What I Learned at Ironman School

What I learned at Ironman, I mean long course, triathlon school

I am an experienced long course triathlete and coach of long course triathletes. I enjoy thinking about training for these distances and I was really excited to come to Colorado Springs to attend the USA Triathlon Long Course training clinic. I am going to write here some of the highlights of what I learned.

Gordo Byrn was the lead organizer of this clinic. As a prolific writer on Ironman training and racing, I felt I had a pretty good idea of what Gordo stood for and why he felt the way he did. I had a few points of disagreement with him, but these were pretty minor and I looked forward to hearing him present his points in person. Gordo did not disappoint as he presented his volume first program to us. As the Ironman is a long time trial, training needs to mimic the race situation as closely as possible. Gordo was fully aware that this does not mean that people go out and do an Ironman frequently. I don't disagree that the ideal form of training for an Ironman will involve a good deal of long distance training. The key question I suppose is the extent that it can be accomplished by an age group triathlete with a job and a family. The answer to that question is often an individual one.

Swim Session
Monica Byrn, her brother Andy Caplan, and Gordo led the swim portion of our clinic. It was primarily based in the pool and swimming the drills was really helpful. It has been a long time since I was in a 50 meter pool. It was a treat to swim in the Olympic Training Center facility. I am going to have to get some more time in these length pools, they are a lot of fun. I learned a good bit at the swim clinic, both in the pool and out, and here are the key things I picked up:

1. When swimming, one's thumb should not be immediately next to their index finger. Instead it should be at a 90 degree angle from the direction of the fingers. I found this completely counter intuitive, but when you give it a try you'll find that you have a larger pulling surface, a great addition to any swim stroke.

2. To minimize the extent that one's feet fishtail during our breathing, try to touch our big toes together when they cross. Doing this insures that one's feet don't get too far apart and scissor too far apart.

3. A great drill to remind a person about the last 3rd of the pull is to place your face in the water and gently kick. Elbows should be held at one's side. Arms move from pointing straight down to the end of the pull and then return to the initial 90 degree position. This is a slow drill and forward progress is not rapid. But what you learn from this drill is how little we often utilize the last portion of our pull. This is not the main source of power in a swim stroke, but it does provide more power when used properly. This drill helps one get used to pulling all the way through.

Bobby McGee
The well known running expert presented points on two related but distinct themes. The first was geared toward the Ironman athlete with limited time. In this presentation McGee noted that it was nearly impossible for a time limited triathlete to excel at the bike and the run. If they choose the bike, there are steps that can be taken to maximize run performance, most notably deliberate walk breaks. McGee's logic is simple. If the athlete is going to be walking at some point in the Ironman, it might as well be in their control and planned so as to minimize their time on the course. He suggested several factors that would influence the length and frequency of these walk breaks. McGee also discussed the factors that most limited triathletes' running performance. He describes running performance as being the product of core fitness, think heart and lungs, and the peripherals, such as leg muscles and tendons. Successful run training has to include both of these for athletes to perform their best. What fails all but a few triathletes in long course racing is not their core fitness but their peripherals. McGee had several novel workout ideas to develop this fitness more fully and I'll be giving these some thought and practice with myself and my clients this winter and spring.

Susan Williams, Olympic medalist, shared many of her coaching beliefs and overall training and racing experiences. I found her discussion of a 9 or a 10 day training cycle to be quite useful. I have never tried this approach but I can see how it might work better than the typical 7 day cycle.

Tim Hola, a top amateur at the 2006 Hawaii Ironman and many other races in the past few years, presented a number of important points regarding how to successfully be an elite amateur triathlete. The key point Hola emphasized was the need for great planning, compromise and communication. He liked to remind himself to do "what is important now" or W.I.N. The guy was super nice and that made his stellar performances all the more impressive.

All in all, I learned a great deal about training for long course triathlon. I know it will provide me the tools to help my clients even more as they prepare for their long course and Ironman races in the coming years.