Self-Coached to Kona
Table of Contents
Ch 1: Building the Plan
Training plans can be complex, difficult to follow, and hard to fit into your busy life. Cut through the clutter and design your own program that is simple, effective, and makes the most of your valuable time.
Ch 2: Training Intensity
Most age-groupers train too hard on easy days and too easy on hard days. This look into the science gives you three simple, no-cost tools that help you train at the right intensity to maximize your gains every time.
Ch 3: The Swim
For many, the swim is a hurdle to merely survive. This chapter helps adjust your mindset from “force” to “form” so you can get more speed for the same effort and exit the water ready to ride.
Ch 4: The Bike
You don’t need a $10,000 bike to be fast. This chapter contains some surprises about what really helps you find speed on the bike, while reducing the strain on your wallet, and recovering time for other parts of your life.
Ch 5: The Run
Ironman is won (or lost) on the run. Learn how to build endurance to go the distance, develop speed, and stay healthy so that on race day your run moves you forward in the pack, and you cross the finish line with a smile.
Ch 6: Pumping Iron
Time in the gym is the closest thing there is to a true hack. Learn how just an hour a week lifting for your legs can be more valuable than five hours on the bike. Save time, ride (and run) faster.
Ch 7: Training for Heat
Our bodies are amazingly adaptive when it comes to the heat. Learn how to make the most of this when race day will be hot, and the compelling reasons you may want to heat-train even if the day won’t be a scorcher.
Ch 8: Recovery
The improvement we seek actually happens between workouts, not during. Learn how to make the most of that time with passive and active techniques that accelerate the recovery process but don’t break the bank.
Ch 9: Mental Keys
It will take months to get ready for race day. Here are dozens of simple tools to help you stay motivated, build positive habits that last, and find the balance to live a normal life while training to do the extraordinary.
Ch 10: Your AI Coach
Artificial Intelligence chatbots are everywhere and seem to have all the answers, but can they serve as our coaches? Here are the very real dangers, and techniques for getting the most out of these potential allies.
Ch 11: Race Day Prep
Good strategy spells the difference between a DNF and a PR. This chapter will help you craft a plan you can execute, deal with the heat, and avoid the race-day mistakes that so many first-timers make.
Ch 12: Mastering Transition
There is plenty of “free speed” available if you know what you are doing in transition. Tips and strategies in this chapter will have you racing out the exit while others are still wrestling with their socks.
Ch 13: Race-Day Fuel
In races lasting over two hours, how you fuel has everything to do with how you perform. These tips help you customize your nutrition to meet your specific needs before the starting cannon, and all the way to the finish.
Ch 14: Mental Keys for Race Day
The mind is the strongest muscle; be ready to flex it on race day. This chapter is full of mental strategies to help you get through the tough times when they come, and get you to the finish line.
Ch 15: Conclusion
After two decades of competition, I had the best racing day of my life in Kona; here’s how it feels when it all comes together, and some final words of inspiration as you accept the challenge to “go long.”