Tri Talk Triathlon Podcast

The audio for this podcast can be found here.

How scheduling a duathlon in 2008 will make you a better triathlete, assessing 2007 and setting goals for 2008, and qualities of great athletes. All that, today on Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. I want to wish you a happy new year, and may your 2008 race season be your best ever. A special welcome to new listeners in Texas and Egypt. To listeners in Texas, we couldn’t help but point out the upcoming “Frost yer Fanny” duathlon and hope you do well in that event. And, we just had to say hello to the 1 consistent and loyal listener that keeps popping up on the download stats from Cairo, Egypt. . My goal at Tri Talk is to help you swim, bike, and run faster, to meet your personal triathlon goals. Whether you are an elite or amateur triathlete, we cover sprint distance to Ironman distance. Filling in for David Warden, I’m your host, Eric Schwartz, and this is Tri Talk Episode 56.

My name is Eric Schwartz, and I’m hosting Tri Talk for the second time while David takes a break for the holidays. Today on Tri Talk we’re going to perform a little twist on how to swim, bike, and run faster, and find out how to run, bike, and run faster. Not that swimming isn’t important! But, for those of you who are looking to add some motivation into your cycling and running, I’ll be giving a primer on racing duathlons. Then I’ll tell you how 60 minutes of brain power will make you faster in 2008 as you assess your 2007 season and set goals for 2008. Finally, I’ll discuss qualities of great athletes. Implementing these behaviors will make you faster.

If you missed episode 55, you have no idea who I am. I’m Eric Schwartz. I live in Boulder, Colorado and I raced tris and dus for 15 years. I came from a running background and picked up triathlons and duathlons while I was in college at Indiana University. After two second place finishes at the Duathlon Nationals Championships, I finally won the event in 2004. That same year I finished 8^th at Ironman Wisconsin. Running was my strength and in 3 of my 4 Ironman marathons I ran under 3 hours. I also was a Category 2 cyclist. I’ve been coaching for 8 years as a member of Joe Friel’s Ultrafit and now as a member of TrainingBible Coaching. I also run the website Duathlon.com, which covers daily triathlon and duathlon news and race results. If you have questions for me you can reach me via email at Eric.Boulder@gmail.com or for coaching services you can check out my coaching website at Enduranceone.com.

You can also send in your questions or comments to david@tri-talk.com, Or, for even faster results, and leveraging the vast knowledge of Tri Talk listeners, consider posting your question on the Tri Talk forums. While you are on the forums, unless you have listened to all available episodes of Tri Talk, all the way back to episode 18, the other Tri Talk listeners will all be faster than you. With so many new listeners in the last few months, make sure you get caught up by getting all the available classic episodes from tri-talk.com

Let’s get onto the good stuff!

As someone who raced a lot of duathlons, I’m going to give a short primer on duathlons and how to train for them, which should also help your triathlon racing. Even if you never do a duathlon you’ll like some of these workouts. I would guess that roughly 50% of multisport athletes have done at least one duathlon. Most are of a run/bike/run format. 5k/30k/5k, or similar, is the most common distance. Most people are looking at a 1.5 to 2.5 hour race. The Powerman duathlons, held across the world, are something close to 10k/60k/10k. Powerman Zofingen, in Switzerland, is the most famous duathlon of all. It is a 10k run, 150k bike, and 30k run - 6 miles, 93 mile bike, and 18 mile run. For those of you that like the Ironman distance events you should strongly consider this event. Everyone I know who has done this event has absolutely loved it. It’s hard - probably harder than an Ironman - and the community puts on a great race and it’s a great racing atmosphere. It is one of the premier multisport events in the world. You can find out more about it at www.Powerman.org.

If you have an aversion to racing duathlons I’m going to give you a good reason to do one - the World Championships. It’s easier to qualify for the World Championships as a duathlete. There are 18 spots per age group, and if you qualify and get the chance to go to the World Championships you should jump on the opportunity. Both the Triathlon and Duathlon World Championships are great events, especially when they are held outside of the United States. Nothing against my home country, but as anyone who has raced in Europe knows, races get more community involvement and it’s a racing atmosphere you won’t forget. Other than Ironman Hawaii, my most memorable racing experiences have been outside the United States. In 1997 I did the Duathlon World Championships in Gernica, Spain, and I’ll never forget it. It was a small town outside of Bilboa. Phil Ligget did the race announcing, and it seemed as if everyone in town came out to watch. They thought we were all heroes, and anytime we walked through the town square we got mobbed. They asked for our autographs and wanted to take pictures of us with their kids. They were great people and it was a lot of fun. Just about any race I’ve done in Europe has been great. The 2008 Duathlon World Championships are in Rimini, Italy in September. US athletes can find the complete list of qualifiers at www.usatriathlon.org. For US athletes there are five qualifiers in 2008. The first takes place February 24 in Phoenix, and other races take place in Tulsa, Minnesota, Sarasota, and Orange County, California. If you’d like to race in Italy next September, this is your chance. It’s not as hard to qualify as most people think.

How best to prepare for duathlons? If you’re training for sprint or Olympic distance triathlons then there isn’t much that you need to change as you’ll already be working on your speed. I would suggest adding a few run/bike/run workouts. Most people think duathlons are harder because the first run is tougher to recover from than a swim would be, even if intensity feels the same. Because of this the second run will feel harder. Run/bike/run workouts will help with your second run speed. The workouts can be short or long. I find that most triathletes really like the shorter version of these workouts and I’ll even include them during winter training when weather is bad to help mix things up. Here are two examples:

This one is more of a base period workout:

25 minute run ending with 15 minutes in zone 3 - I’m using Joe Friel heart rate zones as described in the Triathlete’s Training bible

45 minute bike. Start and end with 15 minutes in zone 3 - the final effort can drift into zone 4.

Follow with a 20 minute run with the first 12 minutes at zone 3-4.

The second workout is more intense.

25 minute run with a 10 minute warmup, then 2X5 minutes in zone 5, 2 minute recoveries.

40 minute bike. Start immediately with 2X5 minutes in zone 5, 2 minute recoveries. End with 15 minutes at zone 4.

Follow with a 15 minute run with 3X3 minutes at zone 5+, with 2 minute recoveries.

You can make many variations of these workouts and you could make them as short as 45 minutes and still get in a good workout.

The zone 3 workouts are less intense and can be done more often. Be careful with the higher intensity workouts. Even if it feels easy to recover from them, you can run into long-term trouble if you stack too many high intensity workouts into one week.

How should you pace yourself a duathlon?

If your running a race that is a 5k/30k/5k event, your first run should be 30 to 80 seconds within what you could do an open 5k running race. A very fit athlete would go for the shorter end of that spectrum, and an athlete that lacks running endurance fitness should shoot for the higher end of the range. I would say runners in the 18 to 20 minute 5k range would be about 40-45 seconds off of their 5k racing time. You can run faster and do okay, but the problem is that the 10-15 seconds you gain will cost you more on the bike and the second run. If you’re second run time is within 30-60 seconds of your opening run you’ve done very well. For an event that starts and ends with 10k runs your first 10k should be 1 to 2.5 minutes within what you would do for a open 10k race. If you end with another 10k you’ll probably find it to be one of the most challenging runs you can do. Your fitness, hydration, and caloric intake will have a big impact on how well you hold up. If you can do this second run within 2 minutes of your first run you’ll have done better than 95% of the field. For most athletes a 3-4 minute differential is a reasonable goal.

That’s my crash course guide to training and racing duathlons. If they fit into your schedule strongly consider the Duathlon World Championships or Powerman Zofingen. You won’t regret it.

Before we continue, have you found your performance has reached a roadblock? Is what used to take weeks to see improvement, now taking months, or even longer? Or, are you worried that you’re implanting the wrong technique into your training, cementing inefficient muscle memory and improper form that can take significant time to correct?

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to analyze your swimming or running technique in an objective way, and to be able to record and see your technique progress? TrainingBible Coaching is excited to announce the availability of Quick Scout, the perfect tool for the individual athlete or coach looking to provide visual feedback for those who want to master proper technique. With QuikScout, break down athletic movement frame-by-frame for immediate review and analysis. For the individual athlete, have your form analyzed with lines, planes, angles and compare the performance to perfect form, or compared to your own previous performance to see your progress. For the coach with remote athletes, there is no other way to fill that missing piece of visual feedback into your athlete’s training. Or, cut the coach out of the picture and analyze your own athletic technique frame-by-frame against professional athletes, or against yourself to track progress.

Visit www.tri-talk.com for more information on how you can take advantage of this new technology as an athlete or coach.

Moving on..

Since the New Year is just starting I thought I’d do a little segment on goal setting and self-assessment. I did this in my last couple years of racing and it made a big difference.

Think back to your previous season. If you didn’t reach your goals, what prevented you from doing so? Was it poor planning, overracing, overtraining, or were your goals too lofty? Just as you should complete a written evaluation of each race, you should do a written evaluation of your season to find out what held you back. There’s no sense in making a mistake more than once

Three areas you should include in your self-evaluation are training, racing, and injuries.

Training Plan

This is an obvious topic but very few people get it right. Do you really know how to get fast? Do you follow a plan that allows you to be at your fastest? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you need to make adjustments right now. Simply logging miles without a plan won’t get you there. Either on your own, or with the help of a coach, develop a training program that works for you and stick to it.

Racing Strategy

One could write a book about racing strategy, but a key aspect that I stress with every athlete I coach is pacing. If you don’t know how to pace yourself in a race then you absolutely will not reach your potential. Note that almost every running world record has been set with even or negative (the second half is faster than the first half) splits, but most athletes don’t race that way.

Treating Injuries

Have injuries affected your success in the last couple years? If so, and if the injuries are related, do your best to figure out why it’s happening and how you can prevent it. If you haven’t been working with an expert, find one. For many injuries a doctor is not going to be the best person to see. Many times injuries are related to inflexibility and strength. If that’s the case then you have to make those areas a priority for 2008.

Those are some things to think about when assessing last year’s performance. I’ll quickly go through an evaluation I did several years ago.

Sample Evaluation

I determined four obstacles that were affecting my performance . The year I did this evaluation, and made adjustments, was a breakthrough season for me.

1 – Injuries - I was prone to lower leg injuries that affected my training, primarily my Achilles and that really hindered my run training. I made it a priority to get regular massages in an attempt to prevent those injuries.

2 – Cycling – Cycling was a weakness for me. I looked back through my training logs at the periods when I was at my best and I realized that my best racing was always setup by several consecutive weeks of five hour rides. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this for short distance racing. After making this discovery I altered my schedule to include long rides and it yielded great results.

3 – Weight - at 5’11” and 158 pounds I was not overweight but I carried a few extra pounds. Losing just five pounds made a considerable difference in my performance, especially running

4 – Diet - I used get two to three illnesses per year that interrupted my training. Improving my diet made me less vulnerable to getting sick, greatly improved my recoveries, and it helped me lose those five pounds. This change made such a big difference for me.

You could probably come up with a similar list in 30 minutes and it would be invaluable to your 2008 racing season.

Once you’ve done this set your goals for 2008. I’d suggest picking just 3 goals. Examples might be qualifying for Ironman Hawaii, doing a 30 minute trial with an average wattage of 220 or better, or running a 20 minute 5k. For each of your goals right down 3 sub-goals that you know you need to accomplish to reach your goals - it could be losing weight, finding faster training partners, running a certain amount of miles, or maybe hiring a coach. Finally, put your gaols in a place where you can see them on a daily basis. I’d be willing to bet, on average, that those of you that accept this challenge have a more successful season than those that don’t.

What are the qualities of a great athlete? I’m not talking about just elite athletes, but athletes of all levels.

I’ll go over some of the qualities that I think most good athletes have. As you’re planning for the new year you might think about which of these characteristics you could apply to your training. This my unscientific list, and they aren’t in any particular order.

1. Good genetics. This is an important one, but it’s not worth spending much time on because you can’t control it.

I know of a top Ironman athlete who started out as a very mediocre athlete. He never wanted to have a V02 max test because he thought if he was tested and had a low number it might limit what he thought was possible. So he never was tested and he went on to become a great Ironman athlete. The point of that story is to not let any test convince you that you can’t be great. If you’ve been tested and have high numbers, use it as motivation. If you’ve been tested and had low numbers, you should absolutely forget about them.

2. Consistency of training. The total number of miles you’ve run and bike, and the number of yards you swam, combined with the number of years you’ve been racing, has a great impact on your success. If your new to racing that means you can look forward to a great improvement. If you’ve been racing a long time then you surely know the benefits of consistency. If you’ve been racing for several years, but you’ve been inconsistent, make every effort to be be consistent in your training from week to week, month to month, and year to year. A lot of great athletes didn’t start out as great athletes. They made small incremental gains over several years and now they make it look easy.

3. Willingness to experiment and push yourself. This involves more risk but it can pay great dividends. Here are a few things I did that made a difference to me - as a collegiate runner, when I was only running, I increased my run volume from 60 miles/week to 80 miles/ week and it a made a big difference. When I was working on my swimming one winter I was in the pool nearly every day for a month and soon after I was swimming faster than ever. If you’re training for an Ironman it could involve doing some very heavy cycling blocks during base training. It could be as simple as getting a power meter to gain more knowledge about your cycling. If you’ve been stagnant for awhile some significant changes could yield better results. I’d only caution that before you do something that will significantly increases your training volume or intensity, talk it over with an expert in the field to make sure it has some validity and you are applying the change correctly.

4. Your peer group. If you train with great athletes, or athletes that are better than you, you’re a lot more likely to improve. There were a few times in my career when I wasn’t around better athletes that pushed me, and I stagnated. Fortunately, most of the time I trained with better athletes that inspired me to get faster. Surround yourself with successful people and you’re more likely to find success yourself. Your peer group also includes your support - family, friends, coaches, medical professionals, and mechanics, just to name a few. These people play a crucial role in your athletic career. Surround yourself with the best.

5. Diet. The older you get the more important it becomes. I’d guess that sometime around 30 years old, give or take a few years, is when our body will stop putting up with poor eating habits. It makes a difference. Of all the national or world caliber athletes I know, almost all of them realized they had to eat well if they were going to be great.

6. Mental outlook - do you believe you are good and that you can get better? If so, you’ve increased your chance of success. Can you focus when necessary? Can you correctly execute your race plan? Do you have other stresses in your life that take energy away from your training? All of these things have a significant impact on your racing

7. Ability to stay healthy. If you can stay healthy you can be consistent with your training.

8. Passion - do you love what you’re doing? It’s hard to be successful if you don’t.

Those are 8 things I think are very important to athletic success. As you’re looking ahead to 2008 think about this list when planning your season.

That’s all for episode 56. It’s been a pleasure being your host for the last 2 episodes and I’d like to thank David for giving me the opportunity. I can tell you that it’s no easy task composing a podcast and now that I’ve done it I’m even more impressed with the work David does. He’ll be back in 2 weeks with episode 57. You can contact me at Eric.Boulder@gmail.com or EnduranceOne.com. Happy new year and all the best in your training and racing in 2008.