A couple of weeks ago, a few of my Boulder friends and I went out for a little end of season celebration. From left to right, JD, Brooke, Myself, Teresa, Billy, D Meeker One, and Mark Van Akkeren. It was a great time and nice to see everyone let loose a bit. If you ever get the chance to hang with Big Bill Edwards, make sure you hit up the dance floor. The guys a lot of fun with some moves I've never seen before.
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As a new season approaches, now is the time that people begin to map out their plans for 2008. Most if not all are seeking to improve upon their 2007 season.
This is also the time where athletes begin to determine the “plan” or “path” in which they’ll take in order to achieve their desired goals. Which path will they choose? Does it really matter?
If you search some of the more popular internet forums you will definitely find some people who seem to swear by their methods and are not afraid to tell you why their approach is better than the others.
I usually shy away from getting involved in these discussions and I assume that many others do as well. There will usually be a handful of athletes or coaches with dominate personalities waiting for the chance to tell you why they are right and you are wrong.
I'm aware that if I get involved in a discussion there is always going to be someone waiting to jump all over what I have just said. It may be because what I wrote did not make sense or it will be because I spelled a word wrong or that I should have used the word economy instead of efficient, when neither had an impact on the point I was trying to make. For this reason I usually browse through the discussions rather then joining in and getting myself aggravated by what Joe Bob said on an internet forum.
As a coach and athlete, I’ve been working on resisting the urge to be right. Simply, this is my opinion. You can agree or disagree with another approach, but that doesn't make it right or wrong.
After mentioning that, I'm going to tell you my opinion on something. It kind of defeats the purpose of my above point, but again, it is just my opinion and my opinion doesn't have to be right.
There has been a lot of talk about the time limited athlete and how they should approach their training. I’ve read where people say that since they don’t have as much time as athlete X, then they need to put as much stress on the body as possible, using ideas such as, “you have to be fast before you can go long.” Stressing that VO2max and FT intervals come first and whatever time you have remaining will be dedicated to steady state endurance training. Then, somehow during their specific prep period the athlete discovers 5 extra hours to increase the aerobic volume in their week.
I caution any athlete going into an IM with the word "fast" in their minds. Ironman is about superior endurance, strength, and durability, and your 5k time accounting for about 1% of the equation.
In my opinion, there is no supplement for lack of time. The prerequisites required for an athlete to finish an Ironman are all very similar. Sure, you can argue that an athlete can finish an Ironman training less than 10-12 hours a week, but are their needs any different than a person who has 20-25 hours a week? Again, in my opinion, No. Am I right?
I feel the athlete with less time has to accept the fact that they have to work with the time they have. There is no shortcut method that will put you on the same level as the athlete that can train 20-25 hours a week. Now, to use this example, we have to assume we are talking about the same athlete, this way you can rule out genetics, athletic background, etc.
There are more ways than we can imagine to achieve success in sport. However, for the majority of athletes, the focus should be on achieving a healthy lifestyle change that can become a part of our everyday lives. Sure, we all want to improve, but your health and happiness is the number one benefit you gain from participating in this great sport.
In my opinion, most athletes should focus on developing the endurance required for a 10-17 hour day before you begin to worry about how fast you’re going to be running your 4 hour marathon. I feel that this is the most effective way for the majority of athletes to safely pursue their ultra endurance goals.
The dangers of performing VO2 and FT intervals without the foundation to handle it will likely increase your chances of injury, burn-out, loss of motivation, while decreasing your enjoyment for the sport.
I spent my first year in the sport thinking I was fast (see Fast In Indiana). I could sure rip a short distance triathlon, but spent the year walking and DNFing every Half or Full Ironman I raced. Sure, there will be people that can argue with me about the fast stuff, but will most likely use the the likes of Tim DeBoom or Chris McCormack to prove their point. The hard intervals definitely have it's place in training, but to have an athlete focus on only 10% of what's important seems to be a mistake.
My good friend, Dr. J, explained it to me like this. “Before you achieve success at your limit, you must first achieve success below your limit.”
What does this mean to me. First, build the confidence that you can finish an Ironman. Race at a pace where you know you can finish, taking no risk--the ultimate goal is to finish. If for some reason you feel you went too easy for the first 7+ hours of your day, rip the last half of the marathon. I would be shocked if I were to pull you aside at some point in the run and you told me you wished you had done more speed work.
Second, after you know you can finish the distance and can achieve optimal training volume, focus on increasing the pace of your key endurance sessions. What is optimal volume? Depends, If you come to me and say that you have 10 hours a week to train and are able to train above or at FT for those 10 hours. Can I say you have achieved optimal training volume? I would say yes, if you are shooting for The National Sprint Championships.
I'm not here to put down the athlete who's time is a limiter and is shooting to finish an Ironman because it can definitely be accomplished. There is also a difference between an athlete looking to just finish an Ironman and one that is attempting to reach their ultimate potential given the time they have. I assume that the athlete looking to reach their ultimate potential has a firm grasp on the time they can put towards their goals and their chosen race distance.
Very few of us actually know what our ultimate potential is because we are in such a hurry to reach it that we never give ourselves a chance.
Mat
