Wet Run II and Triathlon

This weekend we had a good “wet run;” a wet run to learn from.  The 2012 Panamerican Champion was present in the competition, Reinaldo Colucci, as well as Crisanto Grajales, 28th at London Olympics.  Since the beginning, Colucci was considered the favorite and he behaved as such.  He tried to go since the beginning on the bike. The wind was very strong, and Reinaldo was looking for partners in the Mexican population competing to go with him; unfortunately, he did not find one and had to pull the entire peloton because three Mexican were at the front, including our competitor Yosua Cervantes.  Everybody was playing for THE WET RUN, including Reinaldo, so the peloton finished more than two minutes behind.  Nobody wanted to bet anything. They thought that the ones in front were going to stop running, but the WET RUN GAME was set up differently and Reinaldo could not catch them. 

Allistair Brownlee runs just 30 seconds shy of his best 10k without swim and bike.

The peloton did not play for the guys in front of them, the peloton members were on survival mode even though the speed was not great. They lacked a good bicycle training. The wet run was played with high standards for the bike, and the guys who used to play WET RUN with a mediocre bike were not able to catch the runners in front or to perform what they can perform for the distance without biking and swimming.  Peter Robertson was the best wet runner before the Brownlees and Gómez, he won several championships on the bike because he had a strong bike and a good running speed.

Pos	First Name	Last Name	Country		Time	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run
1	Vinicio	Ibarra	MEX		01:55:28	00:17:32	00:00:46	01:04:05	00:00:18	00:32:47
2	Hahasiah Yosua	Cervantes Martinez	MEX		01:55:37	00:17:42	00:00:45	01:03:56	00:00:20	00:32:54
3	Reinaldo	Colucci	BRA		01:56:15	00:17:46	00:00:50	01:06:11	00:00:16	00:31:12
4	Crisanto	Grajales	MEX		01:56:16	00:17:42	00:00:45	01:06:18	00:00:17	00:31:14
5	Sergio	Sarmiento	MEX		01:56:58	00:17:46	00:00:44	01:06:17	00:00:20	00:31:51
6	Eder	Mejia	MEX		01:57:19	00:17:13	00:00:49	01:04:20	00:00:23	00:34:34
7	Carlos	Arcadia	MEX		01:57:51	00:17:53	00:00:45	01:06:10	00:00:18	00:32:45
8	Diego Alfredo	Pérez Flores	MEX		01:57:53	00:17:14	00:00:53	01:06:45	00:00:17	00:32:44
9	Fabian	Villanueva	MEX		01:58:00	00:18:17	00:00:48	01:05:46	00:00:17	00:32:52
10	Octavio	Oliveros	MEX		01:58:08	00:17:30	00:00:46	01:06:30	00:00:25	00:32:57
11	Eric	Lagerstrom	USA		01:58:17	00:17:24	00:00:47	01:06:36	00:00:17	00:33:13
12	Eduardo	Moreno	MEX		01:58:47	00:17:42	00:00:45	01:06:18	00:00:16	00:33:46
13	César	Cárdenas	MEX		02:00:06	00:17:48	00:00:49	01:06:14	00:00:18	00:34:57
14	Jorge Luis	Fuentes	MEX		02:00:08	00:18:18	00:00:48	01:05:45	00:00:19	00:34:58
15	Ricardo	Vega	MEX		02:01:35	00:17:47	00:00:47	01:06:16	00:00:18	00:36:27
16	Abraham	Castellanos	MEX		02:02:24	00:17:54	00:00:48	01:09:09	00:00:22	00:34:11
17	Jose Luis	Cordova	MEX		02:02:43	00:19:06	00:00:48	01:09:13	00:00:23	00:33:13
18	Edson	Gomez	MEX		02:03:14	00:17:41	00:00:48	01:06:15	00:00:21	00:38:09
19	Carlos Daniel	Uribe Ballesteros	MEX		02:03:29	00:17:13	00:00:50	01:06:48	00:00:24	00:38:14

IRONMAN SPEED AND NEW GENERATION

Sometimes I read related subjects and Joshua Amberger was mentioning that he would do ironman instead of continuing in the ITU circuit where he was 11th in the U-23 category, New Zealand, 2012. “It will be the plethora of new generation short course athletes (that already have the entire package) that are yet to step up.
Though on the whole, the article is hitting the right notes. The same thing that has happened to ITU racing in the last decade will happen to iron distance; faster swims, faster bikes & faster runs. I don't think this can be argued against.”

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Brett_Suttons_analysis_of_the_future_of_Kona_P4269677/#4269677

Joshua has won already some half-ironman distance competitions and mentioned in an interview something regarding his own training. “With running, I’m specifically working on good economy. I have a good engine with an 81.7 Vo2, but I have quite poor running economy. So lots of tempo running at specific zones with build runs in the mix, with volume generally at 80-100km.”

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/The_spirited_Josh_Amberger_1870.html

This running economy is not easy to achieve, instead of looking at training regimens we need to look at technique and cadence.  I have seen Joshua running on several occasions, including when he competed in New Zealand last year.  Once more, we need a well-educated athlete that could stick with the program to improve technique, something easy to say than done (or find). Please read previous post.

Joshua predicted well that the short distance competitors will show at the scene of Ironman.  Docherty won the ironman New Zealand and Allister Brownlee won Dubai this year without great difficulties.

Simon Lessing losing and showing his technique.  He never ran below 31:00 the 10k in a triathlon competition.

EFFICIENCY IN TRIATHLON CYCLING

Let´s take a look at a graphic from a track racer, performing a Points Race. If we analyze just a minute of the race, it is obvious that efficiency is the greatest factor to improve. In a minute, eight accelerations took place and depending on the rpm where the subject was AT THAT MOMENT the more or less strong acceleration takes place.  The better the subject keeps his rpm baseline up, the less acceleration needed.  Once more, a process of acceleration requires somebody able to understand the need to train and practice high rpm and to limit accelerations regarding power and number during the race (tactic).  So, efficiency will depend on how educated is our competitor.

We have spoken of Lance Amstrong in the past, and regardless of his doping problem which we do not approve, he is an example of improving efficiency during his time competing.

16 févr. 2012  ARMSTRONG, THE GREATEST PRODUCT OF OUR SCIENCE

Lance took seven years to develop his cycling economy, according to the study of Edward Coyle, 2% in seven years (Joyner, MJ and EF Coyle. Endurance exercise performance: the physiology of champions. Journal of Physiology 586:35-44, 2008).  The economy of movement has to do with technique, cadence and the quality of training in general. Greg Bennett mentioned in an interview that it took him four years to improve less than a minute in the 10k of triathlon before Athens, just by improving the economy of running; his VO2 max had a limit.  Macca is another example; he is unable to run below 31 minutes in Olympic triathlons even though he surely has a very high VO2max.  The 80´s are the limit in triathletes.

Accelerations is what wears out the competitors.  Points race is very similar to the peloton encounter in ITU triathlon except that triathlon´s peloton has less accelerations during the race; it is not a rocket science to determine that training should be similar TO TRACK TRAINING FOR A POINTS RACE.  Look at how speed goes up by increasing cadence and how the same goes down when cadence decreases, and the need of the cyclist to accelerate when his cadence drops.  If we teach cyclist to keep cadence up, the acceleration would exist, but not to the degree of increasing power to more than 2000 watts.  The question would always exist, is our athlete coachable or does he have the capacity to learn or to be taught?  This is the limit between the good and the exceptional: EDUCATION.

http://www.srm.de/us/srm-in-action/competition-with-srm/track/334-bahn