If you have a couple of years of triathlon under your belt and are prepared to put the work in, you can push yourself that bit harder and take on the best in the world. Here, pro and age-group athletes who've qualified for Hawaii share some of their secrets, while coaches who've helped dozens of people like you reach the world championships describe what it takes.
GET INTO LONG BRICKS
In our guide to building your own training plan, we've given you the option to build in a brick session at least once each week—ideally doing a short run off the back of either your faster bike session or off your long ride for the best race-specific training effect. But if you want to go one better and race an Ironman really fast, you'll need to buy into bricks in a bigger way, says coach Gordon Crawford, who has worked with Ironman UK winner Fraser Cartmell and Ironman 70.3 UK champion Catriona Morrison among others."If you're doing an Ironman you want to run longer, For Fraser Cartmell, the longest he ran in the build-up to Ironman UK was 35km. One of our big sessions was five to six hours on the bike with one hour run off it.
How much you do depends on your fitness level and your age, but the long brick should be part of it. You should also do another brick in the week."In hard training we would usethe Sunday ride of up to three hours with maybe 90 minutes run off the bike with race-specific intervals: that might be three lots of five minutes at race pace with 90 seconds to two minutes' jog recovery." Sound hard? It is— but so is racing Ironman against the best in your age group.
SWIM FURTHER
Many triathletes will swim up to Ironman distance in their training. but with swimming being a low-impact discipline and one that most of us need to work on, it makes sense to go longer more often. Age-grouper Matt Malloy, 42, qualified for Hawaii on his first attempt in 2011 and says that covering the 3.8km distance regularly was key to his success.", hadn't swum more than 1500m before [training for his qualification race] so first of all I looked at covering the distance," he says.
"During the summer was either doing an open-water swim event, racing over 3.8km, or going to an open-water swim venue on my own and swimming 3.8km continuously. It gave me confidence that the drop-off in speed from a 1500m to a 3.8km race wasn't that great."Having come from the swim background I was covering enough volume in any event but what I focused on was always making sure I'd covered the distance I was racing in every session I did. Even if you can't cover the full distance, cover the time you expect to spend in the water in your race."
RIDE HARDER
The long, slow bike rides of Ironman training can be relaxed group rides. but don't spend too long gazing at the scenery or stopping for coffee breaks. If you want to ride fast in your Ironman or 70.3 race to get that qualification slot, you need to push yourself a bit harder in training. Pro Ironman athlete Phil Graves, who in 2009 became the youngest person to win an Ironman event at the first Bolton edition of Ironman UK, likes to beast himself on the bike.
"I think people are scared to go hard in training. And by hard I mean really hard. I just go out with a bunch of mates and we try and smash each other, even in the depths of winter. It's such a bad feeling when you get dropped. but it just makes you stronger."
He also believes in regular bike racing to bring up his triathlon riding speed. After his 2009 success. he said: "I got out and did sometime trialling this year and put myself on the line by having a heavy race Load, which is something never really done before. Clearly it paid off, but for every mile I raced there were ten miles that l did steady in the winter,"That doesn't necessarily mean spending even more time on the bike though — one of Graves' favourite sessions is just to ride hard for an hour. "I do a five-minute warm-up then go as hard as possible for 60 minutes— just pretend you're Chris Boardman going fora new hour record."
GET TECHNICAL
As well as hours of hard training, the best triathletes set themselves apart by adding in extra sessions focusing on technique. Thom Phillips. a senior coach with thetrilife.com (official training partner of Ironman UK), says that neglecting this is a mistake, ''One aspect of training in all three sports that athletes tend to neglect is the technical side of the sport. The winter is a great time to spend some time making subtle (or not so subtle!) changes to technique. Spending 30-40 minutes a week for eight weeks dedicated to making your movement patterns more efficient will bring big gains when the volume and intensities ramp up."
Even in seemingly the most simple of the three triathlon disciplines—running — focusing on your technique can reap rewards, says Gordon Crawford. "We do form drills. It's difficult when people are running off the bike, everything drops: the hips drop, the feet are flatter on the ground: you want shorter ground contact time. "Triathlon is about the body's ability to deal with fatigue and limb drills and running drills help. One is think people are scared to go hard in training. l just go out with a bunch of mates and wetryand smash each other!
Phil Graves, winner, lronman UK, 2009 balancing on one leg with the other raised in front and the heel pointing towards the standing knee, with your eyes closed, and seeing how long you can remain balanced. Then you can progress that by raising the heel of the standing leg, then progress again by doing a squat on the standing leg and stretching the other leg out in front before coming backup." Spending time with triathlon or running coach, or even a physio, will help you work out which drills would most benefit you in your Ironman racing.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR SPOT
There are dozens of qualification slots available at the British and Irish Ironman events. Here's how to book your place. All Ironman and Ironman 703 races offer qualification slots to their respective World Championships in Kona, Hawaii and Las Vegas USA. The number of slots varies between races,and between age groups within the races.
The exact allocation of slots is confirmed on race day, and depends on the proportion of each race's field in each age group. On paper, qualifying is simple. Enter an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 race that acts as a qualifier—all four British Isles races fall into this category—then train hard, race hard and claim your spot afterwards.
Easy! To be in with a chance of gaining qualification, it's essential to stay at the race for the awards ceremony. Even if you're not at the very top of the age group, you might still gain qualification through the rolling down of places from others who have already qualified, don't want to race, or haven't stuck around.
If you are offered a place, you have to decide there and then, so make sure you have enough in the bank for the entry fee!
• There are 185 slots available in UK and Irish races in 2012:
• Ironman UK-5o Kona slots
• Ironman 70.3 UK- 50 Las Vegas slots
• Ironman Wales-5o Kona slots
• Ironman 70.3 Ireland —35 Las Vegas slots
CHANGE YOUR THINKING
You need to be mentally tough to complete an Ironman, and if you're thinking of trying to qualify for Kona or Las Vegas then you must be pretty focused already. But it's another step again to start seeing yourself asa real contender in your age group. Most coaches agree that changing your mindset can be absolutely crucial to your racing success.
"This is key since many top athletes will hit the same numbers in the lab. so what distinguishes them?" says Mike Redshaw, a senior coach with thetrilife.com (mike@thetrilife.com). "Their mindset and psychological approach to both training and often more importantly in races. To change your mindset you need to know what it is that needs changing.
We are all different, both mentally and physically, so in order toaddressthis question precisely you have to look at yourself individually to truly understand,what is it within my mindset that holds me back, if anything? If you review and reflect [on your training and racing], then thesteps you need to take will become apparent. We are all emotional creatures and at timesa little too subjective, so if you are struggling with this, try reviewing your mindset with someone else who you respect so they can help you to be objective:
'He suggests looking at the following points to help change your mindset:
1. Confront your weaknesses head on and give yourself the time you need to make the changes desired.
2. If you don't have a coach, try pairing up with a colleague to bounce ideas off to help you be objective (this won't work if there's a competitive rivalry between you!)
3. Before you get out of the door to train, ask yourself, 'what is my objectivef or this session, wha am I trying to achieve?'
4. Ask yourself: 'Am I committed to achieving my goals: do I want it enough?'Of course, the best way to change your mindset from mid-packer to Kona qualifier is to hire the services of a good triathlon coach.
source:Triathlon_Plus_April2012
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