tips & tricks Stepping up in race Distance -
From Olympic to Half Ironman Following on from his article in the last edition of Australian Triathlete (the Kona edition, Volume 24.1) where he provided advice on stepping up from Sprint to Olympic Distance, triathlon coach Nick Croft shares his tips on stepping up from Olympic Distance to Half Ironman. t e x t b y Ni c k C r o f t
W
ith longer races, the only significant change you’ll notice stepping up from the Olympic distance plan is when the actual training takes place. Your weekly schedule, Monday through Friday, stays pretty much the same as an Olympic distance program, except a few changes to some of the bike and run content, which focuses more on strength specific efforts. It is on the weekends that you’ll have a heavier (longer) training load. Your typical weekend will incorporate a long bike ride on a Saturday for example, with the distance typically around 80 to 100km (you will gradually build into this distance). Your long ride is then usually followed by a transition run — an easy 1520minute run done directly after your ride. Total time spent training on Saturday’s: up to 4 hours, depending on how fast
80
| Australian Triathlete
| p h o t o g r a p h y b y G e t t y ima g e s f o r i r o n ma n
you bike. Then you’ll hit your long run on Sunday, which is usually about 15 to 22km (this will take up to 2hrs15min plus, and you’ll be holding a pace up to 1min30sec per km slower than your current 5min/km race pace). Getting yourself professionally set up on your bike is recommended when stepping up to the Half Ironman or Ironman events. The bike becomes the focus point in both training and on race day, so being weak or unfit on the bike will hurt your run – even if you are a strong runner. Race nutrition takes on a whole new importance also. There are so many sports nutrition products available on the market these days - all of which do the same thing as far as feed you carbohydrate. It’s important to work out what agrees with you in both taste and style of fuel delivery -options include
gels, concentrated carb blend drinks, energy bars, lollies and so on. You need to work out what works for you, which is best done in training, well before race day. Consumption of between 50-80grams carbohydrate/hour during the bike (less for females and more for males) is required to fuel you, with a lesser portion needed to get you home on the run. You can take in more, and digest better on the bike, so this is where to make sure you are topped up. Having a little less on the run will be OK and won’t give you potential gut distress. Ingesting the least amount you can that can still fuel you should be the goal on the run. This Half Ironman program dedicates greater volume over the weekend to the longer ride and run, which is the main difference between stepping up from the Olympic distance program.