An Endurance Nation athlete asked: “How does one decide to commit to [atempting a] K[ona] Q[aulification]?…
1) What do you consider pre-requesites before attempting a KQ?
2) Is it possible to KQ on a course you have not raced before? And how to you balance the # of KQ slots vs the details of the course?
3) Should one consider who is racing the course (ie look up other AGs)?
4) Where should KQ fall on your commitment list? (God, family, corps…KQ?) for an honest attempt at KQ?
5) EN. Now, you all know I love EN. Work works, I know. But I have the distinct impression, trolling the KQers on this site, that the EN plans are not designed for a KQ bid. True or false?”
My reply:
Observations, primarily based on my own journey:
- I didn’t even start to run, much less do triathlons, until after I had downsized my career significantly, and after my first kid graduated from high school. So, for me, work and family came first, until they didn’t have to anymore.
- My first year in triathlon, I did “OK”, but not great. Meaning I was in the top third of my AG routinely, but certainly not at the very top. But, I do think if I had found myself in the bottom half, or even the middle third, I never would have gotten the bug.
- By my second year, other people were telling me I should do an Ironman, and even consider whether I had it in me to KQ. My first IM I finished 18/72, top 25% barely. Not all that auspicious. But again, I think if I had been even in the second quartile, I would never have gotten a gleam in my eye to moving upwards.
- Nonetheless, I started thinking about what it might take to raise that to KQ level. I was an inexperienced runner, so I started entering running races, up to and including marathons, getting sidetracked for a couple of years with getting to Boston.
- Once I did that, I learned the level of commitment to the work – meaning daily consistency – required to raise my game. It became my number one focus in life. I did not ignore my work, or family, or other avocations, but I did make decisions about when to take vacations, when to go out on the town, whether or not to go skiing (a REALLY big deal for me) etc, based on training and racing needs.
- The final piece of the puzzle, for me, was learning how to execute a race EN (specifically Rich Strauss) style.
- Two of the three IM courses I’ve qualified on, I did it my first time around: Wisconsin, and Arizona. The terrain differences between those two are massive, telling me its the training and the execution, not the course itself, that is key.
- I didn’t start looking at who would actually be in the race until the past couple of years. I’ve since learned that is a limiter, not an enabler, and I would like to get back to not worrying about the competition again, especially in this day of staggered starts.
- The EN Advanced plans are the real deal. I’ve used them specifically in 5 of my 7 AG wins. The only thing I really added was bike commuting to work, but those weren’t really workouts. I’m pretty sure if some of the guys I beat had used those plans, I would have lost.
Conclusions:
- You gotta start with a realistic assessment of what you bring to the table: body type, athletic background and skills relative to the general population, willingness to devote the time and mental energy needed, current triathlon performance relative to your AG peers.
- You have to go all in, starting with accepting the goal, through simply showing up day after day after day to do the work. Even if it means bike commuting, running at lunch, going back to the gym in the evenings, whatever. Then keep working on each and every detail which is the chess puzzle of Ironman success, both before and during the race.
- Analyze, analyze, analyze, objectively. Don’t make excuses. Instead, make plans for improvement.
- You have to be willing to accept and work through failure. For almost all of us, it didn’t happen overnight, or even over 2-3 years.
It’s a tough thing to sustain that level of committment, IMO. Eventually, something will break down, either the body or the resolve, or both. Fending off that breakdown is the hardest part of the task. Looking back I think I was simply blind to the possibility of not committing.