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Summer is race season, our reward and celebration of all the wonderful hours of fun we've logged in our training. The learning never ends of course, so here are a bunch of tips to help you get the most of your triathlon season.
Heat: Our seasons move from crazy cold to heaving hot. If you're going out on long workouts, not only are you planning your nutrition, you're now giving extra consideration to your hydration (ie where to fill water bottles) and sun protection.
Fueling: Make sure you know what fuel is available on the course if you're in a long distance triathlon and, ideally, train with it to adjust heading in. Also make sure you know the athlete guide or event details inside out. That means all logistics including the a possible special needs bag and what fuel you might decide to add to it among other items. Plan.
Swim Skin: I was asked about these. It is a once piece swim suit you where over your tri suit. It's not buoyant but is hydrophobic meaning it repels water. For that reason it is faster than most tri suits. The faster swimmer you are the more advantage.
Balance: As we move into summer the long workouts get longer. This means you need to tune into your daily wellness and make decisions that help you to keep your energy balanced throughout the week. The key workouts are the long ones. If you feel you need to cut short one of your less important workouts in order to set up success in the long ones then do it.
Strength: A reminder that at this stage any strength training should be aimed at simply firing the muscles not trying to build them. A light strength workout is also a good way to maintain mobility.
Post Long Nutrition: You'll read conflicting science on post workout nutrition. Bottom line: have a healthy, balanced meal ready for you to eat within an hour of completing your long workouts. Then, remember that with the considerable caloric burn you've just experienced, your body will process that meal and likely need snacks in the hours to come. Don't starve your body. Give it the building blocks and energy it needs.
Race Execution: Endurance events are held because they are challenging. If we simply want to know who's fittest then we can have you all do a lab test. Fitness is important but it's not the key to success on race day. The key to success is EXECUTION. You need to be organized and disciplined. Train as you race and do the small things now, like fueling and pacing, that will be key on the day of your event. As an example: in IM Ottawa a lot of athletes are going to hop on their bike and hammer up Greenview hill within the first kilometre of the ride. This will hurt their performance. IM is not a day to hammer, it's a day to tap. Practice that mentality now.
The Mental Game: Triathletes spend a lot of time with their thoughts and even the very best in the world have challenges during a long race, times when things turn a little dark and life choices are questioned. The best swimmers, bikers and runners in the world are also very good at managing their inner voice because they train that mental muscle too. The son of one of our athletes is a mental performance consultant who can help you develop the tools that will guide you during training and competition. See the attached flyer for more info.
Mobility Work: The training volume is high and you're carrying a little more fatigue so it can be hard to find the energy to stretch or roll. You have to. With that fatigue comes tight tissue and if that tightness restricts mobility it can lead to injury. Be careful not to over-stretch, and only stretch when the muscles are warm.
Recovery: There are lots of magic recovery solutions marketed to athletes but when it comes down to it nothing is more important or effective than sleep and nutrition. Always prioritize a good night's sleep and never allow your body to run short of high quality nutrients. Recovery actually starts with nutrition during the long run and ride by making sure you don't run short as that will set you back before recovery even begins.
Blisters and Chafing: Long hot workouts can bring on both of these challenges. Body Glide can help chafing so get some before you need it. Anti-blister socks can help and so can Vaseline on the hot spots on your feet where blisters occur. It's worth considering have some Vaseline in your special needs bags.
IM Marathon: The IM athletes will be logging a lot of training for the next 6 weeks. Don't burn valuable energy by running too hard in training. I recommend doing your long run (and for many other athletes your shorter runs as well) at your projected IM run pace. That pace is slower than you think. An IM marathon is a war, not a race. The actual pace will vary based on an athlete's experience and training but you can count on it being around 60" per KM slower than if you were to run just a marathon. Start your IM marathon at that pace for the first 10k and see how you feel.
Flavour Fatigue: Athletes can sometimes get to a point during long workouts when they suffer from flavour fatigue especially from too many sweet carbs. Flavour fatigue can results in loss of appetite and a dramatic drop in essential carb intake. Mix it up. Some savoury/salt snacks like pretzels can really help avoid this.
Bad Conditions: Don't train when conditions are dangerous. If conditions are simply a little challenging though - some wavy water, a bit of rain or wind for a bike ride - consider still following through with the workout or some of it. You don't know what conditions will be like on race day and only training when things are ideal won't prepare you for the range of possible conditions. Again, stay within your own abilities and make the safe decision for you as an athlete.
Fatigue: The realty of being a long distance triathlete is that you will be carrying some fatigue with you at most times through the peak training phase. Don't expect to be breaking any training records for performance. Manage your energy, get the work done, support your daily recovery. When you taper for the event your body will have the chance to fully absorb all the training and bring you to peak fitness for race day.
Saddle Soreness: Sit anywhere for 6 hours and your but will get sore. Do it on a bike seat and...well...! Some strategies to help: buy some really good shorts (bib shorts are an option), use chamois butter, make sure you're hydrated, change posture on the bike during rides (bum a little back or forward).
Hardship: The longer you're out there in training or a race the greater chance something will go wrong. Expect it, accept it, fix it, get back in the groove. I'll have more on this soon.
Muscle Cramps: When it comes to the cause, science weighs heavily on the side of muscle fatigue as opposed to electrolyte imbalance. While you should certainly consume electrolytes you need to pay attention to the fatigue side of things. From my experience pacing mistakes (ie going too hard) or lack of preparation is the most common cause of cramps in a race while accumulated fatigue is the most common trigger in training. If you do feel a cramp coming on stop and gently stretch and massage the muscle. That can mean floating and grabbing a foot, getting off the bike to stretch, or stopping on the run. Take action quickly; don't ignore it. In training, make sure to maintain your mobility and strength as that will help to teach the muscles to relax and decrease the chance of cramps.
Tapers are hard. You're used to doing a lot of work and you want to make sure you're ready. This leads to a drive to do more and more. There's comes a time though where we need to start to taper off the workload in order to allow the body to deeply recover. The volume of IM training means you've been carrying some fatigue continuously for a couple months. We need to turn that fatigue into fitness. But the combination of time on your hands and race-related anxiety is going to drive you to do more 'just in case'. Don't. Doing too much too late will only hurt you on race day. Follow the plan. Put your extra energy into reviewing your logistics and race execution plan. Part of that obsessing that will be happening is over race splits. When it comes to the swim......just swim. Don't be thinking about a split. Swim as fast as you can swim well. To put it another way, focus on technique and only swim as hard as you can with your best technique.
From my experience 80% of athletes at the start line of an IM have experienced interruptions in their training that forced deviations from the ideal plan. We do what we can, when we can - simply focus on doing our best. The most important thing is to make it to the start line and not gamble and injure ourselves to the point we can't be there. From the start line it's all about managing expectations based on the training journey. Execute your race day and let your fitness be expressed.
Open Water Swimming:
The first open water swim of the year is always an act of humility.....for everyone. Start with low expectations. You will feel more comfortable soon as you get used to the environment.
Always swim with a buddy and a buoy.
If you are only going to swim in the open water then make sure to include some harder efforts to maintain your strength gained in the pool. An example of this would be to count one arm and do 20 hard/20 easy x 5-10 on one swim per week.
If you're an experienced open water swimmer then one pool and one open water a week is likely your best combination for performance, focusing on shorter, harder intervals in the pool and long aerobic efforts in the open water.
Event Preparation
Goals: Make sure the top ones are easily achievable. Time goals are at the bottom of the list as there is much you can't control on race day that influence your finish time.
Mental Tools: A few days before an event your body is as ready as it's going to be. Is your brain? Every triathlete faces dark moments during an event, even the very best in the world. Know what you'll say to yourself during each leg of the event if you feel a little down or anxious. First off, in long events those dark moments are often due to fueling so review your intake and make sure you're on schedule. If you're not, get back on schedule without consuming too much at once. In the swim the dark moments may be due to overwhelm. Focus on numbers: count your strokes, count your breaths, and aim to slow down both. Finally, on the run it's all about chunking - break down the challenge in front of you. That means just running to the next aid station or to the next telephone pole.
Event Execution (See the full blog on this subject)
Never rush. Be smooth, steady, and intentional.
There will be hundreds in front of you and hundreds behind you; own your space and do your race.
Swim: Warm up before then when you get started establish long, slow efficient strokes. Calm is fast. Find a rhythm with your sighting - sight every 4 to 8 breaths. You won't hold the rhythm continuously so when you lose it just work to get it back. Swim at a pace that allows you to maintain your form.
Bike: The number one mistake triathletes make is biking too hard especially at the start of the leg. The bike is a warm up for the run. Hold back and ride steady not hard. Your steady pace is now faster thanks to the great training you've done. Let your fitness do the job. In the calmness make sure to execute your nutrition plan.
Run: The number two mistake triathletes make is running too hard out of transition. Find your target pace and go no faster till the final quarter of the run. Spoiler alert: you likely won't speed up then and that's ok. The point is to start slow (what will feel like 'slow') and make it your goal to not slow down. To put it another way, the run is not about going fast; it's about not slowing down. If you decide to walk aid stations to help your nutrition and fluid intake restrict yourself to 30 steps otherwise the aid station walk can get longer and longer.
Finish: As you approach the finish line do two things: 1) give thanks to be so freakishly healthy that you're able to do something as extreme as a triathlon and, 2) check your hair (there's a camera about to take you photo!) :)
Ironman Race Week
With 13 of you toeing the line this Sunday I wanted to reach out to the full group with some race week thoughts and guidance. I’ll be visiting the logs this afternoon for some personal messaging but wanted to share this first thing. I'm including the non-IM athletes in this email as I'm sure you'll be interested in the content and perhaps find some nuggets.
Reflect: Last fall I emphasized how important it is to enjoy the Ironman training journey. I’d like you to take some time in the next couple days to look back through the many months of your training log and reflect on the adventures, achievements, and challenges overcome. You have all made it to the start line which is quite exceptional and that is something to celebrate considering the scope of the training and many bumps along the way.
Goals: I’d like each of you to create a prioritized list of five goals you have for Sunday and add them to the training log cell for this Sunday. Anything to do with a finish time should be lower down the list. Focus on execution and experiential goals. In the end, they carry considerably greater value than a time which is highly dependent on factors outside of your control. What can you control - focus on that. What I’m saying is, a time goal is fine but I recommend going deeper.
Race Week Activities: As I’ve said to you already, the work is done. You have put an enormous load on your body and easing back as you have has allowed your tissues and biochemistry to absorb that load and turn it into increased capacity. You can’t cram for an Ironman. A late training load will result in fatigue not fitness. This week is about simply reminding your body how it feels to swim, bike and run. Each workout should fire the neuro-muscular and aerobic systems and do so briefly. No workout should in itself create fatigue as that will only hurt you on Sunday.
Ironman Village: The event arrives in Ottawa for the first time and there is a lot of excitement. Don’t get carried away with everything happening in the days leading up to Sunday. You have a lot of logistical matters to see to so focus on those. Avoid spending three hours walking around the Village and talking to everyone!
Sharing a few answers to questions I've been asked the last few days:
Workouts: Here is my suggested race week approach. Of course, your own schedule may require some fine tuning to it. Some gentle, familiar mobility work when the body is warm is important too but don’t overdo it - don’t overstretch!
Mon: Rest
Tue: Run - 20’ easy, slow jog
Wed: Bike - 20-30’ of easy biking, a chance to make sure mechanics are working well
Thu: Swim - 10-20’ of easy swimming
Fri: Rest day
Sat: A five minute jog and, if possible, 5 minute swim will help to loosen you up a little and prime the body.
Sun: Ironman
Goal Setting
Some examples of process-oriented goals:
Enjoy the IM experience and take it all in throughout the day, acknowledging how lucky I am to be part of it.
Stay relaxed throughout, mentally and physically.
Start each leg patiently, not letting adrenaline push me harder than my planned pace.
Remember that 'racing' doesn't start till the 20k mark on the run.
Cross the finish line with a smile and appreciation of having the health and fitness to be there!
Sleep. Focus on getting lots of rest and sleep through the week leading up to the event. Sunday morning will be an early one and very few athletes will sleep well at all on Saturday night. The night before isn't the key rest, it's the three or four nights leading up. I don't recommend getting up especially early the mornings leading up to try to adjust; just try to sleep as much as you can.
Fueling. To reiterate something I've shared before - avoid consuming carbs in transition. Allow you body is in flux/stress then and the GI tract is not functioning well. Wait 20 minutes or so till you've settled down on the bike or run before consuming.
Salt Tablets. If you haven't trained with them then I don't recommend them on race day. If you haven't used them but still really want to take them then leave it till the second half of the marathon. Maybe put some in your special needs bag.
Hydration. You should have a good idea of your fluid needs while on the bike and run as a result of all the training you did. Use that knowledge on race day.
Post IM Recovery Tips
Keep snacking on healthy food all week, aiming for a good balance of carbs and protein.
Keep sipping fluids all week.
Move your body. Walking is the easiest option. If you have a hybrid bike or exercise bike, a few minutes of easy spinning each day will help. We want to enhance circulation so blood is moving to carry nutrients to repair the tissues.
You have put out a lot of mental energy over the last 8 months and the load yesterday was enormous. While you process the journey make a point to also disconnect from it regularly. Connect with family and friends, relax, find some fun distractions.
You may feel the effects of the event for weeks to come. While your energy may feel normal in a few days time, there will be underlaying fatigue. Keep this in mind as you make plans for the weeks to come. You may feel fine then have to stop for rest after pushing your lawn mower for 5 minutes.
Your tissues will take weeks to fully recover. I do not recommend running or any high impact activities for at least the next two weeks. Your legs may feel fine but there is considerable damage to the soft tissues and that is not something you can measure or track. It will take time to fully heal and, of course, once heeled they will be stronger than ever. Give it time. Gentle, low intensity, low impact activities are your goal for now.
Sometimes athletes are excited to take this fitness on to the next challenge. I don't recommend that challenge being until two months have passed. That gives you a full month of recovery then a month of prep. A shorter window is possible but carries greater risk of injury and burnout.
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