“Flipping the Switch”; training to race mode”

“Flipping the Switch”; training to race mode”

Here is a email/ conversation I have had with Jordan Rapp (http://blog.rappstar.com) third place finisher at this past November’s Ironman race. He has be gracious enough and willing to answer my questions. And I feel that for all the newbie’s out there that they too could learn from this responses, from a professionals point of view.

Question; When do you flip the switch, as they call it? Knowing that you have put in all the miles and preparation for an A race and you go from training mode to kick ass race mode? Is it simply a mine game that you play with yourself come race day? Or is it, something that you learn and feel as your gain experience? I know you can not predict how well you might do in a race, but there has to be a line in the sand that your cross and you no longer are simply an age-grouper/ weekend warrior but you feel and know that you are ready. Friends that I train with believe in me and say that I am getting stronger or that I am strong. And I reply by saying thank you, and that it is appreciated. But what should I really say, or what should I feel? However, in the back of my mind I keep telling myself, that I need to do more, I need to lean out and I need to train harder to go faster… Question, among many; I am doing Ironman Arizona in November do you think that the
bathroom heat sessions would workout conditioning wise for November? Do you think it will be as hot? Can you divulge any of your bike training methods that you used in preparation for Arizona? Daniel

Response; Jordan Rapp

“I think maybe the start of the taper week. That's when I put away any thoughts of needing to do more. It's just about getting read to race. Once you get to the start of taper, you've done everything you can. So for me, I guess that's the big change from preparation to race mode. I think that mentally, I definitely get more focused the closer I get to the race itself, but it's more gradual. The biggest change is the beginning of the week leading into the race. I usually travel to races on Thursday, then I have friday and saturday to get everything organized. But again, I think that is all the typical stuff. I think being confident during the lead up is important. A lot of people have bad races because they try to achieve something training-wise the week before the race. Don't leave your race out on the road the tuesday or wednesday before the race. That sense is quite different than when I was a rower in college, because we trained so much harder closer to the race, as it was a six minute effort, and we also raced every week. So that makes for a different sense of preparation. Taper was two days. So you had to go from hard training to race mode immediately. So it's different. But confidence is the key to racing.

The best answer, I think, when people say something is just what you do - "thank you." The hardest question is when people ask if you are "ready." My answer to that is "I hope not; I want to be ready on race day, not 'now.'" That works for me. I've had some great races where I've felt awful on thursday, even friday before the race. You have to trust in your training and your taper. And then you just have to go race.

They are shifting the race to the end of November because the weather is much more reliable. It is not supposed to be nearly as windy or nearly as hot. So I don't know that the heat training necessary. But I'm also not from Phoenix, so I'm not really the best person to ask.

In terms of training, volume is overrated. People love to do long rides. And they just plod along. Until you get to six weeks out, train like you are racing an Olympic distance (in terms of biking. Running, you'll need to get your two hour runs in to keep the volume up on your legs just so that you are used to running for that long). But biking, long easy rides are a waste of time. Ride short and really hard. Then, when you get six weeks out or so to the race, ride long and hard. Basically, training long is not a substitute for training hard.
Training hard (intensity wise) is the most important thing. Your best bet is to find a coach or a group that trains hard together and get them to give you a plan. At the simplest level, it is just about working hard. Of course there is more complexity to it than that, but
if you set up your own training, that's the most important thing to remember.”