The days when you could win a full-distance triathlon on the heels of a strong swim and bike are long gone. Powerhouse cyclists blazing their way to the front of the pack and never looking back? Put that in the history books. We’re now in the era of the super-runner, ushered in by Mirinda Carfrae, Patrick Lange, Anne Haug and a handful of others.
At last year’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii (the gold standard for tough-as-nails Ironman marathons) we saw Haug finally take down Carfrae’s nine-year run course record of 2:50:26. Just one year prior, Norway’s Gustav Iden set a new record of 2:36:15, breaking Lange’s 2016 time of 2:39:45.
Haug upped the ante even more when she set a new world best at Challenge Roth this year. Her 2:38:52 was faster than all but one of the men (winner Magnus Ditlev). According to trirating.com, four of the top five fastest male Ironman marathon run records have been set in the last three years; for the women, four of the five fastest.
Reliable age-group records are difficult to track down, but just last year, amateur Dan Plews set a new known world’s best at an Ironman event with his 2:48:48 run at Ironman California. (Plews also holds the fastest age-group course record in Kona.)
Why are we getting so much faster at this final leg of long-course triathlon, and, more importantly how can you use the findings to accelerate your own running? Let’s look at four reasons the fleet-footed are owning the long-course turf.
1: A Rising Tide
It’s a cliché because it’s true: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The pros are running faster because the pros are running faster. As age-groupers, we’re running faster because, if we want to stay competitive, we simply have to.
“In a lot of sports you get an outlier who breaks a barrier and lifts the level of the sport,” says LifeSport Coaching founder and elite coach, Lance Watson, who was Simon Whitfield’s coach when he won gold at the 2000 Olympics and the coach of numerous Ironman champions over the years. He adds that we saw this happen on the women’s side just before the men’s when four-time Kona champ Chrissie Wellington came onto the scene.
Watson says that outlier performances–like the four-minute mile and the two-hour barrier in the men’s marathon–show the rest of the world that it can be done.
“Those times were pretty static for a while, now there’s a number of men doing it,” he says.
While this may seem esoteric, it translates to the real world when it comes to goals, Watson explains. His competitive age-groupers are now researching their rivals’ run splits, making their training more goal-oriented.
“It’s a carrot, right?” he says. “It’s pace-targeted training rather than just training hard and seeing what happens.”
Try it: If you’re looking for a boost to your run, there’s nothing wrong with experimenting with a new mental game. Talk to your coach or a therapist trained in sport psychology to see if more targeted goals might work for you. (In Watson’s experience, it works for young Olympians.)
2: Supershoes for the Win
Yes, it’s true, you do need a pair of the carbon-plated, re-mortgage-the-house racing shoes pioneered by Nike. While we never like to proclaim magic bullets in the always volatile sport of full-distance triathlon, supershoes are impossible to ignore.
“Anyone who’s ever put those shoes on who’s in relatively decent run shape will feels the advantage,” says Watson. “You really do get more distance per stride.”
Try it: Take time to do your research, shop around, and try different brands’ answer to the super shoe. Work with a gait specialist and/or your coach to find a make and model that works for you. The aggressive geometry can aggravate some more injury-prone athletes, so ease into the shoes with a break-in period (for your body, not the shoes).
3. Train Smarter
As the sport evolves, technology is helping us optimize our training, recovery and fueling. The pioneers of Ironman raced without heart rate monitors or power meters in sight, let alone Continuous Glucose Monitors or Heart Rate Variability readings. Just when we’ve gotten as fast as we ever thought we could be, in come wearables measuring things like stride rate and vertical oscillation. When you’re at the very top of your game, these small things matter.
Age-groupers are now hiring elite coaches, and AI is helping us optimize our training even more, allowing for modifications due to sleep, stress, and other factors.
Try it: Take advantage of the advances in sports science by educating yourself on things like HRV. Invest in new technologies. If running faster is your goal, commit to learning about the latest research in the field.
In the face of all the complicated science, which has its place for the pros, Watson has a few training basics that are refreshingly simple:
- Toe more start lines: ”I get my top athletes to compete in open running races such as 10 km races and half marathons. Doing this introduces athletes to running at the edge of their threshold performance and having to manage mind and body. There’s a massive takeaway here for multisport performance. How do you know what your highest level is in multisport if you don’t know your highest level on the run?”
- Focus on the run: “Build your program around the run so you’re hitting key sessions fresh and not flat.”
- Invest in your bike: “The training you do on the bike allows you to express your fitness on the run. Things like power meters and smart trainers have helped us train more efficiently and build a better bike leg to support the run. I have my athletes run off the bike at least twice a week.”
4. Carb Me Up
Over the first decade of the sport of long-course triathlon, we saw everything from bagels taped to top tubes, and athletes pounding Ensure and other strange snacks in T2.
Suffice it to say, things have changed. Top athletes are monitoring their daily calories and tracking daily carbs, protein and fat, as well as dialing in their sweat rates, hydration and carb capacity for optimized performance on race day.
“Smarter athletes and coaches are listening to nutrition experts and reaping the rewards of better training performances,” says Scott Tindal, sports nutritionist and founder of FuelIn, an app which helps athlete track and optimize their nutrition.
We may raise our eyebrows at the idea of taking in 100-plus grams of carbohydrates an hour, but Tindal says that nearly all runners will benefit from increasing their carbohydrate intake in higher intensity, longer runs and races: “I laugh when athletes say they only did their two-hour race pace session with water. I think to myself, ‘Imagine how much faster you could have gone and how much better you would feel at the end of that session!'”
Tindal says research shows that amounts up to 90 grams of carbs per hour improve performance. On the actual racecourses, though, he sees top-performing athletes hitting 100to 120-plus range producing PRs and recovering faster to do more training.
Try it: If you think nutrition and fueling might be holding you back, consider working with an expert such as Tindal to tailor your daily macronutrients to your training. Experiment with different products and amounts, and dial in how many carbs you can absorb at varying intensity levels. Practice taking in higher amounts of carbs in training so you can dial in your optimal full-distance nutrition plan.
You too can become a faster runner by letting competition motivate you, immersing yourself in the latest training and nutrition science, embracing technology and metrics, and investing in some speedy shoes. But don’t forget the basics: hard work, consistency and perseverance will take you far, even if they don’t take you fast.
Jennifer Ward is a freelance journalist living in Victoria.
The post Pro triathletes are running faster. You can too with these four simple tips appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.