Everyone seems to be fascinated by the Negative Split but it’s almost as rare as the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat.
A negative split or the action of negative splitting is a racing strategy that involves completing the second half of a race faster than the first half. It is defined by the intentional setting of a slower initial pace, followed by either a gradual or sudden increase of speed towards the end of a race.
A negative split seems fairly manageable during stand alone bike or run races, but when you mix the concept into a batch of triathlon, it seems silly. Especially the thought of negative splitting and Ironman marathon.
I’m guessing this guy didn’t negative split and he’s running with a phone.
The reality is . . . we probably deceive ourselves of our real capabilities. I know I do.
For most of my Ironman marathons, I’ve gone in with a 9 minute pace goal. But I invariably start the race at a 9 minute (or less) pace for the first couple miles. Then, that slowly deteriorates into something closer to 10, then over 10 and I wind up running a 4:20 (which is a 10 minute pace and I’ve done it three out of 4 times).
The other problem is, I’m likely not in shape to run a 9 minute IM marathon. I say that because I think the best I could do in an open marathon is about 8:30, but for some reason I think I can run a 9 minute pace after 112 miles of cycling?
I should probably focus on getting my IM marathon under a 10 minute pace and to do that I should start at 11 minute miles for the first three then inch it down. I’ve proven going out fast doesn’t work in 70.3’s either. Starting below 8, only to scratch and claw for 9’s toward the end.
Anyway… in today’s podcast we take a closer look at why we know a negative split is the right approach, but screw it up every time. We also look at ways mental approaches to give yourself a better shot at going out slow. Enjoy!
There’s a new open water swim race this Fall in Knoxville called, Bridges to Bluffs 10K Open Water Swim. One of the founders was on one of our first podcasts is now back with Jessi Ringer and last year’s Ironman Florida winner, Jack McAfee, to talk about what it’s like putting together a brand new swim race.
Since it’s the first year, there are tons of logistics. We talk about how the idea originated, what steps they’ve taken, what’s left to do, why it’s different than other open water races in the US, and how racers can get a 50% discount on open water swimming plans from Crushing Iron.
We also get into an mind-blowing story from Jack McAfee who had major bike issues at Ironman Chattanooga and followed up 5 weeks later with THE WIN at Ironman Florida. Not age group win, but overall.
He takes us back to Chattanooga and goes through what happened, why he almost quit, and how “running mad” saved his race. I mean, who else spends nearly an hour not moving on the bike and gets 5th in their age group?
Here’s Jack’s Finish at about the 5:18 mark, though it doesn’t show him tripping over the tape like he said he thought he did.
Here’s a little bonus for Open Water Swim Lovers. This documentary is about a guy whose dream it was to swim across the Pentland Firth, which happens to be some of the most treacherous water on earth off the coast of Scotland.
A while back on the podcast we started asking for stories from listeners. What got you into triathlon? Why do you love it? How does it make a difference in your life?
We knew people were listening, but really didn’t know how (or if) we were connecting. Then we got an email from Ross Kaffenberger and it pretty much defined why we keep doing the podcast.
He said he loved listening and left a review on iTunes, then unceremoniously dropped a link to his blog, “Out and Back.” The next day I read his latest post and was blown away. Robbie said the same thing, and we made plans to get him on the podcast.
His words were heart wrenching and optimistic at once. I’ll let Ross tell the story, but it crystalizes why I think so many of us get into triathlon. It’s either to get us going, or keep us going. In Ross’s case, it has been both, and I’m really happy we’ve connected.
He’ll be doing my favorite race, Ironman Wisconsin, and he unveiled the incredible reason why in this podcast. If there’s any doubt triathlon can have a profound effect on our lives, please listen to this podcast and follow Ross on Twitter: @rossta
Most people I know have done something stupid, disturbing, or against the law. I don’t hold it against them.
But why is it so hard for us forgive? And why would I open a triathlon blog post with something so intense? Well, because, occasionally the things I see and feel on a run brings out strong emotions.
Here’s what happened.
I was about two miles into a five miler, and struggling. It usually takes me a bit to find stride, but between allergies and being out of shape, I was digging deep to get this run organized.
Then I saw a woman walking toward me with her dog.
I was breathing hard. My right knee and left ankle were giving me noticeable pain. But, about twenty yards from the woman I made a conscious decision to get my good mood in order and flash the most congenial smile I could muster.
As I closed in, I thought of rainbows, sunny beaches, and a deep love for strangers. I glided toward her with a relaxed and genuine smile in hopes of receiving something similar in return.
She never even looked at me.
About 2 minutes later, a couple walked toward me and I repeated the entire process in vain. They walked right by, both with their heads down.
That’s when I went into this internal dialogue about whether or not people are even actually happy. I know, it’s a stupid thing, but I really do wonder about that a lot. We’re so distracted by shit these days, that the connectivity piece seems lost. And I’m actually one of the worst isolationists I know, so I get it.
Then I started seeing familiar chalk writings on the pavement. Someone actually goes to the greenway and writes things like: “Run” “Walk” “Dance” “Smile” “Stand on your head” etc. on the ground and it always cheers me up . . . and I wonder what kind of person does this?
I passed a couple more people who didn’t look at me, then, out of nowhere, it started pouring rain as I approached a guy running my way. He had his head down, and I pretty much threw in the towel on a hello, but as he got close to me, he not only smiled, but gave a big “thumbs up.”
This rain runner gave me hope as I made my turnaround to head home.
Then, Dan Bern’s “Wasteland” came on my iPod. For a while it was my favorite song and somehow fit the mood perfectly as I trudged through the downpour.
I saw men with dreams like the ones I’d had Beg quarters outside the 7-11 Till it got so they didn’t affect me anymore Then the mailboxes I’d passed ‘cept that sometimes I’d put something in the mailbox I’d had the wind at my back Now I felt it cold in my face And for an awful long time now you were the only one who ever Called me late at night and I really never noticed till after You stopped calling and the emptiness, silence got so heavy
It’s a pretty depressing song on the surface, but it gives me hope for some reason, and about 4 minutes in, he crooned this lyric just as I realized the rain had washed the chalk affirmations from the concrete.
And I watched TV and read the papers and listened to the radio And made all the fancy scenes and said all the right words And wore all the right clothes and knew the names of the hip people But I still felt out of touch so I stopped watching TV And reading the papers and listening to the radio And making the fancy scenes and saying the right words And wearing the right clothes and knowing the names of the hip people And I felt more out of touch than ever but I didn’t care anymore
Sometimes I wish I didn’t care anymore, but I do. I care about triathlon. About being the best person I can be. And I care about others and their happiness.
But why is it so hard for us to forgive?
Last year I raced at Ironman Wisconsin which about 45 minutes from where I grew up. For months I tried to express how much I wanted a childhood friend to come watch me race. Share my accomplishment with me.
He promised to try to show up, but in the end, didn’t make the short trip after I drove 9 hours to race in his backyard. It did bum me out, and I had a hard time forgiving . . . for about one day.
We’re in this together. Learn, love, create, travel, try new things, meet new people, don’t smother others with negative energy, and forgive.
Many of you know of my up-and-down history with open water swimming anxiety, so today’s topic always piques my interest. It took me back to my first Olympic swim which nearly convinced me to quit triathlon while I was ahead. I wrote about it a long time ago and here’s an excerpt that will give you some insight to my struggles.
The gun went off and 40 over-achieving men jumped on my back. I fought for my breath and my strategy went from relaxation to survival. Primal screams pierced my ears and I think they were all coming from me. I let the pack race away and unzipped my tri-top so my heart would have more room to beat.
By the time I got to the first buoy, I was a humbled and frightened man. I stopped in the water and gazed into the distance, then to the starting the dock, then the second buoy. I faced a major decision while I treading water in this dirty river. Cold rain fell on my swim cap like a Chinese water torture and each drop reaffirmed what an idiot I was for trying something so far above my capabilities.
In today’s podcast (embedded below), we cover every issue I (and maybe you) have struggled with in open water. Here’s some bullet points on what we cover.
• Pre-race rituals including a great way to prep for cold water
• Getting mentally stronger
• Wet suit chest pressures
• Controlling your heart rate
• Dealing with contact
• The importance of warm ups
• How to not worry about what’s under the water
• Training for congestion
• Why stroke turnover is king
• Positioning for a floating start
• How to train harder than the race
• How to use a sandy beach to make you stronger
The day before my first Ironman, I was a nervous wreck. I’d feared the mass swim start almost every day for the previous year. In less than 24 hours I’d be in the scrum with 2700 other swimmers and I was still searching for ways to relax.
I could hardly sleep the night before, but as stood on the cool concrete staring at the water on race morning, an extreme sense of calm washed over me. Every ounce of fear and doubt was gone. But why?
That experience has happened many times in my my life, especially with sports, and makes me of the saying “90% of life is just showing up.” I’ve always liked that logic, but always wondered why that is the case?
Steve is the head coach for the University of Houston Cross Country team and also works with several professional runners. His writing, philosophies, and podcasts have established him as one the most sought after minds in the endurance world.
To say Magness is passionate about sport physiology and psychology is an understatement. He dove into our questions with childlike enthusiasm that rekindled my fire for sport, and frankly made me feel better about always wanting to know “why.”
He’s a cool guy, too. Due to conflicts on our end we had to move the interview several times and he just rolled with the changes. Then, 30 minutes before the podcast I was stuck in traffic, so Robbie started without me and Steve wound up recording the podcast for us. I joined after 10 minutes.
Here are a few of the topics we cover today, but there is a lot more and we could have talked for five hours.
– Accepting anxiety in order to boost performance
– How and why training gets overcomplicated
– Why he think a lot of us would be better off leaving our Garmin’s at home
– Why coaching is usually more mental and emotional than physical
– Why we sometimes perform best when we feel bad
– Our bodies survival skills at work when we race our best
– The breakdown on Steve’s new book “Peak Performance”
– We ask about the differences between his college and professional athletes
– Biggest differences between coaching women and men
– The best piece of advice Steve’s ever gotten from a coach
– His take on the Sub 2 Marathon Hour Project
– His favorite runner of all time
Please subscribe and comment on the Crushing Iron Podcast on iTunes.
I have been strictly focused on training for the Leadville Trail 100 for about 10 full weeks now. I originally had this blog post tagged for just a typical update. Leadville this. Leadville that. Why I cannot understand everyone’s obsession with running in a flat bill trucker hat…. etc. The fact of the matter is, the only real “update” I have is that I have just been doing a ton of running. 🙂 My typical week has had 2 “recovery” runs, 2 quality sessions split between speed and hill work with 1 long run per week. I have also committed to serious strength training and injury prevention sessions to compliment my running. Ultimately what this blog is going to be about is how I was able to take off over 1:30 in my 5k in just 10 weeks by doing the old “long slow training.” I have included a lot of data/graphs/charts to hopefully better explain how I was able to achieve this. It is a lengthier blog so I put this carrot at the front in hopes you will read the entire article and apply it to your training.
Test results (10 week span)
Jan 10 – 5k test – 20:58 (6:46 pace) Avg HR – 178 , Max 185
Mar 13 – 5k Test – 19:22 (6:15 pace) Avg HR – 174, Max 184
If you have listened to our podcast called “Running slow to get faster” (embedded below) you already know why I am such a huge fan of this approach. It might not be “fancy” and FB worthy every day but it works and getting faster is the only thing I am concerned with. The chart below will show you some good data on how I have sprinkled in my runs the last 90 days. Even before signing up for Leadville and doing my initial 5k run test I was already accumulating some pretty good frequency. As shown in the chart you can see that outside of a few “recovery” gaps my runs have all stayed quite frequent but have just gotten longer in both duration and time. Before taking my first big recovery cycle this last week I had built up to a long run duration of 2:40 and a long run distance of 19 miles. You will see in the early March block that immediately preceded my recovery cycle I had 2 really long runs fairly close together. For the record, I do not recommend placing them so close together but I gambled and did it because of family obligations that weekend. I ended up accumulating a little over 54 miles in a 5 day span so my recovery block was a welcome rest period.
Overall Run Summary for last 90 days:
Established HR Zones for chart below:
Z1- 118-151 – Recovery
Z2 – 152- 161 – Endurance
Z3- 162 – 170 – Tempo
Z4 – 171- 177 – Threshold
Z5- 178 + – Aerobic Capacity
As you can see I spent the majority of my time in both Zone 1 and 2. To be exact I spent 39.5% in my recovery zone and 43.6% in my endurance zone for a total of 83.1% of overall training. That came out to about 54 hours of the 58 hours I spent running strictly focused on my Z1 and Z2 work.
Established Pace Ranges for chart below:
Z1 – 8:44 and slower – Recovery
Z2 – 7:43-8:43 – Endurance
Z3 -7:10- 7:42 – Tempo
Z4 – 6:46- 7:09 – Threshold
Z5 – 6:45 – faster – Aerobic Capacity
Again, as you can see here as well, most of my time in pace zones was directed towards Z1 and Z2 totaling about 86.1% of my overall training. There will always be some discrepancy in time allotted to each specific HR and corresponding Pace zone due to wind, temp, terrain, etc.
Ultimately, what I hope you take from the pace/speed graph is that while I was able to go from running a 6:47 to a 6:15 pace for my 5k test I only spent a VERY small percentage of time even below or at threshold (less than 6% under 6:45 pace). In order to run fast, or run FASTER you do NOT need to spend all of your time running fast and doing endless amounts of interval work. Too much fast doesn’t beget fast. FAST BE GETS YOU INJURED! The right dose of easy and endurance running combined with the appropriate amount of speed work can really produce some solid benefits. So far I have been able to perform better, for longer in my endurance runs AND as shown, I am also increasing my top end speed. It is a delicate balance but incredibly important.
Sometimes the hardest thing is to not change when others are changing around you. I made this mistake a few years ago when “high intensity – HIIT” became trendy. Combine that with Strava and Garmin Connect and you have a recipe for disaster. The daily training temptations are always there and it can be hard to convince yourself that running slower is both safe AND beneficial in becoming a faster runner. So next time you are tempted to go out for a home-run workout ask yourself “is it worth it?”
We are very unexcited to announce our first Dog Cast. It’s basically Mike droning on about some of his dog’s quirky habits. There’s already been positive feedback, but hopefully this is a one-time event.
In fact, since the release of this Dog Cast we have hit our listener email goal, so we may be releasing an actual triathlon podcast later today or tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening to the Crushing Iron podcast . . . and Dog Cast!
I’ve always thought triathlon is a good metaphor for life. The highs, the lows, the successes and struggles. The perpetual, and complicated grind that makes us understand simplicity and inclusiveness is usually the best strategy.
It occurred to me this analogy also applies to blogs and podcasts about triathlon. They begin with a youthful energy and a hope that someone actually cares about what you’re saying. But for true evolution, at some point that process has to include the community.
I started this blog in 2013 on way to my first Ironman at 50-years-old. Nearly 1,000 personal posts and videos about that journey can be found on these pages.
Last year, Coach Robbie and I launched the Crushing Iron podcast and now have over 30 episodes. The podcast is much more about “you” in the sense that we’re tapping Robbie’s coaching experience and a lot of the more informal things I’ve learned as a triathlete.
Both the blog and podcast will continue, but we understand the importance of community energy and ideas. We encourage input, questions, and feedback, but want to make sure this is genuinely a two-way street.
So, I guess what I’m saying is we will always drum up topics, but want to put more of the focus on you. Building more podcasts and blog posts based on your questions, philosophies, and ideas.
We’d also like to share your stories.
That’s the thing, right? I think if triathletes have one common character trait, it’s the insatiable need to evolve. What is so powerful that it makes you change your life?
My first Ironman experience was as a spectator at Ironman Louisville. Aside from how nuts I thought everyone doing the race was, the most pressing issue on my mind was the mind boggling logistics of such an event.
Nearly 3,000 athletes, bikes and timing chips. 65 miles of closed roads for the bike, thousands of volunteers, and 3 sets gear bags for each athlete. Cops everywhere, endless streams of water, ice and fruit and pretzels and on and on and on. My head was about to explode.
I made a silent vow to never criticize a race director and that lasted about one race. It was probably something to do with scheduling something too early in the morning or something stupid, but I think it had more to do with the fact that I was just generally unhappy or stressed about the race.
I’ve done four full Ironman races now and am still fascinated with race production. As a generally unorganized person, the whole race directing thing seems like a recipe for disaster. I’d surely have nightmares about forgetting to order water.
That’s why it was so cool to talk with Stephen Del Monte, race director for Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City, along with several other races. It took about two minutes before I realized why so many people told us he’d be a great get.
I mean, how many race directors do you know that make videos by paddling out into the water to show you sighting points on your way back to shore? Or walk you through the layout of transition? Or visually show you changes or tricky parts of the bike or run course? Really cool stuff you can check out on his video channel.
Stephen Del Monte of Delmo Sports
He is very transparent with his customers and promptly admits when he makes a mistake (often in his video series “Confessions of a Race Director”). He told a story of a race he produced where there was a 4 inch lip in the road that caused 42 flat tires. He immediately admitted fault and gave each of the athletes free entry to the next year’s race.
I was kind of blown away by that and asked how he handles bad weather that cancels a swim or bike and his answer was fascinatingly logical.
We could have talked for a couple more hours, but we hit on a lot of cool stuff and it’s listed below. His passion for triathlon is contagious and I really hope it catches on in the sport.
Here are some of the topics we cover in our interview (embedded below) with Stephen Del Monte:
The secrets to producing a great race
The one thing that upsets triathletes most.
He addresses the Ironman critics and explains why Ironman is the best event company there is.
He also explains how the Ironman relationship works with local race directors.
Why many triathletes are intimidated by Ironman Branded Races and why they shouldn’t be.
What he thinks is the best Half
The ONE THING Race Directors cannot get away with
Your number one concern as an athlete entering any race.
Why Ironman gets so many volunteers
How he deals with weather cancellations and shortened courses
How Ironman is putting pressure on grass roots races and why that’s a good thing.
Learn, love, create, travel, try new things, meet new people, don’t smother others with negative energy, and forgive.
