Mary Eggers

It’s almost April, which means Ironman Lake Placid is right around the corner. If you are a Western New Yorker this means you might be slightly beginning to panic. Don’t worry, that’s common. Well….. don’t worry if you have a solid training plan going!!! The next few days I am going to spend sharing some tips and tricks of the trade of Ironman. We have successfully coached over 100 athletes through Ironman over the past 5 years with 100% finish rate and no injuries. And we are pretty proud of that.

Today we begin with five easy ways to totally blow your Ironman…..

1. Ignore the bike: If I had to pick “the most important part of Ironman” it’d be the bike. Many athletes ignore the bike through the winter only to come into full on panic this time fo the year. Then they hop into monster group rides and fail to truly and effectively develop their aerobic engine. They will run 3 hours but fail to build up the bike mileage to support that three hour run. Look through the results of Ironman. Look at how many sub six hour bike splits are followed up by a five hour run. That’s not a lack of long runs, that’s because they biked too fast or failed to build up the proper volume.

2. Listening to other people: You should have your own plan,  developed by you, or another coach. It should fit you. Never, and I mean never base your training off of what your buddy who did Placid last year does. Period. Shut them off. Especially don’t listen to nutrition plans that sound weird: only fig newtons, PB&J all day long…. turn off your ears and focus on your plan.

3. Too much intensity: The Ironman is a very long day. Ask any person between miles 18-20 how they are feeling and 100% of the time they will never tell you they were so glad they did those 200′s on the track (instead of their long run). Long day = aerobic. develop that engine first.

4. Being stupid with nutrition: Again this goes back to listening to someone else’s plan. Learn to tolerate the foods offered on the course. Gatorade Endurance is mostly the one. If you don’t use GE then you need to know it can be your back up plan. You still need to practice with it. Water bottles fall of bikes. Nutrition gets dropped. Practice your race day nutrition 5 times at least before the big day. Including the pre race breakfast. The Train-This Team…. they have been practicing since January.  You won’t see my team hurling all over the course. Know how much you need an hour. have a plan. practice your plan.

5. Panic. Worrying never solved anything. Worrying is not going to get you through the training. Training is. Many people have Ironman panic right now. Not sure you are on the right path? Shoot us an email (maryeggers ”at” gmail ”dot” com) We can look at your plan, take over, help you with nutrition. Our athletes have been preparing for Ironman Lake Placid since the fall. This is a  ready team. They are not injured, they have their nutrition in check and they are dialed in. This team isn’t in a panic. Don’t panic. That raises your heart rate 10 beats already.