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Why You Need to Train Faster (Not Harder)

Need for speed volume 1, USAT membership fallout, and key open water skills

Author

Matthew Sharpe
February 06, 2024

TOGETHER WITH NERD BELTS

Good morning everyone,

I’ve been able to jump back into some quality training these last few days here in Arizona. I even got myself back in the gym for some much-needed strength work. Although I might have been a little too excited because my legs are currently screaming at me!

  • You’d think after many years in the sport I’d have more respect for DOMs - delayed onset muscle soreness - but sometimes it takes a good old-fashioned leg-humbling to keep me in control!

In today’s edition: 

  • 🚀 Want to race faster? You might need to train faster (not harder).

  • 😤 How the USA Triathlon CEO is responding to the membership fiasco.

  • 🏊‍♀️ And top tips to master open water swimming.

Thanks for being here,

-Matt Sharpe, newsletter editor

Headshot of Matt Sharpe

Have a triathlete in your life who can't stop swimming, biking, or running? Fire this off to them. Forwarded from a friend? Sign-up for free. 

TRAINING THOUGHT

The Need for Speed - Volume 1

Coach Max Frankel's series on why triathletes NEED to train at higher intensities

Max Frankel is a former elite cyclist and collegiate runner and is currently a triathlete and coach based in Boulder, Colorado. Max is an accomplished coach in the marathon, track, and both short and long-course triathlon having coached multiple athletes to professional licenses in triathlon, wins at the marathon and ultramarathon distances, and numerous Boston Marathon, Ironman World Championship and 70.3 World Championship qualifiers. 

  • If you’d like to inquire about his coaching, or have any questions/feedback on this new segment of The Tempo, feel free to drop Max an email at [email protected]. 

Maverick may have been talking about himself, but he might as well have been talking about the entire sport of triathlon.

Triathlon training needs a revolution, and it can’t come soon enough.

  • So many triathletes pride themselves on their ability to suffer for a very long time–even the cream of the crop of this newsletter’s readership takes over 7 hours to finish an Ironman–but that whole time, none of us are going truly HARD.

  • The suffering we feel comes as a result of how long we spend holding that effort, not the actual intensity of the effort itself relative to our threshold (FTP on the bike, 15k pace on the run, or all-out 1500m pace swimming). 

With this in mind, many of us train at similar intensities to what we race: workouts are built out using terms like “Ironman pace” or “70.3 power.” But on a physiological level, these intensities are giving us the worst bang for our buck imaginable, especially for busy, time-crunched athletes who have to fit their training in with a multitude of other responsibilities (this method does work quite well when taken to the absolute extreme of 30+ hours of aerobic activity per week, ie The Norwegian Method, but I’m assuming not many of us are in that boat). 

What we should look to instead are lessons that can be found in large magnitude across the independent forms of the three disciplines that we’re tasked with mastering.

  • Swimmers, cyclists, and runners everywhere incorporate very high-intensity training to improve at the middle intensities we race with in triathlon. 

Read the full article and learn:

  • Why “middle intensity” training isn’t the best path to improvement.

  • What it means to train the “correct” zones.

  • Why a more polarized training model will help you train and race your best.

TOGETHER WITH NERD BELTS

Nerd Belts Now Available at The Feed

NERD BELT LEADING TO IRONMAN CHAMPION

"It's without a doubt an advantage having a race belt that holds extra fuel and hydration, not just a race number. If you're worried about extra weight, think about how heavy you feel when you're dehydrated."

Steve McKenna, Pro Triathlete

nerd belts was created by Australian Pro Triathlete Steve McKenna and launched 6 months ago becoming extremely popular down under FAST, selling out multiple times, and now the brand is coming to the USA, available at The Feed.

The feedback nerd belts have received from customers is that the belts are a "GAME CHANGER". The proof is in Steve's results (along with many athletes reporting similar run improvements). Steve could never run to his potential off the bike, but recently negatively split his runs in 70.3's and won Ironman Australia - the only change he made was hydrating and fueling more on the run.

FAVOURITES

😤 Membership mayhem: After USA Triathlon revealed controversial changes to its membership program, athletes revolted and then the organization had to go back to the drawing board. But why did they try and make the changes? According to the CEO, declining membership and revenue. [Triathlete]

🏊‍♀️ Open water skills: Open water swimming is a different animal compared to the pool. So tame the beast with these top tips - sighting well is especially key! [GTN]

🌾 Fancying fiber: We all know we should probably be having more fiber - and this article by nutritionist (and Tempo contributor) Meghan Stock explains why! [MLS nutrition]

👶 Family tri: Are you a parent and trying to train for a big race? This Reddit thread has some great advice on how to manage kids and training. And we definitely endorse missing a session or two when life gets in the way! [Reddit]

🤷 Deciphering cycling: FTP? Sweet Spot? Threshold? If you’re just getting into cycling these terms might be confusing. This article does a great job breaking down popular cycling training terms to help you learn and get faster! [TrainingPeaks]

GIVEAWAY

Last Chance! Win a Pair of High-Performance Rudy Project Sunglasses

Its your last chance to win a new pair of sunglasses from Rudy Project!

Every person you refer to the newsletter enters you to win a new pair of sunglasses from Rudy Project.

  • Entering is easy. Use this URL to refer your friends: https://www.thetemponews.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

What about a new helmet? Tempo subscribers can use this link to access 35% off everything!

REEL TIME

“Let me tell you about my fueling strategy…” 😆

QUICK NEWS

Insane Ironman: German extreme athlete Jonas Deichmann will attempt 120 Ironman-distance triathlons in 120 days. We hope he has a good supply of body glide! [Stern]

Big signing: Real Triathlon Squad athlete Marc Dubric (USA) has signed with iconic cycling brand, Felt Bicycles. We caught up with him in our latest edition. [Real Triathlon Squad]*

Underserved athletes: Ironman has expanded its Race For Change program which provides scholarships of up to $10,000 for athletes from underserved communities who wish to compete in triathlon. [Ironman Foundation]

Incredible recovery: 111 days after being hit by a car on her morning bike ride, Aussie triathlete Alexa Leary has finally been cleared to return home. [Sydney Morning Herald]

*Sponsored post

YOU SAID

We loved hearing your thoughts on what you think the new Ironman CEO should focus on.

Reader: Start listening to the athletes. Make events more affordable and expand the IM brand and competitors by focusing more on first-timers and create a greater sense of team.

Reader: There's that word again - monetize. With race registration fees at about $800 or more, flight/hotel to the venue, bikes that cost at minimum a few thousand dollars, no wonder this is not a sport for everyone. I look at what American Ninja Warrior did. They made heroes out of their competitors, held qualifying events around the country, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, had a TV deal. Look at UFC. Forget the fighting, the blood, whatever. What they have is a TV deal, and even better, PPV (Pay Per View). What did we ever get? And 8-hour IM Kona condensed into an hour of TV coverage. There is no justice to the sport in an hour of coverage. Further, ever since Graham Fraser and NA Sports, all that Ironman and triathlon seem to have done is try to milk as much out of its participants as possible. Ridiculous fees, the guaranteed entry (premium entry). Why is soccer so appealing? Because all you need is a ball and two rocks to delineate a goal post. And they have TV coverage! Good luck to Mr. Derue.

Reader: Survey all previous Ironman triathletes, get a feel for what is right and wrong ie: poor service in a # of areas - and start righting the ship. I also like the idea of diversifying the IM portfolio and tiering the pricing based on how many races are completed annually etc... FYI: I no longer do IM races due to losing a lot of money 💰 on missed races and no insurance offered by IM.

Reader: I wasn’t a fan of Messick. People are overly critical of Ironman. It’s like they want them gone, which would be worse for everybody.

Reader: Hop back to a one day man and woman Kona race.

Reader: Ironman is making a lot of money from AGers and they don’t have to increase to put money into other areas. The new CEO has a tremendous level of knowledge and application of that knowledge to businesses. People have to figure Ironman isn’t a club it is a business.

Reader: This is the year I decided to get the full IM done. But it will be interesting to see if I ever do an IM race after this. I’ve done 70.3s but I gotta say at an age group level Ironman doesn’t care about me once I have paid my entry fee. There is zero engagement.

Reader: Offer more training information. - Virtual coaches. - Training plans based on X # of weeks out from an event. - Nutrition information, in race and meal prep.

Reader: Create an olympic-distance series with races in locations worth traveling to.

Reader: Increase overlap and cross sport signups. Trail runners are already starting to ride bikes, find a way to get them interested in triathlon. IM athletes are already doing 9 hour races, get more ultras on their bucket list. Also need to find a way to better monetize your core audience outside of races.

Reader: Triathlon world wide is getting to a point where age groupers can’t afford huge entry fees for races, which means they are dropping out of the sport big time, and if continuing only racing in a few events, but turning to individual sports racing ie open water swimming, cross tri, trail running and gravel or road racing. Maybe giving age groupers cheaper entry fees means more participation thus more profit.

RACE WEEKEND

Ironman 70.3 Tasmania

Women’s race: The rainy and difficult conditions didn’t stop former Ironman World Champion, Chelsea Sodaro (USA), from taking her first major victory in over a year.

Men’s race: Nick Thompson (AUS) made good work in difficult conditions after notable athletes Javier Gomez (ESP) and Braden Currie (NZ) DNF’d.

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