Careful readers of this journal (there actually may be one or two) have probably noticed a dearth of entries on triathlon training ever since Ironman Arizona two months ago. Movie and book reviews, family stories, skiing – anything to drain my brain of that incessant throb of train, train, train. But it hasn’t worked. I have actually been following a training schedule for five weeks now, and I might as well admit it.
Last July, I joined the Endurance Nation. This is a virtual team of 400 triathletes centered around two coaches, Patrick McCrann and Rick Strauss. I gravitated to them, and started sending in my monthly payments, because their training and racing philosophy so closely matched my own that I thought I might as well be a part of it. Here’s what I had to say recently to someone who asked my opinion about their services:
“There are several reasons I am enthusiastic about EN. FIrst, they have placed a strong emphasis on and put much thinking into tactical and strategic race execution: very specific targets for bike wattage and run pace, along with more general philosophy of how to race smart. That package, I discovered, fit perfectly with things I had learned myself by trial and error over a 5-10 year period. Second, these guys are HARD WORKERS, both when it comes to training (see below), and when it comes to their “coaching”. They have mastered not only the internet, but multiple avenues of communication: twitter, Facebook, audio, video, written PDF documents, electronic forums (think a civilized Slowtwitch forum without the idiots), etc. etc. Third, they are expansively accessible, responding to emails prodigiously, holding online office hours, frequent “conference calls”, appearing in person for days before each Ironman, so we can chat without stress, being present on the race course itself all day. Finally, the interactions with and support of the other 399 Team members are invaluable to me.
“Their training plans emphasize INTENSITY (shorter, harder intervals) over volume (long, slower rides and runs). The off season could be visualized as training for a 5 or 10 K, or a prologue length TT up to 20 minutes. And they don’t care if you swim until 12 weeks before your race! The plans are best used if you are willing to test frequently (every 4-8 weeks) to measure your FTP (basically, wattage you can hold for a one hour TT) on the bike and “threshold pace” (ditto for a run). The workouts all use these numbers to set the speed of run intervals or the intensity of bike intervals. Even their long runs (which are never longer than 2-2.25 hours for an IM) include an hour at “marathon pace” (stand alone marathon pace) or half marathon pace preceded and followed by an hours worth of “long run pace”. For biking, long days (except for three towards the end) for IM are never longer than 2.5 to 4 hours, with higher levels of intensity.”
Since my real focus on training doesn’t begin until I get back from skiing (which will be February 11th), I’m not that worried that my first four weeks of training on their plan have averaged about 7.5 hours a week. Looking back at last year’s equivalent time period, it’s the same, except I did a couple of hours a week swimming then, and I’ve kind of backed off now from the pool.
This winter, I have adopted a strategy of trying to get stronger on the bike. I am always satisfied by my preparation in swimming and running, and indeed, my times in the races have reflected that. But the bike always leaves me scrambling. I don’t have the same confidence in my ability to successfully execute according to plan in the race on the bike, because I don’t have confidence that my training has really prepared me for what I have to do.
What does this mean? Well, let’s break down each element of the race, as to goals, and how to race to achieve those goals. On the swim, I no longer feel a need to go as fast as I can, which would be about 66-67 minutes. Instead, I am satisfied with a 70 minute swim, as long as I feel like I am just cruising, instead of actually working, during the race. I want to stay well inside the zone of feeling like I’m just out for a splash in the pond, instead of bombing along like I’m doing a race in a pool. Being three minutes faster might actually help me someday, who knows, but I’ve had enough success winning close races that I don’t think I need to sweat it.
Now, swimming is 50% technique, and 50% actual muscular and aerobic strength. 50+ years of swimming, even though I’m not all that good at it, has given me a large technique bank account I can draw on, and a good base to build on when it comes time to add that strength. I can be comfortable that spending three months swimming only once or twice a week will not hurt me come race day, and maybe even allow my left rotator cuff to fully heal. It was starting to fray about Sept of last year, and has only just now stopped feeling tweaked. I intend to slowly build my distance, frequency and intensity back up starting Feb 15, but for now, I’ll enjoy the rest.
On the bike, I really should have the same feeling of cruising, at least for the first 20-25% of the race. Then, I can start to ramp up a bit, but even so, it’s a long 5.5 – 6 hours (112 miles), and so getting totally wracked by the bike is not a good way to start a marathon. Problem is, I don’t have the same level of strength and speed built over years that I apparently do with both swimming and running. In both cases, I built that strength and speed through short interval workouts, last 2-10 minutes, religiously done year in and year out since 1999. I only started doing bike intervals in 2006, and even then, I didn’t give pursue them with the same rigor as running or swimming.
That’s because I didn’t understand the equivalent concept in biking compared to pace (minutes per mile) for running or speed (usually expressed as time/distance) in swimming. When I do run or swim interval training, I have been obsessive about trying to hit specific time for set distance in the pool, or specific speeds for a set time or distance on the treadmill or at the track. On the bike, using the trainer, I would kind of guess at effort levels using heart rate zones, which were set by testing which I only grudgingly did twice in a four year period.
Once I bought a CompuTrainer two years ago, I began to have access to the use of Power (watts) to measure performance, but I didn’t know how to test for the right ranges, nor how to analyze my performance. I would try to correlate wattage to heart rate, but it was guess and feel, not done with any rigor.
This year, for the first time, I finally understand what those watts and all the equations surrounding them actually mean in terms of performance. And I have coaches who have specifically designed their training programs using clear testing methods to set up very specific intervals based on required wattage, the equivalent of trying to run at a set speed on the treadmill or hit a specific time for 100 yards or meters in the pool.
I am just a few weeks into this new mode of thinking about bike training, and my intent is not to get faster, but to get more confident in being able to hold a steady, controlled effort level during those 5-6 hours on the bike. Literally, to make my day easier, or at least more stable. I want to get stronger so I don’t have to work as hard.