An example of a “breakthrough workout” that Chann McRae Coaching asks their athletes to do before an Ironman

One of the biggest obstacles at an Ironman Race is pushing through the pain and discomfort. Your body is breaking down, cramping and not feeling good. The only way to overcome this is to train this way every so often. The double and triple brick teaches the body to endure these negative forces and gets you mentally prepared for the race. It hurts but it is better to hurt in training than in the race. Thanks Chann for the quality training you give.

Summary workout information for Rafael Garcia below. Please login to review workout details, or add a new comment:
Web: http://www.trainingpeaks.com
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Workout Title:Hilly IM Triple brick
Workout Type: Brick
Workout Date: 07/22/2012
Workout Description: BT: Ride 2 hours. After a 20 min. warm-up, include 5 climbs of 8 minutes each on a moderate grade (3-5%). Stay aero all the way up on each. Build to and maintain z3 for each climb. Focus on keeping power up on the descent in high z2-low z3/ then run 50 min or 10km at IM race pace on undulating terrain/ get back on bike and ride z3 IM power for 2 hrs/ then run off bike for 30 min or 5km at 70.3 race pace/get back on bike and ride z3 IM power for 1 hrs/then run off bike for 50 min or 10km at 70.3 race pace cool down on bike or walk 15min, ice massage, good recovery food.
Pre Comments: same exact nutrition today as Ironman Quebec will be. Stay on top of it. Pre-hydrate day before
Total Time Completed: 7:00
Total Time Planned: 6:45
Distance Completed: 183.47 kilometers
Distance Planned: 140 kilometers
Elevation Gain Planned:
TSS Planned:
Energy Planned:

Specificity in Triathlon

CMCoaching encourages triathletes to work with sport specific coaches to help them achieve their goals. Coaching triathletes in three different disciplines is a good general approach, however dialing in sport specific form requires more detailed attention.
Attention needs to given to swim and run biomechanics, aerodynamic positioning with power based zone training for cycling, and an array of sport specific work outs from all three coaches. Ultimately one of the coaches will oversee your periodization and nutrition during the year.
Here is an example how our methodology is being applied towards athletes successfully achieving personal records:

Sunday, June 10, 2012 by Derrick Deyhimi
Eagleman 70.3 and a new IM 70.3 Sub 5hr PR!!!
I just completed Eagleman 70.3 today even though i wasn’t completely over my flu that i cought this past Tuesday. I guess the sickness was a blessing in disguise cause it forced me to rest and recover my body from my 9 races this year. I ended up with a new overall PR of 4:57:23 and a bike PR of 2:36:12(21.7mph). My Swim was 31:22 and my run was 1:45:23. I was hoping for a sub 1:40 run but given that i was sick the week before and it was 93-95 actual temp and no shade on the run, i am happy with my overall result.

I don’t think the Flu had as much a negative impact on my swim and bike for some reason but my overall chest congestion made it difficult to put harder on the run. I had a good post race dinner at a local restaurant (a big juicy ribeye, baked potatoes, french fries(my favorite), and brussel sprouts. And a couple of spoon fills of Nutella.

My primary reason for racing isn’t just to get faster, PR, Podium, Kona, or Vegas its to support my addiction to french fries and sweets. Now a few days to recover and i start to focus on IM Syracuse 70.3 and i hope to qualify for vegas there.

I am a real believer in my coaching approach for 2012 of having a great run coach train my running(thanks Gilbert!!!), a great cycling coach train my bike (thanks Chann for my great PR) and a great swim coach train my swimming (Coach yet to be determined) with an overall triathlon coach to make sure it is all brought together at the end(and that’s you Mr. Chann Mcrae. This approach has worked well for me. I have PRed every race since I started being coached this way. Gilbert has been able to help me achieve my 2012 year end goal within 3 months of training with him. That because Gilbert is training me to be a fast runner and Chan has been training me to be a fast cyclist. It is this very specific training in each of these sports that has helped me get faster only in my second year of triathlon racing with no background in any of the sports except swimming. These are three very different sports that are brought together as a Multi-sport. Don’t get me wrong….you still have to do some triathlon specific workouts such as the infamous brick workouts but a running coach will work on the efficiency of your run form and teach you to run like a real runner not the triathlete’s shuffle. And a cycling coach will have you do specific cycling workouts to develop both strength, speed and endurance on the bike like they would a road racer. Anyway….sorry to go on about this but I am just a huge believer of it and it seems to be working for me so far. I really like the focused coaching i’m getting on each sport.

My race goals for 2012 were as follows:

1) Podium a triathlon race (ACHIEVED – podiumed 3 of 9)
2) Do a sub-5 hour 70.3 Ironman Race (ACHIEVED – Eagleman with a 4:57)
3) Qualify for Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas (hoping to do this in two weeks at Syracuse)
4) Get a sub-11 hour time at IM Florida Panama City this year with a sub 4 hour run.
5) Qualify for the Boston Marathon this year with a sub 3:25 marathon (racing Steamtown marathon)

Two down and 3 to go.
Posted by Derrik Deyhimi at 5:57:00 PM