However, I have to take issue with Marilyn McDonald’s recent post on Endurance Corner entitled “Workout of the Month: Ironman-Specific Running.”  In this post, she suggests, for athletes preparing for Ironman, a 60-90 minute workout with 20-60 minutes of work at Ironman pace, broken up into 8 minute sets with very short recoveries.

I believe that, for the majority of athletes, this workout is a waste of time. Here’s why:  For the vast majority of Ironman athletes, the run pace in an Ironman run leg IS easy pace, or even slower!  So, the “main set” would be completed at the same pace as the warm-up.

If an athlete has 60-90 minutes to run, there are better ways to spend the time than just running at E pace. Even for Ironman, some speed work will result in greater fitness in the long run, especially for the time-limited age group athlete.

Here are some 60-90 minute workout ideas that would be more appropriate for an age-group athlete training for an Ironman.  These all aim to improve race-specific Ironman run fitness, but also take into account the need to maximize TSS for a given training time investment:

• 20-30 minutes of intervals at I pace or faster, then immediately transitioning into a 30-60 minute straight Ironman pace run.
• 60-90 minute run, starting at Ironman pace and negative splitting each mile (ending at T pace)
• run 60-90 straight at Ironman pace after a huge bike workout, say, 300 or more TSS
• 6×1 mile at Ironman pace on the track, with no watch, trying to get closer to Ironman pace with each mile rep (this would be a skills workout, and can be done multiple times in the early training periods to gauge fitness by comparing HR to pace)

I should note that there are two situations where the workout Ms. McDonald suggests may be useful:

1. Elite athletes, who legitimately run the Ironman run leg with pace, may find this workout useful as a little bit of speed work. (This is supported by Ms. McDonald’s use of a 2:48 example Ironman run, which is a super-fast pace that’s only attainable by a handful of athletes at each Ironman race.)
2. During the taper, age group athletes may find a benefit using this workout as their long run.  It’s not too taxing and gives practice running at race pace.

1. The shorter the TT, the longer the warm-up. This is very important.  The high efforts needed in a short TT mean that your body has to be ready to go hard, right from the start.  A thorough warm-up helps to prepare your body for the sudden onset of lactic acid accumulation, and has other benefits (such as raising your heart rate, getting the blood flowing, and increasing your mental focus).  For a short TT, include at LEAST 30 minutes of pedaling before the race (perhaps an hour or more, depending on your speed and your personal needs).  For a longer TT, it depends on the distance.  a 100 mile TT requires minimal warm-up, but a 40k TT requires a similar warm-up to a 10 mile TT.
2. Include several race-pace or faster accelerations. For shorter time trials, saving your aerobic endurance for the race itself is less important, so include more intervals at race pace or faster.  The intervals do not need to be very long (30-90 seconds is a good target), and include an adequate recovery interval.  For longer TTs, use fewer intervals and a slightly longer duration (perhaps 90-120 seconds).  Try to accomplish your last interval within 10-15 minutes of your start time.
3. Use a bike trainer for your warm-up. This will allow you to concentrate on putting out the correct efforts for the duration of your warm-up.  Riding the course is always a good idea, but that should have been taken care of before race day, and not during your warm-up.  On the trainer, you can easily make any last-minute adjustments to your bike and have easy access to all of your pre-race nutrition, as well.
4. Stay warm. If you’re TTing on a cool day, wear plenty of (but not too much) clothing during your warm-up, and consider pushing the easy parts of your warm-up a bit harder.  You want to hit the starting line with the blood and sweat already flowing.  (If it’s a hot day, the opposite applies–keep cool and take your warm-up a bit easier.)
5. This one’s not technically related to your warm-up, but pump up your tires to the correct pressure. Most riders do not require more than 120psi in their tires.  If the road conditions are absolutely perfect, then higher pressures are MAYBE ok, depending on circumstances, but overinflated tires can actually *increase* the rolling resistance of your tire.  Use 10% more pressure in the rear tire than the front, and use 10-20% less air pressure if it’s raining or the roads are wet.  When using your race tire on the trainer, use 20% more pressure than normal.  Then, when you’re done using the trainer, deflate and then re-inflate your tire to the correct pressure.
6. Intimidate your competition. This may include grunting a lot, panting, sweating profusely, wearing dark sunglasses on a cloudy day, keeping a stone face during your hard intervals, wearing a jersey with a skull and crossbones on it, using a disc wheel with a skull and crossbones on it and strutting around wearing your aero helmet for no reason.