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Watt it takes to go 9 hr 24 min at IMAZ

Carmen Monks (43) competed in November’s Ironman Arizona, finishing in an impressive 9 hr 24 min and in so doing getting his ticket to Kona punched. Carmen is a long-time M2 athlete; in fact, he is the original Grasshopper (TOG) having trained with M2 since 1994.

A strong-willed competitor and possessing a general sports background, Carmen fully embraces fundamental M2 training tenets in his approach to training:

• Rethinking Base Training
  
• Training Backwards, the Pyramid Turned Upside Down

Carmen practices wattage-based training using a Computrainer indoors, and a Powertap for his road sessions.

Ironman Arizona saw Carmen use his Powertap to pace himself at an average of 214 watts, riding fairly even pace for optimal performance and a good run to follow. Pre-race I had indicated that 220w would be a good pacing target – not bad.

Take-away items for folks reading this post are the following:

• Training substance matters more than training hours – time-constrained athletes should take particular note.
• Training with Power allows Carmen to get the most out of his training, as well as to pace effectively in his races.
• Building “base” with threshold and strength training, allows Carmen to get a better training effect from his long rides/runs, and which are done as race-specific training in the final weeks before his event.
• At M2 Revolution, we practice the same training concepts.
• Note the absence of doctoral thesis nutritional strategies.

Race Summary

Finish time : 9 hr 24 min 39 sec
Place : 48th out of 2250 competitors
Age-group : 4th Place 40-44, qualified for Kona ‘09

Carmen’s Bio

Age 43
Married with 3 children
Citicorp Executive
Lives in Boston, known for its balmy winters.

Training Hours

Jan - April	8 -10 hrs	long run 60-70 min, long bike 80 min on Computrainer February Training week in California rode a lot
May - August	12 hrs avg	long run 80-90 min, long bike 2.5-3 hrs
Sept - Race	15 -16 hrs	5 x 2 hr+ runs, longest 2 hr 12 min, long bike 4 hr 45 min, 4hrs swim, 7-8 hrs bike, 4-5 hrs run
Peak Training Week	16-17 hrs

 

Q&A

Your training hours seem to fall far short of what the average IM athlete feels necessary, and certainly for someone posting a 9hr time:
I never really worried about this, biggest week I would say 16-17 hrs max. More concerned w intensity and pace variations during workouts vs. duration.

Describe your longest rides, and which also appear to be shy of what IM athletes feel necessary:
Longest IM prep ride was 4:45 hrs w lots of wattage-based pacework mixed in. Probably @ 94/95 miles. Did B2B ride back in June but never did another long slow ride pre-race. Did not hurt me imho.

Shorter rides were harder in many fashions than 6-7 hour variety we used to do – focusing on my target watts really tightens up the ride effort and I felt that the overall quality of the rides more than compensated for the shorter duration. Always tried to ride last hour of any ride very engaged, again referencing my target watts.

For the record, I think conditions/course @ AZ set the table for a 4:50 ride or so, but my level of emotional engagement due to the Citicorp debacle that week did not allow it.

Tell us about how you use power/watts for you cycling training:
Having trained with you for so many years, I have always used the Computrainer to measure fitness in wattage terms. Focused sessions in the winter generally last 50-70 minutes where the focus is on improving my 20min watts, as well as to develop cycling specific leg strength.

I like the objective measurement, x watts for a given time, yay or nay. Bottom-line is the better my 20min watts the faster I am at any distance.

For 2008 I finally broke down and took your advice in getting a Powertap – great tool, should have gotten it earlier. Two primary benefits worth noting, at least for me:

• Pacing – really drove home how poorly I paced in training and racing, always going out too hard and paying a price. My 2nd lap at IMAZ saw a slower pace, focus issues, but my 3rd lap was almost as strong as lap 1, a first for me in finishing strong. Felt great beginning the run, and ran well.
• Awareness – made me aware of how much down-time characterized most of my road sessions. Went into this race with fewer bike hours, but was confident of my fitness nonetheless.

Really looking forward to using the PT in ’09 – so cool to have objective numbers for my favorite routes, and to compare one year to the next – has added a fun and useful new dimension to my cycling, and thus good for motivation.

What about 3 hr Computrainer sessions to build base?
NEVER! I can’t imagine the boredom, and knowing from experience that these rides are not necessary means that there is no reason for such tedium.

Do you do any physiological testing; VO2 max, lactate threshold?
Haha. Like you I don’t really see the need for such. Field testing either on my Computrainer or on the roads with the Powertap gives me all the info I need to measure fitness and plan training – don’t really see the need to spend time and $$ on superfluous testing.

Please comment on your Race Day Nutrition:
No need for any extraordinary planning, kept it simple as in training.

B'fast: metrx lite shake w water, banana + pb/jelly sandwich on whole wheat. (Hotel room, no kitchen). Probably would like a bigger b'fast next time.

Race: 8 gu's, 3x 1/2 banana, 4 bottles of gatorade endurance formula. Good energy all day. Water of course.

On run, 2x gu's and mostly coke w some gatorade mixed in late. Perhaps a bit under-caloried late in run – not sure if late marathon pace decline due to this or general race fatigue.

Amazed at how good my legs feel post-race.

swim	bike	run	total	rank	age group
1:02:17	5:02:29	3:11:50	9:24:39	48 of 2189	4 of 399

leg	distance	pace	rank	div.pos
TOTAL SWIM	2.4 mi. (1:02:17)	1:38/100m	296	46
FIRST BIKE SEGMENT	37 mi. (2:46:12)	22.37 mph
SECOND BIKE SEGMENT	37 mi. (4:27:16)	21.97 mph
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT	38 mi. (6:09:27)	22.31 mph
TOTAL BIKE	112 mi. (5:02:29)	22.22 mph	105	11
FIRST RUN SEGMENT	3.5 mi. (6:36:07)	6:39/mile
SECOND RUN SEGMENT	8.6 mi. (7:36:39)	7:02/mile
THIRD RUN SEGMENT	8.3 mi. (8:42:00)	7:52/mile
RUN FINISH	5.9 mi. (9:24:39)	7:13/mile
TOTAL RUN	26.2 mi. (3:11:50)	7:19/mile	48	4
FIRST RUN SEGMENT	3.5 mi. (6:36:07)	6:39/mile
TRANSITION				TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE				4:41
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN				3:22