Please listen to the accompanying podcast by the Coaches.
Thank you for following along as we’ve discussed our system for long course racing. Now we would like to put it all together for you and share with you the racing lessons we’ve learned so far this season. Like all of you, our athletes’ preparation for the iron-distance race day begins months in advance. However, everything we do is focused on race execution from Day One. The following is a progression of this focus through our version of the triathlon season.
Setting the Stage for Race Day
Our no-nonsense, age-grouper oriented, basic rules approach is echoed in everything we do. We begin conditioning our Team from the very first day of their training plans that every workout has a purpose, that no effort should go to waste. This takes shape in our training plans, where each workout is built from the ground up with a focus on Return On Investment (ROI). Our Team quickly develops an appreciation for what “working hard” really means, and then leverages that focus to boost their fitness without spending countless hours training.
In addition to this basic understanding of fitness as the ability to perform work, we clearly delineate the different stages of our season. In the Off-Season we recover, in the Out-Season we work on boosting our power and pace at Threshold. In the In-Season we focus on putting Far on top of Fast and then finally building to our race. There are no unrealistic expectations of laser-like focus on a race that’s 10+ months away; instead, our team addresses the elements of their fitness that are relevant to their training now and will impact their ability to race later.
All of this culminates in our Four Keys to Long Course Racing where we outline the clear principles for proper execution on race day, regardless of your fitness level, goals, or the conditions.
Testing and Objective Metrics
We encourage our athletes to use the objective tools of power and pace in their training, whenever possible. They test regularly, reassessing their Functional Threshold Power (FTP, for power athletes) for the bike and vDOT (pace) for the run. Along the way they learn one very valuable lesson: fitness is the ability to perform work and racing is about performing the work you’ve demonstrated you CAN do, not the work you think/feel/hope you can do. At Endurance Nation, we measure our training in order to eliminate guesswork on race day. Heart rate athletes learn these lessons as well.
Rehearsals
Every one of our athletes, from 10-hour Kona qualifier to 16-hour+ finisher, performs a minimum of two race rehearsals. They are encouraged to write and submit to the Team a race rehearsal plan and a post-rehearsal debrief. As a result, pacing, nutrition, and equipment plans are vetted well before race day.
The Community
People understand the value of a training plan, a coach, and the other tools of the typical age grouper. However, what members of our Team very quickly learn is the value of belonging to our team of athletes. Everyone is training with the same suite of plans, written by the same coaches who’ve created all the content on the site and manage the discussions around these training and learning tools. As they work through the plans and participate in the discussions about testing, training, race rehearsals, as they read race reports and connect with each other through private messages, they are exposed to an incredibly deep understanding of long course training and racing. For us as coaches, it’s been extremely rewarding to see the MOP and BOP athletes increase their confidence as they see the progress and results of their peers who have gone before them.
So, the TeamEN athlete stands on the beach or treads water at 6:59am. What is in her head?
- The knowledge, on a broad range of topics, that she has learned from her peers and the EN Coaches. These messages have been delivered clearly and consistently.
- She absolutely has her head on straight about the Four Keys. All other power and pace geek-itude aside, the Four Keys are the absolute tools she will use on race day to guide her. In particular, her One Thing (usually with several backups) is clearly defined.
- The race begins on the bike and she understands one important lesson of the EN racing system: Ours is a betting strategy that has been proven through MANY rolls of the dice. Follow our guidance and you should have a great day. That statistical and historical perspective is very confidence inspiring, particularly for the first-timer. For the vet, commitment to doing it our way is a powerful to tool to keep them from being stupid out there.
- Power on the Bike: Her Powermeter is a stupid-o-meter and she has simple, easy to apply tools to help her avoid costly pacing mistakes and to set up a good run. This plan is based on objective measures of her current fitness, not hopes and SWAG. If she does not have a powermeter, we’ve shown her how to use heart rate, her feet and pedal pressure as pacing tools.
- Pace on the Run: Stick to the plan and the let the race come to you. Race to current fitness, not hope and SWAG.
Conclusion
As the race results from 2008 continue to roll in, it’s very interesting to see how our folks stack up against their former selves, their training partners, and their fellow age groupers. We have total iron virgins racing like veterans out of the gate, nearly even splitting the bike and backing that up with a solid run. Why spend several years of training getting it wrong when you can join EN and get it right, right away?
Nothing speaks of the value and power of the EN training, race execution, and learning model:
- 37 EN athletes have competed in IMCDA and IMLP.
- 10 of these have gone under 10:50.
- 3 of these under 10:10.
- 4 Kona slots, 1 podium.
- Almost all of them training with the same 2-3 stock training plans. Most all-in to us for about…$100-200, total
Full TeamEN IMLP’08 Results
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