Long Run Training for Ironman -- The EN Version

If you've done an IM, and you've had a bad day, you'll know it was the run. So what do 70% of the people out there do after a bad IM run experience...why, next year they run even more! The other 30% you ask? Well...25% of them are too injured to really train for the next go-round, but the last 5% have it actually figured out. And I am about to let you in on their secrets. Without further ado...

A Poor IM Run Split is the Result of Poor Bike Pacing and/or Poor Run Pacing
Whether you've personally experienced an IM Marathon meltdown, or just heard the horror stories, you know how bad things can get. What you don't remember (or hear, if it's from a buddy), however, is how he cruised through mile 56 on pace for a record bike split, or how she ran the first 6 miles 30-seconds faster per mile than she intended...and they both felt so good...until they felt really, really bad. Improving your next IM can be as simple as executing better on race day; be conservative on the bike and jog the first 6 miles before you run. In otherwords, if you nail your execution off of the same training cycle as last time, you'll be faster, period. (See the EN Four Keys to IM Racing to learn more.)

Overall IM Fitness is Built Across all Three Disciplines.
True IM fitness isn't about one run (or ride or swim), it's about connecting all three via a plan that allows you to training effectively and consistently across about 20 weeks. Sure, we build up to some pretty significant distance benchmarks, but the fitness here is all about the "journey" -- not the "destination." Focus too much on a single discipline and you not only run the risk of injury, but you will also be taking time and energy away from something else.

Try thinking of a basic week of fitness instead of any one workout or discipline (link coming soon). At Endurance Nation we think in a "weekly view" as all of our workouts are connected. And not a week as in Monday -- Sunday (or however you look at it), but as a rolling seven-day window. For example, looking at this Thursday's long run, we consider have you done over the last seven days to get here. There is not magical "reset" that happens every Monday. Run too hard or too long on Thursday and you'll mess up your weekend of riding; or worse yet, you'll fake it through the weekend but blow up somewhere else down the line.

IM Run Fitness has nothing to do with your longest run.
This is a hold over from open marathon training, where folks are training to run hard for the whole event; in this case it makes sense to build that solid pace up to a long run of 20-21 miles. In an IM, however, we are training to not slow down on the run. Let me repeat that: Marathon training = go fast on run; IM training = don't slow down. Instead of being a marathon runner aiming for a pace (8:00 per mile, who cares about HR zones!), you are a triathlete who aims for an HR, not a pace. Race day is a great equalizer; most people end up running an IM at their easy long run pace (roughly 20 beats below LTHR). So instead of looking at a magical distance marker, we look at time. In the case of an IM training cycle. the peak run that a person can do during the typical race preparation week is 2.5 hours in Zone Two. Anything longer (or harder) starts to become a problem regarding recovery and overall running health. Can you run 24 miles in training for an IM? Yes. But when you are out there on the course, no one is saying, "Sure am glad I did that 24-mile run @ week 18, it's really helping me now!!!"

IM Run Fitness is about Frequency, Durability, and Consistency
If you have grasped the concept that your total aerobic engine, developed across three disciplines, is what drives your run, we have almost converted you. While the longest run peaks out at 2.5 hours, that doesn't mean you aren't running a lot; in your biggest run weeks, you'll do 5+ hours of running -- that's a lot, especially when you add it on top of swim and bike time. With the EN model of Iron-distance training, we work first to build durability by increasing run volume deliberately. Then we add "speed" in the form of strides and fartlek work. Once this is accomplished, we back off the intensity and start to increase the distance. When we move to the race preparation phase, "tempo" workouts move from being closer to 10k Pace and instead move to Half Marathon Pace.

Hope this has been helpful! For more info on the long run, be sure to search the EN Library or hit the forums and ask around!

Happy Training,

Coach Patrick