Win Team Timex gear - Kona picks

With the Ironman World Champs in Kona, Hawaii coming up in a few weeks time I thought it would be fun to give my top three picks in the men's and women's races.  See below.

For the closest pick of those who post it on my blog I will give away an awesome Timex thermal cycling vest. You will also need to put down a time for the run split of the 1st male in case of a tie. Put your picks and times below in the comments section. Entries have to be in before the gun goes off - which will be early in the morning of October 9, NZ time.

Mens

1. Andreas Raelert 2hr42min
2. Craig Alexander
3. Frederik Van Lierde

Womens

1. Chrissie Wellington
2. Miranda Carfree
3. Mary Beth-Ellis

Raelert Vs Alexander

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Complicated

I just read the below quote and think it is a great example of how to many coaches and athletes over analyse everything. Keep to the basics, you don't need to over analyse, x watts, heart rate to the nearest beat, cadence 89.67, 21 grams of carbs. Over analysing causes a lot of lost training and most of all recovery time when you could be resting your brain and body from triathlon, because that is when you are actually getting fitter

I have highlighted my favourite line



Lydiard got back from a European tour in the 60s, while he was away he was introduced to the physiology of what was actually going on. He introduced to his squad the concepts such as anaerobic and aerobic exercise.

He "lost" his squad almost at the outset. Bill Ballie (world record holder 20,000m and 30,000m) chirped up saying "You mean fast stuff and slow stuff, coach?" Olympic Gold medalist Murray Halberg was even more to the point "Coach, does this change anything we are doing in training?" "No, not at all" said Lydiard. "Good, So we can cut the bull shit and get on with it!" replied Halberg.

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What does a beginner need to do to complete a half Ironman?

2k swim, 90k bike, 21k run

Well the basics are like what Arthur Lydiard devised in the 50s and 60s to produce multiple gold medalists and world record holders in the form of Snell, Halberg, Magee and Baillie etc etc….
What you need to do is to build up the stamina and strength to complete the distances. And remember it is a triathlon, not a swim race, bike race or run race. If you have not trained enough on the bike it does not matter how good a runner you are, you will not be able to run to your potential if you are not fit on the bike.
The swim is made up of approximately 1 stroke every meter of swimming so approximately 2000 strokes. In order to be able to do this on race day you need to show your body what it is like to swim 2000 strokes, so at least once per week you should build up to swimming a main set of 2000 strokes. One of my favorites for developing athletes is 10x200m on 20sec rest done all as Pull (pull = paddles + pull buoy)
The cycle consists of 90 kilometers. Again you need to build the strength and endurance to be able to complete the ride so you can get off and run. This involves a longer ride each week, and then several shorter rides focusing on building strength. For example another favorite of mine for developing athletes is simply to jump on the Turbo or indoor trainer, and do a 10min wup/dwn and 15x1min in a big gear at a very strong intensity. So you get nearly an hour worth of aerobic work and build strength at the same time.

You can check out the rest of the article here http://www.debihazelden.co.nz/what-does-a-beginner-need-to-complete-a-half-ironman/

Me at the New Plymouth Half Ironman

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