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Get Started Guide To Become Ironman
Get Ready for Ironman in 90 Days While every athlete is different, following some general guidelines will help you make it to the start line healthy and ready to race. Use these principles to tailor your training to your own unique needs and to build a winning race-day plan. With a progressive build involving race specificity and a taper to let your body recover, you can be fully prepared to have the race you know you’re capable of.
12 to 14 weeks out
At this point in your IRONMAN race prep your training should start to become more race-day specific. The key during this crucial time period is having the necessary volume to cover the distance, but also maintaining the quality of each session. By this time, you should be able to comfortably ride 80 miles or more. Over these four weeks, build to being able to ride the full 112 miles, or even slightly more. During these rides, you should consider your race-day power/heart rate and ride in those zones for longer intervals of 20 minutes to an hour. These rides also give you a chance to get comfortable in your bike position and make any necessary tweaks. What feels good for 60 miles may not feel good at the 100 mile mark. It also allows you to experience what your shoulders, back and hips will feel like deep into the ride. A 20- to 45-minute brick run off the bike is another way to make your training more race specific.
The same principles apply to the long run. For most triathletes, running over three hours is not necessary. The physical effort of a run of that length can really break you down. Keeping the long run to 2:15 to 2:30 with some race pace (or effort) intervals is a better option. If you do feel like you need to run longer, do so early in this timeframe, 12 to 10 weeks out, to allow for more recovery. Most athletes do their long rides and runs on the weekends. I often suggest that athletes swap the days for the long sessions. So, one Saturday would be the long ride, then the next Saturday would be the long run. This gives you the opportunity to have more quality in your long run versus running on tired legs every week. Next, these longer rides and runs are where you want to start to dial in your race day nutrition and hydration plan. This process takes time, so if you haven’t already, now is the time. Know what will be available on the course and see how those products work for you. (It helps with the logistics of carrying your nutrition if you can use what is on course.) Weekday workouts should focus on race-day effort intervals. Consider your goal times for the bike and run and know your wattage, heart rate and/or pace you need to feel comfortable at for race day. The last of these weeks can have a little less volume to allow for a micro-recovery. This will give you the extra energy needed for a good final block of training.
8 to 4 weeks out
This block of training represents your last chance to add fitness. During the first part of this block you can still be adding volume to your long days, but the additions shouldn’t be more than 10 to 15 miles on the bike or 15 minutes on the run. Big jumps in volume here can be very risky and cause a very ill-timed injury. Your longest ride and run of the training should occur during this time. If you haven’t already, begin adding in some long, steady swims for a set distance, typically 2,000 to 3,000 yards or meters. Perform a short warm up, one you can simulate on race day, then swim at or near your goal race pace. Do your best to keep even splits for each 500 by checking the pace clock or glancing at your watch. Do some short heads-up swimming as well to simulate sighting for buoys. Six weeks out is a good time for a long race-day simulation brick workout. Give yourself a few easy days to rest before this key workout. The workout should include a 2,000 to 2,500 yard swim, a 100-mile bike and 5 to 8 mile run done in succession. During each session, perform some work at goal race effort to further dial in your race-day pace and nutrition. This workout will show you just how prepared you are and gives you a more realistic idea of your splits for each segment. This is also the time to finalize your race gear. Use your race clothing, aero helmet and race-day wheels for at least part of this workout. Make sure everything you need is in good condition. Use the running shoes you plan to wear on race day run on at least some of your longer runs to mitigate the chances of blisters.
4 weeks out
This is the time to really start dialing your volume back and allowing your body to absorb all your training. In the last two to three weeks there is little you can do to improve your fitness, but there is a lot you can do to harm it. Remember, it’s better to go into race day 10 percent undertrained than 1 percent overtrained. If you’ve been consistent over the past months, you’ll have the fitness you need to perform well. Many athletes find that a gradual two to three week taper works best. Reduce the volume of your long days and your weekly overall volume by 10 to 15 percent each week. Continue to do race-pace or faster intervals during your sessions, but they should all be shorter than in previous weeks. This will keep your legs moving and sharp, but the reduced volume will keep fatigue to a minimum. Every workout should end with you feeling like you could have done a bit more. Resist the urge to “test” the legs. If you are feeling particularly good, save that energy for race day when it matters most. This is typically an awkward time for most athletes. Being used to long rides and fatigued legs, you suddenly find yourself with time on your hands. Rest is the key, so don’t take this time to remodel your house. You may feel tired or lethargic, but don’t panic. Your body needs time to absorb all those months of training and adapt. The more you can rest and recover the better.
Simplify The Run on Race day With all the advice out there on how to get faster, it’s hard to know where to start. Should you prioritize form changes, more frequency, mileage, or quality workouts? And when did run training become so complicated? IRONMAN U Master Coach Lance Watson of LifeSport Coaching believes that you can simplify things and enjoy improvements at the same time: “Running can be a technical sport, but it also beautiful in its simplicity: throw on a pair of shoes and head out the door.” Watson adds that sometimes a few small training changes can freshen things up and keep you engaged. “And you might even find yourself running faster than ever before,” he adds.
Below are three of his favourite, simple changes that can help revive your training this winter.
1. Change the flow of your training week During the fall and winter months consider scheduling your training week to emphasize your run. You still may bike, swim, and do other cross-training, but you will structure things to hit your key runs when most rested. Coach Watson advises that “making sure you hit your main run sessions rested will also allow you to make further gains in your run program.”
For example, let’s say you normally hit your key bike sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, then your quality runs on Wednesday and Saturday. One simple change that incorporates this principle would be shifting your key runs to, take place after a rest day or swim.
Normal Week
Monday – OFF or Swim Tuesday – Key Bike/ Brick Wednesday – Key Run Thursday – Key Bike / Brick Friday – Swim Saturday- Long Bike Sunday- Long Run
Run Focused Week
Monday- OFF or Swim Tuesday- Key Run Wednesday- Key Bike/ Brick Thursday- Swim Friday- Long Run Saturday- Key Bike/ Brick Sunday- Long Bike
2. Run hills Lance Watson recommends incorporating hill sessions that progress in volume, then intensity. According to Watson, “incorporating hills can help develop power and muscle elasticity, improve stride frequency and length while encouraging the proper use of arm action while driving up the hill, develop control and stabilization as well as improved speed (downhill running), promote strength endurance, and improve lactate tolerance.”
In order to improve strength, Watson suggests incorporating hills on a weekly basis. Here are a few workout ideas to get started.
Classic Hill Reps
How often: Weekly or every other week Grade: 4 – 8 percent Goal: To work on strength while keeping heart rate (HR) below threshold Execution: Find a hill that is not so steep that you cannot run with good form. The first few weeks are shorter hills with more rest, 10-15 beats below threshold with a 1/1 work/ rest ratio. Example: 5-15 x 1-2 minutes up hill, with 1/1 work/ rest ratio. (I.e. 1-minute rest for a 1-minute hill; 2 minutes rest for a 2 minutes hill.) Progress to longer hills at 5 or 10 beats below the threshold. Example: 4-8 x 3 to 5-minute hills (75 percent rest).
Treadmill Hills
How often: Weekly or every other week Grade: 6 – 8 percent Goal: To mimic an uphill tempo run with shorter periods of rest Execution: For rest periods, simply step to the side of the treadmill Example: 10-15 x 1 minute uphill, 5 – 10 beats below threshold, with 2/1 work/rest ratio. (i.e. :30 seconds for a 1 minute hill). Do 10-15 minutes of total work. Progress to a longer work interval and more total work. Let heart rate rise to 5 beats below threshold i.e.15-25 minutes of work as 10-15 x 1.5-2 minute hills with 2/1 work/ rest ratio.
3. Enter running races Meaningful goals give motivation, purpose, and a target to your training. You generally will run faster in a race than in training which means races are great for boosting run fitness. Also, because of neuromuscular wiring, changes in run mechanics, and simply being fresher during standalone run races, you will run faster than in the run portion of a triathlon. Watson explains that these standalone results are helpful because they then give you a frame of reference for your triathlon running. “You will know what your best running feels like, both in terms of your cardiovascular ability, as well as biomechanically, so you can model that as closely as possible when running off the bike.” Finally, running races will give you valuable experience racing in general. “Running races will give you different competitive experiences and you may even learn a few tricks from your single sport compatriots to add to your triathlon racing toolkit.”
Get Faster On The Bike Planning to do a century ride? Don’t want to get dropped on the local group ride? Looking to improve the bike leg in your next triathlon? Take a look at these simple and effective tips from experienced cycling coaches to get you fitter and faster on the bike this season.
Get tested
Testing your lactate threshold, a commonly used performance marker, is not only a great way to track your progress this season, but it will also help you and/or your coach tailor workouts specifically to increase your sustainable power on the bike. USA Cycling certified coach Rebecca McKee says is a firm believer in blood lactate testing for her athletes. She says she uses the data as “another tool to understand my athletes and the energy systems they are utilizing in their workouts.”
Make hills your friend
Riding your bike uphill is one of the best ways to build strength and become fit on the bike. McKee recommends doing three to four repeats on a 10-minute hill, taking recovery as you ride downhill. She recommends keeping your cadence between 65 to 75 rpm, looking for an average of around 70 rpm.
Dial in your skills
Staying with the pack on the local group ride is not just about fitness and power production but also requires you to ride your bike well. Williamson notes that many athletes ruin their economy because they have poor handling skills such as braking too much, picking poor lines through corners, and timid descending. He recommends seeking out a qualified coach to work on basic and advanced drills to develop your handling skills, while gaining confidence and efficiency in the process.
Think strength
All of McKee’s athletes spend time strength training to boost their cycling abilities. “Cycling involves lots of repetitive motions with the large muscle groups (glutes, back, quads, and hamstrings), so it’s important to include functional training for the smaller muscles that take over when those larger muscles become fatigued,” she advises.
Watch the scale “Power to weight” is an important metric when it comes to riding bikes— especially if you want to be able to ride fast uphill. While you can spend time and money looking for the lightest equipment around, you should not neglect the person in the saddle.
“Before you spend a lot of time trying to become faster on the bike, take a step back and look at your weight, your diet, and how you fuel your engine,” McKee says. She sees clean eating as a critical lifestyle change for anyone seeking improvements in athletic performance. “If you are fueling your gas car with diesel, you won’t get very far,” she adds. “Your body is an engine and you need to feed it the right fuel hydrate it right.”
Bike fit
How well you ride your bike can be a question of how comfortable you feel. Shifting around on your saddle, an aching back or sore shoulders could be a sign that your bike does not fit you well, and a poor bike fit could be holding back your performance. “A good bike fit is not only about comfort and injury prevention but also could improve power production and efficiency,” says Williiamson. A good bike fitter will review your personal biomechanics and ensure that you are appropriately recruiting and firing all muscles involved with powering the bike. Williamson adds that a good fitter can also help improve other performance aspects, such as aerodynamics and the handling characteristics of your bike. Pro tip → Thinking of a new bike? Find a fitter that will have review you on your current bike or use a size cycle to dial in your fit coordinates and offer you a data driven recommendation of which frame will fit you best.
Do more work While you may think “doing more work” simply means riding your bike more, Williamson prefers to think of it as “increasing overload.” “As we adapt to training stress, to improve further, we have to increase the overload,” he explains. He offers three ways of doing this: increasing the frequency that you are riding, increasing the intensity in the sessions, or increasing the time that you are riding. “Overload always needs to work toward your event and performance-specific demands,” he says, “so ensure your overload incorporates specificity to your individual goals.” While doing more work provides the stimulus, athletes should not forget that recovery is what really seals in the adaptations. Williamson advises athletes to “respect recovery in order to enjoy the improvement in fitness.”
Hire a coach It’s hard to be honest and objective about your own training, so if you’re committed to improving your cycling this year, consider hiring a coach. “A good coach will be objective and honest with your training, your goals, your progression and expectations,” says Derick Williamson, founder and owner of Durata Training. He adds that in simplest terms, a coach will help you create a training program that allows you to reach your athletic potential.
Make way in water with Perfect Swim Stroke Over the years, people always talk some pretty weak arguments when discussing the importance of swim technique. It's true that making significant gains in the pool is difficult when we spend the majority of our training sessions working on our bike and run techniques.
Swimming improvements, however, are often just a few technique sessions away. The change needs to occur in your mind before it transfers to the water. As a coach and lifelong student of swimming and triathlon, I know that a more efficient swim does make an impact on your bike and ultimately your run, so I use the following approach when working with triathletes to make gains in the water.
Body Position: It all starts here. Before you start thinking about all the other aspects of the swim, you must have proper body alignment in the water. Don't make the mistake of thinking your wetsuit will correct body balance. Learning to swim faster starts in a pool and you will become a better swimmer by starting to learn how to get your body balanced properly in the water. Cues to look for: Head, hip, and feet positioning. Are they in alignment? Is the body long? How to improve: Through a series of drills designed to promote proper body alignment. The athlete needs to be able to identify when they aren't in position and how to self-diagnose and correct this before moving on to the next step. Drills: Superman, Belly to the Wall
Hand Entry: If the hand does not enter the water properly then your chances of getting a good purchase of the water up front is significantly diminished.
Cues to look for: Are the fingertips entering the water before the wrist and elbow? Are the hands entering the water directly above the shoulder without crossover on both sides? After the hand enters the water, where do they set up for the catch? Does the hand stay below the elbow at all times? Are the elbow, forearm, wrist, and fingertip in alignment? Most triathletes hand entry remains too close to the surface of the water and does not allow for a proper catch of the water. Often I see athletes "scoop" their fingertips up to the water surface, essentially putting on the brakes. The hand entry should set up in line with the shoulder approximately four to six inches below the surface of the water. How to improve: By recording and breaking down video of the athlete, along with on land demonstrations and drills. Drills: Pause Drill, Tap Drill
Timing: After body positioning and hand entry is fixed, the next focus area is the timing of the pull. When does the lead hand start pulling in relation to the recovery arm? This is one of the biggest mistakes I see with novice swimmers. The lead hand/arm will drop or begin to pull too early and "push" the water down. This puts the body out of alignment causing unnecessary drag. Drills: Pause Drill, Tap drill.
The Catch and Stroke: The next step becomes the purchase or catch of the water and the stroke. The goal is to grab hold of the water and pull the water back behind you (not push down- this causes excess bubbles). This is
accomplished with the hand and forearm. Many people talk about early vertical forearm but few actually know what it means or how to achieve this. Cues to look for: Assuming the entry and timing are correct the next step is the set of the elbow. Setting the elbow and getting the fingertips to point to the bottom of the pool without flexing the wrist creates early vertical forearm. How to improve: There are several different cues I give swimmers. "Keep the elbow on the outside of the body", "think about placing your forearm over a brick wall or Swiss ball and pulling back." Envision railroad tracks running along the outside of your body and paint brushes taped to your hands. Your goal is to paint stripes on the tracks. Drills: Paint Brush, Fist Drill, Straight Arm
Breathing: The biggest mistake I see is poor timing of the breath and over inhaling. The important step is to exhale, to get rid of excess CO2. You only need to take in as much air to get you to your next breath. Most triathletes inhale enough air to last 20 to 30 seconds when the time between strokes is less than five seconds. The next mistake I see is exhaling at the wrong time. Athletes will often wait to exhale until they have turned their head to take a breath. This leads to incomplete exhalation and increases shortness of breath. In order to get air in, you must exhale all your air out in the water prior to turning your head for a breath. Cues to look for: To maintain proper breathing, the head turns to the side which has just stroked. The lead hand stays pointing forward, or extended so you maintain balance. This is where athletes will rush their stroke, the lead arm will begin to pull, usually down, and in order to maintain balance they lift their head for air. One side of the goggle should remain in the water, the head should turn, and air is taken in by sucking air in through the top of your mouth. The head turning creates a small pocket which allows you to grab air. Do not allow the head to turn up to the ceiling. The head should turn to the side of the pool in a quick motion. Make sure you turn the chin as opposed to lifting the face and then turning. The head must remain still at all other times during the stroke. This will maintain proper alignment with the spine during breathing. The flexibility of the neck, shoulders, and chest are key for proper head rotation. How to improve: A combination of on land demonstrations and video is used to identify and correct errors. I often have the client stand in one place, bend at the hip with their face in the water and practice the timing of the exhale, inhale while stroking. From the pool deck, watch for a little outward spray of water from the mouth area as the swimmer turns to take their breath—this is a classic sign of late exhalation. Over rotation will lead to cross over and scissor kick. Drill: Belly to the wall, Kicking without a kick-board, taking a stroke to breathe.
Arm Turnover: While the athlete is focusing on the steps above, we often work on maintaining a stroke count of less than 20 per 25 yards. This allows the athlete to develop the proper timing of the pull and catch phase ie: keeping the extended arm out until the recovery arm has reached eye level to begin the pull. Unfortunately, this can also lead to over gliding and a dead spot. Once proper swim technique is mastered, it is important for the athlete to now focus on an increased stroke rate while maintaining proper form and stroke length. Gliding is great but to get faster we must have a faster stroke rate or turnover. Cues to look for: The goal is to identify a stroke rate the athlete can maintain which produces the fastest times for a certain distance or distances. Let's face it—it does you no good to have a stroke count of 12 per 25 yards if it takes you 40 seconds to swim. Most triathletes pay very little attention to stroke rate. We pay attention to cadence when running and cycling but not to turnover in the pool. How to improve: Count your strokes and then monitor the stroke count while completing a specific distance. The athlete will often note an increase in heart rate and fatigue as they move from 18 strokes to 21 strokes per 25 yards. Take this step slowly—moving from 18 to 19 strokes and maintaining 19 strokes for 25 yards to 200 yards. Fixing this issue is a lot of about awareness and selfmonitoring. You will eventually find your sweet spot when your arms are in constant motion while maintaining proper form. Dramatic improvements to your swim stroke can be made in as simple as three to five sessions. It's crucial to only focus on one or two topic areas per session. Repetition of the drills will aid in muscle memory and make your next swim session significantly easier than the last. All you need is a little focus to bring your swim form up to speed.
