In our sport a similar battle plan can be applied to an
Ironman race. If you swim well, transition fast, then ride well, you set your
competitors the task of taking your position away from you. While it’s very
necessary to have a strong run, if your competitors are so far down the road,
it may become an unrealistic task to actually catch them.

The mental game is an important one. If you’ve run well,
ridden well and in many of our races there are turn around points, where our
competitors have a chance to see how far ahead we are. This is a great
opportunity to display your best body language. If when your competitor comes
toward you, you look like you’re doing it easy. Like you’re feeling no pain.
This is going to make catching you look all that much harder.

I’m asking you to change the thoughts from, running scared,
to holding onto what is rightfully yours, and refusing to give it up. Fighting
to the last drop of blood to hold onto what’s yours. That simple change of the
angle you look at the situation with, can either strengthen you or weaken
you.

I’ve heard many triathletes discount the importance of the
swim in a race. The argument put forward is that the swim is only 10% of the
total race time and it’s better to spend the training time on the other two
legs of the race. I have won an age group (and a Hawaii Ironman spot) in the
swim. When we looked back over the results, the guy who came second to me, had
a faster combined bike and run time. He had given too much away in the swim.

Improving the swim is a project which needs to be approached
systematically. The swim is very dependent on good technique. Good technique
has to be the base of all swim training. Every session should have some
technique work. If during a workout the athlete becomes tired and loses control
of his/her technique, the workout should be terminated right there. There’s no
point practicing bad technique, you’re already good at that.

An athlete can improve their swim on three sessions a week,
but it’s a long slow process. Adding two other sessions of as little as 1,000m
each can dramatically improve the rate of progress. Swimming improvement is a
frequency thing. Owning a new part of swim technique takes many episodes of
practicing it to “own it”.

These days you can’t take the Hawaii spots in any age group
if you have a weakness in any of the three sports. Weaknesses have to be
eliminated.

It’s a simple formular. Get the swim competitive. Learn to
ride at race pace for long periods of time in the aero position. Every month I
include a 100km time trial, if you’re an Ironman athlete there’s not much point
in doing a shorter time trial, once you get your time trial bike out. Over
100km you have to have aerobic efficiency to keep improving the time.

Once the swim and bike are in order, it’s a case of
defending the position you have gained. There are so many athletes in Ironman
racing who are not good at this.

It’s such a natural movement it should just happen while we travel from A to B. Triathletes are great at complicating things. Analysis – paralysis is an easy affliction to catch. We have heart rate monitors, GPS watches and pedometers measuring every step we take.

In long distance endurance races controlling what goes on in your head can be the difference between a great race and an unsatisfying experience. The mind will wander if you leave it idle.

What did primitave man think of while he spent long lengths of time chasing an animal. Studies have proven that man is better suited to long endurance events than most of the animals he would have hunted. So it is possible to run down a much faster animal, by working as a team and constantly running the animal to exhaustion. Man is able to dissipate heat much more efficiently than most of his prey.

A primitive man only has one thing on his mind, the process of keeping the animal moving until exhausted. He’s not monitoring his heart rate, he’s doing that unconsciously by pacing himself. He’s smarter than the animal he hunts, he works with other team mates to cut off the animals escape routes, constantly turning the prey to keep it moving.

Eventually he wins.

What can we learn from our primitive ancestors? Firstly we are from hunter, gatherering stock. Our ancestors lived on lean meats and vegetables, with a small amount of grain when available. Secondly, we were born to run. Not in shoes with raised heels, but either bare feet or thin sandals made from hide. No cushioning, just protection from the prickles.

Third lesson, we are endurance animals. We can turn on a sudden burst of speed when we need it, but it is not sustainable like lower efforts spread over a long duration. Fourth lesson, we would tire quickly if we were calculating, how far we’ve been?  How far we have to go?  What pace we’re travelling at? What someone else is doing? The primitive hunter had simple thoughts in mind, keep moving, stay loose, never take your eyes off the prey.

If we could leave our GPS and heart rate monitor at home on race day and simply stay in the moment. Simply do what we have to do to get there as quickly as possible. We could release ourselves of all those controlling thoughts which restrict free movement. We could go faster without trying any more.

A few of our athletes got exactly what they wanted. But every one got exactly what they asked for. Very often we unconsciously ask for things we don’t really want on the surface.

Athlete A – Had been training really well. Had adjusted his goals as a result of his great training improvements in recent weeks. On race day he had a clear picture of exactly what he wanted and exactly what he had to do to get it. Throughout the day he watched his planned race unfold. Not everything went exactly to plan but he had a strong overall direction which he focused on during any moments of doubt. As soon as a negative appeared on his screen he immediately focused his sights on the overall goal. In the end he came so close to what he had pictured it was scary.

——- you always hit what you aim at ——–

Athlete B – He had a mission to complete. He was here for a purpose. Whatever happened on the day was just going to become part of the day. No special attention was to be paid to any one event throughout the day. The purpose of the mission was always there at the forefront of his mind. Not everything went to plan but nothing which came up was strong enough to take his attention away from the mission. Mission accomplished.

—– racing with a purpose will always get better results than racing with a detailed plan —–

Athlete C – He knew what he’d like as an outcome. He had several possible outcomes. Each one a result of “how things unfolded” on the day. Not everything went to plan. A couple of little things cropped up which changed the way he focused at that particular time. He still had plan “B”, plan “C” and of course plan “D”. By the end of the day he was happy, well not really happy, sort of satisfied with plan “C”. Not over the moon, but it could be worse.

—– commitment is the framework which holds the whole thing together, being committed to one strong path will overule the reasons to change directions, or settle for “less than the best” —-

Athlete D – He had a plan, a plan for the day and a plan for the weeks immediately after the race. Lots happening in a busy life. The plan for the day was a strong one. The plan for the weeks immediately after the race was an exciting one. During the race he was racing hard with 90% of his energy. His result was 90% of his potential.

—– racing an Ironman is not something you can do “fairly well” you can’t be “interested” in IM, if you want 100% of your potential, you have to be committed, you have to give it 100% of your attention as often as possible. Especially on race day —–

Athlete E – He was in fantastic shape. An almost flawless buildup. No illness or injury to speak of. Ripped and hard. Fit and strong. A real threat in his category. A course ideally suited to his talents. His biggest fear was to not stuff it up. Everything pointed to a category place or even a win if he didn’t mess it up somewhere. He’d made silly mistakes before, we all have. But this time it was going to be different. He was just not going to stuff it up  this time. He was going like a train, then when things were going really well, he stuffed it up.

—– If you fear falling, you’ll fall. If you fear missing the hole, you’ll miss the hole. Fear is a powerful attractant. Once again, you get what you aim at.—–

From all of these examples, we see just how important having a clear vision or “where we want to go”  is to the eventual outcome. The more we can refine our goal setting, visualization, and focusing skills in training, the better the race day outcomes will become.

We always hit what we aim at.

It’s almost a waste of time asking doctors for advice on this, unless of course we asked Mitch Anderson, the others just don’t get it.  

My alternative health guru, Ian Maitland has found that after a hard long race we need more essential fatty acids. I’ve had him test me within days of an Ironman and have needed “Udo’s Oil”, a brand name product to be found at all health food stores. It’s a blend of several different oils supplying all of the essiental fatty acids.

After a long hard race we’ve found that taking a whole bottle of “Udo’s Oil” in the two weeks after the Ironman has sped up my recovery and cleared my thinking.

Don’t just take my word for this. There are many out there who simply dismiss “anecdotal experiments of one”. Try reading up on this subject. I reccommend

* Fats the heal and fats that kill” by Udo Erasmus PhD  (a Canadian nutritionalist)

* In Fitness and in Health, Everyone’s an Athlete” by Phil Maffetone (Mark Allen’s health guru and kiniesologist)

Read in the books listed above how dietry inadequacy can lead to a whole range of mental disorders from aggression, learning disabilities, crime, depression and the least of these “foggy Ironman head”.

Another great book “The Zone” by Barry Sears, I can’t find my copy, I have loaned it to a squad member who has forgotten who they borrowed it from and I have forgotten who I loaned it to. If we all take more essiental oils over the next couple of weeks either I’ll remember who I loaned it to, or someone will remember to bring it back. 

Coomera Half in a couple of weeks and everybody is getting excited. We have lots of veteran Half Ironman competitors but a few are going to do their first. For the first timers and for those who may have done one, but not really put it together as well as they’d like, I’m going to lay out a plan. Use it as a guide, there are many right ways and many wrong ways, this is one of the right ways.

Start with carbo loading. For a race of this length 41/2hrs to 6hrs, a great benefit can be gained by being fully loaded before you start.(squad member David Flack ran from 6th place into 3rd in the last 3km of the Hawaii Ironman because he carbo loaded well and fed well during his race) it’s not over till the line.

* Thursday – train in the morning and start refuelling right away. as you normally would. 750ml of water with 6 scoops of Opti. Within an hour a breakfast of cereal, pancakes, muesli with banana. Three hours later a sandwich with chicken or egg filling and a glass of Endura 2 scoops. Mid afternoon, a snack of one handfull of almonds with dried fruit, peaches, apricots, sultanas or dates. Fresh bread with peanut butter and/or jam is nice for a change. Dinner stir fry veges with chicken or fish served on rice. Glass of Endura 2 scoops before bed.

* Friday – same as Thursday

* Saturday – Train lightly in each sport to stimulate the body to want to refuel (you’ve spent the last six months training and immediately refuelling, the body is trained to refuel after training) Follow a similar diet to Thurs and Fri, with the evening meal lighter and earlier. We often have a Tuna and rice salad with fresh shallots, corianda, tomatoes and avocado the night before a major race. It’s light, easy to make and it doesn’t need heating. Avoid eating out, dinner’s often too late, too full of saturated fat and why risk delhi belly.

* Sunday – race morning if race starts at 6.30am –  5am – 6 scoops of opti in water, with supplements Q10, flax seed oil, multi vit, gin-seng, vitC, sea salt and whatever else you’re on. (some like toast with peanut butter and/or honey) Drink water only for the next 75min – 15min before race start, one can of “V” or red bull (not compulsory but it does help some of us get fired up and focussed in the swim.

*On the bike – start with 2 x 750ml of Endura 2 scoops per bottle with 1/3 tsp of celtic sea salt each, 1 x 750ml with 4-5 scoops of Opti and sea salt. Pick up 1 x 750ml of water as well IT’S IMPORTANT TO DRINK 4 X 750ML OF FLUID ON THE BIKE, if you’re bigger than average or slower than average, you will need more than this. Most squad members will not need GUs or other gels on the bike but if you do use them make sure they’re washed down with lots of water, not sports drink, as sports drink is already mixed to a 6% concentration and adding GU to that will only concentrate it too much to absorb. The body can only absorb a weaker than 6% concentration of sugars when racing. When in doubt, take more water.

* On the run – Many of our members have had good results by carrying concentrated Endura with added sea salt (8-10 teaspoons in a small flask with water) taken when approaching an aid station then washed down with water. Use the same strategy if using GUs. For an average 1hr 40min run an athlete might take 4-5 GUs or 2 flasks of concentrated Endura. If you take coke from aid stations, dilute it with water, coke is 12% sugar and needs to be 6% to be absorbed.

The plan I suggest for most athletes is swim flat out, concentrating on fast arm turnover. Warm into the bike but building to 75-80%HR within 15min. Often we have to hold ourselves back for the first 15min because the excitment and the fresh legs want to go too fast. Holding back early will pay off later, especially if this is the first or second attempt at this distance. Thoughts should be kept in your own square metre, what happens in that square metre will have more bearing on the outcome than anything else you may focus on.

Limit yourself to one coffee per day and no alcohol in the week before. Both are diuretics and you need to stand at the start line fully hydrated. Drink water as often as you think of it in the days leading into the race and use extra sea salt on your food.

The plan laid out above can simply be doubled for the full Ironman.

Yeppoon experience, Emma Weitnauer shared accomodation with us at Yeppoon. I noted everything Emma ate or drank in the days leading into her race. Carbo loading is incredibly important and many of our members don’t do it well enough. Emma would have eaten 50% more than some of our age group athletes in the days before the Yeppoon Half Ironman, and she didn’t gain a gram. I have gotten tired of the sound of my own voice trying to convince the “diet conscious” athletes amongst us, that they will perform better in training and racing if they increase their fuel intake. Spending time with Emma shows she is professional in every way. She understands the importance of giving a thoroughbred the fuel it needs.

Looking through the photo collection from the Yeppoon half Ironman last weekend has given me lots to work on with myself and other athletes in the squad.

When I look at race photos, first thing I look for is core stability. You can’t hide lack of core strength when you’re racing. The dropped hip, the knee bending out under load.

Next thing I look for is stride length and foot placement/heel strike. It’s really easy to point out bad runing technique when the photo has stopped the action for us. Much can be learned and direction given to the plan for continued improvement.

The posture displayed when standing around casually can reveal bad habits sneaking in. Standing with most of the body weight on one leg, a pelvis rolled forward, knees locked back, all signs of poor core stability.

Then there’s “the beer gut”, it never looks as bad when you look down on it from above. In fact in the owners eyes, it’s never as bad as it looks in photos. I do have a couple of kilos to shed before Busselton.

We all look at a group photo and single out the image of ourselves. We’re often the most critical of ourselves. Who are we kidding, who do we think we look like. Our favourite movie star. The camera doesn’t lie. What you see is what you are, learn to like what you are, all the people who like you, see what you’re seeing now. They still like you.

After examining posture and technique with a view to improving these items, move on to enjoying the fun side of the sport. Enjoy the images of your mates going hard, check out the way the better performers are so serious and focussed. For winners, it’s serious business.

Ten minutes later the “pro wave” started. Fifty percent of them swam straight at the buoy, by time they got there, they were downstream from the buoy and had to swim back up and around it. Losing metres to the smarter athletes who “read the conditions”. They say “experience is what you get, just after you needed it”.

How often do we need to “learn the same lesson a second time”? Just after the “pros wave” the next group took off, fifty percent of them made the same mistake????

Many of us are so wound up and tense before an important race, we often make silly mistakes. Forgetting shoes, drink bottles, HR monitor straps and all sorts of things.

Learning to calm ourselves is as important a skill as changing a tyre. In fact if you ever need to change a tyre in a race, the ability to calm yourself can save your whole race. I’ve seen athletes “blow” a race because of a flat tyre. I’ve seen it cost someone 45-60min in total time, when the actual tyre change should only have taken 5min.

Triathlon racing is not just about swimming, biking and running. We Have to aim to be the total athlete.

* The strategist
* The mechanic
* The zen master
* The observer
* The nutritionalist

There is no reason an age group athlete should have a less than professional approach to their sport. We look around the transition area at the dollar value invested in equipment and wonder why the same attention to detail is not applied to every part of the venture.

For professional athletes to overlook important details is simply “not professional”.

More photos on the link below