Athlete Series: Kelly’s Big Day
The Big Day. The day that most athletes look forward to with a little bit of excitement and a little bit of fear. It’s an epic day of training designed to simulate 140.6 race day feelings. It’s a day designed to showcase all of the preparation an athlete has put in up to this point; a day to learn if the nutrition is dialed in. I remember my first Big Day very clearly. It was such a big learning curve for me. But it definitely prepared me for the ups and downs of race day. Let’s dive into the details.
What is The Big Day?
The Big Day is designed to simulate race day. This means that the athlete will give up an entire day to training. Not only will they swim, bike, and run, but they will be forced to have recovery periods and dial in nutrition. If they get any of it wrong, they’ll know by the end of the day.
Each coach will most likely have a variation of the day, but mine is outlined below:
Workout 1: Swim. If my athletes have access to Open Water I’ll have them do an hour long open water swim. If they do not have access to Open Water, then they’ll do a long pool set totaling one hour.
Recovery Period 1: Rest. This is a two hour window post swim designed for the athletes to recover from the swim and work on re-fueling. They need to top off the tank in order to start the next workout.
Workout 2: Bike. Here I have my athletes do a five hour ride mostly in zone 2 (this is goal power for IM). The key is steady effort throughout the ride and focusing on what they’ll be taking in for nutrition.
Recovery Period 2: Rest. This is the second two hour window post ride designed for the athletes to recover and re-fuel. Again this is taking up time in the day so by the time they get to the final workout of the day they’ve devoted 10 hours to training.
Workout 3: Run. On this final workout we’ll determine if nutrition/hydration was on point. My athletes will do a two hour aerobic run. The goal is a steady effort around IM pace with focus on nutrition.
It sounds like a lot before the race, but I find it necessary to help my athletes prepare both physically and mentally for the stress of race day. I try to have my athletes do the Big Day four to eight weeks out from their race. This gives plenty of recovery time. This also allows us to dial in anything we need to that surfaces on the Big Day (i.e. nutrition issues, power issues, etc.). They go into the Big Day with a little big of fatigue (way more than they will for the race) and then they get a nice recovery day the following day.
Kelly’s Big Day
Let’s get to Kelly’s day. First off, let me say that he crushed it! If there is one thing I know about Kelly, it’s that no matter what he is feeling or going through he gives his best. Not only is he physically strong, but he is mentally strong. The combo makes for a great long course athlete!
Kelly started the day at his local pool. Access to open water isn’t super easy for him so I had him swim many 1000s to get the day going. Each effort was super steady and each 1000 was within a second or two of each other. Perfect. He then took his two hour Recovery period. He did a super job of resting and fueling here as he followed up his swim with a solid ride.
Workout two was the ride. The goal of the ride was Ironman race power and fueling. Kelly spent 4 hours and 53 minutes at race power! Bonus; his heart rate stayed one zone below. Excellent to see. This shows he is in good form, he’s fit, and we aren’t overreaching on his power. Kelly even got a bit excited and rode a little long to get in a full 100 miles on the ride. He then earned Recovery period two.
Finally Workout three, the run, arrived. Kelly was indoors on the treadmill for this run. His pace fell off about mid-way (but honestly I expect to see this some) as he dealt with some side stitches. He still mostly held steady pacing (mental toughness!). Nutrition seemed to be on point.
At the end of the day, Kelly was able to relax and have a great meal that his partner Tee made for him. Tee is also one of my run athletes and a phenomenal sherpa to Kelly!
The Numbers
Let’s take a brief look at what he accomplished on his Big Day, as well as some fun ATL, CTL, TSB numbers.
Swim: 3500 yards (56 minutes)
Bike: 100 miles (5:30:00)
Run: 10.2 miles (2:00:00)
CTL: Going into the Big Day -> 64. Post Big Day -> 72.
ATL: Going into the Big Day -> 69. Post Big Day -> 119.
TSB: Going into the Big Day -> -6. Post Big Day -> -42*
*This is a big number. Over the next several days Kelly had rest or recovery sessions to bring that number back up within a better range ( -30 to -10) so as not to risk overtraining.
Now What?
Now that the Big Day is over, it’s back to “normal” training. Kelly has had a few days of light workouts and his form is in a healthy place. He has not complained of physical niggles and when asked has said is body is feeling good. With five weeks to go before IM California he will go through one more Build phase before we shut things down a bit and give him a taper.
Special Shout-Out
I wanted to give another of my athletes a shout-out as well. On the same day that Kelly was completing his Big Day, I had another athlete, Jared, doing his Big Day on the other side of the country. Jared also had a fantastic day (although he did have to seek shelter during his bike due to crazy thunderstorms!) putting together an excellent open water swim, good power control on the bike and staying strong on the run. His nutrition was also dialed in! He is looking strong for IM Florida.
Questions
If you have any specific questions about the Big Day, or training in general, I’d love to chat with you. You can send me an email and I’ll happily respond.
Currently I am looking to add 3-5 more athletes to my crew for the 2023 season. If you are interested, send me an email to set up a free phone consultation.
-Happy Training