October means two things: it's pumpkin spice latte season and it's Ironman World Championships season! In this week's episode, Coach Katie and Coach Kevin—both 2X Ironman World Championships qualifiers—break down their respective journeys to the Kona ticket. We cover the training, budget, lifestyle, logistics, and mindsets that helped them achieve their goals, and we also offer tips for athletes who simply want to level up their Ironman game. We also answer a bunch of listener questions related to hydration, ERG mode, and saddle sores, and share coaching and training insights on mindfulness, DNFs, and when to call it quits. Check it out!
Coaching & Training Insights
Katie: Two recent and related athlete stories
DNF story at IM 70.3 Jones Beach
One of my level 3 athletes had a bit of an unexpected DNF at IM 70.3 Jones Beach recently and we have been processing parts of it together; sharing this story with his permission.
“Water sucked. Weather sucked. It’s miserable out. Got part way through the swim and, while it wasn’t a full blown panic attack, I was physically uncomfortable. It’s not rare for me, so I went to my place to find my fight and just found nothing…As I hung onto the paddle board fighting with this decision, I rationalized that I had two personal bests this year, a very long season, and nothing to prove. I’m disappointed and sad, but this was a choice, the right one, and I’ll come back stronger…Off season is going to be refreshing so I can hit Eagleman hard in the spring…Feel like Forrest Gump when he just decided to stop running. Lol”
Shared a meme with the Forrest Gump quote: “I’m pretty tired… think I’ll go home now.”
Something I’ve talked about with Elena: the more experienced you are, the more likely you are to DNF at some point in your career (voluntarily) because you are putting yourself out there more.
From my athlete: “That’s 💯 true and this is a turning point in my career as an athlete. I’ve only DNF’d once before and I was brand new and it wasn’t voluntary.”
This athlete had a STELLAR season with a marathon PB in May, major Ironman PB in July, and admittedly it was a bit of a gamble as to whether that momentum would carry them to a third race mindset-wise even if the fitness was there.
Proud of him for making this brave call rather than suffering through the rest of a race that his heart wasn’t in
When to call it quits and when to keep pushing
One athlete who was signed up for NYC Marathon and had some big and exciting goals
Unfortunately, dealing with recurring plantar fasciitis and the last several weeks have been a very delicate balance of cross-training, dry needling, a million different gadgets and devices for pain management, testing the waters, trying out a run, flaring up again, repeat
Really struggling with the decision to continue or not. After most recent long run (14 miles with pain miles 9-14), sent me this text:
“It’s sore. I think I’m ready to give up. I’m feeling defeated, sad, mad. And also can see that part of me will be relieved if I give up. Running isn’t joy now, or good hard. It’s bad hard, painful. That feels crappy…I just don’t think my body could handle running another 12 miles on top of what I just did. Not in terms of fitness. My body parts….and the self talk is as hard as the injury… Why didn’t I do more of x? Why did I even try this? Why aren’t I tougher and willing to keep pushing? … But I really do think my victory here is the striver voice isn’t winning. My inner wisdom keeps saying ‘you don’t need to do this to prove anything to anyone’ and ‘how nice that now you can focus on something different and maybe that will be more joyful.’”
As a coach, I am prouder of this athlete for ultimately deciding to call it quits and focus on getting better. Staying on the track is easy; stepping off into the unknown that is more aligned with your gut is hard.
Takeaways from both stories:
From a season planning perspective, consider truncating your season into less than ~7-8 months; it’s soon after the six-month mark that I start to see people get TIRED mentally and physically, but especially mentally. This is true even if they have a mini off season between races.
“A” races are an enormous physical and mental ask. I think it’s hard to have two in one year even if spaced relatively far apart. The longer the race, the more this is true.
Leading with the heart is both powerful and brave! Everyone should do it more, and I think learning how to do that will leave us more confident in any hard decisions that we have to make
Overall: proud coach moments everywhere!
Jim:
A little story about a recent easy bike ride, incorporating a lot of our training principles: Came back from 7 hours in the car and decided to go for a bike ride.
Setting intention: Forgot headphones. So instead used it as an opportunity to set a mental and physical intention for the ride. that became the focus rather than listening to a podcast
Easy spin after travel instead of a workout - My original intention was to get in a little workout after travel but soon realized that travel had taken a toll and was not feeling it. I resorted back to our tactic of easy spin to move blood after travel and not try to chase fitness in a suboptimal state.
Bring (or buy) Snacks - At the turnaround, Istarted to get hungry because meal timing and content was off from traveling. I stopped to get a cookie at our favorite CSA farm. Even better, I bought two cookies. Like the Special Forces saying goes: One is none and two is one!
Think ahead to recovery and next workout - I also bought a sandwich to put in my back pocket as I was running errands right after the ride and knew I needed some real food afterward. As a result, I felt fantastic while running errands and could have rolled into a strength session thereafter.
Thinking fast is a skill, not always an effort - At the turn around, I checked mph, it was 18.4 as there had been a little tailwind on the way out. Because I had refueled big time with the two cookies and felt fantastic, I decided to do a little fun ‘think fast’ experiment. On the way back the goal was to keep it Z2 HR but keep up the same speed. It’s more uphill on the way back and there was a slight headwind. What was I going to do to keep up the same avg speed? I focused on a tight, low position on the bike, emphasizing keeping my head low. Also reading the terrain; on the slight downhills, I would tuck. On the flats, it was think fast, stay low and keep a consistent effort. On the uphills, I lifted my watts cap and gave a bit more effort. While this wasn’t a “workout” per se, I was very mentally and physically engaged, playing a game of speed and effort while keeping it an easy ride. As a result, avg speed actually increased to 18.5 when I hit the bottom of the big hill back to town where I then shifted into a very easy gear and spun the last 5’ really easy for a cooldown.
In sum, you can engage a lot, mentally and physically on just a short recovery bike ride. What was originally just an easy, brainless ride turned into something very engaging, fun and productive.
Joy of flat pedals: Keeping on the bike theme, during my travels this week, I brought my older gravel bike and put flat pedals on it. As we easily pedaled around Deer Isle on multiple days, I reflected on some of my favorite bike rides. And I found a recurring theme: flat pedals! I think this is because nothing says have fun like a kid, riding around in your sneakers with flat pedals. Your intention is to go easy, explore, take in the sights, be social and not chase anything that looks like fitness or a workout. You are riding a bike because bike riding is just fun!
From Adam (runner and triathlete): “I was reflecting that ~1 year ago I couldn't manage 6:30 pace for 2x10 minutes during the threshold test and now I'm maybe one or two more training cycles away from running that for a marathon. Consistency and structured training is cool.”
Main Content
It’s that time of year again (besides pumpkin spice latte time): World Championships time! It’s super exciting to watch the races in Nice, France and especially Kona. Nothing will get you cranked up more than watching the pros swim in Kailua Bay, rocket down the Queen K and run smoothly out of the Energy Lab heading back to Ali’i Dr to claim glory.
It’s nearly every triathlete’s dream to compete at the World Championships. We get asked frequently: What does it take to qualify? Today, hopefully we have some answers for you! Our goal is to outline what it takes in the preceding years / months in order to reach Kona. Every athlete’s journey is a little different but there are some common themes that we will touch on today with Coach Katie and Coach Kevin, 2X World Championship qualifiers and racers.
Even if you don’t dream of leaving all your bodily fluids on the Big Island, we invite you to stick around as, like with all of our episodes, we discuss broad training principles, tactics and strategies that apply across all race distances.
To give you a context for your triathlon journey, it might help to quickly recap how we think about skill and experience levels for triathletes. This is a recap from Episode 47: How to plan your race calendar.
Level 1: You are new to the sport and are learning dozens of fundamental skills and building out a fitness foundation. When you graduate from this level, you are able to swim 1500 yards in open water, sighting every 7-9 strokes, bike safely 25 miles on the open road while eating and drinking and run 6 miles in an easy, aerobic Zone 2 HR. Typically this level is 2 - 4 years. It’s the most important and we never try to hurry out of this level as it is the very foundation for your triathlon career and success.
Level 2: You consolidate the skills from Level 1 while racing sprints/Olympics and even 70.3’s. Regularly training 7 - 10 hours per week.
Level 3: You are very familiar with triathlon and are becoming competitive in your Age Group or finish fairly high overall in local triathlons. You have been racing for 2 - 4 years and have a developed sense of racing. You have 9 - 12 hours a week to train on average, for months at a time, and ability to train up to 15 hours per week during big weeks. Level 3 athletes are doing sprint/Olympic/70.3 and Ironman races.
Level 4: You are a competitive age grouper and compete for top 10 positions in local to regional triathlons. You are looking to win your Age Group at local/regional Sprint/Olympic/HIM/IM races. You have 12 - 20 hours a week to train on average, for months at a time, and ability to train up to 25 hours per week during big weeks.
In sum, if you are a Level 4 athlete, and sometimes level 3, it can be time to start dreaming Kona! It might be helpful to check out Episode 49: Setting Goals in Training and Racing
*Katie & Kevin - any general advice to those athletes starting to dream about Kona qualification? When in your triathlon journey did you start to think about World Championships? (Insert joke here about Kevin being a complete baller and qualifying in his first triathlon.)
Katie - Triathlete progression from couldn’t swim across the pool to KQ
Kevin - Number 1: Dream it, think it, set the plan!! For me it was sort’ve after I qualified when I got obsessed with Kona… to be honest I had no idea how to qualify, or what the race really even meant besides seeing the the Vega World champs doc of Jon in 2019.
The number one variable on whether Kona can be on your dream list or not is time. You need time. Kona is a 6 - 9 month huge time commitment. Think 15 - 20 hours a week from Jan 1 onward. You’ll need to really look at your life: Do I have the support network to do this level of training? Are my job responsibilities flexible enough to accommodate training? Are you willing to make the lifestyle sacrifices? This can not be understated: You must have the time, lifestyle and systems perfectly in place to support training almost like a professional athlete. You will be living and breathing triathlon for the majority of the year.
*Katie and Kevin - what did your lifestyle look like during your Kona build up?
Kevin:
I could not agree more on the sacrifice and support network. You have to be all in, and that trickles into many other facets in your life.
Take a step back and think of other variables in your life, and what might hinder your training?
I was very lucky from 2021-2022 for my 9-month prep. I had a great support system, i was growing my fitness brand so it was a huge priority in my life, and Kona was an absolute DREAM for me once I knew more about it. I made many sacrifices during the prep, said no a lot, my work at the time I was in a more junior role so I was able to have more flexibility, and there were no other life stressors going on.
Moral of the story, your environment has be PRIME for a big Kona prep (and travel!)
Katie:
Agree! Talk about what my environment looked like in 2019 and 2023. You have to lean into—and be OK with—the monk lifestyle.
*Katie and Kevin - A not so obvious factor in doing an Ironman, and particularly a World Championship, is cost. These races are really expensive, from gear, gym memberships, travel, hotel, race entries, etc. What do you estimate your personal budget was for these races?
Kevin: Good question, and I think people would be surprised at the huge price tag for these. I think it is so funny when outside people in my life would be like “Oh the word championships, so Ironman pays for your trip out there and stuff?” HA!
Hawaii was certainly more expensive, especially when you got there. The lodging, food, dinners, etc.
I was very fortunate to have local companies in my area through work and fitness that were generous to support my travels, but the price tag is big
Katie: Flights are a minimum 500-600 $ x the number of people you are going with. Airbnb minimum $300-400 per night and you will likely want to stay for a while so multiply by number of nights. Race registration alone is over $1K. You also need a bike bag, odd items like a swim skin, checked bags, etc. Food is very expensive too.
Kona is not cheap!!!
And remember - they make you swipe your card to register at the awards ceremony.
Think of this as a once in a lifetime vacation trip and ask yourself if this is how you would want to spend money on a once in a lifetime vacation trip.
What does a typical Kona qualifying week look like?
Monday - Day Off. Probably includes a lot of meal prep for the week, running errands and generally clearing your plate so you can train the next 6 days. -Sleep!
Tuesday - Run and possibly double run days if you are in a run training block. Double runs typically are intervals in the morning and a recovery/Z2 ride in the late afternoon / evening. If you are not in a run block, workout #2 will either be bike or swim.
Wednesday - This is the crux day of the week. You will need to allocate 3 - 4 hours today. This is usually a longer bike (2-3 hours) and possibly a swim or strength.
Thursday - Workout #1: Run Workout #2: Swim (or vice versa).
Friday - I like to include a shorter tempo bike session on Fridays and possibly some strength. This is a little intensity but not big hours today as Saturday and Sunday are significant training days.
Saturday - Long bike, 3 - 4 hours as a standard ride Jan - April and then increasing to 4 - 6 hours regularly. The goal is to make 100 miles feel like just another day on the bike. Ironman run speeds are built upon BIG bike fitness.
Sunday - Long run, 90’ - 2 hours are fairly standard along with a big swim. Big swims are 3500+ in the winter months and increasing to 4K+ for the last three months in the Build period.
In sum, your training hours will regularly be between 15 - 20 hours starting in January.
*Katie & Kevin - How did you typically structure your week to fit in all the training time?
Kevin: I will touch on my previous episode ideas of reverse planning, coordinating workouts, sacrificing certain things, etc
Katie: Importance of the “big rock” and “little rock” of the day when doing doubles and balancing that with work and other possible commitments
If you are able to arrange your life to meet the basic Kona training week, you then need to think about which race best suits you for a possible qualification.
*Katie & Kevin - what advice do you have for picking an Ironman? Do you look at Kona spots? Do you look at past results? How do types of courses figure into the equation?
Katie: I always err on the side of: race a race that approximates the terrain you can train in. But generally, the more competitive/well-known a race is, the harder it will be to get a slot; on the flip side, there are more slots to be allocated in harder races. In general I think there is no magic sauce to picking a goal race other than the race at which you can perform your best.
For me, IMLP has always fit the bill because it is close to home and because the terrain suits me (I am a good climber on TT bike and run, swim is not my strongest suit; I also would not do as well on a very flat and/or windy course).
You might also find Episode 16: So you want to do an IRONMAN? helpful.
*Katie & Kevin - As we are now a triathlon / life psychology podcast now, was there specific or general mental preparation you used for tackling the massive training and also for race day? And/or what would you use next year as mental skills training for such a big project?
Kevin:
Yes! It's easy to lose sight of the main idea… you are going to HAWAII! To race a freaking Ironman, which is the most iconic one. Most people who don't know ironman, know this race! You have to wear that with a badge of honor, and be grateful / honored you can do this race.
For the day of race, try to not focus on others' races, but only your own performance. There are people where this is their all. Kids in my age group were there for 2 weeks prior, training, it was their full time job.
Katie:
A few tips:
Honoring LSS / modifying in the short term when things get tough to avoid having to modify BIG time in the long term
Being intentional about process goals -- Kona goal can be in the background but you have to focus more on the day to day
Celebrating mini wins along the way
*Katie & Kevin - For some people, the World Championships are a low pressure victory lap / celebration and for others, it’s about being at the tip of the spear and trying to finish high (or win) their Age Group. How did you approach Kona and why did you approach it that way?
Katie: tell story of both experiences at Kona, having nothing to prove, and having a much better day than I otherwise would have
*Katie & Kevin - Looking back on your successful project, is there anything you would do differently the next time around? Any specific lessons you learned in the process or learned later on that would be super beneficial to the same or similar endurance project?
Kevin:
Yes, for starters, NOT WEAR ALL BLACK TT KIT AT KONA!
I really didn’t have many regrets or second thoughts about my Kona experience. I was still relatively new to the sport, so there are specific workouts I wish I had done, but that's any race.
I’d say more time for heat training, and hillier long runs.
Katie:
First time vs. second time - first time I initially tried to approach Kona like a second A race, got back into training too soon post IMLP, got injured. Had a miracle day where everything worked out but the road was rocky. Second time - did some tune up sessions (a few long ish bike rides, 4-5 hours and longish runs 10-12 miles) but minimal hard/long swimming and minimal other workouts/ focused on a CHILL august and having fun. Still had a great day at Kona!
This advice might be different if you were to qualify WAY in advance (e.g. qualify at IM California in October, race one year later), but in my view unless you have 4-6 months between two Ironmans you can’t have them both be an A race.
In sum, what did we learn today about Kona Qualifying?
It is a gradual, multi-year buildup to handling level of training. Do not jump into this level of training if you are a Level 1 - 3 athlete.
Consistency week after week, month after month is key.
You need 7 - 9 months to build to peak fitness. Think >160 CTL. Peak fitness is:
A 4K swim feels easy.
100 miles is a standard ride. No big deal.
Running 90’ off a 100 mile ride is challenging but very realistic. You are tired but have energy in the tank for more.
You need a very flexible schedule that allows for 2-3 hours of exercise per day on average.
You need to be a morning person in order to get daily workout #1 done before work/family/school.
Or workout #1 and #2 before work (winky face)
You need money to buy gear, travel, race entries. A lot of $$$.
Those who compete at the top of their age group have decided to live a different, almost monastic lifestyle.
Organization, forethought and planning across your entire life is critical.
The physical training is hard and the mental game is just as important.
Final important tip from Katie:
If you think you want to try to qualify for Kona, do a really deep dive on why. Following a Kona prep plan must have a deeper purpose than “It would be cool to go to Kona” because that’s not enough when you’re 13 weeks out doing a 3 hour ride on the trainer. You have to love the process. And even more importantly, you have to know that right now, without having qualified for or gone to Kona, you are enough! Because if that’s not true, then you won’t feel like you are enough once you do it 🙂
Also want to shout out to one of my athletes who did an IM last year and did not qualify though she was hoping to, then did an IM this year and DID qualify but decided not to take the slot and has a lot of closure with the distance. Super proud and mature decision!
OK, Coaches - one final question: Do you foresee Kona in your future again? Why or why not?
Katie: For now, I have a lot of Kona and Ironman closure! I will never say never, but I don’t think I want to train for and race an Ironman.
Listener Questions (from AMA)
Carb intake has become straightforward but can you talk about salt tabs (or electrolytes in general) on longer rides / runs — threshold for using, how much and how often, and how much water is needed?
Katie: The fancy way - sweat testing, though I haven’t done it. The alternative method - trial and error! Do lots of race sims, start with something like 1000 mg sodium (one LMNT per bottle) on hot days and see if you have GI issues or cramp. If yes, probably more salt!
How do you combine enough liquid electrolytes and (liquid) carbs on the bike? Do you mix a Maurten drink mix with LMNT? Getting 60-90 grams of carbs with solids is too challenging, so I would like to switch to liquid carbs, but am concerned about not getting enough electrolytes.
Katie: I do bottles with both Skratch Superfuel (lemon/lime) and Citrus flavor LMNT as my endurance fuel of choice.
Jim: Shout out to our fake sponsor Nature’s Bakery because 2 fig bars is nearly 40 grams of carbs. 2 packages plus some carbs in your bottle get you close to 100 per hour quickly! But for those that want to go full liquid carbs, we are super lucky now to
Saddle sore tips? lol
Katie: A lot of it comes down to the right combo of saddle and bike shorts. For me, I need minimal padding when I have a wide nosed saddle i.e. TT bike and more padding for narrower saddle (road bike). Definitely use a liberal amount of chamois cream and take bike shorts off ASAP and shower after.
From a listener way back when we did our female athlete series with Elena -- Adding Hibiclens surgical scrub to my shower routine for my chamois area really eliminated all my saddle sores, and doesn't contribute to microbial resistance the way a lot of antibacterial soaps do.
Jim:+1 on correct saddle (my favorite is ISM saddles), high quality bike shorts (shout out to Assos), quality tri kit (my favorite is Castelli San Remo) and preventative use of chamois creme (Assos make my favorite chamois creme).
Kevin: i was borderline tears for some of mine saddle sores… lol.
Erg mode vs. not erg mode? What are the benefits to each and how should I be using my winter indoor training sessions to optimize my bike fitness?
Listen to Episode 6!
What is ERG Mode article
Challenge of the Week
Katie: Schedule 30 minutes of chill time in your calendar
Jim: Take a fall foliage hike
Kevin: Check in on 2 of your teammates / friends / athletes. See how they are doing
Gear Pick of the Week
Katie: Alaska Bear Sleep Mask
Jim: Waxed bike chain
Kevin: Petzl Headlamp!! It's getting dark out