How the best Age-Group athletes train for an IRONMAN
Often athletes want to know how the professionals train and they gain access to “behind the scenes” footage of the pro’s big training days. However, we rarely gain insight into what separates us from the people most like us: the top Age Groupers.
In reality, these are some of the real superstars of the sport. They are competing, sometimes on the fringes of the professional ranks in IRONMAN or any other distance, but without the perks of a professional lifestyle. Read on to find out how you can learn from these athletes.
Prioritisation and organisation.
Age groupers don’t have much spare time, so the top age groupers are both organised and know how to prioritise what matters. Inevitably this has to start with your family or those closest to you. They are there to help support your adventures emotionally, and they really matter in your life. Secondly, work has to find itself on the list. You need work to be prioritised as that pays the bills (and the triathlon race entries)! There may be an ebb and flow of busy-ness, and your boss or your colleagues may help a little bit at different times if the year but it needs to be a priority. Then your sport needs to become your priority. Your sport includes training and recovery, and that is where being organised is vital.
When time is against you, (and it is for most age groupers) then being organised can be the difference between a session or no session. And that can have a considerable impact on your morale and state of mind for the week. Or it can mean you get to the pool on time to start the session. The time spent getting ready for a session is equal to the time spent doing the session. By that, I mean that a minute is a minute. If you are spending five extra minutes faffing before every session (say two sessions a day) that is an hour of training time every week. At the end of the year, you have lost an extra month of training time compared to the person who starts on time and doesn’t lose 5 mins per session. (Based on a 12 hour training week).
Knowing when the pool lanes are open, having the kit you need ready and easily accessible is a big part of this. Being organised makes a big difference.
It also allows you to find the time when it otherwise seemed limited. If you are organised enough to realise that there is a conflict, you can mitigate the issue before it is even a problem. You may change the training weeks around for the weekend you are away. Or perhaps organise to ride to your in-laws’ house to get your ride in without missing out out the necessary family time.
Being organised also means considering your recovery and fuelling throughout the day and the week. Finding the time to get your training done is pointless if you don’t recover as well. Sacrificing sleep for training never works. You will break down. Furthermore, being organised ensures you get good quality food at the time you need it. Planning when and where you will get your food is critical to success when you are a time-crushed athlete. It also saves you shopping when you are starving (which helps protect the budget too!) It means you never run out of snacks, always have fuel in your bottles and always get your recovery fuel in within your golden hour.
Top age groupers are organised and can plan to ensure that possible problems rarely materialise into anything significant.
Get involved in your training
The other fascinating trait that top age groupers possess is that they are generally involved in the training and coaching process. Regularly these athletes have a coach (that helps reduce worrying about a large chunk of planning and training process), and the athlete is involved in the conversation. After all, they have an awareness of their body better than anyone else can ever have. It makes sense to bring in the experts to perform, and they are their own expert! Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean they do everything; it means they are mindful of the training effect they are looking to achieve and do their best to deliver the session aims. They are present in the session because they can see the big picture of where they are trying to go.
It is worth picking up on this assumed point. The top age grouper is very clear on what they are doing where they are going and how they get there. They know where each session fits into the training process.
The training environment.
Finally, they create an environment for performance and sport. They live the lifestyle of endurance sports, and they love what they do. That doesn’t mean they have the best, top-quality kit, gyms and live in a mesh of carbon fibre - instead, they create an environment that facilitates their performance. Perhaps it means the bike sits on the turbo ready to go, or maybe they train with a squad or environment where people have a similar mindset to performance and not just social riding. They generally love the sport and create an environment and network around them that feeds the performance they are after. It is harder to skip a training session if they know they can meet up with training buddies. This all stems from their passion and enjoyment of what they do so none of the above feels like a sacrifice and crucially none of the nearby people (family and friends) who support them believe it is a sacrifice either. They are all hugely supportive.
If you are looking forwards wanting to become one of the top age groupers, then it is worth relating to the best age groupers, not the professionals. What can you learn from these part-time athletes that you can adopt in your own lifestyle and become more engaged in the art of improvement?
We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.