Long Course Training Clinic – Top 10 Thoughts.

I spent the past weekend (11/3 and 11/4) in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center. It was a great experience that allowed me to accomplish a few things:

1. Spend time discussing Ironman training with others that like to discuss it as much as me.
2. Meet others that already list “coach” as their full-time profession.
3. Listen to Gordo talk about his ideas / concepts in a place where questions could be asked (although I didn’t have many questions for him).
4. I got to meet Gordo and his wife Monica.

The Coaches / Presenters

note: these are not the official titles of their talks, just my quick titles.

Monica Byrn – Swimming
Andy Caplan – Swimming (Monica’s Brother)
Gordo Byrn – Several topics (race strategy, bike training, etc.)
Susan Williams - General thoughts on training for Ironman
Bobby McGee - Run training for the Ironman
Tim Hola - Training for Ironman for the everyday man or woman

My Top 10 Thoughts – Very Quick Take-Home Messages

I have pages of notes, but here are the top 10 thoughts I have walking away from the clinic. I will share more indepth ideas about the individual talks as I work through my notes. Here you go (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):

10. The long continuous swim is very important. Build it to race distance.

9. Getting better on the swim requires putting in some yards (I don’t like this, but understand it.)

8. What matters: consistency, passion and persistance (Gordo’s exact points)

7. A limiter for some athletes isn’t doing the training, it is absorbing the training.

6. Simplicity in life can help produce above average fitness (and results?)

5. “Don’t blow off the swim” – Susan Williams

4. help athletes prepare and possess the ability to adapt (during races, but I might add that it is a good quality to have during training too)

3. An even training load obtained by cycling (especially in flats with few breaks) is a very valuable quality of cycling.

2. Structure with training can sometimes drain an athlete of the joy associated with training. Each athlete will have their own tolerance level for “structured” training.

1. A coach (and athlete) should think about training both “centrally” and “periphery” when training for the run. Central = lungs, heart. Periphery = neuromuscular, mechanical. (I need to learn more about these concepts. If I remember right, Lore of Running has some info on this.)

And here’s a photo of Gordo and I.

Nice photo hey. I get a chance to have a photo with my hero in the world of triathlon and I look weirded out! I’m not sure why I was surprised by this fact, but Gordo and Monica were both very “down to earth”. Triathlon is such a different sport than other sports, in that being a professional rarely seems to change how the athlete interacts with “the common folk”.

Last General Comments

Andy (Monica’s brother) was actually the quiet comedian of the weekend for me. He seems to be able to find humor in a lot of things, including always carrying the coats. He also has a lot to teach about swimming, but the one liners were my favorite

If you ever get a chance to see Bobby McGee – do it. The time spent is very educational and informative. I might be a little biased as some of his points reinforced a few of my held beliefs, but he does know his stuff. I picked up a copy of his book, “Magical Running : A Unique Path to Running Fulfillment,” so look for a review on that soon.

One characteristic that I saw in Gordo and Tim Hola was a very “relaxed”, “comfortable-in-my-own-skin” and “go-with-the-flow” type attitude. Maybe it is coincidence or it might be a trait of successful athletes?

More later.