MAKING AN IRONMAN - IRONMAN TRAININGby Hector L Torres, USA Triathlon Elite Coach, USA Cycling Pr Coach, USA Track and Field, USA Swimming and Strength Conditioning Specialist

MAKING AN IRONMAN

▪ A great Ironman race occurs when the sum of an athlete’s physical and emotional preparation is as great or greater than the need to accomplish their goal

▪ Physical training alone is not enough to do create this critical point

▪ Mental training alone is not enough to create this critical point

RACE DAY

▪ Training the mind to perceive the Ironman as just another day

▪ Training the physiologically to perceive the race as low stress

▪ Both of these are achieved by over-stressing in training

WHAT IT TAKES….

Three Core Competencies ▪ Physical Training- ▪ Base, speed, strength and taper

▪ Nutrition- ▪ Calorie source, fluid replacement, electrolyte balance

▪ Mindset ▪ Empowering focus, positive imagery, dealing with challenge and the unexpected

CORE TRAINING ELEMENTS

Core Training Elements

▪ Base ▪ Weekly Endurance workout in each sport

▪ Speed ▪ Weekly Tempo (then later speed) workout in each sport

▪ Strength Training ▪ Most underestimated tool for endurance

▪ Taper ▪ A four week race peak

BUILD FOR AN IRONMAN

Two Theories on How to Build for an Ironman

▪ Determine final need for speed, then use that as baseline to start short, then extend it throughout the season

▪ Build an aerobic base, then add in fast training once that groundwork is built

BASE

Developing Aerobic Fitness

▪ Aerobic capacity biggest factor in determining the final race result

▪ Build the size of the engine

▪ Requires patience that most athletes do not have

HOW LONG IS YOUR BASE?

Base is Age Dependent

▪ Young athletes will max out their base in 1 to 3 months.

▪ Older athletes may take up to 6 months to max their base.

WEEKLY LONG WORKOUT

Discipline How Much is Enough? Swim 4,000 to 6,000 metres

Bike 5.5 to 7.5 hours110 -150 miles or 175 – 240 kms

Run 2:50 to 3:10 hours 21-23 miles or 34 – 37 kms

Bricks 50 mins maximum 8 miles or 13 kms

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Sept 8 Sept 15Sept 22Sept 29 Oct 6 Oct 13 Oct 20 Oct 27 Nov 3 Nov 10Nov 17Nov 24

PROGRESSION

What is a safe progression?

Multiply by 1.17

▪ Example 3000m swim x 1.17 = 3500m swim ▪ Example 3-hour ride x 1.17 = 3:30 ride ▪ Example 90 minute run x 1.17 = 1:45 hour run

General Rule of Thumb: Two weeks up build

followed by one down recovery.

SPEED

Why Speedwork for an Ironman?

▪ Need for speed in the race is minimal. ▪ Need for speed workouts to develop muscular systems is critical. ▪ Even at aerobic pace, if fast twitch is developed it can be used in an

Ironman. ▪ Max of about 20-30 minutes total hard effort within the workout.

STRENGTH TRAINING

Strength Training for Ironman?

▪ This builds the muscular strength that is not stimulated during base training

▪ Is critical for having extra lean muscle to draw on when breakdown occurs in the race

▪ Extends the life of aging athletes and improves performance at all ages

TAPER

End of the Season Taper

▪ Four weeks for a proper Ironman taper at the end of a season ▪ Most people go three weeks max ▪ The worst taper is two weeks ▪ Draw a straight line down from peak, cutting 25% off volume and

distance

RACE WEEK

Keep it Low Stress

▪ Plan ahead ▪ Get all race gear together one month from race ▪ Arrive early ▪ Takes 7 days for blood changes that help deal with heat. ▪ Ideal - arrive at least 7 days before the race.

RACE WEEK CONT’D

Key Workouts

▪ Wednesday (3 days out) - light workout in each sport early in the day to deplete with a total workout time of about 2.5 hours.

▪ Thursday (2 days out) no working out. ▪ Thursday (2 nights out) night - most important night of sleep

DAY BEFORE THE RACE

Key Workouts ▪ Friday (day before race) - easy workout in each sport: ▪ Swim about 500m or 7-10 minutes ▪ Bike about 30 minutes ▪ Run about 12 minutes ▪ Do all with 5x10 second pickups to activate system

RACE DAY

Pacing

▪ Build within each sport and within the day

▪ Heart rate ideally is about equal to aerobic max at least for swim and bike

▪ Pacing: should feel like a training day up to about 10 miles (16 kms) to go in the run, then let it rip!

NUTRITION

Nutrition

▪ You can absorb 300-400 ca/hour ▪ You can absorb 30-40 oz/hour ▪ Most absorbable fuel is glucose ▪ Most drinks are maltodextrin and fructose ▪ Nausea almost always related to backup of these two in stomach

Carbo Loading

• Weight: _____________ / 2.2 = _____________ (A)

• Consume at least 5 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day for the 4 - 7 days before the race• (A) X 5 = _______

• Consume 10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day for the 1 - 3 days before the race.• (A) x 10 = ________

• Large carbohydrate meal two nights before the race and go light the night before the race.

Application of Metabolic Efficiency

Inappropriate CHO load and lack of periodized nutrition and lack of aerobic training

Poor utilization of body fat sotres for energy

More reliance on supplemental CHO; possible

weight/fat gain

Inability to properly feed during training / racing

Increased incidence of GI distress

Lower power/velocity

Hydration

• Assessing Hydration Status• Urine Color• Percent body weight change• Scale

Hydration Status % Body Weight Change

Well hydrated + 1 to -1

Minimal dehydrated -1 to -3

Significant Dehydrated -4 to -5

Serious Dehydrated More than 5

Composition of Sweat

0 25 50

NaClKCaMgOthers

Sodium Facts

• Healthy or clean eating can = higher incidence of cramping. Sodium loading is effective in this case

• Sports drinks cannot match most athletes sweat sodium losses. Supplemental sodium is needed and sometimes necessary.

Hyponatremia

• Sings

• Rapid weight gain (post exercise)

• bloated stomach

• swollen hands and feet

• Nausea and vomiting

• throbbing headache

• dizziness

• confusion and disorientation

Causes of Hyponatremia

• Increased Total Body water• excessive drinking and Inappropriate IV therapy

• Inadequate sodium intake• Low sodium diet and inadequate sodium intake during exercise

• Reduced Urine Output• Exercise and Heat exposure

• Large Sodium Loss• High sweat rate, High sweat (sodium), Poor heat acclimatization

• A combination of salty sweat loss and hyotonic fluid replacement may lead to hyponatremia

Muscle cramping

• Muscle cramps are involuntary muscle spasms resulting form one or more of the following

• Dehydration

• Sodium loss

• Fatigue (training program)

Forceful, repetitive contractions of muscles used in sports might trigger cramps (finish line sprint)

Hydration

• Neuromuscular

• Plasma Level

FACTS

• The first and last 15 minutes on the bike are designated fasting zones. During these two time periods it is recommended that you do not consume any fluid or nutrition.

• The first 15-minute fasting zone enables to you to relax and settle into your cycling pace.

• The last 15-minute fasting zone is to ensure that all fluid or nutrition clears your stomach before you start the RUN segment.

• It is better to consume smaller amounts of fluid and nutrition more frequently rather than large amounts less frequently. This will improve absorption and reduce the likelihood of stomach distress.

• This means that if you are consuming a gel or bar you need to break it into multiple servings so that you don’t overload your GI tract.

Calories on the Bike

• One: Determine your goal cycling speed

• Speed: _________

• Two: Multiply cycling speed coefficient (see table 1) by your total body weight;

• Speed: ______ x Weight: _______ = _____

• Three: Multiply Step #2 by 60 minutes to determine hourly calorie expenditure

• Step #2 ______ x 60 = ________

• Four: Add 22 calories to Step #3 for every 100 feet climbed during cycling event.

• Map: 300 ft. / 100 = 3

• 3 x 22= 66

• Step # 3 + Incline Calories = ______

Table 1. Calculating Calorie Expenditure during Cycle Workouts

A v e r a g e Speed (mph)

Coefficient (cal./lb./min.)*

15 0.056116 0.061517 0.067518 0.074019 0.081120 0.089121 0.097523 0.117325 0.1411

Calories on the Bike Cont’d

• Five: Multiply Step #4 by 0.3 to determine minimum hourly calorie replacement demands; finally step

• Step #4 _______ x .10 = _______

• Six: Multiply Step #4 by 0.5 to determine maximum hourly calorie replacement demands. (Brown, 2007)

• Step #4 _______ x .30 = _______

• Ranges: _________ - _________

Calories on the Run

• One: Determine running calorie expenditure per mile by 0.63 x body weight (pounds);

• .63 x ________ = ________

• Two: Determine goal race pace or how many miles/hour will you cover, example: An 8-minute miler will cover 7.5 miles/hour;

• Pace: ________

• Three: Calculate hourly expenditure based on goal race pace, example: An 8-minute miler would multiply 7.5 by the figure from step one; finally step

• Step 1 _______ x Step 2 _______ = ________

• Four: Determine hourly calorie replacement needs: *.20 x C (Research shows runners can physically absorb about 30% of what they expend.) (Gibala, 2008)

• Step 3 _____ X .20 = _____

MPH Pace5 12:00

5.5 10:436 10:00

6.5 9:147 8:34

7.5 8:008 7:30

8.5 7:049 6:40

9.5 6:1910 6:00

RACE DAY NUTRITION ISSUES

Nutrition- Troubleshooting in the Race

▪ If backup is happening, take in glucose ▪ If no glucose available, try Coke ▪ Take in sodium along with drink ▪ Most people need 350 mg/hour or more of sodium in heat, especially

after three hours of racing

MIND SET

Mindset

▪ Positive self talk lasts about three hours, then you are stuck with reality

▪ Most powerful mind space is quiet ▪ Practice this in every single workout

MIND SET - CONT’D

Mindset

▪ Positive self talk lasts about three hours, then you are stuck with reality

▪ Most powerful mind space is quiet ▪ Practice this in every single workout

RACE DAY

Mindset Three Greatest Images

▪ Have three goals ▪ Know why this has meaning to you to try ▪ Regrouping is not giving up ▪ Put your finish line 100m past where everyone else will stop

– Hector Torres

“This is an opportunity given to you to show how great you are.... Now show me how great you are.”