If you have a deep desire and dream to cross the Ironman finish line, or you're simply a busy person with absolutely no time, passion or desire to neglect work and family for 2 hour pool sessions, 7 hour bike rides, and 3 hour runs, then then this article was written for you.
Here is the key: there are 7 Crucial Principles that I have discovered over the past decade of studying, training, racing and coaching elite and amateur endurance athletes...
Principle 1 - "HIT Training": Research has proven that high-intensity interval training (HIT) can produce superior cardiovascular and muscular endurance adaptations, allowing you to simulate the endurance enhancing effect of a 3-4 hour training session with as little as 30-40 minutes of scientifically based interval training. A good training plan takes full advantage of this research by telling you exactly how many intervals to do, how long to work, how long to rest, and which days to perform these "get the most bang for your buck" sessions. As an added bonus, short and highly effective gym workout sessions should also feature HIT sessions, instructional exercise videos and exact protocols for ensuring you're in and out of the weightroom as quickly as possible.
Principle 2 - "Periodization": Periodization is the practice of splitting a training and an eating year (or in this case, a 9 month period of time) into specific blocks of training and eating, each with a specific purpose. By hammering home skills such as force, power, muscular endurance, explosiveness or speed into separately designed training blocks of key workouts, this type of training allows your triathlon fitness to progress at bullet-speed. Furthermore, to keep your body bulletproof and at razor-sharp recovery capacity, a well designed meal plan should have carbohydrate, protein and fat intake changes along with these alterations in training.
The principle of Periodization means that your plan includes precise instructions for swim form drills, cycling skill workouts, running drills, how to calculate your heart rate zones, how to use an optional power meter on your bike, quick and easy to prepare meals, and the dozens of other crucially important details the Ironman triathlete should be incorporating (although most of them don't..they just train 20 hours, eat as much crap as possible, and hope their plan's insane volume will fix it's complete absence of pre-planned training and eating periodization).
Principle 3 - "Strategic Rest & Test": Most training programs adhere to the ho-hum concept of simply laying off and resting every 4th week. Instead of utilizing this rigid method, maximal training benefit with minimum time takes advantage of rest weeks by A) combining exact protocols to test your swimming, cycling and running progress with the weeks where you are performing the easiest, recovery workouts; and B) giving your body the exact dietary supplements and fueling specifications it will need for the recovery week. So you don't have to worry about randomly jotting your test results onto a notepad, you should have structured logs that you use to keep track of these important tests. This means that during your 9 months of training for Ironman, you'll never go more than just a few weeks without getting to recover, re-test and discover exactly how quickly your body is transforming to dominate Ironman
Principle 4 - "Racing": The fastest path to both physician and mental domination in Ironman triathlon is to race and compete in triathlons during your build-up to the big day. Therefore, a good plan allows for a half-marathon or an Olympic distance race or race simulation, a sprint distance race or race simulation, and a Half-Ironman race or race simulation. By utilizing this principle, your mind will be razor-sharp for race day, and your confidence will soar. Of course, you also have to know what to eat for the week leading up to the race, and you have to know that you won't be that person with severe "nutritional issues" - walking with a stomach cramp or doubled over with diarrhea on the marathon.
The good news is that a comprehensive, zero-guesswork plan actually exists that utilizes each of these 7 Key Principles, so that you can break the mold and dominate Ironman with just 8-12 weekly training hours! It’s called “The Triathlon Dominator Plan” ( http://www.triathlondominator.com) but I need to warn you...it doesn’t officially “go live” for it’s special promotional pricing until the starting cannon goes off at this year’s Ironman World Championships.
Ben Greenfield is the Renaissance man of the sport of triathlon.
He's a fast triathlete, a coach, a personal trainer, and much more more.
We recommend that you surf on over to
www.bengreenfieldfitness.com, for more great training advice.
