But if the floral Hawaiian leis looked out of place in the desert landscapes of Utah at the 2021 Ironman Worlds (held in May 2022), the racing in St. George was certainly worthy of Kona.<\/p>\n
Long-course queen Daniela Ryf<\/a> <\/strong>returned with a vengeance, Olympic champ Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a><\/strong> proved that he\u2019s already an all-time great, while a total of five elite Brits secured top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n And yet it wasn\u2019t all plain sailing for the elites in America. A raft of Did Not Start (DNS) notices deprived us of seeing Ali Brownlee<\/a><\/strong>, Lucy Charles-Barclay<\/a><\/strong>, Javier Gomez<\/a><\/strong>, Gustav Iden<\/a><\/strong>, Jan Frodeno<\/a><\/strong> and more, while the evident strain in the faces and bodies of racers showed that everyone hurts when racing Ironman. So here\u2019s what you can learn from the Utah saints for your first \u2013 or next \u2013 226km adventure\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Previous champs Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange<\/a><\/strong>, Brit contenders Lucy Charles-Barclay and Ali Brownlee, Ironman 70.3 king Gustav Iden<\/a><\/strong> and many more.<\/p>\n By the time the Ironman Worlds kicked off in the unfamiliar setting of St. George, Utah, the pro field had been decimated by DNS\u2019s from a wealth of major racers.<\/p>\n And yet, despite the loss of earnings and exposure, the elite withdrawals<\/a><\/strong> showed that top Ironman athletes are astute at listening to their bodies, something of vital importance for age-groupers, even if entry fees and hotel bills may be on the line.<\/p>\n \u201cTop endurance athletes know when it\u2019s sensible or not to train or race,\u201d say Kona qualifier and 9 Endurance Coaching\u2019s Will Newbery<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNo single race or training session is more important than the bigger picture. Elite racers do this for a living and yet we see them pull out of races to preserve their body, despite the risk of losing prize money. Having a good coach and support team will help as they will pick up on what\u2019s serious enough to stop training or racing.\u201d<\/p>\n Carb and fluid intake is crucial in Ironman, with sodium consumption<\/strong><\/a> also playing a major role to ensure you avoid the dual dangers of dehydration and hyponatremia<\/a><\/strong> (when the concentration of sodium in your blood is abnormally and dangerously low).<\/p>\n Brit athlete Fenella Langridge, 30, continued her stellar ascent in St. George with a top-10 placing. Her smart approach to fuelling can be seen in the data from Precision Fuel & Hydration<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Langridge executed a similar plan to her IM Mallorca race in 2021 (70g of carbs and 608ml of fluid per hour in Utah compared to 71g and 664ml in Spain), but she increased her sodium intake by a third on the run to counter Utah\u2019s rising heat (29\u00b0C versus Mallorca\u2019s 20\u00b0C).<\/p>\n \u201cFenella knew that temps were going to soar as the day progressed,\u201d says Andy Blow, founder of Precision Fuel & Hydration. \u201cSo she pre-loaded with [sodium-rich] PH 1500 tablets in 500ml of water the night before, and by sipping on two PH 1500 tablets in 1L of water throughout race morning. Increasing her sodium to 983mg\/hr paid dividends in the latter stages as others began to fade.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Whether it\u2019s a first-time athlete aiming to beat 17hrs, or elite racers at the pointy end, Ironman race day can invite a wealth of pressure, nerves<\/a> <\/strong>and expectation. How you manage this will have a major bearing of the 226km to follow.<\/p>\n Coping with the expectation of going into Utah as a pre-race favourite was Britain\u2019s Kat Matthews<\/a><\/strong>, 31, who continued her meteoric rise (Matthews only started tri in 2015) by finishing second behind five-time winner Daniela Ryf.<\/p>\n \u201cPressure can be applied from friends, colleagues, social media or even sponsors, but stress is your own emotion, and you can decide how you balance it,\u201d Matthews told us post-race.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Utah, I drew in the pressure from what felt like the entire tri world and used that as fuel to build my confidence. If informed people thought I could win, then maybe I really could!<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the only thing is to give every race your absolute best \u2013 there\u2019s no one who can ever say that your best on the day isn\u2019t good enough. Additionally, rationalise the pressure to consider the worst-case scenario. For me, that\u2019s not trying or giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n Brit athlete Kat Matthews is proof that a data-driven approach to training can reap the rewards. And fast. Here\u2019s why monitoring watts, HRV<\/a><\/strong>, HRM<\/a><\/strong> and more can help you plot a path to your Ironman goals.<\/p>\n \u201cData is great. It can reassure you that what you\u2019re doing is progressing you towards your goal,\u201d states Will Newbery. \u201cPower meters have become commonplace on bikes, and I encourage athletes to record both power and heart rate during workouts to see if there\u2019s too big a drift between power and heart rate when working aerobically.<\/p>\n \u201cSleep patterns<\/a> <\/strong>and recovery performance (such as Heart Rate Variability) are important to let you know that you\u2019re well rested enough to be able to train at the correct intensity. And keeping a training diary such as TrainingPeaks<\/a><\/strong> will allow you to plot fitness trends and see if you\u2019re overtraining.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Entering T2, the reigning Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt had a 4:26min deficit to make up on the leaders. It rarely looked in doubt, the Norwegian displaying the mentality, hunger and ruthlessness that all top champions \u2013 see Ryf \u2013 possess to reach their lofty goals.<\/p>\n Blummenfelt\u2019s reward, in only his second full Ironman race, was to become the first person to hold both Olympic<\/a><\/strong> and Ironman world titles at the same time. But what can we learn from his ironclad mindset?<\/p>\n \u201cKristian seems phenomenally strong in the six inches between his ears,\u201d Newbery believes. \u201cIn the Olympics we saw him run away from the fastest runners in the sport, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde. Kristian wanted it more and was willing to risk everything to win gold.<\/p>\n \u201cPossibly the most important part of the Ironman journey is focussing on the why. Why race? Why carry on? Why not stop when it gets hard? If you have an important reason to carry on when it gets hard \u2013 the family sacrifices you\u2019ve made or because you want to qualify for a world champs \u2013 then that makes it harder to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n It may have lacked the humidity of Kona, but the heat was still cranked up in Utah, the mercury rising to 29\u00b0C on the marathon run. That didn\u2019t stop athletes from Norway and Switzerland from taking the overall titles, however\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of things that will be out of your control and can go wrong,\u201d says Core Ski & Triathlon Academy founder coach Nick Busca<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cAnd they will go wrong. More time to prepare will lead to less stress and more leeway to overcome hurdles. Look at the likely weather conditions of your event and try to match that in training \u2013 heat acclimatisation is a must on courses such as St. George.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can\u2019t go to an overseas camp and train in hot places, aim to arrive at the race early and train in the heat<\/a><\/strong>. Also look at wearing more layers on the run and using a turbo without the fan in your training blocks at home.\u201d<\/p>\n1. There will always be another race<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2022\/06\/There-will-always-be-another-race-2fdd7f7.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>2. Ignore sodium at your peril<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>3. Own and control your emotions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>4. Metrics can help your overcome Ironman<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>5. Focus on the whys<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>6. Acclimatise to the conditions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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