Carefully Curated Triathlon News for July 13, 2023

IN THIS EDITION…

  • How Lionel learned to swim
  • 3 critical bike workouts
  • Chrissie Wellington’s 10 tips for faster racing
  • Improve your LT run pace more quickly

FASTER, MORE QUICKLY

Tempo interval workouts are an efficient way to improve your lactate threshold and condition your body to run longer at — or above — threshold pace.

Although LT pace usually corresponds to an athlete’s half marathon speed,  most runners can hold their threshold pace for just 20 to 40 minutes in training.

Coach Jeff Gaudette details how to break tempo workouts into bite-sized chunks, which allows you to accumulate more time at threshold pace compared to typical sustained tempo run.

Try your own version of this tempo interval session once a week and you’ll soon be posting faster run splits.

CHRISSIE’S 10

Chrissie Wellington was undefeated in all 13 of her iron-distance races.  The 4x IRONMAN world champion broke Paula Newby-Fraser’s 17-year old Kona course record, and posted nine sub-9 hour times.

Chrissie’s straightforward and practical approach to the sport is distilled into her top 10 tips for faster triathlon.

Triathletes of all abilities will find value and actionable advice from her battle-tested point of view.

FASTER WITH FINIS

FINIS understands the unique needs of triathletes, and has a line of innovative products that will make you a better, faster and more efficient triathlon swimmer.

We especially like their Slide Dryland Trainer stretch cords.  Their clever design provides constant (not variable) resistance throughout the swim stroke cycle.  They’re perfect for pre-event warmupwhen we can’t get into the water before the race start.

We also love the Freestyler paddle for reinforcing a good catch, pull and stroke finish… It’s a game-changer for open water swimmers like us.

TriathlonWire readers get a 20% discount by using the coupon code TRIWIRE at checkout.

JUST 3 TYPES

Many triathletes are frustrated because they aren’t getting faster on the bike.   One all-too-common reason for this stagnation is their lack of structured cycling workouts.  Day after day of steady-state rides just won’t cut it.

Jumpstart your training with Mike Fielder’s 3 critical bike workouts for triathletes.

He explains the unique benefits of endurance, VO2 max and strength cycling sessions.  He also provides examples of each type of workout, and prescribes when to do them.

LIONEL LEARNS TO SWIM

Lionel Sanders is well-known for his toughness and tenacity.  These traits are the drivers behind his ascent to the top tier of the pro ranks.

However, as an athlete who was introduced to swimming as an adult, he needed an uncharacteristically subtle and nuanced approach for improvement.

In this enlightening video Lionel shares how he evolved from trying to overpower the water, to developing a relationship with it.

Learn from his willingness to be a beginner to achieve consistent progress.

QUICK HIITS:

  • Less Was More
    What allowed Daniela Ryf to deliver the fastest iron-distance of all time at the recent Challenge Roth Triathlon?  She thinks it was holding back in her training, and not letting her motivation overpower her carefully designed workouts.