Ironman and 2010

What a great way to spend New Years Day; sitting in front of the TV, working on Annual Plans/taxes and watching replays of the past 8 years of Ironman on Universal Sports. It does wonders for the motivation and getting fired up for the upcoming season. I noticed they did this to try and motivate the couch potatoes to make their physical resolutions for the year. If it works, GREAT!
As a coach, the best part of this time of year is helping my athletes plan their upcoming season. Some have early season races, some are longer term. This is one of the advantages that our clients have in working with an individual versus a “canned” on line program in that we can customize your program to meet your specific needs, as well as your life situations.
Back to the IM races. For those who watched the NBC and the replays, I’m curious what you thought of the athletes and their races. I’ve asked this of those that I knew watched the replays. There is a lot to learn from this coverage; just like the Tour de France coverage. Obviously, nothing takes the place of experience, but you can get a good gauge from TV. (It reminds me of Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder, when he said he watched the races on TV…)
My thoughts as a coach:
1. Never quit! As one pro said, you’ll have 1000’s of reasons during the day to pull out. You’ve got to have a compelling reason during your race to get you through those moments. On race day, IM is ALL mental. Your training is complete, so you are ready physically.
2. Race your own event. For first timers, it’s more “do” than “race.” You watch Craig Alexander and he doesn’t get sucked into everyone else’s race strategy. He has a plan and sticks to it.
3. Intervals. They don’t show it on TV, but all of the “fast” people out there are doing hard, race paced intervals in their training. If you train slow, you’ll be slow. If you train to be fast, you will be fast(er).
4. 3 Sports. It is a 3 discipline event. You won’t win on the swim, you need a strong bike(note: strong-not hammer) and a fast run to be up in the competition. If you have a stong bike, it will allow you to be a stronger runner.
5. Nutrition- Notice all the leaders where Fuel Belts. They rely on their own plan, instead of the race director.
6. Running- The gal who took second, in a post race interview, had never done an IM prior to this race, nor had she run more than 2 hours in training. You don’t need to log endless mileage to be a good runner.

Best of luck to everyone in their upcoming season. If you need any help, please feel free to contact us.