All the small things

I'm just over one week out from my single important race of the season - Ironman US Championships in New York.  I've race 2 IMs and can't complain about my preparation or performance at either but I've yet to nab the elusive IM Kona qualification slot.  It's tough because you can only control your race but the slots go based on finish position within your age group as opposed to something like qualifying for Boston Marathon where there is a set benchmark time - you hit the mark and you qualify.  So back to qualifying for Kona - you can have the race of your life, crush the course, drops PRs on swim, bike, and run - and not make the cut.  It all depends on who else shows up and how well they race.  So with so much out of your control how do you get an edge and bridge that gap from a good personal performance to a top age group performance?  For me in the M35-39 group this year we'll likely have the most slots allocated because it's one of the biggest groups - potentially 300+ of us, which means 7-10 slots.

Nailing the basic S/B/R training has never been a problem for me. Not to say that I don't have room to be more fit but the potential return within a season is relatively small and there is a limit to how much training you can fit in amongst the rest of your life.  This season I decided to make a point of doing a bunch of small things that might not have a measurable effect individually but I know collectively they have to make me a better, stronger triathlete on race day.  Over the past 2-3 months I've made a concerted effort to consistently get these "extras" into my routine.  With the exception of one, everything is small but making the time for an extra 10-15min here and there can be really challenging when you've already knocked out your primary workout or it's getting late and you're tired.  So what have I been doing?

1.  Run form drills - these are things like strides, butt kicks, skipping, and high knees.  The point is to develop neuromuscular coordination and improve efficiency with short duration quick movements.  I've been doing 2 sets of 3-4 different drills twice a week after my shorter run workouts.

Check out TrainingPeaks and Running Times for some running drill ideas.

2.  Plyometrics - these are similar in concept to the form drills but are more focused on maximizing muscle fiber recruitment and developing explosive power.  Research has shown that explosive plyometric movements benefit endurance athletes even though we rely predominantly on aerobic slow twitch fibers.  At some point in an endurance race those slow twitch fibers fatigue and fast twitch fibers begin to get recruited. So even though there may not be an explosive component to running a marathon, optimizing your entire suite of fiber types definitely has benefits. I focus on things like squat jumps, box jumps, single leg hops, bounding, and depth jumps - typically 2 sets of 3-4 different moves once a week.


Check out Plyos to Boost Your Bricks and Ultimate Plyo to learn more.

3. A coach for the coach - sure, I coach endurance athletes and even do swim stroke assessments but I still need some feedback on my swim stroke.  I know what I'm supposed to be doing and what it feels like I'm doing but unless you can watch yourself swim you don't know for sure if you have it right.  So I invested in a couple of sessions with a local coach who gave me some good feedback and some drills to work on. It took about 6 weeks but I got to the point where the changes are more or less natural - and hopefully will pay dividends when I race.

4.  Dryland stretch cord work - Swimming is so much about moving efficiently through the water and minimizing drag by being balanced and streamlined.  You simply can't power your way through the water with poor form without quickly becoming exhausted.  With that said, swimming still requires fitness and conditioning, particularly in the shoulders, lats, and arms. Basic strength work for swimming is pretty simple with a set of stretch cords.  A couple sets of 30-50 reps twice a week is a nice supplement to your regular pool workouts.

5. Recovery - Training creates muscle damage that is repaired when you sleep.  More sleep = better recovery.  I've never been good at getting to bed early or getting enough sleep.  My typical evening might be training until 7:30ish, dinner between 8 and 9, then somehow I find myself still up and wasting time on the computer or doing something else unnecessary for 2-3 hours before I finally get to bed.  Then of course I need to decompress for a while with the TV.  I'll usually get to sleep around midnight or later.  So for the past 2 months I've made a point of trying to get to bed even just 30min earlier.  I even managed to mostly stick to it through the Tour de France.  Unfortunately the Olympics have kept me up past midnight more often than not the past week.  I'm looking forward to a couple days of sleeping later this weekend.

6. Last but not least, I've invested heavily in optimizing my bike and position.  Aerodynamics make a huge difference in triathlon and your position on the bike and gear you choose can easily mean 10-15min difference in your bike split for the exact same effort.  I'll cover the details in another blog post but the quick version is that I took my bike out to FASTER in Scottsdale, AZ a couple months ago for a position assessment and to spend some time in their wind tunnel optimizing my gear.  It wasn't cheap but I'm completely satisfied with what I got out of it - I'm way more comfortable on the bike and found out that I can save about 8min over a 112 mile Ironman bike by switching to a different aero helmet.  I ended up with new shoes, insole inserts, new saddle, tweaked cockpit, new helmet, and I learned how adjusting my head position slightly makes a significant aero drag difference.  The pic below is the final product.

A trip to Scottsdale, AZ to visit the guys at FASTER and optimize my fit and position.