The end of the year approaches. Now is the time to think about doing awesome things next year. Something big and scary. Exactly what that might be depends on you. Your first triathlon. Your first marathon. You know that to be successful in achieving your goal you need to train. Your first question might be how to train – what to do and when to do it. Just as important, yet too often overlooked, is how to find the time. To be successful, you need to get organized.

For much of North America and Europe the endurance race season has ended. Blog posts and podcasts focus on how to train in the off season. Here in Hawaii, the season stretches into December with the Honolulu Marathon. It can be hard to find the motivation to sit back and plan next year while struggling to find time to train, but if you wait until after the Marathon you will find your free time consumed by the demands of the holiday season. 

Sloveig Lovseth is the new Ironman World Champion. She put on an incredible race in Kona, a model of being patient, sticking to the plan, and not getting dragged into someone else's battle. But, did you know that she almost never made it to triathlon? 

It is the eve of the Ironman World Championship in Kona. The last - as far as we know - of the all women’s races. I have my tracker loaded with a few athletes I know, and a few I have yet to meet, and plan to check on them from time to time during my typically busy Saturday. This got me thinking about my challenges for next year, and my past experiences.

Ride Plan

My last two long rides, each about fifty miles and lasting over five hours, finished with a high level of fatigue. On a scale of one to ten I would put it at seven, still able to drive home and clean up, and not collapse on the sofa, the next couple days were rough. I knew I was holding back on power, and for the Century Ride I wanted to go a bit harder, at what I hoped would be Ironman race pace. My rough draft plan then was to try to do a full one hundred miles at an average speed of 12 mph. Start time around 6am, finish between 2pm and 3pm. 

Seems like just last week that I earned my Ironman U coaching certification. Now it seems that TriDot, the provider, has split from Ironman. More about this on Slowtwitch. 

I was always bothered by TriDot's push to get us to switch from TrainingPeaks to their home built system. AI driven, at that. No, thank you.

This is a great discussion on a topic near and dear to me and, I hope, every senior athlete. Please give it a listen and drop your comments below. The link opens in YouTube. FastTalk podcasts are also available on your favorite podcast service, and on their excellent website.

Longevity and Biomarkers of Performance

Spend time with “real” swimmers and sooner or later you will hear someone complain about triathletes wearing watches in the pool. More than complain, more like belittle, disparage, and denigrate. “Use the pool clock,” is their advice. More like a commandment.

If you have been in the triathlon game very long you have undoubtedly heard about the importance of eating well. This has not always been the case. There are stories about athletes following up a tough swim or bike session with a big pile of french fries, or a couple of hamburgers and a big glass of beer. No serious athlete today would admit eating such stuff, and most will manage to avoid it altogether. Side note: a thoughtfully prepared hamburger and fries is not all that bad for you.

It was Joe Friel’s book Fast After 50 that inspired me to become a coach. The book begins with a convincing argument why remaining active is important to health – something echoed by my doctor at every annual physical – and more specifically how important it is for that activity to include a regular dose of high intensity work. I was already active, so that was covered. What inspired me were the numerous convincing arguments Friel presented on why staying active is in so many ways the fountain of youth.