Essentials to Conquering Half Ironman Triathlon Ep 56

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Mm-hmm.

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I'll see you there. Hello friends, and welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. Before we jump into today's topic, I wanted to make sure you know that we are doing a free live webinar on May 29th at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, where you get a front row seat to all 5 of our amazing triathlon coaches as we share our secrets on pacing, fueling, mental training, key workouts, and more. So I'll be sure to leave you a link that you can register online, and as a little bonus, you'll get access to our free mini course on Half Ironman training. So there's nothing you need to write down. You'll have access to it already. All right, so let's jump into today's topic, which is how to conquer Half Ironman distance triathlon, whether you are a novice intermediate athlete looking to get faster. First and foremost, and one of the most important things in our business as a coaching team, is knowing your training zones. Every one of our athletes who walks in the door starts off with their onboarding process, getting a metabolic test in our exercise physiology lab so that we can determine their substrate use so that we can help them with fueling appropriately and knowing where their zones are in addition to lactate testing and overall VO2 max. Testing, which of course is one of the reasons why we're trying to train and also been linked to longevity. So we love doing our metabolic testing so that we can dial in your zones both on your watch, because I am so sorry, but your default training zones on your watch are probably not right. It's somewhere to start. So I don't want you to feel badly for going off of your default zones, but it really is important since everybody is so unique. And everybody's background is unique, what sport you came from and what you're trying to train for. It is really important that you do metabolic testing in order to get your training zones set. So this helps you to train more effectively and efficiently to prevent overtraining. Of course, that is nobody's friend because it increases our risk of injury and fatigue and just overall decreased risk or decreased performance and motivation. And we certainly don't want that. We want you to stick with this, whether it be this distance or just swimming or just biking or just running. It also helps us with race pacing, and this is really critical for 70.3, and we'll get into that a little bit more with some of the key workouts. But race pacing is so key in this distance. So we wanna make sure that you're not going too fast, not going too slow, and really helping you to reach your full potential. And then it also helps us to monitor your progress. Are you getting faster at any of those given zones? So especially with heart rate and then Customizing your training plan or your programming so that it is really tailored to what your goals are and your specific needs and abilities. So overall, having your training zones is super critical for maximizing your training effectiveness, preventing overtraining, optimizing your race pace, monitoring your progress, and making sure that your training is suiting your individual physiology. So that's one of the key things that we really push here. So that's number 1. Number 2 is focusing on those key workouts. So this is kind of a juicy one. Coach Marty is gonna talk all about this on our free webinar, but there are certain things that we want to make sure we're doing. So testing is one of the key things, and this doesn't necessarily mean in our exercise phys lab, but actual field test. Some of the things that we like to do are critical swim speed step test and FTP or step test. Bike test, and this is after you've done your metabolic testing, a run test, which typically we'll do anywhere from like a 1-mile to a 2-mile, uh, time trial. Um, we've also used the Cooper test, which is a 12-minute go as far and as fast as you can, um, distance. So we'll typically use some combination thereof based on the athlete and when they have what they have access to. We definitely also wanna make sure that we're mimicking the terrain of your course and training when possible. So if you're training for Ironman North Carolina, which is near us and super flat, that, it's gonna be a different plan than if you're training for something that's a little bit hillier or has maybe a lake swim or a river swim or something like that. Strength and mobility is really important to us so that we're building longevity in the athlete. There's some debate right now in the literature as to whether strength training makes you faster. At the end of the day, it makes you feel stronger and it makes you again, have longevity in the sport and in life. So it's really critical to our training plans that you have strength and mobility as well. So from a swim perspective, for key workouts, sometimes it depends on the, uh, experience of the athlete. Typically our more experienced swimmers may not have to be in the water quite as frequently. A newer swimmer definitely needs to be in the water frequently, but training distances can be anywhere from 1,600 to 2,400 yards per session. That of course can vary per athlete, but If you're a more experienced athlete, you probably do 3,000+ yards, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but how does it fit into the joy of training? How does it fit into your overall training plan? And that's what we love doing as coaches is creating those training plans so that you have fun and don't get burned out. So it's important to work on speed endurance as well as your overall endurance, incorporating drills so that you focus on better efficiency. I said that you can have that good swim stroke, and then of course maybe incorporating some open water swim sessions depending on what type type of situation your race is gonna be in. We also love incorporating some swim toys for things like strength and endurance, like pull buoy and paddles. One of the key workouts that we really like is a 4x400 at Half Ironman pace with about 30 seconds rest between each set. That's a good workout that we like to incorporate. Some speed endurance sets, for example, like 10 to 12 by 100 at Half Ironman pace minus about 10 seconds with a short rest, like 20 seconds or so. And then some mixed sets. Biking. So this is one of those things that when I was looking into the literature prior to doing this podcast, found some interesting research that is predictors of overall performance for sprint Olympic, half Ironman, and Ironman distance triathlon. And for 70.3, one of the best predictors is your cycling performance. I mean, it makes sense, right? So it is important that you are on the bike frequently if you really wanna get better at this distance. Hopefully you're able to get in at minimum 2 sessions, but if not, probably closer to 3 to 4 sessions per week, especially if your weakness might be, or a, a point to improve on might be the bike. We like to incorporate aerobic rides, which typically is anywhere from like 60 to 75, maybe even 80% of your functional threshold power. I don't like super generalizing those just because everybody's zones as we've already said, are different. Your physiology is ever so slightly different person to person. So also incorporating things like a lactate threshold or a VO2 max session. It depends on what phase of training you're in and what Marty likes to call a medium long ride or a long ride session, which is basically just being in the saddle overall, mostly at an aerobic pace. Um, maybe some like tempo intervals or what might be called sweet spot intervals in that session that cover covers the different, the distance. I typically like to bring my athletes to somewhere around 60-ish miles. That way they know mentally that they can cover the distance and physically that they can cover the distance. I'm not necessarily a big fan of doing excessive miles, but it all depends on the athlete and how well they recover too. There's some genetic factors that go in there cuz that's part of why we incorporate genetic testing into not all of our athletes, but the athletes who want it. So that we can dial that in even further. All right, so then getting into the run, it is important to get several run sessions per week, but again, that's totally gonna focus on the athlete and what your ability to recover is, how experienced you are in running, and what the overall injury risk is to run sessions. Because this one typically ends up being the one that has the higher likelihood of injury or overtraining or overuse. Types of things. So it can be a little interesting, but again, that's why we do what we do as coaches. So mostly we're gonna be plugging in those aerobic runs, a lactate threshold or a VO2 max session. Again, depending on your phase of training, we don't necessarily wanna start right off there, but ease into that. And then as you get closer to race day, getting more into like pace specific for your half Ironman training sessions. So that you get used to both in your gut and mentally and physically going at that pace for longer periods of time. Key run sessions, for example, might be a 4 to 6 by 1 mile at lactate threshold, like a 5K pace kind of thing, maybe 10K pace with 2 minutes recovery. If you are not an experienced runner, you might start off with 2 to 3 by 1 mile and then work your way up to 4 to 6 by 1 mile. Again, totally depends on the athlete, and this is why it's nice to have a coach so that they can plan in your additional progressions. Typically we like to get people to at least 9 to 10 miles. If somebody has never done a half Ironman or a half marathon, I should say, before, I like to get them to usually 11 to 12 miles, maybe even going 13 to 15. It just depends on how we can fit that in and how much time we have for preparing for race day. And brick sessions, we do like brick sessions, and that is is a kind of a fun term, although there's some controversy over whether it is truly a fun term, the name brick. I love them. I think they're a lot of fun, but we don't necessarily want to do them all the time. But it again is very variable and very individual to the athlete. I like to incorporate like 5 or 10 minute runs off the bike on a somewhat regular basis. So I would say after maybe 2 bike workouts, incorporating a very short run just to mentally and physically prepare for that. but it's not doing excessive overload necessarily for those brick sessions. Again, it's totally gonna depend on where you're at and how much experience you have. But one example of this might be a 2-hour ride followed by something like a 3 to 5 mile run at your goal Half Ironman pace, which is different than your easy run and different than your, say, 5K, 10K pace. It's, again, it's kind of like the mushy middle. So in our mini course that we'll do as part of our free webinar, we have an example week that's laid out in terms of how you would potentially program your workouts. So those are some of the key workouts that are really important for half iron distance triathlon. Number 3, and one of, of course, my favorite topics is making sure that you're fueling and hydrating properly. This is the distance when it really tends to show if you are lacking in this area. So if you're somebody who's like, oh yeah, I might take a couple of sips of my sports drink on a ride, well, that ain't gonna cut it at this distance. If you're going anywhere from 4 to 8, maybe even 8.5 hours. You're gonna have to fuel properly because you will run out of glycogen, which is your muscle and liver's stored version of energy that helps to get you through a distance like this. So it is really critical that you are fueling and hydrating consistently. And what I mean by that is on a certain time interval, and you don't necessarily have to stay super strict to that time interval. Let's say for somebody who sweats really heavily, you might have to take a sip every, say, 5 minutes. But for most people, it's being consistent with taking in something every 10 to maybe 15 or even 20 minutes, depending on what the weather is outside, and using the products that you're gonna use on race day in your training so that you get adapted to that. You get used to the flavors, you get used to taking it for a longer amount of time, and you train your gut, which is an organ just like you train your body and your mind. So I've got a whole podcast that is separate, that is just strictly on fueling and hydration solutions for half Ironman triathlon. So I will link to that in the notes and you guys can jump over there to get more information there. We also have a specific hydration guide that's got a pee chart and everything, so be sure to download that as well. And again, I'll have that in the show notes. So the fourth piece of conquering half iron distance triathlon is really trusting the process, giving yourself plenty of time for life to life, as we like to say, and not pushing yourself so hard that you are going to be so stressed out with the training process that it takes over other parts of your life. So it really is important that hopefully you have fun with this process and allow for plenty of rest. And you know, this is why we like to do what we like to do. So if this process gets too stressful or programming your workouts, cuz it's a lot, you guys. I mean, that's, that's why we love what we do is because it's a never-ending puzzle of putting together the pieces of what your goal is, what race you're training for, what life is going on right now, or lifestyle you lead, whether you have a full-time job or you travel a lot, we've got people who are airline pilots and physicians and moms and dads. That's a lot to juggle and that's why we like to do that process for you. One of the things that I thought was interesting as I was researching this podcast is a research study that focused on the finishing rate and the physiological adaptations for Half Ironman triathlon. And this was not with pros, this was actually amateur athletes. It was men and women. They took somewhere around 30-ish athletes and all but one finished going through a 24-week training plan, all created by the same coaches. So it's a very similar coaching philosophy, but how cool is that? I mean, it just shows like if you follow the dang directions, you're gonna do well. And in fact, we have a separate podcast on this exact topic, First Time 70.3 Triathletes: How to Finish Confidently. That was done with Coach Carly and I, so I will link to that too. So be sure to go over and listen to that one. And last but not least, it is important to prepare mentally. And when I say that, I mean both during training and on race day. So just knowing that, again, this day could be anywhere from 4 to 8 hours long, which is, you know, the amount of time that's either a half or a full workday for many people. At some point, you're likely going to have a hard time. So being able to be uncomfortable and get through those things and prepare mentally with your mental training skills during training so that you're prepared fully on race day. So those are our 5 key things or essentials to conquering a half Ironman. So just to reiterate those, knowing your training zones so that you can train efficiently and pace properly, focusing on some of those key workouts so that you're best prepared for that distance, fueling and hydrating properly so that you can make sure that your gut is trained in addition to your body, trusting the process. So giving yourself plenty of time to train. Allowing for life to life and make sure that you are being consistent. Of course, you know, we're here to help and this is what we love to do is taking all the complicated things out of your hands and doing it for you. And then last but not least is preparing mentally, both during training and on race day with those mental training skills so that you are ready to do hard things. And we know that you can do hard things, which is super awesome. So just to reiterate, we've got all of these things that we're gonna be going through with all 5 of our coaches so that you don't just get my view on things. You get to hear from the other coaches. Which I'm just so excited to have such an amazing team of talented and educated and experienced coaches that you get to hear from as well as me. I'm learning from them every single day. It's, it's amazing. So come join us for that free webinar on this exact topic. Again, May 29th at 6:30 PM Eastern time for 90 minutes of secrets on pacing, fueling, mental training, key workouts, and more. Be sure to register. Online prior so that we know that you're coming. Also, don't forget we have a 1-day training camp. So if you're local to North Carolina, join us for our 1-day ultimate training camp on June 2nd at Jordan Lake in North Carolina and get totally spoiled by our coaching team. In fact, the coach-to-athlete ratio is really low so that you get the attention that you deserve and truly get spoiled. So whether you're a beginner or seasoned triathlete, this is your chance to learn, to have fun, and get race-specific practice in a supportive and safe environment. Spots are going fast, so be sure to get yours at theenduranceedge.com and under classes and events, you'll see triathlon training camp right there. And if you're local, be sure to join us for our weekly group workouts from open water swims to indoor velocity rides to outdoor rides, runs, and all kinds of fun stuff. Thanks again for listening. I hope that you do awesome in your training for 70.3 or Half Ironman triathlon. You've got this, you can do it. and we will see you soon. Thanks so much. Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sports and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.