We can’t believe that we’re less than four weeks away from Ironman Lake Placid, one of our favorite races to coach! We start off this episode with a list of things you can do to eek out just a little bit more fitness in the final few weeks before the gun goes off at your A race. We also cover a bunch of fun insights related to: fueling and hydration strategy on the run, how to think about race week workouts, bathroom stops during races, bike racing in triathlon, athlete tips on keeping joy and lightheartedness in training and racing, thoughts on Strava, quality over quantity of movement, active recovery runs, and more. Check it out!
Short Main Topic: 4 weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid: Your guide to last month's race preparation. A few helpful strategies:
This is the last couple of weeks to get that last squeeze of fitness for race day. Once you are within two weeks of race day, your gaining fitness journey is over (exercise adaptations lag weeks behind). The hay is in the barn.
Swim: Get in the open water at least once a week and make that session 4,000 yards at least. You don’t need to work on open water sighting as much as you can swim on the cable. But you do need to find a very easy race pace that will allow you to come out of the water having used very little energy. Remember: the swim is the warm up act to the warm up act. (Think the local band who opens for the opening band who opens for the main act.)
Bike: Get in at least two more long rides. Ideally one or both of them is close to 100 miles and on terrain similar to Lake Placid. Ideal if you can do a race simulation weekend in Placid. And try to keep up bike volume during the week. If you can get in a 2 - 3 hour ride on Wednesdays that’s ideal.
Run: If you are a first time Ironman participant, focus most of your runs as ‘time on feet’ which is slow run / shuffle / walk. Your best tactic now is to focus on the ability to move for 26 miles efficiently. You can incorporate hiking / walking as part of your run program to get your body used to being on your feet for 4 - 6 hours. Don’t worry about speedwork.
Dial in your nutrition: This is your last chance to dial in race day nutrition. You should be eating / drinking something every 15’ on the bike. An Ironman bike is a rolling buffet and it’s an eating contest. You should be aiming for 80 - 120 grams of carbs per hour. Use your last long rides and runs to practice EXACTLY how you will execute on race day.
For those with races coming up, check out our episodes:
Insights
Katie:
Themes from some pre- and post-race calls, quick hitter tips
Pre-race calls:
Fueling strategy on the run: Have a plan, but plan that you may not be able to execute on it; the better you can fuel the bike, the more leeway you have for your run nutrition strategy to go out the window
Importance of carrying electrolytes, e.g. base salt or salt stick, to help with cramping especially if you do not like aid station hydration options or plan to use water/coke
Plan for an additional hour of fuel/hydration than you think you need on the bike. If you get a mechanical and are standing on the side of the road in the hot sun, the fueling/hydration clock keeps ticking!
Race week workouts are all bonus. Hay is in the barn, no more fitness to be had. If you are feeling unmotivated, tired, or just don’t want to do it, skip it!
Many questions about when and how to plan bathroom stops in the context of 70.3 and 140.6 - my advice: pee in the swim!
Post-race calls:
Evaluating how your bike went – you can usually tell how well you executed/paced the bike depending on how your run goes
The feeling of not being able to push at the end of the run, even with HR not being that high. In my experience this is usually a combo of carbs + mindset.
Chasing down a slot, time, etc., can give you an extra gear that you didn’t know you had; if you aren’t near a clear threshold, it can be hard to push
If you are short on carbs (or lack overall mechanical durability, though less likely for many of our athletes) you will often see legs giving out before your aerobic system. Advice: take a gel even at miles 10, 11, 12+ of 70.3 or late in the day for 140.6
Two great insights in TP comments recently – post 18 mile long run as part of the IMLP build:
“...very unconventional and maybe silly, but my FAVORITE thing to do on long runs (and I did this in Boston too, esp. when the flowers were blooming) is because I live in a very touristy city and there are a bunch of tourists on the mall, I simulate spectator interaction by asking families where one person is taking the picture or if they're taking a selfie if they want me to take a picture of all of them. I've only every been turned down once, people are always so appreciative, and it takes 30 seconds max. I get a big boost of energy and smiles and it helps take me out of myself and reminds me that it really isn't that serious”
“I think i'm at the point in the build where...i don't really love doing any of the sports right now...I like riding my bike downhill or cruising after work, I like 5 mile runs, I like being in the water, but it feels like i'm trying to start a business with a friend or something and we're getting on each other’s nerves. We'll always be friends, but we'll be better friends once we stop trying to do this startup (the friends in this case being my running shoes/bike/swim suit and the startup being the ironman).”
Jim:
Reflections on 5,000 Strava Activities
A little background:
I joined Strava in May 2013. 12 years = 4383 days. More than one workout per day for 12 years.
Before that, I had over 20 years of unrecorded workouts. Strava captures a majority—maybe 60%—of my structured endurance training. My first recorded workouts in TrainingPeaks date back to November 2010, and even before that, I was using WKO.
Not every workout is on Strava—things like weight training and walks are unrecorded.
Milestones are crossroads.
They give you a chance to look back—and, more importantly, to look ahead to the next 5,000 workouts.
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:
Consistency is king. Chop wood, carry water—nearly every single day. Staying active 5–6 days a week is optimal. Consistency builds capacity. Capacity is the vehicle for breakthroughs in training and racing. Capacity building is a multi-year/decades process.
Celebrate the small wins weekly. Take a moment weekly to review your training and celebrate consistently getting out the door. Most weeks nothing major happens. The beauty and appreciation is in the pedestrian, daily process.
Short-term motivation fades. Ask yourself: Is this routine driven by a fleeting insecurity, or am I truly building a habit I’ll maintain a year from now—with little to no mental resistance? Build your life, habits, and mindset around doing something for the next ten years.
Something is better than nothing. Accept that we are perfectly imperfect beings. Just get out the door (or into the pain cave). The hardest part is starting. Prioritize the basics, ignore all the possibilities (that we are barraged with by social media).
Do it for yourself. That’s the only sustainable model. If you’re doing it for social media, burnout is just around the corner. Find the activities that speak to your heart.
Strava can be a source of real inspiration. Not just from people doing epic or adventurous workouts, but also from those just beginning their endurance journey. While I’m often critical of social media and its downsides, Strava has, on the whole, been a net positive in my life.
Earl Warren, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States said: “I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.”
Emphasize Quality of Movement During Zone 2 Runs
It’s easy to focus solely on distance and time—especially during standard easy or Zone 2 runs. Schedules are tight, and workouts need to get done!
But here’s a simple and effective “game” to play: After the first 1–2 miles of your run, stop briefly and do some drills—backward walking, the Awesomizer, dynamic stretches—then continue your run. Chances are, you’ll feel better and run faster afterward.
Keep your attention on your run form and notice what changes might be helping you run faster at the same heart rate as your earlier miles.
Try this: maintain that improved form while keeping your heart rate in mid-Zone 2. See how fast you can go without exceeding your HR limit.
You may find that emphasizing greater hip extension and smoother movement through your shoulders and hips makes a real difference.
Triathletes, in particular, often run with high, tight shoulders. Use your stopping point to consciously relax your upper body. When you start running again, focus on generating power from your hips. Imagine your energy moving from the inside out—originating in your hips and glutes.
If it’s a longer Zone 2 run, feel free to stop again after another 2–3 miles to repeat the drills and stretches.
Think of it like doing technical 50s in the pool: take the time to reset and stay present with your form. Quality matters.
A hack to do an Active Recovery run
We all struggle with slowing down for active recovery sessions, especially runs. We are sort of hardwired to run (and swim) at one certain pace.
Here’s a helpful tactic: Pretend you are meeting a friend at a coffee shop and you are running 5’ late. You don’t want to arrive sweaty but you also don’t want them to wait too long.
Or as happened to me recently in an airport: Our connection was extremely tight and this was a perfect opportunity to practice my Power Walk - arms up in running position, quick feet but not a run.
That is the level of effort for a good active recovery run. You will warm up your body but you won't arrive all sweaty to your destination.
The More You Know
I’ve been enjoying the PH 500 and PH 1000 effervescent tabs. I assumed that one tab of PH 500 was 500 mg of sodium. Nope. It’s 250 mg of sodium. And PH 1000 is 500 mg of sodium per tab. What’s going on? The calculations are based on per liter and one tab is meant for half a liter. So if you want 500 from 500, you have to use two tabs in one liter.
Listener/Athlete’s Question
Should I Kick in Open Water?
This question came from one of my athletes after a race. He noted that he always kicks in the pool but tends not to kick when wearing a wetsuit in open water.
Short answer: You don’t need to kick—or only need to kick very lightly—when wearing a wetsuit.
Longer answer: If you didn’t grow up swimming and/or you suffer from AOS (Adult Onset Swimming):
In the pool, we often kick to help maintain balance. Most adult-onset swimmers get little to no propulsion from their kick. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. Typically, these exceptions are younger adults—such as college students—who played leg-dominant sports in high school like soccer, track, cross country, or lacrosse.
When swimming in a wetsuit, the kick is less about generating power and more about helping facilitate hip rotation. Think: roll to reach and reach to pull.
How to ride a hill in a triathlon race?
This is a question we get a lot: how should I approach cycling hills during my triathlon?
If you have a power meter, I recommend not going over 100 - 110% of your FTP. Think light pressure on the pedals, smooth pedal stroke, relax your shoulders, face and arms. When everyone else is tensing up, I think of the hills as a break from generating my own power. The hills do the work for you; you don’t need to apply any extra effort to hit, and exceed, your goal race watts.
If you don’t have a power meter, use the same method as above - light pressure on feet, relax body.
Why Neuromuscular Intervals?
Absolute power is the key driver for adaptation. You need to challenge ALL of your muscles to drive effective muscle adaptations.
Triathletes can take a page from cyclists and do bike “openers” for triathlon races, key workouts or just include 150%+ FTP bursts regulars on their Z2 rides.
This is the same ideas as strides / pickups during the run.
You only use about 20% of your muscle capacity in a Z2 run. You regularly need to remind your brain to connect with the other 80% capacity.
Challenge of the Week
Katie: Post-race journaling: what went well, what you want to work on, etc. Writing a race report can be so useful to look back on in the future!
Jim: Focus on the quality of movement on a run this week. Stop every so often to do some exercises/stretches, reset the body and run more mindful afterward.
Gear Pick of the Week