Are sprint triathlons good training races for IM?

Racing is some of the best preparation one can do. Sometimes there is no better way to test yourself than to simply get in there and do it! In a previous article, I talked about how to maximize your time in races “Training in Training Races”. You can find this article on Active.com, Here at Amateur Endurance, X-tri and a few other sites.
Many times IM athletes lean towards the longer ½ ironman races as their preferred events. However there are lots of reasons that the shorter sprint distance races can be just what you needed.

1. They are Cheap:
Triathlon entry fees cost a bit more than dinner at the local pub, but sprint triathlons are some of the least expensive triathlons you can enter. Register early and you can shave a few dollars off the price tag. This is good for the wallet and might allow you to rent those sweet pair of race wheels!

~The scene at a local sprint tri in Boulder. You're always running into lots of friends and they are just plain fun!

2. Local events:
Traveling can take a lot out of you. Assuming you are already going to take a few rest days before the event and maybe after, adding in a long car drive, some less than ideal road food, a hotel bed and you have the makings of a week or more of stress and not the good kind. Not to mention, all of this stuff costs money, see number 1. Usually you can find many local sprint tri’s to compete in. That can leave you the afternoon to spend with the family, catch a movie, or even get in some more training…

3. Shorter rest/recovery period:
Even if you are looking to set the course on fire, two days of easier training can be enough to put down a solid effort. Also with the shorter distance, particularly in the run, your recovery time will be pretty low. You can get back to training after only one day for some athletes.

4. More opportunity for training after the race:
With the normal early tri starts and a race that only lasts an hour to 1.5 hours, there is plenty of time to get in some more training after the race. If it’s close enough, maybe you can ride home or even ride there and back. If not a quick cool down after the race, maybe a ride on the bike or swim might be in order. You can still make it home for lunch and still have a few hours for some more training of your choice. For example, last fall I did a sprint tri in Denver. The day basically boiled down to the following: 1+ hour drive, 1 hour race, 30’ cool down on bike before the awards ceremony, 1+ hour drive home and I still had time for 3 hour ride with time enough to make dinner for the wife. That’s over 4 hours of training and brownie points with the family. It doesn’t get any better!.

5. Training vs. Racing a 70.3:
Many think that racing a half IM distance is the best way to “prep”. “get my pacing and nutrition down for the full” A half IM is NOTHING like a full. At the same time they are long enough to go far into the breakdown category for most of us. Ie. Lots of recovery time. These races are less than half the duration of a full. You will NOT get a “feel” for a full IM here. You will get a much better sense of bike pacing, nutrition, the fatigue levels you will have on race day with your long training sessions.

6. Great threshold workout and test of % loss.
Many triathletes, even IM athletes, are realizing the benefits of training their threshold. These races provide a great environment for this type of training. Sprint tri’s can vary in length, but generally you’re looking at some thing like: 750meter swim, 12-16 mile bike, and a 5k run. Depending on the course and conditions, it takes one hour for the speedy folks to1.5 hours or so.

I like to pace these efforts as a long hard threshold effort. Every training “zone” you have should have a range. Your threshold on the bike may be 250 watts, however you threshold zone may be 235- 265, so you have some room to work with here. Go for your threshold-pace on the swim (1000m TT effort), a solid, normalized, threshold effort on the bike and then see what you’ve got for the run. If you can knock off a threshold pace for the run at the end of an hour+ race effort, you’re looking pretty good in my book! Not to mention, you just did a killer threshold training session. If you didn’t hit your threshold run pace you should start looking into why? Did you go to hard on the bike or swim? Too many spikes in power on the bike? Just got fatigued? If so, how far off your pace were you? This can be valuable information and data for future training and give you some clues to where your weaknesses may be.

7. Sprint tri’s will make your IM feel like slow motion
Sprint triathlons are hard. Don’t let short distance and larger numbers of beginners fool you. Coming out of the water and getting right into a threshold effort on the bike is tough to execute. With the high intensity it is very easy to go to hard and blow up. On the other hand if you take too long to find your rhythm and “warm up” into any part of the race, you’ll lose a huge amount of time. That leg could be over by the time you get into the groove! Becoming efficient and comfortable at this will pay you back! Being able to blast through transition and find your pace and rhythm at these speeds and high intensities will make your IM feel like Sunday brunch. You will be far more “in control” minimizing the chance of making an error and maximizing your ability to execute your race to perfection.

You may not find that a training race is on the schedule and that’s fine. You may have spent the last 3 years doing short tri’s and now its time to try a longer one. It always depends on the individual. We are all different. We have different strengths and weaknesses, different backgrounds and resources. But next time you’re looking for some racing to do before the big one, give a local sprint triathlon a go, you’ll learn more about your self than you think.

Train hard, train safe!

Ironman Hawaii - in hind site

This is a pic of a list I made in the mid 90's of stuff I wanted to do before I die. A life list. part 2 is of IM Hawaii is now checked off.

"just have fun, its your first time in Hawaii, don't expect much..."
you hear this a lot. and still, after having an inadequate race in my mind I call a huge bull shit!
IM Hawaii is 140.6 miles. the same as all the other full distance triathlons. Evey race has its own unique aspects that make the race challenging in different ways. That race is very hilly, it's always windy there. The salt water help you float better, but the water is rougher but no wet suit also... hmmm....

here's the deal. Hawaii is hot, humid and windy. done.
The bike course, despite the wind, is faster than most other races. IMC, lake placid, st. George, IMLO. and teh run a very flat. the hill going up palani is tough but thats it. As some one that doesn't do well in the heat this was a concern. I took care of this in 3 ways.
1. Arm coolers on the bike
2. Extra water bottle on my bike down tube. (2 bottles for straight water and 1 fuel bottle w/ Infinit. 3 total)
3. Simply being mentally prepared. Ever get stuck in traffic that wasn't expected. infuriating! but when your ready for it, plan for it, expect it. not so bad... same thing. get ready to be F'n hot. all in all, the heat wasn't bad. Ice down the shirt at ever aid station and I was fine.

Ok so why does it seem like so many people crack there? 2 main reasons.
1. They train to hard/ don't rest enough for the race. It's the world championships and athletes get supper amped! Rightfully so, but recovering from an IM takes time. lots of time, longer than most realize and many rush back into training from there qualifying race. "I got to train for KONA!" yeah you do but you have to recover first. Not recovering enough first is like getting new tires for your car before you take it to get junk yard. It's just dumb. everyone knows this yet very few actually do it.

2. They get over excited and execute the race poorly. This is easy to do. Its the world championships and as you hopefully read in my race report things don't play out like they do in your qualifying race. There are people all around you the ENTIRE time! my 10:10 race time was good for the to 500 something... yeah top 25%. i am normally in the top 5%. This issue can be exacerbated by the fact that almost everyone here is a qualifier. They are used to going fast. If people feel just a bit off and there going slow, lots of folks passing them, they get what I call the IM death gaze. you lave T2 feeling worse than ever before and you think 26 miles!?? no way thats impossible! and they implode.
Here's a little fact. You can't run 26.2 miles after riding 112 and swimming 2.4. its impossible. but you can run 1 mile. and then another, then maybe 2 and so on. I can't tell you how many people I saw on a sun 10hr pace (ahead of me) just stop and quit. 99% of these people's minds quit. not their body... when i left T2 i could see this place in my mind. I felt like death. one at a time, one mile at a time, one moment, one steep, one feeling one thought at a time. my first tip of race execution. focus on what yoru doing right "now". mistakes get made in the now. If your not in the now on race day where the F*** are you?!!?? can I run "right now" for just 1 minute? "yes", then do it.

So which one happened to you then? neither. of course, right...

Here is the other thing. Hawaii is a long way away. really long. Even from CO. A 2 hr. flight to AZ. then 6.5 hr's to kona makes for a long day. add 4 hr time change and 7 for you east coasters and you have a potentially serious jet lag issue headed your way.
What did happen to me was this.
Our planned 14 hour travel day turned out to be around 24 hours. A very simple delay in Denver had us in LAA instead of AZ. 5 hr lay over, before the over seas flight and kona arrival time was 7 pm local time instead of 2. not a big deal right? Thats what I thought, I wasn't feeling bad. That was wed. thur. I was fine again. Didn't do anything dumb, stayed out of the sun, hydrated and fueled well, etc. But Friday things caught up with me. I was just exhausted. And that the was I felt on race day. Just tired. muscles fine, but even a slow pace just had me pinned.
pretty lame excuse I know. but that's all I got.
my training was good. I felt great coming into the race. expectations were right on. My bike felt like it was right on with pre IMLP. Swimming felt great in training and if anything I had improved tech. The run, not as much but I adjusted and was prepared. I was going to "see how I felt" running no faster than 8'/miles and aim for a 8-8:30/mile pace. if I slowed a bit, fine. a 3:45 run would be fine.
As you read in the race report I handled it as best I could. I kept moving and avoided a huge disaster.
I have said before that people don't realize the best moments of their lives because they are so caught up in the moment. Which I think is pretty cool. But what happens when your somewhere that is supposed to be sooo great and its... not so great. Its important during these times you keep some perspective. I had two rules going into this race. don't stop, take it in.
I did both, success.

So what now? I seem to very content with my day, and fulfilling a life long dream...
I have gotta get back there and race at 100%. I can be "satisfied" but never "content".

IM Hawaii must Do's:
for racers and non-racers.


1. swim. its awesome! hit the coffee float the day or 2 before the race.
2. racers you have to have a iron Sherpa. for this race more than most.
3. take it in!! volcano nation park, snorkeling, local food, watch or participate in teh underwear run, do it all.
4. as long as possible after the race!
5. Get out there at least 4 days before the race. and sleep!
6. DO NOT stress about the heat. there isn't much you can do. if you want to move there, go ahead. 5 or 6 days is not gona help you acclimate.
7. Lu Lu's Sunday morning for football.
8. get as many friends and family as you can to go out. Watching this event and doing it are both very inspiring.
9. take it all in. don't forget where you are and what your doing.

Ironman World Championships, Kona, Hi. race report

Kona Race Report. the nitty gritty.
here is the down and dirty race report. some power files, etc. more thoughts and details on the race will follow.


Race morning: was pretty standard. food, drink, get to the race, bathroom, etc...
the difference here was this is the world championship. The spectator volume simply crushes that of any other race out there. Media, helicopters, the whole 9. It was just fookin crazy.





I felt good 2 days earlier on my opener ride. and while I had this nagging tiredness and fatigue I told my self it would pass. I was confident it wouldn't bother me on race day.
The swim was pretty wild. The Ford car float, the sound of the helicopters, I took it all in. I lined up front and center. moment number one of "Oh my god I can't believe I am here!" Contact was pretty standard. but I found some clear water and got a rhythm. the water was rolly at times but I plowed through. at the turn I saw a guy under water 10 feet or so in full scuba gear filming. Moment number 2. "holy Sh** I can't believe I am HERE!"

The second half of the swim I pushed a bit more. The pack thinned out and went single file. A large group looked to be a bit ahead of me but I was still on some feet and connected to the group. I didn't have to sight any more, I felt strong and the separation was starting to happen... like normal... right? nope. This is the world championships. Everyone here qualified, you can't simply hold your pace and wait for the other to "fade away". About 10' from the finish of the swim it felt like the entire world came up behind me and it was the start all over again. "you gotta be kidding me!" I thought. but I made it. up to T1, in and out. Most crowded T1 I've ever been in. I had no idea what my swim time was at that point, didn't care. time to ride.



The bike was crowded. again its the W.C.! and I was getting passed, a lot. its rare for me to get passed. but I wasn't worried. Its kona there are just as many people here who will get over pumped up and blow there race as people who will crush it.
However, about 10 miles into the bike I could tell. I had the feeling... That feeling of struggle. There are different kinds of pain. good pain,bad pain, etc. at 25 miles I had been riding for 52 minutes or so. and I felt like i had done 250-260 watts. I had done 220. uhh. not a good sign. this feeling of strugeling would stay with me the rest of the race.
The fatigue of our 20 hour travel day (more on all this later) crawled into me and wasn't gona go away. I have felt this before and it has simply faded away. I had a great race, other times its been the worst day of my life.
I could tell the tail wind was raging as well. I knew it would only get harder. Onto the climb to hawi and I was still strugeling. I adjusted a bit. almost 100% going by feel and using my watts to stay real. Also my HR was jacked. This confirmed to me that this just wasn't gona be my best day. ohh well, I made it hear I wasn't that disappointed.
On the climb to Hawi I started to get pretty annoyed with guys passing me then just stopping 1 bike length in front of me. I tried to stay cool but I am sure there is a pic of me somewhere waving my arms and yelling at someone. Big head wind on the climb which was nice because unlike the common head wind we got a tail wind on the way down.
mile 80 to the finish was a big steady head wind. what I expected. I pushed. I tried to tell my self that I was riding well, just ride EK, come on push! This ain't supposed to be easy. I seemed to drop some of the people I was with for most of the ride but this is where I lost lots of time on the guys that were just in front of me. My watts dropped here a bit even if I was steady. I have seen a few power files of guys the bested me in the bike and this was the biggest area of lost time for me.
In T2 I was quick but scared. As I finished up a volunteer asked "sunscreen?" "yeah, please." he lathered up my shoulders and neck, I stood up and paused. "whole crap... I feel wrecked, I can't believe I have to run a marathon." not the feeling we are looking for coming off the bike in an IM.
Bike file:
if this jams up on you sorry, I am going to download it again when i get my stuff back with my bike.

in the Run I was at first holding back to stay around 8' miles but it was taking some much energy. Normally, "energy" is not my limiting factor. I've got energy to spare. Its more about how much can my muscles take. oh far and how hard can I push them until they fail. This time it was different. I was in a place I had not been before. i hadn't prepared for this. I don't prepare to do poorly.

OK reality check and adjustment time. Chris and I did a damage assment and made a new plan.
I was in rough shape all ready. If one more thing goes wrong, one tiny thing gets messed or stops working at 100% I am screwed. I'll be walking the rest of the way, at best.
~OK. run on 100% feel.
~walk at every aid station. get everything i need.
If I fall behind on fueling, get hot or .5% dehydrated things would crumble fast!
~I decided I would walk every aid station, get everything I need, stay cool.
~ My stomach was good so I started hitting coke on top of my other nutrition, Infinit.

This worked well. I walked most of palini but my rhythm, while slow, was steady. I never thought I would have to walk the rest of the way or not finish. I just kept on keeping on...
I had 3 or 4 more "oh my god i'm can't beleieve this" moments. when people say "just enjoy your day", this is what they are talking about. Often at the best times of our lives we don't realize it because we are so caught up in it. And... that's the way it should be. But every now and then it's worth taking a moment and just being aware of whats going on. of what your doing. Alii Dr., the Queen K, going down into the energy lab, The finish line. The finishing straight is INSANE. it's long, real long. the crowd is huge, and if you miss this opportunity to "take it all in" you are missing out.
Run file:

Lindsay meet me at the finish I drank several cups of chicken broth and saw lots of racers and friends I knew. The stories begin. "did you hear about so and so? 3 flats!" did you see Drew Scott? his running shoes were red with blood."
Even during the bike I saw guys just pull off the rd and stop. guys on the run 3 miles in, that were ahead of me! (I finished in 10:10) just stop and called it game over. while seeing this stuff during the race doesn't make me happy at all, it did, make me realize, "hey, that's NOT happening to me..." things could be way worse.

so Chris and I learned a few things at this race. It is possible for me to keep moving and finish what I think is fairly respectable time, with out feeling 100%. not even 90%. pretty cool.

Next post will be Soon! more on what Ironman Hawaii is like, do's and don'ts and what happened to me? training, prep, heat?

The Ruben Sandwich and blending of ingredients

The Ruben is my favorite sandwich. I get it every where I go. Yes its good. I like the grilled bread, hot sandwiches and the gooyness of the meal but I also love it because the Ruben should NOT be so great. every ingredient I dislike. every one.
~Rye bread, Pass
~Swiss cheese, its ok but not my first choice.
~Russian dressing, no way.
~Corned beef, ok that's pretty good... but still not a first choice.
~Sauerkraut. barf

Yet for some reason when you put these together, the right way, in the right proportions it F**** rocks!
This is a delicate balance. To much beef, no good. it's to dry. To much kraut, awfully, if you toast the bread (the number one mistake) major fail. But when the ingredients are good quality, in the right portions and grilled perfectly you have the makings of the best meal ever!

2 days ago, 6 days before the Ironman world championships, I went for a run. Since IM LP I have not felt... my best. slowing getting my strength and feel back. The swim came first, bike next, almost now to the point where I was preLake Placid but the run has been an up and down battle. Struggling to balance the right ingredients in the time I have to simply get to the best place possible. No need t0 better or even at the same level, but I still gotta finish! I need to have that "feel" back. This has been further hampered but another nagging issue which I'll discuss post race regardless of the result, how I get it, or if this issue becomes an issue or not.

Yet on Sunday days before I am to leave, my run felt... like my running legs just woke up from a 2 month nap! I felt at ease with my 45' run at race pace. "ahh thank god!" I said aloud to my self when I got home.

Training will sometimes feel odd "why am I doing 30 sec. sprints on the bike for a 5-6 hr ride?"
"why am I doing 100 yd efforts in the pool? the swim is 2.4 MILES?"

some times the ingredients don't look right when viewed alone. The road to your goals is never a straight line.

But when you take the nasty sauerkraut and Russian dressing (does anyone even put that on salad anymore?) the cheese and corned beef, slap it on the grill between the right bread you get something totally different.

Some times you have to be patient, trust your self, trust your training and resting, put your head down on race day and never stop.

The Road to Kona part 2

“So Eric, how’s training for Kona going?” ahh training? Well not much “training” to be had really. But I feel ready...

Sounds weird but it's true. I have got this question a lot lately. And others like it. At the awards ceremony for IM lake placid a guy from my AG asked us others in the top 5 as we waited to head up to the stage “you guys raced kona before? And then , “what do you do to train between now and then?”
It’s a very valid question. So, what am I doing? What should you do if you find yourself in this or another similar situation?

~Find your Perceived exertion chi.
~Leave the ego at home.
~Take a reality check. Every day!
~find your form, don’t work for the sake of working hard.

You will not find anything in here on “heat training” nothing on changing your body clock to Hawaiian time or riding a course that mimics the kona one. You won’t find one anyhow so Don’t bother looking.

Steep one.
RECOVER!
This is the most important thing. From the finish line at lake Placid to the start line of the IM World Championships one has 11 weeks to prepare. And your preparation can not begin until you are FULLY recovered, plain and simple. Depending on the person this recovery can vary more than my wife’s work travel sch. !
This year my friend Steve Johnson finished 2nd overall amateur at IM CDL. 2 weeks after this race is the Boulder peak. Oly dis triathlon. Last year it took Steve until the last mile to catch and pass me on the run at the peak. My running had improved… a lot. And while he had made improvements as well I thought I had it in the bag! “2 weeks after IM CDl. I’ll put over 5 minutes on him by T2, he doesn’t have a chance” I said to a friend. yet at mile 3.5 he did catch and pass me without even looking tired. He said he felt great. WOW! he is a freak of nature. We train together freaquently so while on one hand I was suprised by this performance, on the other I wasn't really.

After IM Canada last year it was over 6 weeks until I felt somewhat normal. 2 months after the race I was 15 lbs heavier than on race day and while I was feeling “better” and could train, my ability was gone. My threshold power on the bike was some 60+ watts lower at threshold than pre Canada. Recovering from an IM is complex. The race breaks you down badly. On top of that recovering may take so long that you also de-train slightly as well. What this comes down to for your recovery is you have to listen to your body and leave the ego at home!
On the flip side, if you wait until you can do a field test of some sort and match your previous bests you’ll be waiting a long time. You will also be constantly testing yourself and getting worn out as well as frustrated and discouraged.
You will need to find a balance of complete rest and recovery and then after and appropriate time have to put you nose to the grind stone and do some hard work, slow and pathetic as it may seem. Then slowly start working with what you have not with what you want to have.

Recovery that worked for me, so far:
With Kona all ready in my mind I hit some good nutrition and recovery as soon as I got back to the hotel a few hours after IM lake placid.. Some vitamins, ibuprofen and dinner that included 2 beers and some johny walker red label!

Week 1: totally off!
A massage this week, LOTS of sleep, 10 hr’s a night, one 15’ spin around the block to move some blood around and a trip to the local recovery lab for 30’ in those pants that squeeze your legs.
Compression socks worn for at least 1 hr. every day and a good diet. Go ahead induldge but lets not go Supper Size Me, on yourself.

Week 2: 2 EASY swims
1 easy ride 1 hr. long
another massage. Lots of stretching, GREAT nutrition and some ab work.
This is a great time to analyze your race. What worked, what went well, what was bad, what was bad luck and what did you get lucky with? For me this big thing that stuck out was my tight hip flexors for the entire bike. My PT helped me address this with some activation movements and core strength work. 2 times a week. Easy, straight forward, 5’ done.
After this 2 weeks of very focused recovery I was feeling good but still far from normal.

Week 3: involved 2 easy swims again and 2 rides which I incoperated some strength work. High intensity,30” (second) efforts in a big gear/low rpm.
This was to get my neurological system working again and build back as much strength as possible. 6 weeks after IM LP I was going to a stage race (bike race) in steamboat springs. My goal was to recovery 100% and then get myself to a point where I could “handle the race”, 4 days of hard racing. If I could get myself to a point where I could get some good training out of this race without digging myself a huge fatigue hole I would be in a great position.

The strength efforts got better. I felt better, pushed more watts and added more reps.
Swimming felt good pretty quickly and running I slowly added to this. Week 3 I did 2, 30-40’ runs. One felt great the other horrible. Many folks experience this when coming back from an IM or any BIG endurance event. One day they feel like they’re old self. The next like it was the day after the big race.

When this happens you stop, head home and take the next day off. Remember we are still “training to train”. Just getting to point where we can train again. And sometimes it takes awhile. It always takes longer than you think it will. As we start to add in more training here we must think about training and its core. Training is a give and take, a scale if you will. How much adaptation can I get (the training/ the workout) and how much fatigue will it cost me (having to rest later). The later also has a risk element to it. What if you get injured from overuse, or sick? So this HARD training that we all want to do has sand traps everywhere! Injury, extreme fatigue, decreased performance, sickness and for what? What are you getting from your training? This is where I recommend a few protocols.
1. more off days than normal. (I did 2-3 instead of 1)
2. NO excessively “long” workouts. I do a seminar that talks a lot about what is “long”. The deal is, Mr. or Mrs. IRONMAN are you really worried about your endurance? Really? You just did an IM?
Long endurance workouts (4+ hour bike rides, 2 hr runs) have lots of fatigued associated with them. And, alone, they don’t offer a big adaptation. So you either have to do a lot of them or you might as well find a new approach. And you don’t have the time to do a lot of them. 3 weeks recovery, 1 week restarting the engine, 3 week peaking phase(tapper) , that’s 4 weeks, 3 if one is a recovery week.
3. when intensity returns to your training use shorter intervals and/or longer rest than normal.
4. listen to your body. No time to be a tough guy. If you’re not feeling it today, even though you think you should be, go home, tomorrow will come.

My strength workouts on the bike turned into a 2.5 hr hilly ride and one threshold workout. this was my "nose to teh grind stone day" the first one (hilly ride) was horrible. i could barley pedal that day. i went home rest 2 days and tock another shot.

For the threshold workout I did 4x10’ and went more on feel. The zone 4 workout gave me some clues that my threshold was around 285-290. Down from the 320-330 it was before IMLP. Reality check time! Time to lower the training zones and train with what I had, not what I wanted to have.

The bike race came, I did 320 watts for 20’ in the TT on day one and almost dropped a lung. OK maybe the threshold is up towards 300 watts all ready. Progress! The next 3 days I worked hard for the team, we had the leader’s jersey for a few days, and while there was no impressive power files to talk about I “felt good” I was able to push my body each day. there it s again, “Felt” back to PE. Perceived exertion. The most important aspect of intensity and the one that ruins most athletes because they don’t use it correctly.
More rest and back at it the next weekend. Another short threshold set. 10’ intervals again only 3 this time. Power was up. all 3 intervals in the 310-320 range. confirming my 20’ TT effort at the race. Always get more than one data point. Even in ice skating they take out the highest and lowest score! You should too.

Swimming was going well. This is a relative strength for me so I did not push myself here. I was consistent, 2 times a week. I was never worried about how many yards I did and I error’d on the easier side. Again bang for your buck. Hard long swim workout can crush me. I’ll do some in time, but first I had to find my riding and running legs.

Running is coming back the slowest. This is common for many people. Running is also my weakest area so it further exacerbates the issue. I focused on short runs, making them more frequent as the weeks went on and I felt stronger. The 2 weeks before the Labor Day weekend race I ran 1:50 total each week. Then 0 the week of the race and about 1hr total the week after.
In the recent weeks I have felt stronger and stronger. My focus on the bike has stayed with shorter threshold intervals and more rest than normal. Working my muscles to push the higher watts without added fatigue and muscle damage of longer intervals and shorter (more normal) rest time. I was am taking 3-8 minutes rest instead of 2-4 minutes. Sometimes longer if the terrain called for it. (long down hills etc)

With running the focus has stayed with frequency over the long run and I have added short intervals. 30” (seconds) intervals at Z4-Z5 pace. “well what are your pace zones now EK you haven’t tested have you? No. I haven’t. Based on a relative PE on my steady runs I put my threshold at 6:45. Back from 6:15 I had going into IMLP. This is a bit of an educated guess and far from ideal. In the next week or so I will likely do a tough run workout or maybe a 5k test. Something maximal to give me another data point to figure out what is reasonable on race day in Hawaii. I have an idea, again from my PE in training on my “easy” runs but you need more than that. Again People’s sense of what is what when they ONLY there PE is wrong 99% of the time. this gets folks into trouble all the time! that said ideal threshold test data or not I am going to get more info for my race day pacing goals!

Next post will be looking at a few of the big training sessions I did. What they’re worth on race day and performing instead of just getting it done…