tss

Join Coach Patrick from Endurance Nation (www.endurancenation.us) for another weekly endurance podcast. This week Coach P finishes up his 2018 Kona Race Report Podcast. Those of you who tuned into Part One can find out exactly how the race went, and what adjustments I made in order to stay on target. 

Key Talking Points include: 

• What worked (and didn't) in the Swim;
• My "decreasing" power plan for Kona and how it's similar to the pro men's race;
• How I used a Training Stress Scored (TSS) Budget for the Bike to stay honest and on target;
• The role my Stryd Powermeter playing in making sure I ran my most effective IM marathon in a long time!

Additional Links and Resources: 

• Stryd
• Training Peaks TSS
• Vasa Swim Ergometer

Thanks for listening to this Endurance Nation podcast...find more online here.

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Audible eBook Trial: Make the most of your drive time or down time with business, learning or entertaining books (that you'd otherwise NEVER read): www.endurancenation.us/audible

About Us

Endurance Nation is the world's largest, fastest online triathlon coaching group with more than 750 members across the globe training and racing together. Be sure to check us out at EnduranceNation.us, sign up our Endurance Insider weekly email to stay on top of all things endurance, or create a FREE 30-day trial membership at EnduranceNation.us/join if you are ready to get started!

Endurance Nation: Work Hard, Get Smart, Go Fast! 

August Listener Questions on a lot of bike topics today but many relate back over to general training concepts, strength training, and recovery. 

TSS, Threshold, Training when Sick, Intervals on Hills 

March Q & A - thanks for questions ! 

Submit questions for April at www.consummateathlete.com 

Join Coach Patrick from Endurance Nation (www.endurancenation.us) for another weekly endurance podcast. This week Coach P interviews Adam Heaney from Stryd (www.stryd.com) about their Run Power Meter and how it's changing the game of running.

We work from intro to details pretty quickly (when Adam starts talking!) and there's a great deal to learn. The full podcast is for members only; you can create a free trial using the links below to find it and to join us as we create some really unique resources around training and racing with a run powermeter. 

Thanks for listening to this Endurance Nation podcast. Endurance Nation is the world's largest, fastest online triathlon coaching group with more than 750 members across the globe training and racing together. Be sure to check us out at EnduranceNation.us, or create a FREE 30-day trial membership at EnduranceNation.us/join.

Endurance Nation: Work Hard, Get Smart, Go Fast! 

[sponsor image="http://www.enduranceplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2016-09-15-at-8.25.33-PM.png"] EP's Kona Specials are brought to you by Life Post Collective, the brainchild of host Tawnee Prazak where she shares her years of expertise on holistic health, wellness, nutrition, fitness and more and helps you on your path to optimization. Life Post Collective offers practical evidence-based and experienced-based ways to lead a healthy, happy life and perform your best and features articles, videos, guides, forums, and more to come including live webinars with Q&A. Through LPC’s integrative forums and features on the site, you can learn from not only Tawnee but also like-minded people all working towards common goals. Life Post Collective is only $10 a month to be a member; check it out now! [/sponsor]

For this Kona special we are making about you. We all have dreams and many of us have that dream to Kona Qualify. Well we have back with us Alan Couzens, MS, to present real-life data on what separates those who qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kona from those who don't. These are every day athletes, not pros. There are a lot of variables at hand and it's pretty easy to make assumptions on how one would KQ, but Alan has compiled data to break it down more specifically.

• There is not much research on Kona qualifying specifically, making this data special.
• Get Alan's blog with all the data here.
• Alan's data: how many athletes it's based on (20), what's the time frame/season being covered, and other variables of the sample population.
  • One-third of athletes qualified of those sampled.
  • While based on the 2015-16 season, it's largely similar to what Alan sees every year. However, there trend is showing that it is getting harder to qualify and more competitive.
• Building the base of fitness in order to be ready for the "final 12 months" into a KQ. In other words it's not realistic to go from the coach and to Kona in 12 months, so what were prior seasons like building up appropriate aerobic fitness and whatnot?
• How do you assess if someone is ready for "what it takes" kind of work. How can a self-coached athlete do this? Or maybe someone with a coach but still trying to be intuitive if the coach doesn't assess for them?
• Do you think it takes a special kind of athlete who is capable of "what it takes" or could pretty much anyone figure it out given the right life circumstances, i.e. time, health, etc.
• Of all the variables which is MOST important in getting a KQ: Workload. Volume and getting the work done is most important.
• "Almost double that of the non-qualifiers, averaging about 17hrs a week, (~2.5hrs/day of training) - '2 a days', most days, through the year are the norm."
• Take home: if you can put in the time, no reason you can't make it.
• Annual hours (12 mo period): 800+ hours for qualifiers, and <500 hours for non-qualifiers.
• Monthly hours: minimum, average, and max hours and how it varies with the season and priorities at certain key times.
• Going above and beyond with training camps, etc.
• However: standard deviation of over 200hrs - genetic freaks can make it on less
• Other stats analyzed:
  • TSS - higher in KQ
  • IF (intensity) - not that different between groups, and KQ are relatively low. Highlights aerobic focus this is a good bit lower than most self coached athletes train & is also a good bit below race intensity for most of the speedy group.
  • EF - bike and run efficiency factor numbers (avg power and pace divided by HR).
  • Avg male: 240 watts at 140 HR, 7:30 run pace at 140 HR. Women about 10% lower watts on the bike.
  • BMI - not too skinny and can't starve yourself to Kona. More talk on other aspects of body comp including body fat percentage and LBM. Leanness matters in the heat especially when intensity increases (i.e. male pros on the bike go extra hard).
  • K1 - Quantifying the training load to see your "buck vs. bang." And in fact the more you push volume limits, the less fitness bang you get.
• What about variables not measured:
  • Metabolic efficiency and fat-burning ability
  • Lactate Threshold
  • VO2max
• If consistency is key, what about concept of being inconsistent in order to listen to the body and look out for health, assuming we don't operate like a machine?
• Tracking other data on the day-to-day to assess readiness to train: mood, HRV, etc. If score is bad, make it an easy day. If score is good, go at it!
• It comes down to getting in the key sessions.
• Troubleshooting: What if you're a good aspiring athlete but you miss a year or good chunk of time?

Resources

• Dr. Phil Maffetone & Alan Couzens: Pros and Cons of Metabolic Testing, Plus: MAF Q&A
• Alan Couzens, MS: Better Performance Through Smart Training, Plus: Top-Three Tips for Every Athlete to Follow!
• Kona Qualifiers

Getting the most out of your power meter when racing using the software at BestBikeSplit.com.