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Xtri Review: Endurance Nation’s Four Keys to Long Course Triathlon
By Betsy Delcour with Vic Parris
7/28/2008 |
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For anyone who’s competed in a long course - specifically iron distance - triathlon, you know that it can be a daunting experience. The time management that goes into training, pace management, nutrition management, the mental and emotional control needed to get to the finish line as well as your body and training should allow you to get through the race; long course triathlon throws a lot more at us than 140.6 miles. Especially for first-time iron athletes, you need more guidance than you can get from just following a training plan – sometimes you need a therapist, or at least a mentor who’s been through it all, made lots of mistakes on their own and can teach you how to avoid them.
Enter Patrick McCrann and Rich Strauss of Endurance Nation. They’re coaches who each had their own business, have competed in multiple long course races with multiple Kona qualifiers to show for it. They teamed up a few years ago and have since created Endurance Nation, a program they intend to join triathletes together for coaching and to cull knowledge and experience from participants so each member can access training advice from a variety of peers, in addition to themselves. They put on multiple training camps throughout the year, offer podcasts, forums, books, blogs – and now they have a DVD, Endurance Nation’s Four Keys to Long Course Triathlon.
The DVD is based on their pre-race talk given to their athletes at each Ironman™ race in North America, usually the day before the race. In fact, the taping for this DVD was done at IM Louisville last year. Not to give too much away from the DVD, the four points they discuss deal with race week and race day execution, something they refer to as “The Line,” racing in “The Box,” and “The One Thing” that will lead an individual to a breakthrough performance.
Having gone through the experience of being a neurotic first-time Ironman participant myself, I found their advice, their tone and their one-liners to be extremely helpful in my preparation for race day. If anything, McCrann and Strauss (for lack of a better phrase) keep it real. The one-liner that I found so useful to keep in mind: “There’s no such thing as a great bike split followed by a poor run split.” They really break everything down, from why you should NOT hang out at the expo before the race, watching everyone parade around in shirts from their biggest, hardest race; how to make lists and prepare your special needs bags, how to mark them to stand out; what transition will be like; how to eat in the days leading up to the race; calories during the race; pacing yourself so that when/if you hit a difficult point in the race (they say mile 18 of the run, but this is subjective) you are prepared to deal with it, etc.
With a running time of 120 minutes, this DVD presents a great deal of information. Not everything will apply to every person who watches this – for instance, I don’t believe I ever really got to “The Line” in my IM race, but did I pace myself and make a point to keep moving forward at all times? You bet. An iron distance race is an individual experience, so not everything they discuss will be the case for each viewer. With that said, the majority of the guidance given in this DVD is of universal value whether it’s your first race or your fifth.
My recommendation: buy this DVD, but if you’re a first timer, buy it at the beginning stages of your training. Although this is based on their pre-race pep talk for Endurance Nation athletes, listening to their advice and race day issues they discuss will be great for you to have in mind throughout your training. Then watch it again in the last weeks before your race. You’ll get to race day mentally, physically and emotionally prepared, putting you ahead of so many of your competitors. Except for the other Endurance Nation athletes, that is.
Check out www.endurancenation.us for more info. You can purchase The Four Keys to Long Course Triathlon DVD for $29.99.
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