The Tipping Point

I've talked in previous posts about the downside of qualifying at Ironman Canada for the world championships in Kona. The interval between is typically only seven weeks, barely enough time to recover, let alone put in a decent build cycle. However, if you manage recovery properly, I believe you can use IMC as a springboard to peak fitness on the Big Island on October 13th.

If you treat IMC as a ten-hour training day, then the following week consists of short workouts of low intensity. If possible, no running. This is counter-intuitive to the way you feel; fatigue aside, you are probably in the best shape of your life. I've had my best 10k run, 30km time trial and marathon times in the two week period following an Ironman. (In all cases though, I did not have Kona looming a few weeks away.)

Above, Ironman Canada is included in the first column, followed by a very easy recovery week. Not much running the following week, minimizing impact. The next two weeks are more typical build weeks, with the longest ride and run at the end of the build.

The second week, you can start to ramp up the volume, and add some intensity work to your swimming. Week three will see the return of a normal swim and bike schedule, and a gradual increase in running volume. Week four should have the longest bike (180km) and run (2:30 or longer) of the seven-week cycle.

This is my third trip to Kona, and I believe this last long run is a good indicator of success for the balance between recovery from IMC/build for Hawaii (the "tipping point" I referred to in the title.) If I feel wasted and/or have injury issues, it could be an indication of overtraining, and suggests taking a couple of days off completely. Fortunately, today's long run went very well; I ran 19.4 miles in 2:45, with a heart rate below 60% of max, and no injury issues. A great training run, especially considering the lingering fatigue of the 180km ride yesterday. So it looks like the training is on target.

You can now view my training logs at

http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/gaulinm/log.cfm