Fluid Movements Most Successful Ever Worlds Results.

As a coach, its with great pleasure that I report on how our teams fared at a series of Triathlon World Championship events over the previous 10day period.
A positive outcome of our coaching methods has always been our ability to prepare athletes to a high standard in all distances of Triathlon, from Sprint, Standard, 70.3 and through to Ironman. Getting them to the Worlds stage is one thing, but seeing them be successful at this level is another.

This year was no different to any other, Fluid had representatives in the ITU Sprint, Standard World Championships, and also at the 70.3 Worlds. These events have now been completed with the big dance at the Ironman Worlds in Hawaii still to come with 4squad athletes competing.

Our Sprint and Standard Teams

We always have a mix of relatively new athletes that are racing overseas for the first time and more experienced campaigners. One of our seasoned athletes Ken Murley who had previously won an age world title in the Sprint had qualified for three distances this year. Another athlete Jenny Zenker who has trained with us for a couple of years was racing in the 70.3 Championships in Mt Tremblant.

As always its a tough, long road preparing through our Melbourne Winter. Lots of relentless early starts and late finishes week after week, seeing each other more than our own families. Luckily our Worlds athletes and coaches always gel well together with this common goal. A real camaraderie develops when you train together up to 10times a week and we help each other to stay focused for the 20+weeks of the prep.

In the days leading up I had a feeling that this group could produce some great performances. That's a bit unusual for me as I am fully aware that the level of completion at Worlds is so much tougher than domestically, and I never want to get ahead of myself as a coach.
We had had some tough times with some injury and illness through the prep, but that's expected and they were all were coming good at the right time.
Friday 29th August, the day arrived for the Sprint competition in Edmonton Canada. We had 3 athletes race, and in Melbourne we were all trying to stay up to watch the live feed online. I ended up falling asleep as they were on the run, but woke to many Facebook updates that Ken had won the World title by a margin of 5minutes, and that Jan and Tom had had great races with PB's.
We were all so excited and buzzing with the news at morning training a few hours later, and our thoughts after congratulations immediately turned to our guys racing the Standard distance 3days later.

Our 70.3 team

We had our newly crowned champ Ken Murley racing again, plus Vanessa Jackson and David Ferrier. The anticipation seemed to make the days drag on for so long between Friday and Monday for me, as it was pretty clear by the Sprint result that they were all in form and I just wanted them to start.
The day arrived and once again all of our squad were burning the midnight oil watching in darkened rooms around Melbourne. In an astonishing performance Ken wins again in the Standard race by a whopping 10minutes. Vanessa has a great race to finish top ten in her age group and David performs really well in his age after a heavy week of commitments as the National president of our sport.
There was lots of amazed reactions on social media, at training and at Edmonton to Ken winning the two championships he had competed in. We were all very proud of this great achievement.

The circus of athletes and supporters from all around the world now descended on Mt Tremblant Canada for the 70.3 World Championships which were 6days later. Fluid had 2 athletes, Ken Murley and David Ferrier backing up after the Standard distance in Edmonton to now race the 70.3 event in Quebec. Levi Hauwert, Anna Moore and Jenny Zenker had flown in to join them, and spirits were high amongst the team of 5 Fluid athletes after the great success of the week before.

Ken addressing the Aussie team

Now minor celebrity, Ken was asked to give a speech to the Aussie contingent at the welcoming breakfast. This was a bit of an honour and a recognition of his efforts so far ,and supposedly it was quite entertaining!
The days breezed past for our athletes, and in no time bikes were checked in and it was race eve. It was on late Sunday Melbourne time, and an ever growing army of supporters were glued to their screens to see how they would all go. 
Jenny was first off and we were keen to see how she went, she has dynamite swim and bike speed.  Jenny was out within a minute of the leaders and onto her bike which she was very strong at. Ken was 4th out of the water in his swim, 6minutes down but had monstered his competitors in the shorter events on the bike so was hoping for a fast ride also from him. Anna, David and Levi had solid swims and were also on their way.
The excitement for me was how they all rode, it was late, but I was up checking and comparing speeds at each checkpoint.
They were all riding very fast, Ken was an amazing 4km/hr quicker over the first split than his closest competitor, Jenny was quickest, Levi was flying and David and Anna were holding their own.
By the end of the bike, both Ken and Jenny had hit the lead in their categories. Now it was just down to the run.
Once again I had nodded off and woke up just after Jenny had finished. Agonisingly Jenny had lead most of the run but was just pipped by 25seconds for gold and took the silver. Her age group was easily the fastest in the females and Jenny swam and rode nearly the same splits as the top pro women. Ken destroyed them on the bike with a bike time at the finish none of his competitors could believe, and held them on the run  to win the 70.3 World title by 20minutes.
Levi had a great bike and just ran out of legs within the last 5k of the run, Anna sucked up the experience of her first overseas race and smiled all day, finishing strongly and David did a great job and killed it all the way to the line, putting the week before him well behind.

Ken and Jenny receiving their medals

I as a coach was so proud of every one of our team in each event. Ken won 3 World Titles, in the Sprint, Standard distance and the 70.3, I think this is the first time this has ever been done. Jenny took second in the world to cap of an amazing week for the Fluid Movements Triathlon program and myself as a coach. Our squad took 2 of the 6podiums for Australia at Mt Tremblant.

Just to finish off, in true hard ass Kenny style, after the race I let ken know via Facebook that he had beaten a guy that was unbeatable in 70-74 long course racing from Canada. He had also won the 70-74 age group at the Hawaii Ironman last year. Kens response 'Yes, they told me after the race he has been unbeatable. I told them I didn't know who he was and I really didn't care.' Classic Kenny. I hear Kenny wants to race Kona in 2015, stay tuned.

What a week!! Now we set our sights on The Big Dance at the Hawaii Ironman in October. Cant wait to see our team race there.

Coach Foz

Sprint and Ironman Training - Don't limit yourself.

Pulling on the Green and Gold

As a coach of the Worlds / Development squads at Fluid Movements I am in the thick of race season with my Worlds rep athletes.



2014 World Sprint / Standard Champion
Ken Murley 

Last week we had the Edmonton ITU World Champs where we had 3-4athletes race in the sprint and standard events. We were lucky enough to have Ken Murley come away with a gold medal and World title in each event, our other athlete’s equipped themselves very well in their first overseas competitions.
Now this week we have 5athletes competing at the 70.3 Worlds in Mt Tremblant Canada. I am very excited about their chances for a high finish as they are all in excellent shape. It can be an eerie feeling as my work with them is complete, nothing more I can do other than fine tuning a race strategy by online correspondence.

Once Mt Tremblant is complete I look towards our final big event, the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. We have a number of athletes competing in Kona and they will be leaving our shores soon to heat acclimatise.

So as a team you can see we have been very busy with athletes representing their country in all distances of Triathlon

Pride in Diversity

As you can see from above, at Fluid we take a lot of pride in our ability to develop successful athletes in all distances, not just sprint or not just Ironman. As a team, we never want to be pigeonholed as one or the other, and feel we have been pretty successful over a long period of time over all distances.


Jenny and Anna at 70.3 Worlds
Mt Tremblant, Canada

In my Triathlon career, I started late in the piece, pretty green as a reasonable swimmer with no bike experience and some school running. Did a few years of sprint where I finally won the local Sports Plus series (now Gatorade). Then I went on to represent Australia at ITU Age Worlds in the Olympic Distance race in Lausanne.  Then I stepped up to a half ironman to qualify (yes you used to have to) for Ironman Australia in my first full distance.  I was lucky enough to eventually race professionally at that distance for 4years and enjoy good success.

You learn a lot from your own experiences, and under the tutelage of my coach and having being exposed to long periods of high level training and racing over all distances, I came to realise that each discipline can learn a lot from how the other trains.

There should be none of that ‘Oh you do sprint so you therefore must train high intensity workouts, or you do Ironman so it should be all about long slow distance.’ High quality workouts well above Ironman race intensity have their place in any successful IM program, and long slow distance also has its place in quality sprint programs.

KK, Joey and myself with legend Mark Allen
when we competed in Hawaii

The key point to remember is, ‘you are how you train’ so don't limit yourself to one methodology. Have some diversity in your training program that compliments your individual abilities and goals. It is all about what and when to include different training methods within a preparation phase, and how far out from race day.

With that in mind, I can’t wait to see how our team goes at Canada this Sunday and at Kona Hawaii in just over 5weeks.

Stay tuned, and happy training

Coach Foz

Triathlon Coach Sean 'Fozzy' Foster: The Importance of 10k run speed for Ironman athlet...

Triathlon Coach Sean 'Fozzy' Foster: The Importance of 10k run speed for Ironman athlet...: Have you ever found yourself feeling like you are stuck in 3 rd gear running in the Ironman marathon and unable do anything about it? ...

The Importance of 10k run speed for Ironman athletes

Have you ever found yourself feeling like you are stuck in 3^rd gear running in the Ironman marathon and unable do anything about it?

Fluid athlete Jenny Zenker - 2:05hr Olympic Tri

For many years of coaching Ironman athletes, I have found to run a fast marathon off the bike it pays to inject quality intervals fartlek and sustained efforts into your Ironman run training. These efforts would range from 5k to 21.1k race intensity.

There is a couple of ways this style of run training can be done. One way is in unison with equally balance bike training load within a specific Ironman phase say 15-20weeks out from your goal race. Within the final 10weeks of your prep some of these quality runs would be immediately after a hard bike set so you start your run carrying some leg fatigue. Getting the balance right of how fatigued your legs should be off the bike to ensure you still run fast enough is key.

The other way is to include a pre-specific run phase say from 25weeks out to 15weeks out from race day. You load your run training with workouts that target 10k-21.1k run speed. Just be careful to ensure you are allowing enough recovery from each session, as running faster requires the athlete to be fresher pre-session. With this in mind, to counterbalance this run emphasis it may be worth reducing the total bike training load and intensity to ensure you adapt to the number 1 priority of this phase, the run.

At the end of a run phase like this, it’s a good idea to complete a benchmark test such as a 10k or 21.1k event or TT to see what effect this has had on your running. Then it’s a matter of completing run speed maintenance training so you don’t lose your run ‘ZIP’ prior to race day.

Employing this type of run training in an Ironman preparation will see you run a faster Ironman marathon time off the bike.  As we all know the key to doing well in Ironman distance races is running up to your ability following strong swim and bike legs. ‘Ride for show run for dough.’

Suggested workouts targeting 10km for a strong runner

Pre-specific phase run set

Run 5-8 x (800m at 83-87%max with 300m recovery)

Specific phase run set – off the bike

Ride 75mins including 6 x (1km at 85%max with increasing recoveries of 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k)

THEN
Run immediately off the bike for 24mins inc. (3mins at 85%max, 1.5min rec, 2mins 85-87%max, 1.5mins rec, 1min at 90%max, 1.5min rec, 3mins at 85%max, 1.5min rec, 2mins 85-87%max, 1.5mins rec, 1min at 90%max, run down easy to time)   

Coach Foz

Triathlon Coach Sean 'Fozzy' Foster: Hawaii Ironman - a whole different ball game

Triathlon Coach Sean 'Fozzy' Foster: Hawaii Ironman - a whole different ball game: This will be the 3rd straight year i have qualified a team for the Hawaii Ironman. We have 5athletes qualified so far in 2013, adding to the...

Hawaii Ironman - a whole different ball game

This will be the 3rd straight year i have qualified a team for the Hawaii Ironman. We have 5athletes qualified so far in 2013, adding to the 9athletes we had race Hawaii in 2011/12.

As a result, putting down initial program ideas on how to prepare them for October.

One thing is for sure, preparing athletes for everything Hawaii brings: the wind, the heat, the humidity, and the course is a whole different ball game to prepping them for a local Ironman like Melbourne.
The Hawaii bike and run course isn't really the main problem, its the weather that's makes Hawaii special.

The preparation has to be about making the athlete as strong and impervious to the conditions as possible. 

Non wetsuit swim, this swim can be a new and often daunting experience, even for the most experienced ironman. The current at Hawaii also can wreak havoc with swim times.
The bike with the cuttings and cross wind tunnel like conditions in the gully's in between. The climb to Hawi, and cross winds on the descent. Then on the return the wind hits you front on on the way back to T2.
The run, realising how much the hot humid conditions has dehydrated you on the bike, you then run along Al'ii Drive to the first turn, which can be hot, humid with no wind due to the sheltered conditions.
Once you come back to town and negotiate Palani Hill, you have the long run along the Queen K, down to the Energy lab and return to the finish.

How far do you go, heat/altitude chambers to acclimatise you? This stuff is peripheral and should only be canvassed once the main priority PLAN of how best to condition the body to be as fit and strong as possible to handle what Hawaii has been set. it has to be a different approach to any other qualifier Ironman.
Unlike Melbourne, relatively more athletes in Hawaii ride strong, then are able to run a fast marathon off the bike. Yes you still get your T2 superstars that look great off the bike, and bomb on the run, but more athletes have the leg strength to put together a strong run after a punishing bike effort.

Just looking at how my team went last year at Hawaii after all qualifying at Melbourne 2012.
The key to their great performances at Hawaii, beating alot of the athletes that had their measure at Melbs was they ALL ran very well.
3 of our 6athletes went sub 3:30hours on the marathon run with Stephen Guy our fastest at 3:08hrs.  2athletes went between 3:30hrs and 4:00hrs with only one over at 4:07hrs, our girl Cym only in her second ironman.

Guysy on his way to a 3:08hr marathon

This saw 3 of our 6athletes go sub 10:00hrs for the finale, with Stephen Natoli a sharp 9:37:20hrs on a tough day.

So now you have qualified, do you just do the same prep as you did for your qualifying event, i don't think so. If you ran ok, but not great in your qualifier, then this could be magnified on the big island due to the environment.

You need to think laterally and have everything on the table when you go to the big show.
Work out your periodised blocks and the emphasis of each. But planning the swim bike and run in isolation will be a mistake.

As Hawaii qualifiers, your ability to swim well without losing too much time, riding strong and fast, and then still having some in the tank for a strong run will be key to success on a much bigger stage.

Foz

The Art of the One Race Peak

Hi,

Today going to chat about how to peak for a single race.

Building for a peak over a period of the season can be quite easy. The broad brush approach is best when setting for a peak that extends over a period of time. Build intensity gradually, introducing race specific intensity and skill sessions as the season approaches. Generally a coach can expect to hold their athlete at peak fitness for 6-10weeks during a race season.
Peaking for a single event on one day of the year is a much more refined and challenging task for any coach.

Just ask James Magnussen (Australian swimmer) who was in World record swim shape prior to the Olympics, but was unable to peak when it mattered.

Recently i had the job of peaking 22 of our team athletes for single day World title events, including Spain LC, Hawaii IM and the Auckland World Olympic Championships.
The art of getting them into supreme form is a tough gig.
This is how i do it. Assume a 20week preparation period with the athlete starting this prep with basic endurance.
Specific Phase

• Race to Train - use periodic races (1per month) as race pace training sessions. Sharpens their skills and the intensity of a race is always much higher then they achieve in training.

Logic- if you are going to enter a race, then always race at race pace. The time is not the important thing, the effort is. If you are not going to give it your best effort, you would be better off training, not racing.

• Include easy short aerobic runs after 1 to 2 bike sessions each week. 20-30mins easily is enough, aiming to hold form and find rhythm and cadence as early as you can in the run off the bike (timing foot fall and breathing)
• As well as the above, include 1-2 swim, bike and run race intensity sessions each week for your longer speed / strength endurance sessions.
• Include 1 race intensity or above aerobic power surge sets to develop speed and power with change of pace each week. Surge sets have a duel role, development of speed and power with change of pace training and also endurance due to higher average heart rate over time - Such an all round session.
• Look at the course you are racing on, say with our athletes who raced NZ Worlds, it was hilly on the bike leg, so geared hill strength repeats on the bike and descending rehearsal 1-2x each 3week block throughout the general phase. (Train to Race)

Race Phase
In this phase we get the athletes to run hard following quality bike sessions at race pace and intensity once weekly. This is to mirror race conditions and teach the body to adapt quickly to running flat out after a quality bike effort.

Whats important here is when setting hard bike to hard run in combination is that the efforts are short sustained or broken efforts, ensuring the athletes can maintain race pace speed and intensity by remaining fresh enough using the recoveries between efforts.

Example :

Ride 60mins in total, after a 10-15min warm up do set below

(1km effort, 1km rec, 1km effort, 2km rec, 1km effort, 3k rec, 1km effort, 4k rec, 1km effort, 5km rec, 1km effort) Efforts at 85-90%mhr and race cadence

Run 30mins off the bike alting (2min effort at 85%mhr with 1min rec)

Note : The 1km bike efforts have increasing recoveries after each repetition.

This is to ensure that the rider can generate top speed on each effort, and maintain this as the recoveries increase. As a result, they finish the bike fresh enough to maintain their goal 10km race pace intensity by way 1min recoveries in between each 2min effort.
No use doing this kind of intense workout if you can't maintain the high intensity required for race pace sets.

• These sessions are run once weekly, in varying forms depending on the sets position in our 3week block. This session above comes after a Sunday rest day, as it's quite challenging.
• These 'Train to Race' sessions are complimented by extensive speed endurance bikes and run sessions that develop the athletes ability to maintain high intensity close to Lactate threshold.  
• Train to Race sessions also continue as part of the training schedule.

Racing is a Habit - Be a Racer
i have found that practise makes perfect with racing. Especially in shorter Olympic / Sprint racing, exposing the athletes to the high pressure/speed environment of racing helps teach them racing strategies, and increases their ability to push to their limit more readily when the big goal race comes around.

Sessions that also mirror these pressures (see example above) are also highly useful come race day.

• if you are afraid of public speaking exposure is the key to overcoming your fear. If you are known as a great trainer, but not racer, expose yourself to racing and high intensity training often, this will help you become a racer.

So there is no use training to train in a lead up to one major race. Train and race yourself into race shape by rehearsing over and over again the conditions you will come up against come the big day.

Train to race NOT Train to train

Coach Foz