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1 Key to a Better Ironman Run

October 25, 2017

Home, Training

The big news out of the 2017 Kona Ironman World Championship was how new male elite champion Patrick Lange of Germany ran through the field and win the title in a record breaking time of 8:01:40. Lange came out of T2 10 minutes and 23 seconds off the lead and at 11^th place. When Lange was done, his race-best 2:39:59 marathon split gave him his first Kona title.

For the age grouper, whatever the goal is, gunning for a podium spot, hoping to break a personal record, or simply dreaming for a decent run split, the marathon after a 180km bike is where those dreams live or perish. Here is one key to a better ironman run:

GET STRONG ON THE BIKE

You can log all the miles you want on running to improve that marathon split, but you will never put on a decent time if you don’t get your miles done on the saddle. Getting strong on the bike means you can ride at your goal pace for 180 kilometers, and still have the legs to run a marathon. The long endurance ride and run off is a staple in ironman training and the one that eat most of your training time. It is important not to just pedal away just to reach the desired mileage or hours on the saddle. Train smart by incorporating this workout from ironguides:

Here is one cornerstone long brick workout from our ironman training plans: (weeks 10-14 Learning to Endure Phase). Do this workout if you have built your endurance riding up to 4 hours of riding.

BIKE

Long Bike, building to include hard effort:

Start easy, build to moderate and continue to build the effort so that the final hour is HARD.
Finish stronger than you start!!!
Optionally, you can add distance to the easy and moderate portions of the ride.
270-360 minutes with final 60 minutes Hard

Execution Notes: Use each and every one of these sessions to rehearse your Ironman Race. Practice using the same fuel and drink, equipment (other than race wheels) and eating and drinking schedule.

RUN

Run off the Bike:

40min as: 30min of (30sec Fast / 30sec Easy) 10min easy c/d

Execution Notes: Starting to mix in “pure” race simulation with a race effort run after the longer bike. Focus on keeping your stride rate high over 96 (step per leg) and really work the fast efforts. Use the easy recovery to prepare for the next fast effort.

Prior to this phase, heavy gear pedaling on the bike and high-cadence running are often prescribed in the weekday workouts. Heavy gear pedaling (around 70 cadence at heavy gear) recruits more muscle fibers and when done consistently, will make you stronger leading to your long endurance rides. Running at high stride rates meanwhile will recruit the motor skills required to improve your run efficiency.

On raceday, if you followed your steady goal pace at the bike, it is normal to feel tightness and wobbly legs when starting the marathon run. Keep in mind the high-cadence training runs and just start with shorter strides and you will feel your legs open up. Resist the temptation to race others and stick to your goal pace, especially early on the run.

While there are numerous factors that would play on your ironman marathon time, this workout gives you a good foundation to accomplish a better ironman marathon performance.

Want a complete ironguides ironman training plan? Click here>>http://www.ironguides.net/plan-ironman/

Ironman Hawaii – Course review

October 16, 2017

Home, kona

Ironman Hawaii – Course review

It’s that time of the year! ironguides head coach Vinnie Santana shares great training and racing tips for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona.

With Ironman Hawaii just around the corner, athletes are now onto their final and specific training block leading into the race. This article is an overview of the training strategy and key workouts we use to coach our athletes taking part in the race.
SWIM
The conditions in Hawaii are known for being tough. Kona finish times are slower than most other races on the Ironman circuit—this is a result of the three disciplines and not only the hot weather, winds or humidity of the island.

We have discussed before that the swim is often an underrated component of ironman training and racing since, when it comes down to numbers, there gains to be made in the water are small. However, let’s not forget that triathlon is swimbikerun and NOT swim+bike+run—how much you train and how you race will have an impact on the back end of your run split.

The swim leg in Hawaii is usually 3 to 4 minutes slower than most qualifying races, mostly due to the fact that Hawaii is a non-wetsuit swim. This makes training a bit trickier because when we are coaching our athletes to wetsuit swims, we get them to use the pull gear (pull buoy and paddles) for most, sometimes all, of their swim workouts. The pull buoy helps with flotation while the handle paddles keep the heart rate low while building specific arm strength.

From all our athletes who qualified, only two did so in non-wetsuit swims. All the others had their training plans designed tailored to those qualifiers where they were allowed to swim in their wetsuit. So once the Kona slot was secured, we had to do some specific work in the water, as there is a significant difference between the strengthand technique needed for a non-wetsuit swim such as in Hawaii.
The main reason is that the pull buoy (or the wetsuit) helps with balance, which means the athlete stays on the top of the water without too much work. So to counter the excessive use of the pull buoy, we designed a workout with the goal of improving strength and balance. This was needed because when training with the pull buoy, most athletes tend to look up but their position in the water is still high and there is little need for a kick. But once you have no pull buoy or wetsuit, and you are still looking up or ahead, the legs will likely sink, creating extra drag and slowing you down.

Another tool we use in training for non-wetsuit swim races is the ankle rubber band; these tie the ankles together and create extra drag while preventing any kicking. This will force the athlete to rely on balance to get their legs high again—this happens once you push your chest and head down deep in the water. The athlete then gets used to this position so that when he is swimming without ankle band the position will be the same—very high in the water which is the ultimate goal of the process. A word of caution about using the ankle band—athletes without a swimming background or decent balance in the water won’t be able to swim with good technique, especially for long distances, so they should keep the repeats short, i.e. 25 to 50m.

Here is a standard set we use with our athletes:

** Choice warm up
** Main set (2km):
20x25m moderate with ankle bands – 15sec rest
20x50m as 3×50 easy, 1×50 fast – 15sec rest
20x25m moderate with ankle bands – 15sec rest
**Focus on:
•    Head deep down in the water
•    Water running through the back of your neck
•    Imagine you are swimming “downhill”
•    Push your chest into the water to bring your legs up

The above tips can also be applied if you are training for any other non-wetsuit triathlons. And the more experienced you are, the longer you can make your repeats and you may also add paddles. Some athletes even like to do fast strides with ankle bands before races—once the race starts, they feel good, confident and “on the top of the water”.

BIKE
The first kilometres are still within Kailua-Kona and are a little technical and generally slow with some turns, climbs and descents. Another very important detail to keep in mind in this early stage of the bike is that the heart rate is very high since the capillaries in the arms are open, while those in the legs are closed, so the heart is forced to work hard to pump to legs. Start VERY EASY in those first 15 to 20 minutes to let the capillaries in your arms shut down and those in the legs open up. Also, don’t eat and drink until after those first 15-20min to avoid diverting blood to your stomach earlier.

Once out on the Queen Q it is time to execute your pacing and nutrition strategy. Most athletes are only racing themselves so ignore what other people are doing around you and focus on your own race. It is too easy to get into the hype of racing in Hawaii—relax and follow your plan.

The bike course consists mostly of rolling hills, nothing too steep or too long. Some athletes prefer to ride out of the saddle for the first half of the race since at that stage there is usually a tailwind. Riding in that position gives you great power while also stretching your back and giving your time-trial muscles a bit of a break.

The only serious climb of the course is located heading to the U-turn in Havi. It is relatively long, although not steep. At this stage you also may want to ingest some calories, since the special needs is just after the U-turn, before a fast downhill with crosswinds, so there will be little opportunity to take your hands off the bars for a while. Some athletes have also reported that the bike aid station is unreliable, so make sure you don’t rely on it for your nutrition strategy.

Once headed back to Transition 2, you will likely face a strong headwind, so make sure you are mentally and physically prepared for that otherwise those last kilometres can be a struggle.
Below some specific sessions for the bike course or races with similar profiles:

Session 1) Long ride, preferably over rolling hills with climb sets

**Do 2 climbs of 20-30min long, at hard effort and half way point of your ride as:
•    1st at race cadence
•    2nd using a bigger gear and lower cadence
**   Last hour should be done at moderate to hard effort pushing a lower cadence (~50rpm)

Session 2) Long ride at flat course (if no access to hills)

**Halfway into the ride, do set as below to simulate heart rate and cadence changes of the bike course:
• i.e.: 1 hour as (5min moderate/5min hard/5min easy)
** Then Time trial set on last hour:
• i.e.: 3x(10-15min ON/ 5min recovery)

RUN
The first quarter of the run goes around Ali’i Drive where there are supporters all the time who will cheer for every athlete that runs past. This can actually be dangerous because when you add the adrenalin on the top of the cheering, it is very easy to run faster than the pace you were supposed to run at.

Once out of town, athletes are faced with the Palani road climb, the steepest and longest climb on the run, and again, supporters go mad having fun watching the athletes push their way through the hill. Again, stay focused and stick to the original plan; otherwise it may take a bit too long to recover from that effort.

Then at Queen Q road, it is rolling hills for most of the time, and this is important when it comes to specific training sessions, since it is important to learn how to push on the hills and then recover quickly from that. The workouts below were designed for that part of the race

Another key part of the race is the famous Energy Lab which carries a reputation for being the hardest part of the run course. However, as we know, marketing people like to make things appear different than they are—there is a slight downhill once you enter the Energy Lab all the way to the special needs. There are aid stations, too. As for the conditions, it is usually windy.

Because the aid stations on the run course are very well organized and not too far from each other, most people opt for not carrying any gels and rely on what’s provided on the course for their calories. I would recommend taking your own, since you never know how your stomach will react to new flavors or types of nutrition under stressful circumstances and tough conditions like those in Hawaii.

Out of the Energy Lab and back onto the Queen Q, again over the rolling hills when you reach Palani downhill, famous as the attack point of Macca on Raelert for the Ironman win in 2010. Don’t get too excited heading down the hill, especially as you may be able to hear the buzz of the finish line area, because you will be directed to a left turn and will still have about a mile to go until the finish line.

Enjoy the last 400m again at Ali’i Drive as your race is over and, mission accomplished, you are an ironman!

Ironman Hawaii Run Sets

Session 1) Long Run
Include:
1 hour easy to moderate pushing up the hills then holding a moderate effort at the top of the hill (increase the stride rate)
1h moderate pushing on the downhills (fast stride with no extra aerobic load)

Session’s goal:
1st hour: Learn how to relax and recover from running up a hill while still running at your race pace. It’s important to push both the hill and the flat section that follows. Use the downhills to rest.

2nd hour: Leg-speed drill—learn how to run with a fast stride rate on fatigued legs. Keep the effort easy to moderate on flats and uphill but push down the hills. This is great to train your strength, coordination, and muscle fibre recruitment.

Session 2) Hill Repeats
Similar to session 1, however much shorter, learn to recover after pushing up the hills (Palani Road, Energy Lab, Queen Q, etc).
**Find a hill that is roughly 2min long with a flat section of another 2min. Push up the hill, hold a moderate effort on the flat, make a U-turn, run back holding that effort, then jog easy down the hill to recover, i.e.:
[2min uphill – hard
4min flat – moderate
2min downhill – easy recovery]
x8

Enjoy your training!

Vinnie Santana

ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for athletes of all abilities. We provide coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, health and fitness products to help you learn and live a healthy lifestyle. Come get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services, or a triathlon training camp in an exotic location! ironguides also provides Corporate Health services including Corporate Triathlons, Healthy Living retreats and speaking engagements. At ironguides, your best is our business!

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Triathlon on a Low-Carb High-Fat Diet (ketogenic)

October 16, 2017

Diabetes, DNR, Home, Nutrition

By Vinnie Santana, ironguides.net

Nutrition has always had a special place for us at ironguides; it’s a way to improve our athletes’ performance and health. In addition to our training approach, The Method—which is based on hormonal balance—all our coaches had always understood that a diet low on carbohydrates, especially when well timed, is the ticket to improving both performance and health with our athletes.

However, we took this approach to another level when I personally was forced to train, live and race under a LCHF (Low-Carb High-Fat) Ketogenic diet for health reasons. The article below is an introduction to my personal experience on this topic, triathlon training on a “keto” diet.

Background

Back in 2000, I was diagnosed with Diabetes Type 1 at the age of 15. People around me wanted to make me feel better and said, “You can still do whatever you want.” With that motto in mind, I continued on my journey to becoming a professional triathlete.

I was managing diabetes as well as I could back then but, due to the lack of adequate information, my diet consisted of the recommended one for high-performance athletes and I tried to cover all that carbohydrate intake with insulin. That did not work so well and my blood glucose levels were running chronically high.

Despite all the challenges, I still managed to turn pro after winning my first Ironman race in 2004. It came full circle when in 2007 I had a PB of 8h50 at Ironman Brazil, which qualified me—as the youngest professional triathlete—for the Ironman World Championships in Kona. My PB also still stands as the fastest time by a Type-1 Diabetic over the Ironman distance.

Then at the end of 2012 I came across a book named “Diabetes Solution” by Dr. Bernstein and he recommended a diet with no more than 30g of carbohydrate per day. The impact on my health was amazing; after only a couple weeks I was seeing blood glucose levels that until that point had been a distant dream. This result created hope that I was now given a second chance with my health and I could carry on with all my other goals in life, as I felt diabetes wouldn’t be a threat anymore.

A1C tracks average blood glucose for previous 2-3 months

While I felt great overall, my new diet killed any physical performance I still had—even going up the steps of the local subway station became a challenge. While I didn’t have major plans of racing again, I still exercised on a daily basis and enjoy pushing the intensity here and there, but on that diet, forget it—there were several times I had to walk home from a run, even a slow run.

My work also requires that I train some of my clients in a one-on-one situation. On several occasions I almost got to the point of telling them I couldn’t keep up—and these were beginner athletes, we were running slower than 1-hour 10km pace, a pace I would previously consider slower than a warm-up jog.

To me the message was clear: I had regained my health, but lost my sport. It was a trade-off I could live with but preferred to change. So I kept researching until I finally discovered the world of endurance training on a Ketogenic diet—low in carbohydrates and protein, but high in fat. There was hope again I could continue with triathlon training lifestyle I love.

While there are some resources out there, none of them offered information about a higher-performance racing approach and high intensity training. In theory, Ketosis allows your body to tap into this endless resource of energy stored in your body, named FAT. But it was not clear how well you could perform, at a high level, within this approach.

While I got adapted well enough to get back into doing some exercise, I started to wonder if the athletes I coach could benefit from this diet. So I began to do some experiments in my own racing and training, since my diabetes was now very stable and as an athlete I—unlike my athletes—no longer have pressure to deliver results.

I decided to become my own guinea pig to test what was possible in terms of sports performance on a Ketogenic diet.

While we don’t believe in the magical solution, preferring consistent hard work as the winning formula, a small improvement in performance could make a big difference to some of the athletes we coach—from a more high-performance athlete who is winning smaller ironman races but is not as close to being a threat at the world championships, to the very beginner, but busy, athlete that wants to break a certain time at the next 10km race but has maxed out on his training load.

The theory

There are several books and reputable blogs out there that will cover the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet. I will try to keep this article to the unique information that I can provide based on my experience. But just as a quick intro to sports performance: in theory, being “fat adapted” will provide you the opportunity to use fat as your primary energy source while training and racing, which means that even the leanest athlete still carries dozens of thousands of calories from stored fat and would be able to access to it.

I’ve seen the following analogy that makes things easy to visualize:

Non-Fat-Adapted Athlete (on a high-carb diet): Is a Petrol Truck that runs out of fuel and has to stop by the side of the road, since he can’t have access to the huge tank of fuel he is carrying. That would be a non-fat-adapted athlete bonking during an endurance event.
Fat-Adapted Athlete (on a LCHF diet): You develop access to the big petrol container that you carry. The same Petrol Truck won’t run out of fuel since you can now access a close-to-unlimited amount of fuel. Or in the athletic world, you won’t bonk anymore in your next endurance events.

On race day your muscle glycogen will also be used better and reserved only for very glycolytic parts of the race.

There are other benefits too in health—especially addressing the metabolic syndrome issues such as lower blood pressure, improved blood fat levels, weight loss. The other very positive benefits of a Ketogenic diet aren’t necessarily to sports performance: brain function and energy levels. Once both body and mind start to work on a consistent flow of energy, there are no dips. My productivity at work, for example, has improved drastically, but we will save this topic for another article and stick to sports performance for now.

Getting adapted

The term “low carb” comprises a relatively flexible range: less than 150 grams per day is technically low carb, but I went straight into what is considered the lowest, a VLC (very low carb) or Ketogenic, diet, and aimed to keep my carb intake below 30g per day as per the book’s recommendation.

As mentioned, the blood glucose results were nothing short of a miracle and that was the single reason why I didn’t quit this way of eating. While working and other daily activities were fine, exercise was a nightmare: I was feeling horrible for everything from easy jogs to higher intensity workouts, but reading that it would take between two and six weeks to adapt, I stuck with it. In fact, I HAD to stick with it FOR LIFE, so there was nothing to lose. I would just stay on the plan, hoping to feel a bit better in a few weeks down the road.

Six weeks into it, I definitely started to feel better, there were still some off-days on which I would feel completely empty in training, when slowing down wasn’t enough and I had to stop the workout completely. But after about three months, those days wouldn’t appear as often. While there was a slower session here and there, I got back onto a “training plan” and started to do several time trials to track progress in which I tried to keep variables for conditions very stable:

5km run on the treadmill
400m swim at a 50m pool
20km bike in the velodrome

Keep variables consistent while doing tests. Velodrome, treadmill and pool are great facilities for that.

With the above scenario I had the opportunity to track the benefits of several aspects that are supposed to help on a LCHF diet, such as adding electrolytes to the diet to increase blood plasma, Generation UCAN superstarch that releases a very slow carbohydrate into your system, and other general experiments with carbohydrate intake, such as what’s the difference in performance when eating 20g of carbs per day versus 60g of carbs per day.

Fuelling in Training

The whole theory is that you don’t need to fuel in training. However, on the very long sessions fuelling does help to protect muscle mass, keep hunger away after training to avoid overeating and being kicked out of Ketosis, since during training and most of the day you won’t feel very hungry anyway.

At first is difficult to find the appropriate fuel to take in training. I remember I used to make a shake of avocado, coconut milk, nuts, coconut oil, and take it on a bike ride in one of my bottles—right there I had more than 500kcal with very few carbs and would keep the flat flowing through my system.

As you get more experienced and just want to keep things simple, you end up finding your own favourite fuels. These days I enjoy the convenience of UCAN superstarch, packets of nuts, and individually wrapped cheese. I must admit that recipes aren’t my thing, I tend to eat similar things every day and I may need to outsource a recipe book for the LCHF diet. Once you understand the core concept, be creative.

Changes in Body Composition

Staying lean is a challenge for carb-intolerant athletes. Vinnie (white hat) training with Olympic Champion Nicola Spirig at teamTBB.

A nice benefit of a low carb diet, both as an athlete and as an active individual, is the convenience of losing body fat relatively easy.

My whole family is carb intolerant, my father is obese, my mother is borderline pre-diabetic and I have a 2-year-old nephew who has Type 1 diabetes—carbohydrates aren’t our family’s best friend and as an athlete I’ve always struggled to maintain my race weight. I would always train relatively heavy and diet very hard (calorie restriction) in the build-up to my races to lose weight and increase my power-to-weight ratio.

Vinnie on a Ketogenic diet – easier to maintain low body-fat percentage.

While on Ketosis my weight has been oscillating a lot less, and it has been slowly changing to a leaner and healthier looking body type.

Special attention to high performance training

This part of this article may not apply to 98 percent of the readers; however, there may be two downsides of a LCHF diet for high-performance training that I’m still working on to improve.

Lack of Glycogen for high intensity training

If you are an elite athlete, a 10km runner for example, you will need to run faster than your race pace at several moments during your race. This is a very glycogen-oriented activity and being on Ketosis may make this type of work relatively difficult.

There are two solutions for this problem: 1. fast running on the treadmill because that biomechanically teaches you how to run faster without the extra aerobic load, and 2. sprint runs on a downhill because that has a similar stimulus.

The same challenge also applies to the swim and bike, for which there are also training methods and tools that can be used to mitigate the downsides.

Train Low VS Race Higher

Even though your training performance will be very good once you are adjusted, if you go to a high intensity, you will still have the perception fatigue is coming faster and stronger compared with when you are on a high carbohydrate diet. Training tired is hard enough, training tired and low on glycogen can be mentally very draining; it takes a lot of confidence in this approach to know that once race day comes you will be feeling way stronger.

By pulling back your training load (rather than by carboloading), you will get more rest, your muscles will feel fresh and remember that your body is in carbohydrate starvation mode; it will spare every possible gram of glycogen into your muscles, even while you maintain a low-carb diet leading into the race. The result is that on race day you will have a much higher energy level and speed than you are used to in training.

My experience, for example: I could barely break 5:40 on my 400m time trials, then on race day I managed a 5:08—both were done in a pool, that’s a considerable difference!

Racing

There is no substitute for testing your training, equipment, strategy or anything else, than doing the real thing—a real race. After being away from the start line for two years, I decided to put the whole theory to the test and entered several local races.

All were sprint distance that would take me about one hour, mostly in similar conditions in terms of course elevation and weather. So I now had now the opportunity to test the famous carbo-loading theory! In fact there is a little race here in Bangkok that is almost like doing a triathlon inside a gym since it happens in a pool, but you still get the adrenalin boost and the challenge of competition. Below are the things I’ve tested while doing these events:

Carbohydrate Loading both the day before and race morning
Protein Loading (to achieve gluconeogenesis, i.e. the body’s generation of glucose from non-carb sources)
Electrolytes Loading

I wanted to find out how a fat-adapted body could perform on fat only, Ketosis, but with ‘some’ muscle glycogen via protein intake; I also did a relatively high carbo-load (200g on the day before the race). It was also interesting to see the result all those tests had on my diabetes control and blood glucose. Of course I was limited to some of the carbo-load protocol, for example 10g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight, but I’m testing some of these on athletes I coach.

While most of these tests are already done, the more I study and try things, the closer I get to bring out the ideal racing protocol to people on a LCHF. I’m also testing all this on a few of my athletes who are getting ready for Ironman triathlons and marathons. I am aiming to provide an update on the results in about a year.

For now I can say that the difference is very, very small between most of the above scenarios and one can perform very, very fast racing on a Ketogenic diet. I have broken 1 hour in the sprint distance triathlons on Ketosis—while this isn’t a world class time, it’s faster than most triathletes out there.

So, who is this for? Is this for all athletes of all levels?

Everyone can benefit somehow. Some athletes will benefit a lot more, while others need to be very careful with the way they apply the LCHF in their training, otherwise they may be worse off.

This is NOT the magical ticket to success. I remember researching this topic—the message sold was that this was the real deal, rocket fuel that would provide unlimited amount of energy and that I would be able to cruise at my race pace very efficiently without eating any carbs.

You come across testimonials of athletes improving 20 to 40 minutes on their half marathon times and more than an hour on their marathon times. The problem was that this only happened with athletes who were overweight (in relative terms); after losing weight with the LCHF, they went faster mostly due to being lighter, NOT only due to being able to burn fat more efficiently.

So who and how should each specific group use the LCHF? The answer depends on the combination of the length of your event, your performance level and body fat percentage. Below a quick summary of the benefits for each group:

Recreational Athletes – Unless you are very young or part of the lucky ones who won the carb-tolerant DNA ticket, a low-carb approach would bring several benefits, starting at a rapid weight loss, to increasing the ability to burn fat as your primary fuel while training and racing. Since you are also a recreational athlete, your health and wellbeing may also be very high on the priority list; both are two other big reasons to go low carb.

High Performance Age Groupers – It depends on the distance you are training for and competing at, but you certainly want to go to a low carb diet and may time your carbohydrate consumption too during, and straight after, your training. If you are a long-distance athlete, spending a lot of time in Ketosis will definitely bring you benefits on your race day.

Professional Athletes – Can definitely benefit from training periods in a lower carb range, but this should also be timed with the type of work they are doing in each period of the week. The biggest difference to the amateur athlete is the very high intensity training and importance of that on race day, especially from a strategic point of view. At that level, athletes aren’t racing against themselves or against the clock, they are racing their competition. There are times they may be forced to dig deep into their glycogen stores to match attacks and stick to the front group. A fast swim start, for example, can cost an athlete the whole race if they miss the pack, or if an athlete is training low on carbs year around, they may find it more difficult to achieve certain speeds and biomechanical efficiencies that come with it.

Post Lunch in Cape Town with Professor Tim Noakes & Wife Marylin Noakes – Tim is the author of Lore of running and most recent has shifted his focus to Low Carb nutrition and published Real Food Revolution – we discussed at lunch the benefits of LCHF for athletes of all levels, beginners is a clearn benefit, while advanced, they can also metabolize fat at a higher rate even while racing after a certain carboload period

Special Groups – These are usually health related. Diabetics including me are part of this group. Also, if you have any of the conditions listed as metabolic syndrome, you will have huge health benefits (and subsequent performance benefits) of going to a lower carb range.

Conclusion

Do you fit in any of the above categories? Do you think the LCHF approach is for you? Before you make the switch, I suggest you study the topic a bit more and also understand the other health benefits that come with it. In the end this is a change that can improve your performance, health and wellbeing.

Vinnie Santana, ironguides Head Coach

Disclaimer: This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. Information on www.ironguides.net is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional.

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Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

Monthly Training plans (for all levels, or focused on one discipline): Only USD39/months

Event based training plans:

Sprint Distance (USD45 for 8-week plan)

Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Training & Ironman performance – The final 6 weeks

October 11, 2017

Home, ironman, kona

By Alun Woodward, coach, ironguides.net

With the Hawaii Ironman World championships now on the radar its a fitting time to look at the final 6 weeks of an ironman program leading into race day. This is very stressful time for athletes as it is the most important in terms of endurance preparation but it is also a time many destroy their chances of a good race by overdoing the training.

Entering the final 6 weeks you should be pretty much race fit and just needing some final touches leading into race day. The big issue here is confidence in your training as its human nature to always want more and that comes with training, we will always tell ourselves no matter how fit and fast that a little more or a little harder training and we can be even faster. Its this mentality that leads to the overtraining issues and bad races we see all to often come race day, we hear time and time again that it was a bad day or bad nutrition but when it comes down to it the main issue for a bad race is overdoing the training and pushing too hard on those final weeks and being empty come race day.

For a successful ironman performance we need short course speed and strength coupled with all day endurance – a tough combination of factors to fit into your training. The speed and strength elements are something that are built up very slowly over time, with the method we look to build this area of fitness consistently through the year using a brick by brick approach – nothing is too damaging so the build is nice and consistent. We need to think about this development like slowly hammering a nail into a wall – little sure taps and the nail will go in straight and sure – try to do it with one big hit and things will most likely go wrong.

So we often have athletes ask how long an ironman program needs to be – the truth is the endurance element may need to be 12-16 weeks long but the longer we have to constantly work on strength and speed prior to this the more success the program will be. We see time and time again that 2-3 years of consistent work brings athletes close to their athletic ceiling.

So assuming all has gone well and you have put in an extended period of consistent training you should be entering the final 6 weeks fit and ready for the final touches. As i mentioned above endurance is key in this phase but we do need to maintain speed and strength gains – they key here is maintain not build – we can maintain for 6 weeks with very little work and its more a question of staying on a level that pushing through to the next.

For most working athletes i like to maintain the Monday to Friday program as this is where the speed and strength tend to be focussed due to time restraints – the sessions will become more race specific with longer intervals but all speed and power numbers will be maintained. The weekends are the time when we will look to increase the endurance element of the training with increased swim, bike and run volume.

The final 6 weeks are about specificity and that comes in more than one way, not only does the training need to be race specific but so too does the nutrition. Our bodies are very adaptable but they do take time to adapt and now is the time to make sure the body adapts to the nutrition you are planning to use on race day. Being an ironman event and most likely overseas you need to see what nutrition is available on the course and try to use this in your training so your not exposed to new products come race day.

Endurance blocks, rather than going crazy on some sessions i like my athletes to include 2 focussed and planned 4 day endurance blocks within the final 6 weeks, ideally without work so not only can training be maximised but recovery too – these 4 days will see roughly a weeks training volume but focussed on swim and bike rather than run to allow overload without too much damage and allow the athletes to jump straight back into regular training. 4 days works very well for this, there is no need to push for more than this as the body will start to massively break down and require extended reverie time which will impact fitness.

Nutrition is an area that needs to focussed on also during the final 6 weeks, we all get so set in our ways with food and tend to cycle the same meals and same portion size week by week. As we hit the final 6 weeks and training volume increases so too does the calorific need of the body, in the final 6 weeks make sure you reflect this by increasing portion sizes where appropriate and than especially means more carbs during endurance sessions and immediately following big sessions. This can be a big challenge for many as the mentality is always to drop weight in the final weeks as again we all falsely believe lighter is faster on race day and always looking to lose the last few kg during this period. If you train more and eat less bad things are going to happen!! If your looking to reach race weight it should be done by 6 weeks out and then its about maintaining and focussing on feeling the work and recovery.

Not only does training hard mean eating hard it also means recovering hard, make sure this is a time where you ignore those social events and jobs to be done around the house. Its only 6 weeks and making sure you spend a little more time focussed on recovery will lead to more gains from the work you put into training!

Finally the last thing i like to remind my athletes is i want them feeling like caged animals come race day, race day is the time to release all the hard work done and really reap the rewards for al your hard work. How many times do we see athletes dreading a race as they feel broken down, tired and not ready to race – it all comes from pushing for that last minute fitness and not resting – in those final 6 weeks you have to do the work but every time you feel great and motivated and like pushing the boundaries remember the caged animal – remember the feeling and keep it under wraps until race day – pushing on now will not make you faster more than likely you will leave your perfect race on the training fields.

Enjoy your training

Alun Woodward

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Video: 3 steps to a faster swim

October 9, 2017

Home, Swimming

Swimming is often the most difficult discipline to improve especially for beginner triathletes. While cycling faster is a result of cycling lots, doing it intensity and pushing heavy gears and running improvement is highly related to how often you run and your body composition (beginners improves their run as they get leaner), swimming requires both specific fitness and technique.

I’ve been coaching a triathlon club for almost ten years and a very common mistake I see people doing is looking ahead / up, as they swim, this only makes their legs sink, creating more drag and slowing them down. The steps below will force you to swim at an appropriate technique, when it comes to head position and how your upper body can impact where your legs will be in the water

Step 1 – Ping Pong ball drill

Place a ping pong ball under your chin and try not to lose it. This will force you to keep looking down. Stop to breath as you need to and do a few 25m repeats like that until it becomes easy to keep the ping pong ball in place

Step 2 – ankle bands

We’ve discussed swimming with ankle bands in other articles before, it creates extra drag and unless you press your chest into the water, kill your glide, and accelerate your stroke turnover, you won’t be going anywhere. Keep the repeats short, 25’s or 50’s

Step 3 – focus on the new technique for the rest of your workout

With the above exercises you should be swimming with a new and improved technique, you may then continue your main set but make sure you be aware of both your head position and keep on pressing your chest towards the bottom of the pool.

Lets go to the video:

By Vinnie Santana, online Coach, ironguides.net
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10 Marathon Tips

September 27, 2017

Home, Running

1. Taper – A well structured taper is essential to run a good one on race day. It gives your legs a chance to fully rest and “soak up” the many kilometres that have been put into them in training. It is NOT an excuse to do nothing and “Carbo- Load”- Please! There are many factors that will determine a good taper- training load, recent race history, recovery from injury, etc. As a rule of thumb, cut down on total weekly volume to 75%, 2 weeks out and then again to 50% in the 1 week leading up to race day. Retain some speed work and intensity to keep the specific neuro-muscular impulses firing – this will help maintain a high stride rate.

2. Visualisation – Spend some time in the weeks/ days leading up to the race thinking about the race. Put yourself in different points and situations throughout race day. This will help you to prepare well when December 6 comes round. For example:

a. Pre race: How are you getting to the start line? What time do you want to be there? How am I going to carry my gels?

b. Race: How am I going to pace myself? How am I going to feel at the half way point? What is my nutrition plan like? What happens when I hit “the wall?” How am I going to respond?

c. Post Race: How am I getting home? Where can I get a snack after that? How do I recover properly from a huge effort like a marathon?

3. Gear– Plan your outfit. You should use the most comfortable running gear you have. How are you going to carry your gels? Is it time to treat yourself to a new pair of running shoes? Don’t leave this till last minute because you need break in them beforehand.

4. Nutrition – Read the labels. Know what you will be putting in your body as fuel for your big day. Try to get at least 150 calories every hour after the 1st hour of your run. You can get this from sports drinks (e.g. Powerbar Endurance Formula) or gels (e.g. Powergels). This works out to about 1 gel every 40 mins. Larger athletes will need more than this. Remember that it is important to wash your gels down with water because it helps with absorption.

5. Nutrition – If you are a heavy sweater (you sweat through your shoes) it is essential to replace the lost electrolytes as the race wears on. Excess loss of sodium though sweat will affect your muscles contractility. Replace these with salt tablets/ Nunn Rehydration tablets/ “extra sodium” gels. * Try sucking on a Nunn tablet – I find this works well. When you’ve had enough, and you will know when, simply spit it out.

6. Hydration – Aim to take in moderate amounts of water at regular intervals at the aid stations. In most cases a few mouthfuls is often enough. Do not wait until you are very thirsty and gulp down a whole litre! This will disrupt the concentration gradients in your stomach and may lead to bloating – a very uncomfortable situation when running.

7. Pacing – Start EASY! The adrenaline and atmosphere at the start will have your heart rate 10 beats above normal and raring to go. HOLD BACK. No matter how good you feel, do not sprint off at the start- Take a few kilometres to let your body find its natural rhythm – and then back it off a little more. Yes! The energy you “put aside” in the first half of the race will pay big dividends in the closing stages of the run. Try to get the 1st 10 km out of the way as effortlessly as possible. Remember – START EASY!

8. Pacing – If you are following my advice to START EASY, you should be able to reach the halfway mark with no problems. This is the time to make an assessment- if you are feeling fantastic, showing no signs of fatigue and still raring to go – then you could increase your effort a little. If you are feeling OK – no problems, nutrition on track, legs still in good shape, relatively fresh- maintain the current effort because a marathon has a way of biting back after 30km!

9. Pacing – Running a marathon will never be a simple, painless stroll in the park. At some point, you will have to grit your teeth and “Man-up”! Whether this happens with 10km to go or 500ms before the finishing line, the important thing to know that from here onwards, the race is run in your head. Stay strong and focused – Nothing else matters, just hold your form and run tall.

10. Enjoy your race – Enjoy putting your body to the test! Relish the fact that you are able to run a marathon – that in itself is special. Remember everyone that has supported you and be thankful for them. Encourage those having a tough time on the day with a smile or a few kind words. “Never give up!”

by Shem Leong, ironguides.net coach

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Shem Leong is our ironguides coach in Singapore. He has been hooked on triathlon ever since winning his age group in his first Olympic-distance race. Many top performances later, Shem still enjoys the challenges of training and racing at a high level, while balancing this with work and family. He is a firm believer in the benefits of an active lifestyle and loves being able to positively affect his athletes’ lives in this way. In the four years that Shem has worked as an ironguides coach so far, he has helped more than 60 athletes achieve their goals. They range from newbies hoping to complete their first sprint race, to 70.3 podium contenders, to seasoned Sub 10-hour Ironman athletes. Shem’s care for his athletes and his attention to detail set him apart. He completely understands the varied pull factors of life’s demands as well as the fiery motivations that drive everyday age groupers and is able to craft sustainable, effective training plans for their time-crunched schedules. An Honour’s Degree in Health Science has given Shem the knowledge to explain and expertly administer The Method. This, in turn, helps his athletes understand how each session contributes towards their ultimate goal; as a result, countless personal bests have been improved upon as his athletes continually get fitter and faster.

Stroke Rate – Cadence – Stride Frequency

September 19, 2017

Home, Training

One of the 5 systems we look to train when designing a program is called neuromuscular, this term simply means the link between brain and muscle.

When we see a regular program we might expect to see sessions set to heart rate or effort levels and even power but the specifics of neuromuscular development are often left out, and with major consequence come race day. So many athletes complain of cramping on race day that they never experience in training and first their response is always bad nutrition and lack of salt but I think more often than not its poor neuromuscular development to the demands of racing.

To look at this, say the majority of your riding is done on flat terrain and you typically ride at 80-90 cadence when riding, let’s say your training for a hilly Ironman race such as Nice, this event has a long section of hills over the first 100km of the race and those hills, while not overly steep will require power riding and will have you riding more in the 60-70 cadence range. If you have done the vast majority of your riding in the 80-90 range, then on race day you’re riding at 60-70, you simply do not have the neuromuscular conditioning to cope with this demand. As a result after 90min or so your muscles will experience overload to this stimulus and start spasming, cramping.

So when designing a training program we need to look not just at the physiological fitness but also the neuromuscular demands we will face on race day. Let’s look at the 3 sports and how we can set sessions to work on neuromuscular development and told we need to do this.

SWIM

Tool – Finis Tempo Trainer Pro

With the swim stroke, rate is the key to performance and an area often ignored. From the beginner all the way to elite swimmer, we all can improve with some specific stroke rate work.

With the beginner swimmer, one of the biggest obstacles to good swimming is thinking. If we think too much when we swim, we tend to develop a very robotic stroke with lots of errors and dead patches where we have no forward momentum. The brain can’t cope with too many instructions so thinking about the front of one stroke while trying to kick and perfect the end of stroke with other arm – all just goes bad. The main problem is the stroke rate is just so slow and too much time for things to go wrong. With the tempo trainer in play we can set a stroke rate and the focus goes from thinking about stroke to just keeping up stroke rate to the beeps of the tempo trainer.

As a start I would look to achieve a stroke rate around 34-36 strokes per minute and then build up towards 36-38 strokes per minute. When we swim with this tempo we remove the dead points of the stroke and have a more continuous forward momentum which leads to after swimming.

For the more experienced swimmer it may not be a case of dead points to the stroke, but more a case of the swim stroke is long and slow which, while fast in a pool does not translate well to open water and too many factors can put off the stroke. Speeding up your stroke rate will ensure you swim faster in open water – for the more experienced swimmer a stroke rate in the 38-42 strokes per minute range would be my target.

Also, we need to factor in what the race environment will be like – if it’s in the ocean or a river we have tides and current to contend with and we need to think a faster cadence into the current and slower rate when with the current in order for latest swim.

BIKE

Tools – cadence sensor
The bike section of any triathlon is the longest in terms of distance and duration so neuromuscular fatigue is one of the biggest factors at play in performance. We tend to see that the best running off the bike in races happens on hilly or undulating courses rather than flat courses which would seem counter intuitive at first glance, but when we look closer makes a lot of sense. In a flat race we tend to stay in the same position and ride at the same cadence for the whole duration – this is stressing the exact same muscle fibres for the duration of the bike and leads to more fatigue off the bike, whereas on a hilly undulating ride we change position many times and ride with a variety of cadences so spreading the workload over more fibres and leaving the legs fresher and more prepared for the run off the bike.

All bike programs should have specific instructions on cadence built in to make sure the rider is well trained and conditioned to riding at a variety of cadences come race day.

RUN

Tool – stride rate counter – found on Garmin and Polar devices

With running we want to train for the specifics of running off the bike not running fresh. There are many technique implications here and we want to run with a technique that utilises the body’s natural running reflex action rather than running muscularly – i.e with long loping strides. When we get off the bike in Ironman we have little strength remaining and can’t run with muscular strength rather we need to run with a fast stride rate that stresses the cardio system more than the muscular system.

While we can go and look for a technique guru to change running to be optimal for Ironman, working on stride rate alone will fix almost all running technique issues. As a simple instruction set stride rate to 180 steps per minute and your technique will be significantly changed for the better. The harder you find this initially, the more of a difference it will make on your running off the bike once you have the neuromuscular pattern set.

When we run at this stride rate we do not have time to over-stride in front of the body and also no time to push hard off the foot – this reduces impact at the front of the stride so reducing injury risk from impact and reduces push off which reduces the likelihood of calf strains and achilles injuries.

So have a look at your training plan again with new eyes and make sure you add in the neuromuscular element to your plan for a more rounded program and improved performance come race day.

Enjoy your training!

By Alun Woodward, coach, ironguides.net

More info at www.ironguides.net

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Race Prep: The Half Ironman Taper

September 13, 2017

Home, Race prep, Training

At this stage of preparation, with the months of hard work behind you and a mere 2 weeks until the big day, you should be at your fittest. You’ve done the late night track sessions, given up a social life for 5am bike rides, and rushed to the pool after work to get a swim in. Well Done! There’s not a lot more you can do to improve your fitness.

But how do you handle race week so that you are feeling fantastic and raring to go on race day? Too much rest could see you feeling flat, lethargic and unmotivated, while too much training will not give your body a chance to freshen up.

The taper is a period of reduced training load designed for your body to rest and repair while allowing the body’s natural physiological adoptions occur. You may have heard some athletes talk about “soaking up” all the hard work- this is what they are referring to.

When tapering after a long period of consistent training, our body’s transition from “fight” mode (training) into “heal” mode (tapering); the cardiovascular and muscular systems that are constantly being stressed for greater adaptation start to wind down and enter a state of deep rest. The hormonal balance in your body also changes as the hormones released to sustain the high levels of physical exertion during training drops, while the level of “restorative” hormones increases.

Your muscles will also start to “gum up” as they lay down healing connective tissue. This is why it is important to keep moving and the reason that we don’t take extended periods totally off during a taper. Essentially, we want to do as little as possible (allowing for maximum rest) while still keeping the systems switched on and just ticking over in the background.

These changes translate to a sensation of fatigue and lethargy in the body that is often experienced in the 1st few days of your taper. Your body will feel sluggish as you have been used to a very high rate of oxygenation and movement of fluids. Your metabolism will be out of whack too because the amount of energy you are used to expending drops. Your digestion will feel a little off, your head foggy, and you feel all the little aches and pains that the season’s training brings with it.

Knowing why it’s happening and expecting these changes to take place is important because it will help you stay cool and not freak out. In fact, what would be cause for concern would be if you didn’t feel these things at all!

DOs

1. Keep moving and stay loos As a rule, cut down first on intensity (the most damaging), then volume and lastly, on training frequency. Tapering is not a period of complete rest. 10 days of doing nothing will see you very well rested but also feeling flat, lethargic and possibly carrying a few extra kilos.Once you get to race week, it’s a matter of getting plenty of rest but not letting your systems shut down entirely.

Maintain the same frequency as your regular weekly training cycle to keep the engine purring. Almost all sessions are done at the easy effort level for 50 – 30 mins in duration – with the only exception being a longer and very easy 90 min bike ride in the 1st half of the week.

Throw in a few short efforts in each of the disciplines to keep your muscles firing and familiar with the effort on race day. Short 5 min race pace efforts work well at the start of the week, while harder 30 – 90 sec bursts are good to fire up the legs/ arms towards the end of taper week. Keep everything else easy. You want to perform the sessions hard enough just to tease out the right physiological response to keep that system ticking over.

All the training sessions that you put in the last week should leave you hungry to do more. In a sense, you’re teasing your body to build energy levels up before the full race day effort. Do not hammer yourself on any sessions during this time to “test your fitness”. Trust in the many hours that you have already put in.

2. Travel days are stressful enough so you can take this day completely off or just strap on the shoes for a 20 min easy run after settling in- just to loosen up the legs.

3. Adjust the size of your meals to account for the decreased activity level ) Watch what you eat during taper because your training load (and the subsequent calorific replacement rate) is significantly reduced. You won’t get away with stuffing your face after a short session, even though, out of habit, you may feel like it.

4. Try to keep taper week free of stressful occurrences. Make sure everything is settled on the work and family front early. Mentally (and physically) you want to be in a relaxed place so that you can spend time rehearsing your race strategy and nutrition plan. Visualise different sections of the race and remind yourself of what to expect and how you want to be feeling and how you are going to react, in terms of pacing, motivation and nutrition, at each of these ‘check points’.

5. The fitter you are, the more susceptible you are to common bugs, colds and flus and the more easily we get sick (I’ll explain why in another article). Diet – wise, top up on loads fresh and colourful fruit and veg to make sure you’re getting the vitamins and anti-oxidants required to keep our immunity high. A daily multi-vit is also a good idea.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t plan your family vacation before your race. A few relaxing days by the beach is fine, but a 2 week hiking tour in New Zealand/ Europe/ Canada/ USA is not a good idea.

2. Avoid taking a total day off the day before the race. If you feel like you need it, two days out is better. Do a little touch in each discipline the day before, just to get the engine warmed up.

3. Mental fatigue from the Ironman hype: While the Ironman “circus” is part of the experience, it doesn’t mean that you have to be breathing triathlon 24/7 for the entire week before the race Being on your feet, swapping stories about racing and training, considering late equipment changes from the expo sale, etc etc… all that is going to zap your energy big time.

Stay low-key – I recommend getting to the race venue as late as possible so that you have a limited time at to hang out at the Athlete Village. Limit yourself to one pass – buy all the souvenirs/ supplies you want, take photos of that new bike, go hassle some Pros, and catch up with all your friends on their training and racing. Then leave it, get out of there and avoid going back. Booking your accommodation a few miles away from the race area helps too.

In conclusion, stay cool and level-headed and move smoothly through any last minute hiccups that you may encounter. All training sessions need to be conservative and should not incur any muscle damage/ fatigue at all. Save your energy, trust in your training and mentally prepare to ‘go there’ on race day. Good Luck!

By Shem Leong
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Train with ironguides!

Personalized Online Coaching: Starting at USD190/month

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Event based training plans:

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Olympic Distance (USD65 for 12 week plan)

Half Ironman (R$95 for 16-week plan)

Running Plans (10k, 21k and 42k – starting at USD40)

Thanyapura, Together with Ironguides, Launches Thanyapura Online Triathlon Coaching

September 7, 2017