YIG

YOURIRONGUIDE has had 12 exclusive interviews with some fantastic pro athletes (and add to that a couple of AG athletes) connected with our home event in Busselton to give great information for any improving Ironman. Instead of running each interview individually, we thought it would be better to blog a couple of questions and get different responses from each pro to compare them. We like to call it a “vertical interview”

More interview questions will follow in upcoming blogs (including some very personal questions on body shaving with some interesting answers!) so stay tuned. 

##Don’t forget to have a go at the pole question on the left of the page (rank the 6 parts of IM). The pros will give their answers to this question in a couple of weeks. We hope you enjoy reading their responses.

To keep it short and sharp on blog #one – we reveal two questions that you can consider on your next training session. So that you can keep an idea of which pro said what, here is our stunning pro line-up:

Martin Jensen (MJ), Todd Israel (TI), Matt Burton (MB), Liz Blatchford (LB), Matty White (MW), Lisa Marangon (LM), Bree Wee (BW), Rebecca Hoschke (RH), Guy Crawford (GC), Katy Duffield (KD), Michelle Duffield (MD), Kate Bevilaqua (KB), Brad Hosking (BH), YOURIRONGUIDE (YIG)

“Do you have a motto or saying that you live by with your Ironman training/racing?”

I try to have fun everyday in training and enjoy the lifestyle. Triathlon brings me so many amazing experiences, so that is pretty easy. (MJ)

If it was easy everyone would be a champion. (TI)

May be somewhat cliché though run by a few thoughts…

"Get it done"

"When you’re not training someone is to beat you" (MB)

Train hard, race easy. (LB)

When I first started racing as a professional my motto was "If I don't win prize money I don’t get to eat this week"! Now it’s "what beers are they serving at the after party"! (MW)

Don't think just do. (LM)

I don’t have a motto or saying that I live by, but life has taught me not to take anything for granted so I just try and appreciate my moments, the people in my life, and whatever it is I am doing at the time. (BW)

Maximise the moment with what you have to work with.  Expect nothing, prepare for anything, and the future will take care of itself. (RH)

Not really but when I start to feel bad and you will at some stage, I repeat the same thing over and over again: "you feel good, you feel strong" you say something enough and you start to believe/feel it. (GC)

The ironman motto pretty much sums it up - Anything is possible (KD)

Not so much a motto or saying. I do pick a race 'anthem' for each of my Ironman races. It started when I first registered for an IM and they asked the question about which song you would like to hear when you cross the finish line. From then on each race has a song dedicated to it which will "gee" me up during any session.   (MD)

I don't have one particular saying or motto. More like key words that I like to draw on. For example when swimming, arm turn over, rhythm, pull. On the bike, STRONG, Aero, FAST, on the run, high cadence, relax the shoulders, 1km at a time! 

When I am racing I always remember and remind myself of great, successful, tough training sessions that I have been through that have prepared me for that event! Those days give me confidence! (KB)

The 7 P's. Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (BH)

What we have is based upon moment-to-moment choices of what we do. In each of those moments, we choose. We either take a risk and move toward what we want, or we play it safe and choose comfort. Most of the people, most of the time, choose comfort (YIG)

As we should all now be in to a fairly set routine with training – it seemed a good opportunity to ask the pros this question:

What is your most dreaded training session? 

I dread all sessions on a turbo trainer. So basically I hope for good weather during all my race build-ups... (MJ)

I love training the most, but the one session I find hard to get excited about is a 2km swim time trial.  (TI)

Again I don't want to sound cliché though I dread no session. I tend to get nervous with session of importance, so most days, but after training with the thought that no 1 day is as important as the next there is not time to dwell just look to improve. (MB)

4.5 h bike including 4 x 20 min TT and finishing with 1 hour at best effort. Straight into 60 min run off at 3h marathon pace. (LB)

Time Trial sessions, hitting target numbers after a big training block is crucial, and not hitting those gives your confidence blow (MW)

I actually don't have one...I love every session I do! (LM)

My most dreaded is pool swims alone.  I can handle a bike or run or ocean swim solo, even a challenging one.  But something about being alone in a pool just drives me to tears, it really is not fun for me and if you aren’t enjoying it its difficult to keep focused. (BW)

Lactate threshold sessions.  (RH)

Hard Long Run. It’s left a few soul scares!!! But it's also left me feeling very confident. (GC)

Max power ergo intervals. I always have a rough night sleep before hand as I think about the pain and suffering to come. They hurt like nothing else, and I usually feel a little sick afterwards. But when I come good, I know it's taken me to the next step. And for that reason I 'enjoy' them. (KD)

My program is full of surprises. I never know what's coming and it's rare that I repeat sessions, so I don't really have anything to dread until its over and done with - then I know how hard it was. I have had a couple of 14 hour training weekends though, seeing the back of those (until next time) makes me happy.  (MD)

I love going long and slow so 6 hour rides and long runs excite me and I love them! But…doing a shorter hard 4 hour ride at race pace with a hard run of the bike….I know that is going to hurt!! Yes…I definitely get nervous thinking about it!  (KB)

ERGO 5 by 5's. i.e.  90min session incorporating 5 x 5min at Maximal sustainable effort to exhaustion on a 5min recovery. The bucket is always on hand with this one :) (BH)

An hour of power……riding in a tight group with very similar ability people who all know they are there for just one reason – to put the hurt in to every other person. By the same token – these are often also the most rewarding! (YIG)