As 2017 begins, I am setting my goals for the upcoming year and the big goal for me is going faster than I have ever gone before in any Ironman Triathlon. That would be 12:48 minutes. I did this years ago at Ironman Florida. IM Florida is considered a "fast" course which means a flat bike and run course. The swim is average since it is in the Gulf of Mexico but overall it is a place to try to get a very good time.
In looking at this upcoming year I decided to race Ironman at Coeur D'Alene. I have done this race twice before with the last race in 2013. Now I am not getting any younger so I am taking a close look at all that I do to prepare. In 2013 my splits were as follows, swim 1:05, bike 6:36 and run 5:49 and including transition times my overall time was 13:45. As you can see I need to take almost an hour off my time.
When looking at my splits the one area that jumps out is my run time. I remember walking almost the complete second half of the marathon. This will be a focus and I will detail out my approach in a few minutes. I will need to definitely improve this. My bike time was pretty good on a very tough and hilly course but I think getting 16 minutes here is possible. Again, I have an idea here. I don't think I can change my swim time much so nothing new there.
So, let's get into what I believe I need to do differently to make this happen and this is the part of what excites me most. I have completed 14 Ironmans to date so experience with the preparation and race day distance is nothing new. But, this will be a big leap for me so I HAVE to do some things differently.
Here are the key focuses for me that will be different:
1. Lose weight. I have typically raced around 180 pounds but that is due to not paying attention to the details of my diet. I believe I can get down to under 170 pounds which would get me close to my ideal race weight. In reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald and using his calculations as well as some body analysis in the lab this seems perfect. Getting there will be tough because it will take an everyday focus on what I eat. The benefit of this is that it should enable me to take 15 minutes off my bike time with similar preparation as I have done in the past. It will also have me running without that extra luggage for 26 miles. I have about 1.5 pounds to lose per month. This will be tough.
2. Running off the bike in training more. My friend Mark Blore recommended this, even if it is only a mile or two. Mark told me that he ran off the bike after every ride on one training block leading up to an Ironman. The benefit of this is getting your body used to running with the fatigue in your legs from riding.
3. A focus on intensity more during training. In the past, I have almost completely focused on that zone 1 or zone 2 training. This is ok but in looking back I need more climbing on the bike and more interval training in running to make it feel more difficult. I want to try to make it harder in training than it will be on race day.
All of the above will enable me to run that second half of the marathon. I will need to cut 50 minutes off the run which is basically eliminating most of the walking in the last 10-15 miles.
This will be tough, no question about it. But, the fun is really trying to do something very, very different. Let me know your thoughts or if you have any ideas. It would be great to hear from you.