JW's IMMT - Prologue
JW’s 2014 “non-standard” Ironman build – Quest for Kona!!!
What I did here for Tremblant, over the course of 2014, is a result of both several years of previous triathlon training but also working closely with Coach Patrick to accelerate my endurance fitness by compressing the equivalent of three years of training into roughly nine months. I even added more work than Patrick approved. I went off the reservation but I lived to tell the tale, so I am posting this so you can learn, as is the spirit of Endurance Nation, but it is in in -No-Way-Meant- to be a path for you to follow. This journey did not come without a cost. It put tremendous strain on my family and a bit of strain on my job. My hope is that you learn from what I have done and can use it to become the best version of you. Good luck!
The following is NOT my race report from IMMT. It is everything leading up to the actual race. If you just want to know what happened during my race, you can find my actual Race Report at JW's IMMT - The Race.
My endurance journey started in October of 2009 with the following phone call:
JW - “Hey Honey, they just sent an email around work about signing up for the NY City Olympic triathlon and I’m thinking I might sign up, but I’m not sure…”
Jess – “Um, a triathlon...”
JW – “Yeah. I’m not worried about the swim since I took a lifeguard class in High School, and I know I don’t have a bike, and haven’t ridden one since high school... but I’m sure I can find one somewhere… the race isn’t for a year.”
Jess – “I thought you hated to run...”
JW – “Well that’s the only thing I’m really worried about. I don’t think there’s any way I could ever run 6 miles! Let alone running 6 miles after swimming a mile and riding my bike for 25 miles. As a wrestler, the only time I ever ran was when I was being punished, and even then I was the slowest runner on my whole wrestling team... including the heavyweights and walk-ons. What do you think?”
Jess – “Well if anyone can figure out how to do it, you can. I think you should give it a try!”
JW – “Well, I really think I need something to get me out of my comfort zone, you know a new challenge... I guess I’ll try it because I know I’ll suck at it. It’s about time I just did something I suck at just to see what happens.”
I did my first local Sprint in 2009 and HATED IT. I was cooked for the next couple of days, but did another sprint a few weeks later and hated it a little less. Then I did my first Olympic and was a zombie for the entire 10k (it took me ~1:10 to complete the 10k). I swore I would never do another race. Yet I did another OLY a month later and swore I would never attempt a longer race. Two months later, I did my first HIM in just over 6 hours (two weeks after signing up with Endurance Nation) and I didn’t hate that so bad (~2:15 run leg). It seemed like the longer the race, the slower you could go and not embarrass yourself - which suited me better.
I registered for IMLou in 2011 as a way to raise money for our Nation’s Heroes, and Team ReserveAid was born. We had 13 finishers and raised over $200,000, crushing our goal of raising $1,000 for every mile we raced! I finished in 11:56 with a 4:38 run split and was ecstatic. In 2012, I finished IMNYC in 11:15 after an epic meltdown and near collapse at mile 23 of the run (4:48 run split). We raised another $250,000 for ReserveAid. Then I finished IMFL in 10:52 with a fast bike and PR on the run of 4:28. In 2013, I raced Lake Placid as part of the Ironman Executive Challenge and was first off the bike by 9 minutes. I was passed by the eventual winner at mile 7, and by the 2nd place finisher at mile 12. Yes, I gave up 9 minutes in only 7 miles. I finished 3rd with a time of 11:07 after a new run PR of 4:10. Team ReserveAid raised almost $300,000 that year!
My dream was to race at Kona and I had told everyone who would listen that 2013 was my year I was going to race at Kona. I failed... At 182lbs (down from 230lbs a few yrs earlier) maybe I just wasn’t meant to race against the scrawny little 130lb runners. How the hell could somebody run a 3:45 marathon in the heat of the afternoon after swimming for over an hour and biking hard for 112 miles?
Spousal Support: I signed up for the 2014 Ironman Mont-Tremblant through the Executive Challenge again and was determined to qualify for Kona. I knew that a 10:17 had won the Kona slot the previous yr, so my new goal was to do a 10:15:xx. I knew that’s what time I would have and now just had to figure out how to get there. I first talked to my wife Jess and she knew how crushed I was that I didn’t qualify for Kona at Placid. She gave me more support than any washed up 38yr old husband with a hobby (obsession) should get. She offered to not race in 2014 and be 100% fully supportive of any type of training craziness I thought was necessary (she has finished 2 Ironmans and was pulled out of the water in her third at Lake Placid with Hypothermia, ending her day early), but I knew my window was very small. I would be putting a lot of strain on my wife and kids for 2014 and I could not do that for much longer. But, I had to go for this and I had to do it now! I cannot explain to you how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and supportive Ironwife through all of this.
This would be my 4th year in triathlon and really should have been the 2nd year of a serious “3 Year Plan” to eventually start to be competitive… What I found in the first 3 years of endurance training was that my body always seemed to have the ability to absorb more work than the actual training time I had to push work into it. Maybe this was all of the years that I punished my body as a High School and College wrestler. My problem was that I only had one year to train like crazy and then my door would shut. I would likely stay fit and race in the future, but never with the intent of training and racing to be the best, like I planned to do this year. So I had to figure out how to cram 2-3 years worth of work into 10 months worth of time (while juggling a job that takes up ~65 hrs/week , including my commute). I was willing to surf the edge of injury/overtraining for a whole yr because the way I saw it, I needed to get close to 10:15:00 at IMMT or not bother doing the race at all. A slightly more realistic and conservative build that got me to 10:30:xx was about the same in my mind as repeating my 11:07 from Lake Placid or being injured and not even starting the race. It was “win or go home” time and that meant I was willing to take some pretty big risks.
Becoming a Runner: Now I had to devise a plan to become a runner. I talked with Coach P and told him I NEEDED to become a runner and I would do ANYTHING he said to do to get there. Should I do a marathon? Or 3 Marathons? Run 7 days a week? Lots and lots of Speed work? I HAD to get faster! Run, run, run!!!
Coach P smacked me and said I was already fast enough... My response was “Wha, wha, whaaaaatttt? I just got smoked by a bunch of runners, man... I need to run faster.” He asked if I could run 8:00 miles and I said yes. He explained that now all I needed to do was be able to run those same 8:00 miles in an IM marathon and I could win. Even though my strength was already my bike, he wanted to turn me into a bike monster! The “run durability plan” that he had just devised would build strong run fitness and durability in the fall and early winter, then in the spring and summer I would need to take my bike fitness to a new stratosphere. To learn to run, I was going to simply crush myself on the bike. This guy, my Coach, has raced at Kona 6 times and he’s about my size so I decided to push my doubts aside and take the leap of faith... The only thing I didn’t listen to him on was the amount of work to do. On every turn I did more than his prudence would allow. Even though he didn’t approve of the extra work I would do, he at least reminded me if I was going to go off the reservation that I at least needed to use every recovery tool I had at my disposal in every waking moment I had.
It was November, so I started running and running and running. I did a 30-day consecutive run challenge. I never really ran fast or ran intervals, I just ran. Arguably I was running ~1 minute per mile faster than Coach P wanted me to be running, but I was always running at a difficult “talking pace” and always tried to finish just a little harder than I started. My “run block” lasted through the winter “Out-Season” where my bike intensity had picked up and into the spring.
The Bike: This is where the supportive wife thing is absolutely necessary... I continued my run frequency, but switched focus to the bike. I did a 5-day bike camp in Arizona in February. And another 3-day bike camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains in March, then a 4-day bike camp in the mountains of Central PA in April. While I was in Arizona, my friend, teammate and multiple time Kona Qualifier Tim Cronk told me the thing that helped him on the bike was to do one 5-hr ride on the weekend instead of two long (but slightly shorter rides on sat/sun). I tweaked this to be a 5+ hour ride every Saturday AND another ~4+ hour ride on Sunday, (always running after both). In all of my rides, I tried to get the average power to increase in the last 1.5 hours. Meaning I always had to push very hard at the end of my rides. Eventually, my legs would have this magic moment where they would just “open up” after 3 hours of riding (exactly when most people would normally start to fade). In the 3 months before IMMT, I did a total of 13 rides that were longer than 100 miles, which really helped me to dial in my “5-hour” power number. And I usually rode a hard and hilly 4+ hours the next day. My biggest 5.5hr Normalized Power for any of these rides was 252W. I would use all of these long rides to set my target wattage for race day (around 230W). Note that my 5:21 bike leg at IMMT was done at 218W, or 86.5% of my maximum achieved 5.5hr power in training.
Run Training: I went “off plan” with my run work during my Ironman build as well. I added in the “Jimmy’s Ironman Leg Hardener” that I learned about in my first bike camp. This was a short 3-5 mile “race pace” run in the evening after doing my normal 16-18 mile long run that same morning (usually on Thursdays). These two a day runs really hurt but gave me a ton of confidence in my ability to run 8:15 miles on trashed legs. I also replaced my “normal” run interval speed work with a treadmill workout I like to call the Boiling Frog (thanks Chris Harig). In this workout, you warm up for about 10 mins, then set the pace on the treadmill at your goal IM race pace for 3 minutes, then speed it up by 15 seconds per mile for 3 more mins, then speed it up by another 15 seconds per mile for the following 3 minutes... You keep speeding it up every 3 minutes until you cannot run another step and you have to quit. I hate to quit at anything, so this workout is not only physically taxing, but a mentally crushing workout as well. The next week, you get another shot to try and beat your previous record. My best effort on this was 1:30 into the 3 minute interval at a 5:45/mi pace. The other thing I did new this year was “actually” hit all of the run frequency that was already written into the standard IM plan. In the past I skipped almost all of the brick runs because I simply could not get the logistics to work with my already early “4-handle” start time. I just made it work this year by a combination of; getting up even earlier for a short 12-20 min run as a warm-up before my bike intervals, getting to work a little later a , sneaking out at lunchtime every once in a while for a short run, or actually doing a short run in the evening which was previously not an option. I think this extra run frequency over many months really helped.
Biohacking 101: In addition to training like crazy this past year, I was on a quest to find two other things; Quality Sleep and Leg Recovery. This is where my new-found hobby of “biohacking” was born. I was literally willing to try ANYTHING if I thought it would either allow me to sleep better or recover better. If you want to know more about any of these, please ask, but if I went into detail here, this already long report would be unbearable for most to read. I went to see Dr. Fain and Dr. Nakano (of Tai Chiropractic in NYC http://www.taihealthsolutions.com/ ) at least 1x per week for the majority of the year. They are sports medicine chiropractors who specialize in soft tissue techniques such as ART and Graston in addition to treating with spinal manipulation.
For the Cliff Notes version of my “weirder” biohacking, here’s a list of things, ideas, or devices I tried or used on a regular basis over the last year: Normatec Compression Recovery boots, Marc Pro Electronic Muscle Stimulation device, home Ultrasound device, KT tape, Rumble Roller, Cold Thermogenesis (no jacket in the winter, Ice Vest in the evenings, all swims in my 59 degree Endless Pool), “grounding” sheets, “grounding” mat in front of my computer at work, EMF shielding, sat on a stability ball all day at work, added lot more walking into my commute, Powerlung in my car during my commute, went to bed MUCH earlier, Scotch (I drank a lot of it, but only a little bit each night), High Fat, (mostly) Gluten-free diet, no Recreational Sugar, fasted long workouts, intermittent fasting (up to 24 hrs, including workouts), bone broth, Chinese Adaptogenic Herbs, LifeShotz, Emergen-C, and I also added to my already long list of supplements and changed their timing (for better absorption and better sleep), and wore blue-light blocking amber glasses in the evening.
Jess was an awesome cook and made it REALLY easy for me to eat super healthy at night. She generally cooked higher fat, “real food”, less-carb types of delicious meals that fit in very well with how I ate all the time. She also put up with me sitting there next to her on the couch while I ate dinner with my amber glasses on, wearing an ice vest with my legs in my Normatec compression boots. All I was missing was the tinfoil hat!
The Swim: The other thing I did a lot this year was swim. My former IM mantra was that I was a “good enough” swimmer and I had way too much low hanging fruit on the bike and the run to “waste” too much of my limited training time swimming. So in previous yrs, I did zero swimming from October through April, then about 1x per week on average until it was time to taper, then I ramped it up to ~2x per week. This yr I also did zero swimming from October through April, but ramped it up to 2x per week for April-May, then 3-4x per week for June-July and 4x per week during my taper in August. This only improved my IM swim time by a couple of minutes, but they were actually important minutes this year. I think better swim fitness also set me up for a better bike and run. But, in my opinion, the most important thing was the effect it had on my body composition. I did 99% of my swims in my Endless Pool at home. This year I turned the heater off in the pool so it was ~59 degrees year round. These 40-65 minute swims in freezing cold water was a nice little bout of Cold Thermogenesis multiple times a week, which really accelerated my body’s fat burning mechanisms which, in turn, helped me get as skinny as I have ever been for this race. This cold water was also very helpful for leg recovery from all the work I was putting into them.
Final Training stats for the year:
Run – 216 runs in 209 hours for 1,482 miles
Bike – 131 bikes in 252 hours for 4,400 miles
Swim – 41 swims in 29 hours since mid April
Mont Tremblant Race Course: I think the WTC designed the IMMT race course just for me! The swim is a 1 loop rectangle in a beautiful can clean lake. The bike is two loops that start with 6 miles of easy hills, then 30 or so miles of highway riding in your aerobars with just enough hills or descents to allow for slight position or cadence changes. Then you do the 6 miles of easier rollers again. This leads you to 6 miles of hills which are mostly up, turn it and come back down them. I personally loved the last section of “hills” because everyone else thought they were hard, but they were a joke compared to the terrain I had trained on. Finally, the run was a big out-and-back that started with ~2.5 miles of “hills” but they were all very short (30-60 seconds) so you never got cooked on any of them and the short uphills were all followed by downhills to recover on. Then there was about 7 miles total (of an out-and-back) on a flattish paved bike trail. This section was tree covered and great to run on. Then you did the 2.5 or so “hilly” miles in the other direction and finished the loop (or race) into the lively, spectator lined, cobblestone downhill section that was just awesome!
About the Ironman Executive Challenge (XC): The XC is a program run by Ironman that pits Senior Executives against each other during the race. It was formerly known as the CEO challenge. This program is AWESOME! Through this program you receive the full VIP treatment for the entire race week, including a suite in one of the best hotels in the area, priority seating at all events, as well as check-in, a breakfast with the Pros, prime real estate for your transition spot, and your family members get VIP treatment and viewing areas during all parts of the race. Jess was able to be out on the dock in the lake during the swim, she had access to the best viewing areas for the bike as well as access to the finisher’s area to give me my medal as I crossed the Finish Line. But the main reason I entered the XC was for the chance at a Kona slot. There were 5 people in the XC in my age division (49 & under) and if I won that division, I would earn a slot to compete in the Ironman World Championships in Kaula-Kona, Hawaii. One of the guys in the XC did a 10:17 at IMMT in 2012 and another had just completed a 4:47 Half-IM. The other two had similar IM Personal Records to me with right around 11 hours. I would have my work cut out for me if I wanted to Kona Qualify (KQ). http://tinyurl.com/IronmanXC
Lead-up to the race: I did a few things differently than in years past leading up to this race. I did my last “Race Rehearsal” two weeks prior to the race and then tapered hard for the last 2 weeks. I also did a lot of “race pace” work in those last 2 weeks, but just a lot shorter duration. I even slept in a couple of the days because I really wanted to give my body the rest it so desperately needed, but I continued to swim hard and frequently. Because of all the work I put into my body over so many months, I found that I would recover and absorb rest VERY quickly. A few off days here or there were always rejuvenating for me, ~10 days of light work was like magic! Normally, I would do very little the week of the race, but this year, at Coach P’s suggestion, I did a ~22.5 mile ride on the Thursday afternoon before the race to recon the more technical and hilly sections of the course. I did not take it easy during this ride and used this ~1:12:13 race pace effort (in the freezing cold rain) to kick-start my legs back into “go mode”. After this ride I also did a 2.5 mile run (again at goal race pace) to run the hilliest parts of the run course. It felt like I was floating on this run because my legs felt so good. I did not set an alarm on Thursday through Saturday to just let myself sleep as much as my body needed. On the Friday before the race I was awake around 6:00AM (which is actually sleeping in for me) so I went for a “hard” 35 minute swim in the Lake. It took me a full 10-15 minutes to really get into a groove and not have tired arms so I decided I would do a long and hard warm-up before the race.
On Friday I had breakfast with Luke Bell (the Pro who won the race the previous year), went to the EN 4 Keys talk and followed that immediately with the Team ReserveAid Lunch. It was a busy day, but was awesome to see everyone and take in some of the excitement.
On Saturday I ate a lot and got my bike and gear bags all checked in. I took garbage bags to cover my bars and drive-train. I would re-oil my chain on Sunday morning after pumping my tires. I also pre-loaded with a ton of Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Amino Acids on Saturday. I believe you should take in as much salt and as many other electrolytes the day before the race as you plan to take in during the race. I also sat around in my hotel and used my Normatec boots for an hour, then another hour with my Marc Pro EMS machine wired to my legs... I was hydrating with water and Gatorade all day long I had a dinner of Chicken Breast and a large Sweet Potato with extra butter and was in bed by around 9:00PM.
When I woke up around 1:30AM to pee (I was very hydrated) I downed a 12oz bottle of an Ultragen Recovery Shake and went straight back to sleep. My alarm was set for 4:00AM, but I woke up at 3:45 and was ready to rock. 7 good solid hours of sleep is a new record for the night before an Ironman.
I ate a breakfast of a UCAN shake, Honey Stinger chocolate and Coconut bar and a nut and berry Kind bar. This doesn’t sound like a whole lot of breakfast before a long day, but I was still partially full from the night before and wanted to have a mostly empty stomach to start the race. I also had 2 salt sticks, 2 Ca/Mg pills, 5 MAP (Amino Acid pills), 4 Optygen HP pills, 2 Phenocaine pills and a Cocunut Oil Pill with my breakfast. After my ~4AM breakfast, it was nothing but water before the race. The great thing about our hotel (Hermitage du Lac) was the location. I was able to go to my bike and pump my tires, oil my chain, and fill up my bottles as well as turn my computers on. Then I went to make last minute checks of my T1 and T2 bags, then back to my hotel room for a last minute bathroom break. I grabbed my wetsuit and joined the crowds for the walk to swim start.
If you want to hear about the actual race, well, now would be the time to go to my “actual” race report at JW's IMMT - The Race.
Remember, what I did here for Tremblant, over the course of 2014, is a result of both several years of previous triathlon training but also working closely with Coach Patrick to accelerate my endurance fitness by compressing the equivalent of three years of training into roughly nine months. I even added more work than Patrick approved. I went off the reservation but I lived to tell the tale, so I am posting this so you can learn, as is the spirit of Endurance Nation, but it is in in -No-Way-Meant- to be a path for you to follow. This journey did not come without a cost. It put tremendous strain on my family and a bit of strain on my job. My hope is that you learn from what I have done and can use it to become the best version of you. Good luck!
Comments
Your conversation with Coach P and running sounds just like the one I had several years ago with him... I too went to him saying I need to be a better runner to get to KONA , I wanna do a run focus... The very first thing he said was we need to get you off the bike in the top 10 first.... So I stayed focussed on the bike until I started coming off the bike in the top few slots.... Then worked on my run durability similar to yours!
There is a good ask TJ Tollakson thread anything on ST.... He speaks of not specifically training his FTP but training his 2hr and 5hr power... Good stuff!
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=5215107;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;
A good example of individuality ..... While I agree with most of your training I am totally on the other side of your bio-hacking, recovery, and nutritional belief's.... But hey that is what makes a market right? I'm glad at EN we are smart enough that we can express our opinions and sometimes agree to disagree.... This is why I chose my sig line.........
"Adapt what is useful , reject what is useless , and add what is specifically your own."
It all worked for you and that is what is important ..... Thanks again for sharing this part of the journey!
funny thing is.....as I am leaving EN for a while, I was going to ask you many questions regarding just this. I've been sketching out ideas this year. Using it as an experiment with everything from nutrition to changing my 7day training week into nothing more than PrepDay/PurposeWKODayx2/RecoverDay & repeat. 2014 was to experiment and get healthy. From here on, application. However, I don't think I'll be able to race anything long for a few years. Doesn't mean I won't be training long, tho
I am really impressed, REALLY impressed with focus and dedication you gave to this. Very stoked that you got the rewards for it. Some times the cards just don't fall right into place even when someone talented has a good day. KQ....the reward doesn't get any bigger than that and you (and Jess) earned every bit of it!
Hell, I don't even know if I'm going to read the race report. This post said it all.
Are you going to treat Hawaii as a celebration of the work and put it on cruise control or are you going after it?
And, maybe most importantly....any plans to back off a little after Kona? Not a recovery period, per se, but recharging the fam/work stuff in 2015? There is always 'the next thing' or 'I can do better' but when we pull the family cords or work cords so tight......what's your plan after Hawaii?
Super effort, John! No one can ever take this one away from you!
Did Luke Bell say anything about going into the city (NYC)this weekend? Because I swear I saw him in The Village on Sunday.
@ Tim what did you mean by opposite bio-hacking, recovery, etc?
you try some stuff and hope it works. If it doesn't do anything bad and doesn't hurt your wallet too much why not??? But if you know it's not doing anything you stop. It's hard to do a scientific study of one though.
Congrats on all the hard work. Always amazed at people's ability to not go insane with all those long bikes. And we would probably all agree that your Wife is probably the real hero in this entire scenario.
try not to get too sun burn in Kona.
What stands out to me is "fasted long workouts, intermittent fasting (up to 24 hrs, including workouts)". I've heard this in context of weight training fitness types but am unfamiliar with what would be accomplished fasting while endurance training.
Ironically, I was doing fasted workouts (up to 3hr/50 mile rides and up to 11 - 12mile runs) for all three of the IM's I trained for (and JW chastised me for it at the time... he's totally altered his outlook on that!). Arguably, I ride/run slower than a lot of folks and probably wasn't burning through my glycogen stores quite as quickly... but the upside to fasted training for endurance athletes is fat adaptation (i.e., upregulation of free fatty acids into the mitochondria - your body is more likely to utilize fat stores as fuel), and a decreased need for constant glucose replacement via gels, etc, and therefore, less likelihood of bonking and/or intestinal distress. I think what's important to note is that neither of us went in this direction overnight... we both eat a diet relatively high in healthy fats from wild-caught fish, grass fed/finished meats, avocados, nuts, coconut and MCT oils, and typically avoid grains other than rice. After two years of evolving to this point, I know JW has said that there were times he just didn't "need" to eat because he had become fat adapted and his body was readily able to burn fat as fuel. Thus the 24 hour fasting - it can actually just happen naturally. 16 hour fasting is actually pretty easy (i.e., the LeanGains protocol - a bodybuilding approach, like you pointed out) when done overnight and can also be super helpful for regulating blood sugar.
I'll be sure to bring extra sunscreen... he DOES burn up like a lobster!
Soon, you'll be parading your bod at Dig Me Beach and enjoying the scene from Lava Java. Make sure you bring a banana hammock for the Underpants Run.
thanks for all of this.
gives me extra drive to be even more focused.
kiss the Aina after your kona race.
I note that Jess has partly answered my question but I was hoping you could give me some specifics on transitioning from all fasted wkos to your IM build?
You may remember I was initially very sceptical of the benefits of fasted wkos, but Fitzgerald (Racing Weight) suggests them to kick-start your OS and weight loss.
I am in the OS/Run Durability hack and do all bike and run wkos fasted.
1. Determine what time range is required in specific IM qualifying race(s).
2. Work backwards from there regarding what must be achieved in training.
3. Keep at it for X number of years, consistency rules.
4. Crack the IM code for pacing, nutrition.
Equipment, dietary, training method, etc choices are all over the map, and probably less important than we think they are (within reason of course ... Cruiser bikes and a diet of potato chips won't work)
The two biggest barriers I see, assuming one starts with a reasonable genetic make up ( which includes a MUCH larger share of the population than most think ... Maybe 30-40% of humans are capable), a reluctance (its hard, scary work) or inability (many people have other stuff they want/need to do) to make the time and emotional commitment to the process inherent in #2&3 above, and failure at #4.
Regarding the "X" factor, how long will it take? 2-8 years, depending on sports background and genetics. Assume 5 years, which is a daunting prospect. I'm talking from when one starts training for HIM/IM until the KQ arrives.
Re: all of the Biohacking stuff, when I get time, I'll start another thread. But my general statement (and this is not a new statement from me) is that I have NO IDEA if any of the stuff I did helped me. But I BELIEVE that it was helping me and that's really 90% of the battle, right. I would guess that some of the stuff actually was helping me and some of it was simply wasting time and/or money. I was doing so many different things that it would be impossible to tell which was which. But I was feeling great all yr, absorbing a TON of work and recovering very quickly for the most part. So since it was working, I kept at it. (and will keep doing that stuff even if I eventually stop doing triathlon...)
@Chris H- I have said for a yr that if I make it to Kona that I will treat it as a "Victory Lap" and enjoy the day. Re: future plans, I'm signed up for IMCoz over Thanksgiving weekend, so it'll be 3 IM's in 3 months for me. The rationale was that I have all of this fitness, may as well roll it forward 6 more weeks. When I signed up it was to also give me one more shot to KQ (after this final crazy yr of training) if IMMT didn't go as planned. Now it'll be a chance to take a crack at Kona for next yr
@David W-- I'll eventually try to fire up a bio-hacking thread, but feel free to send me a PM if you have any specific questions.
@Nate-- Jess is AWESOME, and you're right. And she already answered the "fasting" question better than I could. Most of my "Fasting" and "Fasted workouts" were done before my main IM build. In general, I ate A LOT all the time. Excluding the days immediately before of after a big race or monster bike camp, I took exactly 8 days off (with no workout) from the beginning of March through IMMT in mid August. some of the fasts were the short ~18 hour variety where I simply didn't eat from dinner until the following lunch. I did a couple of 24 hr fasts where I would do a ~45min run when I was 20 or so hours into the fast and I learned that it didn't really effect my workout at all. And dare I say it was mentally "fun" or a better word might be "empowering" to hit one of these workouts.
@Al-- Banana Hammock for Dig Me... Check!
@Peter, I finally read Racing Weight and read Tim Cronk's signature line for how I used it. The stuff I do isn't all that dissimilar to Fitzgerald's. There are a few GLARING differences, but just like me and Tim and Brenda, then common theme is "Eat real food" and not processed crap and you'll probably be better off... For me there wasn't much of a "thoughtful" transition, it just kind of naturally happened. I never ate for (before or during) any of my weekday morning workouts even during my IM build, with the exception of 4-5 of my long runs and that was mostly to practice my race nutrition plans. Some of my long rides I ate less, some I ate more. Some I didn't eat before I rode, some I did. I experimented a lot which helped me to dial in my race morning meal (which was lighter than what most people ate on race day). I like the UCAN for pre-long ride workouts because it's kind of like meeting half-way. I tried a bunch of different bars and eggs and other stuff. Rarely was it high Carb or High sugar "before" the rides. But my fueling "during" my long rides and my race did have a large sugar component (a la Tim Cronk's advice), but I "believed" that I had 2 fuel sources on the day with my own fat AND my blood sugar, true or not, and what ratios, who knows...
@Robin-- It was great to finally meet you at the race. And you were faster than me on race day and provided me some motivation because I know how fast of a runner you are and I knew you were chasing me since I had an earlier start. I for one will be fired up when you eventually have your day, which will come soon.
@Al/Tim-- Can't wait to see you guys in Kona! I totally agree about your common things, but there are a Ton of different approaches to it. One of the g guy's on Team ReserveAid finished 18th OA and 2nd in 25-29 at IMMT this yr. He drinks beer and "entertains" clients all the time He eats like crap. He doesn't necessarily have great genetics (I have met his fat parents) and he was a baseball player in HS/College (an athlete, but hardly an "Endurance" background). He doesn't have a Powermeter. Has a Garmin, but doesn't use one on his bike or the run during a race, just an old Timex on his wrist. He can't spell vDot or FTP and laughs at all of my healthy eating and recovery stuff and biohacking. He just rides his bike a lot and hard and runs a lot and is one fast mo fo...
@Tim-- Thanks for your advice (and the place to sleep and dragging me up Mt. Lemmon in March). It's been a wild ride. And I have seen the pictures and you're right, I looked like sh!t the whole time on the run. In my mind's I, I felt great. Isn't it wonderful how powerful a thing our minds our? Mine can not only make me believe all this bip-hacking crap works, tricking my body to heal and recover and absorb faster, but it can also trick me into thinking I looked and felt awesome so I didn't suffer or slow down when it mattered.
@Jess-- I thanked you a zillion times already, but here's one more because I'm still way in deficit... I'm so happy that we were on this ride together, instead of you just watching me take my ride...
John. So you are doing Cozumel. Cool. No pressure but we are expecting you to do it again in Mexico.
I was thinking of doing Cozumel, but, for me, I think a long rest and recharge is the thing.
Looking forward to literally or figuratively trying to chase you down in the future.
This thread and our EN community, my local tri peeps, and in particular, Jess's support for your ambitious year...This is what Triathlon is to me.
I am often saying to my tri friends "We all get by with a little help from our friends!" This sport is an individual one, but NO one really does it alone. I have learned so much from the Haus, my training partners and shared with friends what little I know. It is what keeps me coming back to learn more, get better and be a part of success with others. That and being a serial hugger...I love hugging my teammates!
your Vdot was 47(?), eh?
Comment on this! Do you feel that you do poorly on 5k tests and that your Vdot was really a little better? Or build that bike engine SO big that you knew you could overshoot prescribed paces? Or did you look at prescribed race day paces and then said to yourself "JW, those are cute paces, let's go a little faster."
Just curious, coming from this guy who has never run 'well', despite running 'better' than I used to be able to, thanks to EN training/philosophy/strategy.
@Anu- thanks!
@Trish- I'm a big huger also! So make sure I don't miss you next time?
@Chris- I like the hugs and kisses... But I like the hard questions even more, so here's a crack at answering yours, but hopefully this starts turns into a discussion as opposed to a lecture so please chime back in with deeper questions/comments:
I did NOT get off the bike and think, "hey, I feel good so let me run 45s/mile faster than plan"... That is a sure fire way to be walking the last several miles of the IM marathon. I started planning for and training for a 3:45 IM marathon split as of last August. My first conversation with Patrick about my crazy plans for this yr was on a run in Florida a few days before IMFL (we were both there spectating). I told him I needed a 10:15 at IMMT and I thought I could do that with a 1:08 swim, a 5:15 bike, and a 3:45 run with 7 mins of transitions. So that was my starting point last yr (after running 4:10 at Placid after a 0.67 IF bike). In the run durability plan there is actually less short intense intervals and A LOT of "Race Pace"' "Race Pace + 15 sec" and "Race Pace - 15 sec" runs. Originally this "Race Pace" was set at the LRP according to his plan. However, I was already doing a lot of runs at "difficult talking pace" which for me was close to 8:00/mi. So P relented and agreed to halfway between my MP (7:40) and LRP (8:58) or a net of 8:20 pace. I then ignored him and continued to do almost all of my runs around 8:00. I usually started a little slower and finished faster to get my average under 8:00 (as a bit of a game during every run). Then over many months, my "difficult talking pace" actually came down to like 7:45 pace. I did the same for most of my bricks and my actual long runs. I also hit these paces on my RR's. And almost all of my long rides (and there were a lot of them) were done at an IF that was much higher than the IF I raced at (and most of them were also much longer than my race split). The hardest time to hit these run paces was on my 2nd run of the day in the evening after my morning long runs. That's a long way to say that I did not "magically" outperform on race day. I actually ran EXACTLY to my plan. The only thing I missed on was a few mins in T1 and about 6 mins on the bike. For my bike I paid a lot more attention to "5 hr Power" than my "FTP". Similarly on the run, I didn't care what my 5k vDot was, all I cared was that I could rattle off a bunch of 8:15 miles after a hard bike (and especially after an easy bike). Regarding my vDot, I am not a runner freak like Matt Aaronson who has a higher vDot in a marathon than a 5k. My best 5k was 20:42. I think if I was recovered and not biking I could probably repeat this or maybe improve it by 10-20 seconds but not much more. This is a 47 vDot. My best 10k was at 7:15 pace and this was with a much faster friend pacing me and yelling at me the whole time. This is actually a 45 vDot (or 2 points lower than my 5k pace). So when I get below 7:15 pace or so, I blow up pretty quickly. However, I can run 8:00 miles all day... Kind of like a diesel running engine I guess. I honestly don't think I could actually run a marathon at 7:40 pace, but I've never actually run a marathon so who knows. Keep in mind that I had done a few 6.0 hr rides at an IF of 0.82 in training and during IMMT I only rode for 5:21 at an IF of 0.71, so this really was one of my easiest rides of the year.
The reason that I'm nagging is that my numbers are very similar. Especially the run stuff. Since I've recovered from some injuries, I've been doing many TP paced miles (7:40s) at the track and many shorter runs on the rolling hills around here at super stoopid slow ez pace. Fear of reinjuring my achilles/calf keeps me very humble and conservative during training runs on the hills, saving any intensity for the track. I've tinkered around with the 8-8:15s at the track and have found that little change is huge, 'feel' like I could do twice as many intervals, if not more. But wondered if there was a reason I wasn't aware of to stay away from that.
Another reason I'm nagging is that I had resigned myself to being a 4:30-5hr IM mary guy. That's my experience with my 4 IM's due to several factors from low run mileage due to injuries and/or poor bike execution and/or poor nutrition. Your breakthrough has given me reason to put that aside and to keep tweaking things, keep working. and maybe this can be done without trying to become Usain Bolt on my mile repeats, since lots of very hard fast miles seem to get my achilles/calf every time. The idea that I can do more miles at a pace that is a little safer is very encouraging. Not saying KQ, but I REALLY want to get down to under 4:20 as the first goal.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Apologies for hijacking the thread. Thanks for the time.
2011 IMLOU 4:38 (.68)
2012 IMNYC 4:48 (.67)
2012 IMFL 4:28 (.69)
2013 IMLP 4:10 (.67)
2014 IMMT 3:43 (.71)
Instead of focusing on the run paces, consider that my breakthrough happened because I went all in with everything this year. That started with run durability, but was REALLY focused on the bike. So the first question you should ask yourself is, "How willing am I to commit to whole lot of extra training time to make these improvements?" More importantly, how supportive is your family of this endeavor? The reason I say this is that this year I went away from the traditional EN philosophy that less is more. I really DID cram three years worth of work into nine months. Most people's family/work/life isn't conducive to a 5.5 - 6 hr ride every Saturday followed by a 4.5 hr ride every Sunday. Mentally and physically, it's also hard to push all of these rides to a 0.80 IF, but that's one of the reasons why a 0.71 IF seemed so easy during my race when in years past it was hard to run after a 0.67 IF ride. Over this nine month period, I also took nutrition and recovery very seriously. Basically, I was surfing the fine line of fatigue/over-training the entire season. That's one of the reasons why someone in their first few years of long course triathlon training couldn't/shouldn't attempt to do what I did. If you don't have a certain level of base built up and really good knowledge of how your body responds to training and recovery, you'd almost certainly end up injured or over-trained.
To reiterate, I didn't get all THAT much faster running this year from a top end speed perspective (ie, higher VDot). What I DID do was create a condition under which I could run somewhere between my marathon pace and my LRP in the run leg of an IM, which was the intent for this whole nine month "experiment." Cooler temperatures on race day were also a factor in my run performance.
My experience is one of the great things about the EN Self-Coached model. I followed traditional EN plan the first few years, eventually trying out more tweaks and hacks. That knowledge helped me this year as I hacked the Run Durability plan with Coach P's guidance, and it also helped to have feedback from so many other people on the team when I started to go a little bit off the rails from an over-training perspective.
Luckily for me, I am not in a position to just pick a year and go 'All In', at least not anytime soon. Evan's a freshman in college, Ansley will be right behind him, and my youngest, Avery, is a couple of years behind her. The $ factor is obviously there but it's also the surprise 'gotta go do's that I've learned to respect. Once I feel the time is right...
In the meantime, I'm still tweakin' & hackin' as you put it. The first step was this year and that included getting the legs healthy enough to handle an increased run frequency. In addition, I've been overhauling my diet, too. I started using some of the strategies from the PlantPower peeps around April (?) and within 6 weeks I noticed body comp changes and improved workouts/recovery. I've found that to be the most important part of any training stretch that I dig into, the key bullet that we all think is too difficult to grasp.
But, as I mentioned, I have the luxury of stretching out my tweaks & hacks over the next several...years. (Good thing I honestly like the training) I don't expect to race anything other than a rare local sprint/oly/maybe Augusta if the cards play out. And, that's cool with me cuz I intend to redefine long to my engine. As it is, 4-5 hr bikes on Saturdays, 2-4 hrs on Sundays, with varying degrees of intensity, depending on the purpose. Stepping that duration up a bit doesn't freak me out, very doable with our regular weekend routine around here. I, nor should any of the readers, have any plans to just go out and start riding centuries every Saturday like you did and expect to knock out EN workouts on Tues/Wed/Thurs adequately. Yes, it's critical to find that balance between EN Protocal and my own hack (or should we say...gamble?). Imperative to remember that your hack does not equal my hack which does not equal the next reader's hack, etc.
My crazy work schedule is another thing that will require my 'hack' to be creative. I think 2015 will be the year that I drive P crazy in the Micro.
Yeah, I gotz plans! I'm not delusional to think I'll be booking a flight to some island in the Pacific. But, you busted thru the door on those IM Mary times and I've found renewed hope that I can do better than just accept status quo.
Now, I gotta find that Truscott dude and see how he worked his commuting in. Yeah, I'm adding that, too! I defend it by saying that biking and running to work is gonna help save the planet....we all it's really about base miles.
Back when I actually worked for a living, yes, I would ride regularly to work, and even run at times. I live 10 miles from the hospital, a 40-50 minute hilly ride over a 1.5 mile long suspension bridge. I was an all-weather commuter, with the belief there's no such things as bad weather, just bad clothing. I still have drawers full of rain gear I haven't used in years, but refuse to throw away. Good lighting is also a must for 4-5 months a year - reflective clothing, trying to imitate a Christmas tree. I kept clothes (dress shirts, ties, pants, coats) at work, carried underwear and socks with me, and did NOT shower once I got there - showers are highly over-rated, IMO. The modern cycling clothes which absorb the sweat also bear the brunt of the odor; I showered before I left home, and no one ever complained.
Running I had to organize a bit, like drive to work on a Friday, bike home Friday PM, then run back in for a Saturday call. Hardest part was trying to remember to leave all the clothes and other stuff I needed in my car so I didn't have to carry anything except a fuel belt on the run in. Or, drive in, run home, then bike back the next morning and drive home that day.
I only did steady Z1/2 work on those commutes. Its hard enough trying to stay safe in the semi darkness, watching out for stoplights and sleepy drivers, without trying to hammer as well. Good base miles to draw on, but save the intervals for the track or the trainer.
To preserve JW's thread, I'm going to start my own over in GD. I am changing the way I do things. I won't ask you to copy this over but do check it out cuz I see several parallels.....I want to commute to be an example to others in this perceived auto addicted community, beat the oil companies, and then base miles is a bonus. 7 miles, somewhat hilly, mountain bike. Anyways, check it out. About to type it up in a few.