to get your learning on.

Every year Endurance Nation hosts Triathlon Training Rallies at key race venues across the US. We added Ironman Texas for the 2011 camp calendar for two key reasons: first because there is such a massive and cool triathlon vibe in Texas; second because a new race means a brand new course.

It’s no secret that Ironman racing (the 140.6 mile version) has become crazy popular, with races selling out a year in advance, often in only minutes. As a result, Ironman-focused conversations dominate the triathlon space. Yet probably 90% of these Ironman triathletes race one, two, three or more half Ironman events enroute to their full Ironman distance event. Our combined 20 years of coaching and racing experience has shown that the 70.3 distance is a different race entirely from the Ironman. If you want to be successful at the half iron distance you’ll need to bring more to the table than your Ironman fitness and some good luck.

Wicked Smart Members (WSM’s) are TeamEN athletes who’ve been recognized by their peers as being…wicked smart…with wicked triathlon coaching skills. Whenever a WSM speaks on pretty much any topic, their opinions and advice carry as much or more weight as the coaches themselves. WSM nominations are submitted by the Team, not the coaches, with zero [...]

At this time, December 2010, nearly all of our 500 athletes are training inside the Team with our OutSeason training plan. They have grouped themselves into October, November, December, and January OutSeason groups, and have begun to share workout results and notes with each other. This is a great motivational and accountability tool, and is [...]

A trial member recently asked the Team for their input about the value of Endurance Nation vs hiring a local triathlon coach to prepare for their next Ironman. Before We Start: Don’t confuse proximity with proficiency. So the guy/gal lives in your town, you can ride/run/swim with them now and then, meet for coffee, etc. [...]

If you are like me, you don’t like to wait. We live in an on-demand world, and nowhere is this more true than in the realm of our performance, where we seek out incremental speed gains by dropping cash on wheels and carbon widgets. If you are planning on being faster next season, and are ready to do the work to get there, here’s the single best tip we can give you this winter: Stop Swimming.

t’s been less than a month since we announced our “Cash for Clunkers” training plan trade-in program and we wanted to give you an update: We have paid over $4,000 so triathletes don’t have to train with their old, clunker training plans!

This weekend TeamEN will be represented by 16 athletes at Ironman Arizona. Coach Rich be on hand to lead the athletes and their families, including a team dinner on Friday, our Four Keys Talk on Saturday, and rallying up family and friends to support the squad on the run course. We’d like to introduce you [...]