On Sunday 30th November 2014, SRM sponsored triathlete Michi Weiss was crowned Ford Ironman Cozumel Champion for the second year running. His winning time of 08:12:16 set a new course record and contained the best bike split and second best run split of the day. Notable achievements indeed when you consider that this was his twelfth triathlon race in a 12 month racing period that included 4 full Ironman’s and 3 Ironman 70.3’s. In this article I want to describe the year-on-year (YOY) comparison between the Cozumel SRM power files in order to explain what it takes to put over 20 minutes into a class field of pro triathletes, and also look a little more closely into the files to gauge what, if anything, a long, hard year of training and racing has changed about the way that Michi races on the bike and how SRM power file analysis can be used to influence training and get the best out of an athlete.
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Ironman World Championships - Kailua-Kona, October 11th, 2014 On a day that many were calling the windiest and most difficult bike day in the last 15 years of the Ironman World Championship on the Big Island, Hawaii, SRM sponsored triathlete, Michael Weiss, posted a bike split of 04:33:35. In a stacked field that included all the best Ironman athletes on the planet, that was good enough for the 6th fastest time of the day and that even included a rear wheel puncture while riding at 60km/h just 15km into the ride which took Weiss approximately 5 minutes to repair without race support, damaged his speed/distance sensor and effectively killed his chances of catching the leading group right then and there. Thereafter Michael battled the swirling winds over the infamous lava fields entirely alone making for a long hard day in the saddle. Even so, he still managed an average of 294W (306W normalised power) for the duration and in so doing expended 4770 Kcals.
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Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant, North American Championship, By Hunter Allen With a new baby, a new bicycle company (Dimond bikes), and training, TJ Tollakson is one professional triathlete that has to train efficiently and effectively. He cannot afford a wasted minute in his training and maintains a training discipline that many envy and few can follow. He uses two of the most important tools in training and racing to help him achieve great success, like his recent win in Ironman Mont Tremblant, and those tools are his SRM Training System and TrainingPeaks WKO+ software. “My SRM is so important, and I mount the PC7 right on my handlebars, so I can look at it without moving my head or position a single bit. I look at my SRM almost the entire time and sometimes it feels like I am a Jedi knight controlling my power and heart rate just the way I want it.” TJ also uses TrainingPeaks WKO+ software to analyze his power and pace data and has a clear understanding of his power data and metrics. "I look at my Performance Manager Chart obsessively inside WKO+ and know what my FTP is at all times. TrainingPeaks WKO+ software gives me the confidence to race smart and do the perfect pace for my FTP."
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SRM sponsored triathlete and Luxembourg resident, Dirk Bockel, was invited to join the Tour of Luxembourg's prologue on June 4th, a 2.55km course featuring a fast descent, sharp corners, and a killer cobbled climb. The Ironman Champion and Uplace-BMC Triathlon Team member completed a training block at the SRM Italia Headquarters leading up to the Luxembourg event with a primary focus on Challenge Roth, July 20th. Dirk provided his SRM race file from the Prologue and races at 189cm with approximately 76kg.
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Another race and another great result by SRM sponsored athlete Michael Weiss taking the podium at his home race in St.Polten, Austria. His overall time was 3:53:45 which included the fastest bike/run combination of the day for his 4th consecutive race. Eneko Llanos and Marino Vanhoenacker took the two top spots respectively. Great weather, which went from a warm and pleasant 18C at dawn to 25C by the time many of the age group ranks were coming home, combined with superb race day organisation and an electric atmosphere which the Austrians seem so good at creating, resulted in a super day for all. Congratulations to everyone involved. In this article, as always, I want to look at Michi’s numbers from the bike leg [His numbers were metronomically similar to his IM 70.3 St.George performance 3 weeks ago to within a handful watts although slightly higher during short efforts which is a sign that frequent racing is still sharpening his form rather than turning into fatigue]. But also, because one of my best age group coached athletes, Dubai-based Ian Le Pelley, was taking part in the race and whose physiology I know as intimately as Michi’s, I thought that comparing the power files between one of the best athletes in the world and one of the best age group athletes in Dubai could be an interesting insight for many readers. I should also point out that this was only Ian’s second 70.3 race ever and his first for three years yet he still managed to come 11th while posting the second fastest swim and bike splits in his age group. Not bad for a man with a full time career and young family! Impossible is, as we say, nothing. Let’s take a look at what these two incredible athletes are doing that the rest of us can learn from:
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