The Lydiard Method – A Scientific Perspective.

Part 2: Specific Preparation

Alan Couzens, MS (Sports Science), CSCS, PES

The term ‘General Preparation’ is used ad nauseum in popular periodization and training methodology texts. However, when it comes to the application of a general preparatory phase, few coaches compare to the literal application of Sir Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard had all of his athletes, from 800m track stars to world class marathoners, performing essentially the same basic training routine through their base phase of training. As previously stated, the bulk of this basic training was performed at an intensity below marathon race-pace. Reasons for this approach were given in the previous article. However, to state that all training was performed at an easy effort would be an oversimplification. The reality is that, within his elite athlete’s ‘basic week’, training paces ranged from 70-100% of the athlete’s best aerobic effort (Lydiard, 1999).

In our language, this represents training intensities ranging from easy (or sub AeT) to hard (or Functional Threshold). While, in reality, this progressive increase in training intensity was still a part of the phase of general preparation for his athletes, in the context of long course triathlon, this second phase of training is much more similar to our specific preparatory phase.

The key to the Lydiard method is not so much in the inclusion of all fitness components – most coaches that I know use a variety of training intensities from sub AeT up to (and beyond) Functional Threshold. The key, and the thing that continues to distinguish Lydiard from other coaches, is in the slow and steady progressive inclusion of the fitness components in the athlete’s program over a long period of time.

From a perspective of practical application, the approach to General Preparation 1 is summed up by Arthur as follows:

“Start training by first running against time rather than timing the miles run. Get yourself running fit so that you are capable of running long distances continuously. Do this by running on out and back courses. By running out, say, 10 minutes, turning around and running back in about the same time. If it takes you longer to return then you should realize that you went too fast on the outward journey and so are forced to slow down upon the return journey. You will soon learn about your present capabilities and fitness and so adjust your efforts accordingly. Progressively, the running time daily should be increased so that you will find the training progressively easier and your possibilities of increasing the running time greater….”

As an aside, the ability to objectively monitor fatigue both within a session and over the week is one of the strengths of having a very simple basic week, as outlined by Lydiard. Arthur’s simple applications of this point above are reflective of some of the guiding principles I use in the athletes I work with:

• If you slow down markedly at the end of a session, the session was too long or too hard.
• If you slow down markedly at the end of a week then the week was too big or too hard.
And perhaps most applicable to long course athletes:
• If you slow down (or are unable to maintain your basic volume) over the course of a year, then the early phase of training was too much or too hard.

But, since the topic of this piece relates to the question of Specific Preparation for the IM athlete, let’s move on to Arthur’s take on phase II:

“Once you are sure that you are able to complete your weekly schedule & are able to run for 2hrs with no problem, start to watch your per mile pace as follows: Run over your measured courses for one week without any influencing factors such as a watch, per mile pace or another runner. Try to run evenly in effort and as strong as your condition allows. Start your watch at the start of the runs so as to be able to take the overall time of each run at the conclusion; this giving an estimate of your capability and condition at this stage of your training……”

“….the following week you should use these times for control and run the same course at comparable times by checking each mile as you pass the mile markers. For example, if you took one hour to run a ten mile course the trial week, then the next week you should set out to run 6 minutes for each mile, allowing for hills and hollows. After a week or so, you will find that the previous times used for control are becoming too slow for you, as your Oxygen uptake improves. So, it will be necessary to increase the average speed for the distance by lowering the average mile time down to 5:55 per mile or thereabouts. In this way, it is possible to keep running at your best aerobic effort rather than too fast or too slow and so to gain the best results for the time spent training.”(Lydiard, 1999)

In other words, your simple objective for phase 2 of training (after the phase 1 habit of establishing the basic week) is to raise your average training velocity over the course of the week. This can be where many athletes come undone. The key point here is to progressively increase the specific content of your key sessions without compromising the rest of your week, or put another way, average training velocity over the course of the week should increase, not decrease with the addition of your main sets during the specific preparation period. Note the word “preparation” in the description for this phase. We’re preparing for a best effort, not giving one every other day.

So, we have established that we go harder than what we did in our first phase of training, or as Arthur puts it, we train at our “best aerobic effort” during this phase. From a % intensity perspective, as already mentioned, this may (eventually) vary from 70-100% of our best aerobic pace. But, before I go into how we go about determining the relative intensity for each day within the training week, it is important to acknowledge that at this point, or what I will call phase 3 in Arthur’s developmental model, we are getting into some pretty elite stuff. To vary the training intensity over the aerobic spectrum from day to day first assumes that the athlete has adequate fitness to fully recover their glycogen reserves within 24hrs of the preceding session. Development of this quality alone can take a good amount of time, as indicated, in the previous article by Bill Sweetenham’s multi-year emphasis on training at or below the Aerobic Threshold before even allowing any higher quality aerobic training in his young swimmers (Sweetenham, 2003)

So, assuming we are at the point that the athlete is able to perform a good quantity of steady aerobic training and fully recover for the next session, how do we determine when and where to schedule the 100% efforts v’s the 70% efforts. While Arthur points out that it is never the coaches job to tell an athlete how fast to go on a given day, basic recommendations, with regard to effort can be made. Since Lydiard lived in an era preceding heart rate monitors, power meters, lactate testers, etc. etc., he used a simple effort scale that ranged from ¼ effort to full effort to describe his training assignments. Typically, the 3 long days per week were of a lower effort level (1/4 effort) while the shorter days were faster (1/2-3/4 effort). However, the guiding principle for the afternoon sessions, was that the athlete is always to run as fast as their condition allows. Naturally, when fit, this meant that they would run a quicker pace per mile for the shorter sessions than they did for the long runs. However, and this is key, the overall objective of increasing the average training speed from week to week was always kept at the fore-front.

As stated in the previous article, there is a good amount of variability in the rate at which an athlete is able to replenish their muscle glycogen stores. Several factors come into play here including the intensity of effort, the type of muscle fibers used and the aerobic fitness of the individual. At sub-maximal efforts, some athletes will be able to replenish their glycogen reserves completely within 24 hours. Some will not. Lydiard’s progressive integration of the hard-easy approach to training into the weekly schedule of the athlete is a good, practical way of taking these physiological limitations into account.

For example, a young middle distance runner’s initial general preparatory week, following their introduction to the Lydiard system may look something like this:

Monday: 1hr @ 75% MHR
Tuesday: 1.5hrs @ 75% MHR
Wednesday: 1hr @ 75% MHR
Thursday: 1.5hrs @ 75% MHR
Friday: 1hr @ 75% MHR
Saturday: 2hrs @ 75% MHR.

In other words, through trial and error, the coach and athlete have established that a heart rate of 75% of the athlete’s maximum results in the fastest average overall speed for the week.

However, as the athlete develops in the specific preparatory period, and their improved aerobic fitness translates to faster glycogen resynthesis, the athlete may be able to use the shorter training days as higher intensity sessions rather than recovery sessions while, at the same time, increasing the average speed of the basic week.

The week at the end of the specific prep period may look something more like:

Monday: 1hr @ 80% MHR
Tuesday: 1.5hrs @ 75% MHR
Wednesday: 1hr, w/2x20 minutes @ 85% MHR (and the balance at 75%)
Thursday: 1.5hrs @ 75% MHR
Friday: 1hr @ 75% MHR
Saturday: 2hrs @ 75% MHR.

In this way, not only has the athlete improved his/her fitness and performance, but also their tolerance for training.

For an elite long course athlete in his specific preparatory period, specificity may dictate that the higher intensity efforts be placed on the longer days, e.g.:

Monday: 1hr @ 75%
Tuesday: 1.5hrs w/1hr @ main set @ 80%
Wednesday 1hr @ 75%
Etc.

Slight difference in protocol, but the principle, and the net glycogen usage over the course of the week remain the same.

Lydiard concluded that, for his marathon runners, this was as far as the specific preparation needed to go. He found that if they could preserve their training volume (prior to taper) and average training speed, while including some submaximal speed sessions, there was no need to perform a devoted intensive speed phase (which he did with his 800m-10K athletes). (Lydiard, 1999)

It is the author’s opinion that if this is true for elite marathoners (whose event duration is in the 2hr range), then it is also true for triathletes of all distances. At the very elite level, moving into phase 3 of Arthur’s general development, where the program takes on a structure that preserves peripheral aerobic development while providing a greater stimulus to higher threshold aerobic motor units and central adaptations may be useful. In a tactical race, at the elite level, these can become limiters. In addition, at the very elite level, the cardiac reserve of the athlete can become limiting. However, as previously stated, we are at the very top of the pyramid when these factors become a real issue. For the vast majority of long course athletes, the race itself is nothing more than a steady-state time trial and therefore, as boring as it sounds, the sub-elite athlete’s year is all about Arthur’s first 2 phases of development:

1. General Preparation: Habituating their basic training week.
2. Specific Preparation: Increasing the average speed (and steady-state component) within that week.

The quickest way to get to the top of that pyramid (where other issues become limiting) is to first fully accomplish these two objectives.

References available upon request.

Clas "The Baron" Bjorling -- Part Two

My Triathlon Career, From The Beginning Until Now

So, the first article told you a little how I grew up and it ended when I during my military service, just had learned how to swim freestyle, and I had meet a running coach who had brought me out to some running races where I did pretty well. This happened 1998 when I was 20 years old.

So with this article I will finished up writing about my personal story so I in the next coming articles can write more about things that I have learned from the sport or special moments from the sport. Some topics I have thought of is to write a little more about Epic Camp, how to run a 2.42 marathon, Gordo Byrns and mine cost to cost ride and how to avoid overtraining and lessons I have learned from my experience. And then I will come up with some more along the way.

So, time to move back to March 1999.

Now I was done with my 15 month in the military and its was time to move back in civilian clothing again, but I was very grateful what the military had given me, I had grown up both mentally and physically and was ready to take on life whatever it now had to offer. I kept working with my running coach also outside the military and I kept working on my swimming and cycling even if I during the summer did mostly running races. I did some triathlon and duathlon races and I finished 2nd
at the Swedish national championship in duathlon which was big for me.

Later in the summer I got my biggest victory until then as a runner when I won the junior race in Sweden’s biggest cross country running race, called Lidingöloppet. It is a 15 K race with a lot of up and downs. I still remember how easy it felt and I got so surprised every time I looked back and someone had dropped off. The last 4-5 K it just me running along in the front together with a skinny, tall Estonian guy. Must have looked pretty funny with us running together, he skinny and tall, and I pretty short and muscular from all the weightlifting. This got to be my first experience how it feels when you are in the “flow” in a race where you are in great shape. You can just push harder and harder and your body just keeps smiling and continues to do the work without protests. But it wasn’t until I picked up the pace for real the last 200 m where I got a few meter gap that grow up to a second or so at the finish line.

Sometimes when you watch the great runners from Kenya and Ethiopia cross the finish line in the final at the big championships you can be amazed how they have been running world record pace for 5 or 10 K, and then when they cross the line and take a deep breath they just look like they have been out for Sunday walked. That is how I felt after I had crossed the line at this race, and this is how it is when you are in great shape. You can push your body so far beyond what you thought was possible and when you stop your body doesn’t feel tired at all. But, the thing I have learned is that it’s very hard to peak your performance so you get to experience this very often, because this is nothing you can force to happened, it not that easy.

Okay, enough about that, maybe I will come more into that topic when I write about my 2.42 IM marathon, back to the subject for this article.

The only thing I really remember from the year 2000 is that I set my personal best that stand still today over the ½ marathon distance. 1.07.15. They had built a bridge from Denmark to Sweden and to celebrate the opening they had a running race that started in Denmark, went over the bridge and ended in Sweden. It was a big race with 20 000 or so competitors. I never found the “flow” at this race but I was in good shape and was able to run a solid PB. Other then this race I’m sure I did a lot of running races and some triathlon and duathlon as well.

I Think it was this year where I got half time job as a sport teacher at the local school, I didn’t make any money from the sport yet so it was great to get this job so close so I could get some money but still have a lot of time to train and race.

2001 got to be the year when moved up to the longer triathlon distances. First in the spring I did my first ½ IM which went well, after a slow swim I moved up through the field during the bike and was able to run up to the front of the race in the end of the run to take a surprising victory. Because this race went so well I decide to try an even longer distance, the “Nice distance” which is 4 K swim, 120 K bike and 30 K run. The Swedish Championship over that distance was run that summer in the famous Swedish triathlon city Säter. All the big names in Ironman racing from the 80's and 90's like Scott Tinely, Scott Molina, Mark Allen and Dave Scott have raced in Säter, and Säter still today arrange long distance events some years like the ITU World’s and European Championships. Säter is just 45 K from where I live so if you ever go there to race so please let me know and we might be able to meet up for a chat.

Just as in the ½ IM, I moved up through the field during the bike after a slow swim. Think I came off the bike in 5th or 6th place. And now I got to experience for the first time how it is to run of the bike on very tired legs. I don’t remember having that much problem running of the bike at the ½ IM I did, but at this race it had been raining during the bike so the leg muscles was pretty cold which didn’t help. But the run course was a 3 laps out and back course so I got to see that even if I thought I was running well I still gained some time on the people in front of me.
To make a long story shorter I was able to pass a few people during the rest of the run to finish on the last podium spot. What I didn’t really know then was that I had just finished behind the other great long distance triathletes Björn Anderson and Jonas Colting and I was just about to start my international triathlon carrier. This was how I first got to meet Björn and Jonas, and since this day in Säter 6 years ago we all have spent a lot of time training and racing around the world.

I hadn’t more then just finished and cried out my happy tears when the head coach for the Swedish triathlon team Tomas Wiker walked up to me and asked if I wanted to be part of the Swedish team at the ITU long course championship that was run over the Ironman distance for the first (and probably the last) time in Denmark 5 weeks later. This came as a big surprise to me, should little Clas, the weightlifted, wood chopper, from the little town Mockfjärd join the other “real” triathletes in a World Champs. And not just that, I had also just by far just finished my longest triathlon race ever (and it wasn’t without pain) and now decide if I just 5 weeks later race wanted to race an Ironman. Phuuuu, I still remember that it was a lot of things moving around in my head when Tomas asked me about this so I told him that I needed to think about it for a few days so he would get back to me later.

When he a few days later called me I had forgotten a little about the pain from the long race and I was up for a new challenge. I also told him that I didn’t know anything how to train for a long race ( As far as I was concerned )so I got some last minute training tips from him and also from Colting who I by now had made a first contact with.

I remember being really nervous the last week leading up the Ironman distance race. It was so many things that were new but very excited at the same time. The elite race was on a Sunday, and the age grouper race was the day before, and I knew some people that raced the age grouper race so I went out on the run course to see cheer them on. I don’t know if this was good, it didn’t look pretty out there, it was late PM and people were out there shuffling, walking…… and it looked like it was painful to. I was up for a big the challenge the following day, I knew that.

It was 50 or so competitors in the elite field and I came out as one of the last one in 69 min, 20 min up to the leaders but I didn’t care too much about that, I just stayed focused on my race and to make it to the finish line. I took it out pretty easy I thought but was able to pass a few people. It was an out and back bike course so every now and then I got to meet the people in front of me and that gave me some new energy. We where 4 guys in the elite field and I was the last one of us up from the water but ½ way through the bike I moved up to be the 3rd Swede which felt great.

After a riding time of 4.57 it was time to get of the bike and start the marathon. It had been raining the last couple hours on the bike so I was pretty happy to get of the bike and start to run so I could get warm again. If I thought it had been hard to run off the bike in Säter but that was nothing compare to what I now experienced, I have some pictures that are taken on me from the first 500 m on the run and my face looks completely empty, you can just see that all my mental energy was just to handle the chock from the tired legs and to keep on moving. What I didn’t know then was that it was going to be better after 5-6 K of running when the legs get into the running rhythm.

I slowly warmed up and was able to start running pretty good and ½ way through the run I ran up to be the 2nd place Swede. It is the first 3 finishers from each country that take part in the team competition so one of my goals for the race other then to finish was to finish top 3 among the Swedes so with my 2nd place have way through the run I felt comfortable that I would hold that place to the finish so I just tried to hold on as best as I could and pass other competitors that was slowing down.

With a marathon time of 2.59 I was able to finish my first Ironman in a total time of 9.05. I finished 22nd overall and 2nd Swede. Jonas Colting had made a breakthrough in his racing and placed 3rd overall and if I don’t remember wrong we took 3rd place in the team competition which was good for the Swedish triathlon federation, so I had done my job.

Now I was really hooked to triathlon and specially the longer distances. If I could do these results with no experience about long distance training and racing with a swim time of 69 min, what should I be able to do if I put some real effort in to be the best I could. I was just 24 years old and hadn’t been training seriously for more then a few years. So when Colting later that year asked me if I wanted to come with him to train in New Zealand for 2.5 month and end the camp with Ironman there to try to qualify for Ironman Hawaii he didn’t need to wait long for my answer. So in the middle of January 2002 I was on a plane together with Colting flying towards the other side of the planet. The 3rd time I was flying and the first time outside Europe. Colting had arranged everything around the travelling. He had met someone named Scott Molina when he raced Ironman Brazil the year before and Molina had put Colting in touch with someone named Gordo and Gordo had just bought a house in Christchurch and had some rooms empty in the house that we could rent. I didn’t know who these people where, and I didn’t care either. I was just happy to know that I was going to spend 2.5 month training full time.

Martin Flinta who flew to NZ ahead of us to do some adventure racing joined us in ChCh and we ended up to be a good team training together. Gordo joined us on some sessions but my English back then was very bad so I wasn’t able to speak much to him, just said some phrases that we still laugh at today( so even if you have a hard time understanding things that I write today you can just imagine how it was for Gordo back then). I have never been very into learning different languishes when I was younger, we speak Swedish in Sweden and I had no plans when I was younger to travel anywhere. But on this trip I had Colting who loves to speak and take care of things so I was able to get be part of the group anyway.

One night after a month or so Gordo had Molina over for dinner with us. And I didn’t know who Molina was, what had this guys done that was so special so we had to put on jeans and a shirt?

So this was my first meeting with one of the legend in the sport of triathlon, Scott Molina who I later was going to spend a lot of time with on different Epic Camps around the world, base training in ChCh with for the next 4 years or be having a read bull and vodka with on same party after an IM. Make me laugh to think how life is; you never know what will happen to you the next minute or what people you met will bring you.

I will probably end up to write a lot about Gordo and who we ended up to spend more time together then what Gordo did with his first wife when I write about ours trip across the US 2004, so I leave him out for now, but I promise that it will be a great story, that is at least how the times have been when we have been together. I spent a whole NZ summer in the same bedroom as Gordo when he had made his bedroom to an altitude room(we did not share bed), or how about when we rode cross the states, for 10 weeks we slept in a trailer, and when we didn’t sleep we was running, riding or swimming together.

Anyway, now I lost track on the subject again, got a little bit too excited. I will cut the last part of this subject short, I can start to feel how you start to lose focus and just reading every second word to get this over with so you can go back and read Gordo forum, but not just yet, give me another 5 minutes of your time and you will get the full story.

The rest of my time in NZ went well, and the race in beautiful Taupo where Ironman NZ is located went well to. On a tougher course then in Denmark and after been running the entire marathon with cramps in my lower back I ended up to finish in a time of 9.05, win my age group, finish 12th overall and qualify for Ironman Hawaii.

Before Colting, Flinta and I flew to Hawaii 5 or 6 weeks before the race to train on the course and acclimatise I had raced duathlons Ironman Hawaii, The Powerman long distance duathlon race named in Switzerland, Zofingen( 10 K run, 150 K bike and 30 K run, and it’s all in the hills). I finished 7th overall there and had gotten my first price cheque. Maybe that will be another subject I will write about, Zofingen and other duathlon I have raced and how duathlons can be a perfect race if you feel like don’t putting on a wetsuit before a race starts. I just want to say that duathlon races are much harder then you think, specially the Zofingen race.

Back to Hawaii again, I was amazed when I got of the plane and got hit right in the face with a warm sticking air and I just started to sweat like a pig. This was to be a real challenge, how would I be able to race in something like this when I was freaking out just by standing still. But as the weeks went on I got more and more used to the humidity and didn’t seems to suffer as much.

After nearly a month and a half on the Island it was finally time for the race. The Mecca of Ironman racing, it was here where all the great Ironman stories came from, at least that was what people had told me. My English hadn’t improved much since the camp in NZ and when Colting and Flinta was freaking out one day at the local pool in Kona when they saw Dave Scott there swimming I just said, Scott who ???

The race in Hawaii went well, or at least I was able to win my age group even if I was suffering badly from the humidity during the ran. I had reached the highest goal as an amateur Ironman triathlete. To win your age group in Hawaii, specially the younger ones like the 18-24 that I won is a good sign that it’s time to move on and start to race in the elite/professional category.

So the following year, 2003, when I went back to ChCh to train for Ironman there I had made my move up to the professional category which was a good move, I finished 4th overall and got a nice price cheque. In this race I beat names Like Chris Lieto and Steve Larsen which I had heard were “fast” guys in triathlon. This was to be my only Ironman this year because the rest of the year I decided to focus 100 % to try to win Zofingen that was going to be in September.

I took 4 month off swimming and was training hard with Gordo in Boulder, Colorado, during the summer, probably to hard, because when the race came up I was very fit for the double run but had lost some power on the bike and was struggling on the 150 K bike leg but was able have a very strong 2nd ran and I finished 5th overall.

From 2002 to 2004 I also raced some duathlon races in Europe. Did some races in the Powerman serie and the ITU's World Champs where I finished 14th overall.

I have won the national championship in duathlon 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006.

My real breakthrough in international racing came 2004 when I finished 2nd at IM NZ, just 5 min behind great athlete Cameron Brown, and 3rd at IM Brazil. I set a new run course record in both races; I ran a 2.42 marathon in NZ and a 2.44 in Brazil.

In IM NZ 2005 I had my first real setback in racing. I was in really good shape but I got my nutrition wrong and I ended up with really bad stomach cramps which forced me to walked the 2nd half of the marathon. To drop out has never been an option for me in triathlon, I have always raced from behind and that has given me the mentality to never drop out, anything can happen in the front of the race and as long as I can keep going I might catch people. Everyone is struggling in the end of an Ironman and it’s normally not until the last 10-15 K of the marathon where I run into the top 3 or top 5 in races. So if I should have dropped out as soon as I felt like I had no chance on a good overall position I wouldn’t have finished many races.

Of course I wasn't going to catch anyone this day in NZ, but if I had come this far I thought I might was well finish. It wasn't a pleasant experience but it forced me to learn more about my body and how important the right nutrition is during a long race as an Ironman. And as long as we learn something it wasn't a total failure.

Already the same year I got revenge from my bad finish in NZ when I finished the Ironman distance race in Roth, Germany Quelle Challenge in a Swedish record fast time of 8.21. The old record was 8.26, held by Jonas Colting and was from 2002.

I finished up my 2005 season with a solid 4th place finish in IM Wisconsin.

Coming into the 2006 season I was training harder then ever. This ended up in a broken down immune system and shingles during the spring so I had to cancel my plans to race IM Arizona in the beginning of April.

But the same thing happened now as it did the year before. I got a nice revenge when I once again had a good race in Roth, Germany; I broke my own Swedish record over the Ironman distance when I finished in a solid time of 8.15.

Before my race in Roth I also won my 4th gold at the Swedish national championship in duathlon. After my 3 straight win in the national championship in duathlon 2001-2003 I wasn't able to take part in the championship 2004-2005 because I raced some Ironman race, so it was a nice come back to get the gold 2006.

I was able to finish up 2006 with a 2nd place at Ironman UK in august before my body shut down and I had to change my racing plans and focus 100% on getting my health back.

So that was the story about that, ended up to be a little long but I cut it a little short towards the end at least.

Now I hope I will be able to write a similar report 10 year from now that include a lot of great racing stories from around the world that I have been part of, but I know that 2007 will be named the build up year that forced me to learn things about myself so I could reach my full potential in long distance racing.

Until next time, have a great summer.

Clas Björling
http://www.clasbjorling.com/
June 4: Th 2007

What I Wish I Knew 6 Years Ago

Sam Doolittle

In a little under two months, I will be competing in my 7th Ironman Canada. I plan on taking a break this year meaning I won’t be signing up for next year the day after the event. It is not that I don’t enjoy this any more. Quite the contrary. I still love the training and seeing its effects on my body. However, I have found that six years of giving up (and, more importantly, my family giving up) things because of choices I have to make about my schedule has gotten to the point where I need to take a break. This is actually a little scary to me. Preparing for and making my annual trek to Penticton has become part of what defines me as an individual. Giving that up is scary. The specter of an Ironman each year has kept me in great shape. Will I get soft? I think I’ve escaped a lot of aging from 31 to 38 years old. Will I catch up now? Will I ever do another Ironman again?

I think I probably will. In the meantime, I was reflecting on what I would tell myself if I could go back in time seven years – when I had signed up for my first Ironman in Canada.

Like Curly from City Slickers, the secret to successfully training for an Ironman takes just one thing. Except here, I am going to tell you that one thing.

Train as much as you can consistently train.

That’s it. Before you stop reading and think that I am just pointing out the obvious, let me provide some examples. Now, I am a pretty smart guy, but I didn’t always get this right. Here are just a few of the ways:

• I inserted huge training days that I wasn’t ready for. I was very proud that I got through them but then I’d miss subsequent workouts.
  
  
• I ate poorly. This made me tired and I skipped workouts.
  
  
• I didn’t get enough rest. This includes scheduled recovery.
  
  
• I didn’t eat and hydrate properly before/during/after training. This ran me down and I missed workouts. It also made my workouts stink and lowered my moral. Nothing like a little dehydration to help convince me that I can’t ride a bike worth crap!
  
  
• I didn’t get my family on board with my plan. They weren’t happy. I would skip workouts to spend more time with them.
  
  
• I was too optimistic about my availability and thought I could train more than I could. This led to missed workouts. It’s a lot easier to miss a workout if you’ve already missed some.
  
  
• I went too hard on workouts, ignoring all my expensive gadgets, and most of all myself. This would lead to missed workouts.
  
  
• I’d get sick from any and all of the factors above and miss workouts.

In fact, pretty much every training mistake I made was a result of forgetting that my primary goal was to train as much as I could consistently train.

So, how do you know how much you can consistently train? Well, to be honest, I am seven years into IM training, and I still don’t know for sure. The downside of my optimistic tendencies is that I still think I can do more than I can. What would I tell myself? Make the easiest plan you can think of. Execute it flawlessly for 12 weeks. Then, re-evaluate your training log and take something out of the basic week for each missed workout. Go another 12 weeks and repeat.

I will tell you this, though. The key to the question of how much you can consistently train is to be able to answer it yourself. I see a lot of folks seeking the answer on the internet and it’s just not there. Even with coaching, unless you see your coach face to face at least weekly, you need to be able to answer this question for yourself. And really, isn’t the reason we do Ironman to see how far we can really take ourselves? Then why do we keep asking other people?

How about race day execution? Well, call it “training” day execution and you have your answer. Race your Ironman like your long training days – why should you do anything different?

Mark Twain once wrote an essay about the origins of man. It was meant to poke fun at a contemporary of his who posited that all prior species were here to serve the coming of man. At any rate, Twain pointed out that if the timeline of the universe was the height of the Eiffel Tower, man’s existence is represented by the skin of the paint on top of the ball on top of the tower.

I will go so far as to say that for the overwhelming majority of Ironman athletes, anything regarding training that is not encompassed in Train as much as you can consistently train represents the paint on top of the Eiffel Tower. This includes:

• Powercranks
  
• Newton Shoes
  
• Altitude tents
  
• Snorkels, fins, paddles, bands, water wings and endless pools
  
• Differences between training protocols
  
• Most everything to do with bike equipment
  
• Etc, etc

Happy training,

Sam

++++

Sam was asked about Power Meters. His take...

I considered them and decided to exclude them from the list. Here's is my take on power meters. To over generalize, power meters have two main uses:

1) to provide feedback during training on level of effort

2) to provide information for past-training analysis (trends over time, improvement, etc)

Item #2, above, would go on the list I put together in the article.

Now, I do happen to think the use of a power meter can be important when used as item #1. Different people have different limiters. Some folks seem to be able to instinctively know how to set their pacing. Others (like me) have to learn this skill. A power meter can be very helpful in working this out in two main areas: early bike pacing when you feel great and avoiding power spikes. I've had plenty of workouts where I shelled myself by focusing on outcomes (chasing speed, time, etc) instead of focusing on the effort (power) I was creating. As a result, I've cut workouts short or missed workouts. In this vein, I think a power meter can be helpful in developing consistency.

One final note, using a power meter to set effort is a skill in itself. I wrote something up on this for Gordo that he may be putting in AP. It compares using a power meter and hrm with the instruments a pilot uses to fly a plane.

Clas "The Baron" Bjorling -- Part One

About My Life Before I Started With Triathlon

This is the first of a series of articles I’m going to write, the articles will be mainly about my life and different things I have learned over the years both in and outside the sport. I will try to come out with a new article every month with different topics.

The first article will be about my life before I came into triathlon, just so you get a better idea who I am. I’m just about to be able to come back to some easy training again after have been suffering from overtraining and a Epstein-Barr virus since August 2006, so I though is a good time to look back on my life and share the things I have learned.

So, my name is Clas Björling, I’m born June 13, 1978. I grew up in Mockfjärd; it’s a small village in the middle of Sweden. I still live in this town and call it home even if I end up travelling around the world for 6-7 month of the year, my girlfriend Kristy is American so I end up spending a lot of time in the state with her of course, but she have been in Sweden a few summers to. Kristy is also a professional triathlete.

I live in a big house in Mockfjärd that I share with my father and his girlfriend.
My parents got divorce 15 years ago but my mom live just a short walk from where I live so I see her a lot to. I have a 3 year older brother and an 8 year younger sister. My sister lives with my mom and my brother lives in a town 30 K from here and has a 3 year old daughter.

I have a very close relationship to my family so it can be hard sometimes when I’m away for long periods of time, but I often get restless when I’m at home for very long to. A nice thing to be travelling is that I appreciate all the things more that I have at home in Mockfjärd. After a few months on the road is nice to come home to relax and spend time with my family and friends. And I like to have the woods and all the lakes close by to train in, make me feel more alive then to train in some big city and doing laps in some pool that stink chlorine.

That was a little about my family situation. This article was supposed to be about me life before I came into triathlon so I better get started on that subject then. It is just hard to know what to begin with. I don’t remember so much from when I was very young so it will be more an “overlook” how I remember it.

I was lucky enough to grow up without computers or TV games, so I learned early how to play “active” games with my friends and to be outdoor. When I grew up we just had 2 channels on the TV so it wasn’t much to watch on there either.

My mom worked from home until I was 10 so I grow up in a relaxing home where I didn’t need to be driven back and force to some day care and have to play with kids I didn’t like. I feel very lucky to be able to grow up with my parents and not having other people taking care of me all day.

What I remember I played a lot with my brother and his friends, and then I played a lot of card with my grandfather. My family also spent a lot of time out in the woods at a lake where we had a cabin without any electricity, running water and a “real” bathroom. In the summer time at the lake we went on long walks or spent the day fishing or just relaxing. In the winter we did ice fishing, went on snowmobile rides or climbed to the top of some hill just so we could glide fast back downhill in a big plastic bag or some other slippery material.

I have a lot of good memories from being a kid up at the lake. To have the opportunity to be outside all day in a stress free, relaxing environment is something I still appreciate today. Of course back then I didn’t think about it so much, but today I can see how lucky I have been to be able to grow up this way.

When I was 4 years old my parents also put me on my first dirt bike, don’t think I was doing any 360 back then (not that I’m doing that today either) but I believe a lot of the endurance and strength I have in triathlon today I have got from riding the dirt bike from when I was very young.

Another thing I did as a kid that has helped me to build the right mind and strength for long distance training and racing was to work in the woods. We heat up the house with wood and have always done, so every weekend in the fall I was out working in the woods with my parents. That’s the time when we cut down and bring home the woods so we have enough for another year. Back then my brother and dad was working with the chain saw and my mom and I was the ones that pulled it all together so we easily could pick it up with the tractor. As I grew older I was allowed to do some work with the chain saw as well which was a nice change from been pulling trees together all day.

I never saw the work in the woods as hard work. I just loved it out there so much, and still do. That is the best way to get my body and mind going again after an Ironman or some other time of the year when I have been taking a break from regular training.

My nutrition hasn’t always been as good as it is today. When I grow up my dad worked as baker so I grew up eating cinnamon rolls and donuts for breakfast, then my mom liked to cook with a lot of cream and butter. So I’m glad I had an active life as a kid to, otherwise I might have been as unhealthy as most kids are today, this just shows that it is not today’s diet that are the big problem for people, the problem is to much stress with an inactive lifestyle they, both kids and adults.

That is a little about my childhood. Let’s tell you a little about how I came into more organised exercise.

It was when I was about 15 years old and had just got a moped. When you turn 15 here in Sweden you are allowed to drive a moped that can run 30 km/h. Of course what I didn’t realize and what many kids/ or parents doesn’t realize is that when you start driving a moped instead of your bike you cut away a lot of daily activity for the teenagers. Of course when you are at that age you don’t see that the riding you do to school or to friends as training, you are just happy that you don’t have to pedal when you have to go somewhere.

Anyway, around this age one of my best friends who had been lifting weights at a local gym for about a year asked me if I wanted to come and train with him. I didn’t know why I should go and spend time lifting weights and train but I gave it a try and I really liked it. Maybe I didn’t get hooked to the training it self right away but it was nice to have something to do and I was pretty natural strong from all the other work I had done in the woods so it was fun. Then they had a sauna there as well where we spent some time after the session to talk about everything.

On the weekends we had a lot of pre parties in the sauna. After a good training session, some beers in the sauna, then we were ready to move on to the big party. I was parting almost every weekend from I was 15 to 18-19. We always had some reason to party, but I’m very happy that it stayed with beer and vodka. I’m proud to say that I have never used illegal/heavier drugs in parting, training or racing which could have been pretty easy to do the way I grew up. Not that I had the age to drink alcohol when I was 15 but that is another story.

Around this time was also the time when my parents got divorce so it was nice to leave home and get all the anger and stress out by lifting the weights. Think it helped me to come through the whole divorce thing easier. So from the first day I walked in to the gym I never really left.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that in the last 3 years in ground school (the first 9 year of school we call ground school) we had a 10 K running race every year. So that was when I was 13, 14 and 15. The first year I hadn’t been running at all before the race and ended up running 44.28 min. The 2: nd year I had been doing a few runs on the local trails and ran 40.30. The 3: rd and last year I had been running around a few times a week for the last month before the race and did 37.21 min.

Another activity I did when I was around 10-12 years old was that a played some soccer. But I have never been very good to handle any equipment when I’m moving so I stopped doing that after a few years.

When I was 16 and moved on to high school (think that is what they call it in USA, the school you go to when you are done with the first 9 years in “ground school”) I started in a new school in a town named Borlänge that is located 30 K from Mockfjärd, I travelled there every day by buss. Here I meet some new friends and one guy in my class was in the Swedish team in canoeing. A big part of his training was done in the gym so we got pretty close and were lifting a lot of weights together. Some days I lifted weights with him at a gym in Borlänge before the school started, then after school I went back to the gym in Mockfjärd to join my other friends in theirs session. So already back then it ended up to be a lot of training, but because I was training in the gym so much without and special diet or enough recovery I never got very big or very strong. But I have to say that I got very fit.

When I was 17 years old I went to see my brother finish a 90 K cross country ski race named “Vasaloppet” here in Sweden. When I saw him at the finish line and saw how tired but happy he was I decided to do that race the following year. Even if I grow up in Sweden I never did much cross country skiing as a kid. So my skiing skills weren’t the best when I signed up for “Vasaloppet”, but I learned pretty quick and got some good hours of ski training done so the race went pretty well.

When I now was done with that race I decided to keep doing some long distance races here in Sweden that together are included in what we call “En Svensk Klassiker” (The Swedish Classic). The Swedish Classic include “Vasaloppet”, “Vättern rundan” which is a 300 K cycling race, “Vansbro simningen” which is a 3 K open water swim race and the 4: Th event is a 30 K cross country ski race called “Lidingöloppet”. If you finish these 4 races in 1 year you have done “The Swedish Classic” and get a diploma. A lot of people use this Classic to get motivation to train and stay fit and healthy all year around.

So after the 90 K skiing race I bought a road bike and started doing some riding to train for the 300 K bike race which was run in June, 3 month after the ski race. I started to ride the bike to school in Borlänge a few times a week, sometimes I rode there, lifted weights, went to school all day, rode home to Mockfjärd after school, lifted weights again with my friends here, did home work and then straight to bed. So I had some long training days pretty early in life.

When June came and it was time for the bike race I was pretty fit and the bike race went okay; I finished, but had experienced a new level if tiredness, fatigue, which I really liked. A month after the bike race was the swim race. In Sweden we just learn breast stroke as kids so it took me a good 1.5 hour to finish the 3 K, but the goal was just to finish which I also did. Then in October it was time for the 30 K cross country running race, the last event for me to get the Diploma for “En Svensk Klassiker”. The running race went pretty well; think I did 2.02 hours on a pretty tough course and I had made En Svensk Klassiker. What I didn’t know then was that by training for these events I had slowly started to build a interest for endurance training and racing.

This summer I also got in touch with triathlon when I first joined a team in a short triathlon relay as the runner, and a few months later I also did my first triathlon when the Swedish Championship over the sprint distance was organised in a town close by and they had a triathlon for fun race outside the Championship that I could do. I had read an article about Ironman Hawaii in some Swedish magazine a few years earlier and had since that day thought that it would be fun to try triathlon. I didn’t know much about triathlon back then but I did ok in this race. I wasn’t fast during the swim as I swam breast stroke and the transitions was very slow and chaotic , but I moved up through the field during the bike and the run and I finished 3: rd, and I really liked what I just had put myself through.

The year after I made the Swedish Classis, so 1998, I joined the Swedish Army to do 15 month military service. In Sweden all 18-20 year old men have to do 7.5 to 15 month of military service, then after that you are placed in the army reserve until you are 45-50 something.
So I moved to another town named Falun where I did my military service. I really liked the structured and simple life in the military. Kind of fit my personality, everyone knows what needs to be done and it gets done without anyone complaining or need to discuss things over and over again, and you get clothes, food and a bed. I learned a lot of good things in the military that I will have with me for the rest of my life, just simple things as how to work as a group, to take and give order. And of course we had a lot of time to train, which I did. One officer who did some run coaching saw pretty early that I had some talent for running, so he helped me with some training ideas and he brought me to my first real running races. Pretty soon I found out that longer cross country races and ½ marathons suited me best.

So now I slowly started to spend less time in the gym and more time running and cycling. Even if I was focusing on running it was hard for me to let the bike training go away, I really liked the long hours I could put in on the bike that wasn’t really possible with the running.

Still back in my head I remember the great feeling from when I did the triathlon race the previous year, so I joined a triathlon team in Falun to try to learn how to swim freestyle. This was to be a big challenge for me. All the years in the woods and the gym had really made my upper body tight, and from not being introduced at all to freestyle for 20 years didn’t make things easier and I kind of had a fear for putting my head under water. But my personality also back then was to never give up, so I kept working and working and one day many months later I was able to swim my first 25 m freestyle. I’m sure it didn’t look pretty or that it was a new world record time but it just showed me that everything is possible to achieve if you just want it badly enough.

I think this is a good way to end this first article that was suppose to be a little about how my life was before I started with triathlon. Now you have got an idea how I grew up and how I first came into the sport.

As you can see I wasn’t a kid that grew up dreaming about gold medals. I think I came into the sport for the right reason, because I like to push my body and mind behind the limits, and I think that is all what Ironman is all about. Of course by doing this for many years and not listening to my body when it have told me to rest I’m now paying the price with over training.
It’s a very fine line from pushing hard and long enough to be the best you can, and be pushing too much. I have now pushed to far but I’m very confident (most days) that if I just stick with this recovery plan that I’m on I will be able to come back to high level of training and racing even stronger and smarter then what I have ever been.

Until next time, train safe!!
//Clas Björling

www.clasbjorling.com
clasbjorling@hotmail.com

Dr. Jeff Shilt

My interest in endurance sports came relatively late in life. As most of us who have traveled the medicine path, my successes in life to this juncture have been academic and the result of consistent work over a prolonged period of time, a common theme you hear in the pursuit of most worthy goals.

My athletic success follows that same pathway. Since joining the faculty at Wake Forest upon completion my fellowship in 1999, I started doing triathlons casually in 2000. My first Ironman was in Brazil in 2003, finishing in 11:29. That day challenged me to approach triathlon more seriously...4 years, 6 ironman, and 3 epic camps later I finished IM Brazil 2006 in 9:54, qualifying for a spot at the world championship in Kona.

My experience in training and coaching has been influenced by the coaches I’ve worked with the past few years, including Gordo Byrn, and Scott Molina. A great deal of my training philosophy draws from the significant time I've spent with Gordo. I believe in the "basic week" training philosophy and creating a program that will provide your best results within a healthy life-long plan. My particular expertise is helping successful professionals balance the demands of training with work/life demands. Given my background, I like helping those with biomechanical or medical issues as well.

Over the past 2 years, I have worked with a wide range of ability levels, from elite age group to recreational athletes.

My educational background consists:

• Undergraduate & Medical degree: University of Missouri-Kansas City


• Residency: Ochsner Clinic


• Post-doctoral Fellowship: St. Louis University


• Pediatric Spine & Orthopaedic Fellowship: Vanderbilt University

***I’m currently an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Wake Forest University

The Science Behind Race Day Nutrition

Tips to Help Prevent Gastrointestinal Breakdown

Jeff Shilt, M.D.

After months of training your heart, body and mind for 140.6 miles of swim/bike/run, GI shutdown is the last thing you want to end your day. That said, a disappointing number of race experiences are summarized as “sick and on the side of the road.”

This is a remarkably common problem among athletes who experience difficulties at the ironman distance. After extensive preparation and the enormous expense to compete at the event, we are derailed by the one system we likely have given little thought to during the time leading up to the event. Yet a significant number of athletes are unable to race to their potential because of nutritional or gastrointestinal issues on game day.

In order to fully understand the problem, I think it is helpful to discuss the physiology of nutrition during endurance events.

Most people maintain normal gastric emptying and intestinal motility by remaining below a heart rate which corresponds to less than 70% VO2 max effort. If you don’t use physiologic testing to facilitate training, this corresponds to approximately 80% of your maximum heart rate or the effort commonly referred to as “steady”.

Both science and personal experience suggest that intermittent high periods of exertion (surges) slow your gastric absorption and intestinal motility more than a higher average constant heart rate without surges. In other words, an average hr of 140 that includes several periods of 170, will shut your gut down more than a steady average hr of 145.

The delivery mode of your nutrition plays an important role as well. Many people have different types of nutrition on the course: liquids, solids, gels. If your choice is not the nutritional smorgasbord, a common practice is to create a bottle with a highly concentrated solution. If this method works for you, then that is great. But be careful. Many people fail to dilute the concentrated drink adequately.

Historically, many scientific studies show that the ideal drink concentration should approximate a 6-10% solution. What may be confusing, is that different phrases are used to describe energy replacement drinks in terms of the amount of carbohydrates contained in the drink. In truth, the key to concentrated solutions is adequately balancing osmolality. Whereas % concentration is a measure of the weight of the carbohydrates diluted in the water, osmolality is the density of the particles dissolved in the solution. Based upon the type of carbohydrate (sugar) dissolved in the drink, a 6% solution can have a different osmolality. The intestines absorb solutions when osmolality is nearly the same found naturally in the body (isotonic), or 300 mOsm/kg. If a solution is significantly less than this (hypotonic solution), your digestion is slowed to allow the body to add electrolytes until it reaches 300mOsm. If the solution is significantly higher than 300 mOsm (hypertonic), than the body absorbs water from your system to dilute it. In either case, the digestive system is slowed more than a nearly isotonic solution. Some companies take the guesswork out of the equation for you and deliver their product with this in mind (Infinit, Hammer).

Minimizing fluid loss is equally important. It has been shown that dehydration of 4-6% will slow gastric emptying. Therefore, monitor your average weight loss during training rides on days with weather similar to your anticipated race conditions so that you can determine your rate of fluid loss. Keep in mind that caloric replacement and fluid replacement aren’t the same. Replenish fluid loss above and beyond your caloric replacement drink.

Nutritional content plays a key role as ell. If you can eat steak and a milkshake during the race, then more power to you. But, if you’ve read this far, you either fear or have experienced nutritional issues and may find these next few points helpful. Your GI tract doesn’t consider all calories equal. Protein and lactose containing foods delay transit time and slow absorption. Large doses of fruits, vegetables, and high fiber foods may have the opposite effect – but just as undesirable. Therefore, avoid these food types 24 hours before race day and during the race.

As far as caloric intake per hour goes, this is highly variable. A common goal is to consume 200-300 calories/hour during the bike and significantly less on the run. I believe your race and run performance will go up as you are able to SUCCESSFULLY take in more calories. “Successfully” is the important concept; it isn’t “take in calories at all cost.” If your digestion tract is not absorbing, then continued intake can make things worse. Belching and reflux can be a sign things are backing up. Flatus or “passing gas” is usually a sign that the digestive tract is moving things in the right direction. We’ve all experienced passing those athletes!

There is evidence to support that increasing caloric absorption is trainable. However, my experience indicates that athletes able to accomplish this are very disciplined on the bike and keep their heart rates steady and aerobic.

Here is an exercise to try over the next few weeks:

Plan a “big day” training session to determine the heart rate you can digest food. Begin with a long continuous swim, holding the 100 m pace you expect to race. Then, eat a huge amount of food, including milk and lots of protein immediately prior to riding at the highest heart rate you plan to hit during the race. Take in your normal drink at your hourly caloric goal rate during the race. The key to this exercise is to create a “full” feeling in your gut before you begin the ride. This assimilates what can happen to the majority of triathletes who come to the sport with no swim background and typically swim with a high heart rate swallowing air during the first discipline. The subsequent mad dash through T1 only aggravates the condition. By recreating this scenario, you will gain some idea of how hard you can go and keep the GI system rolling. This can be a healthy reality check prior to your key race day.

Here are some tips to consider if you have stomach problems during a race:

• SLOW DOWN-this is key. As your heart rate rises, blood is shunted from your intestines, effectively stopping absorption.


• Avoid high effort/hr surges. Lactate accumulation in the blood slows gastric emptying.


• Remain adequately hydrated. The total volume of liquid ingested counts and includes both sports drink and water.


• Wait adequate time for your intestines to “wake up” after swimming before taking in calories. -This is confirmed when you are passing flatus, as opposed to belching.


• Urinate…a full, distended bladder can increase the distension in your abdomen.


• Loosen up the race belt and drawstring of shorts from around your abdomen.


• Optimize the osmolality of your drink.


• Unless you have prior success, avoid protein, lactose and fruits/vegetables on race day and the preceding 24 hours.

Hope this is helpful and best of luck in your upcoming races.

Dr. J