How They Train ...

How They Train ...

In this, yet another "first installment" of what will become a regular feature here at Ironmanlive, we have a look at the way Kate Major and Faris Al-Sultan train. The two were the recent winners of Ironman Arizona, which means they must do something right in the training department!

Kate Major:

Ironman Arizona was the second Ironman title of Kate Major's short, but so-far-very-impressive triathlon career.

 

Major, 27, a former professional squash player, retired from the racquet sport in 1999, and began swimming, biking and running in 2001. In 2002 she won her age-group at the Ironman World Championship. In 2003 she was ninth-overall. Last year she followed her first Ironman win (Lake Placid) up with an impressive third place finish in Kona. She is coached by Australian Nick Croft.

 

The Australian's season didn't end after her great finish in Hawaii. In mid-November she finally ended a long season of racing at the Tri-California race at "Treasure Island."

 

"Then I went home and did what I wanted, when I wanted," she said in an interview just days before she won in Arizona. "I just went out mountain biking with my sister, did a couple of runs, did some surfing. I just chilled out for a little bit. It was nice."

 

So, does that mean she played any squash?

 

"Oh no, that's too hard on my body now!" she laughed.

 

When it was finally time to ramp things up again, Major took about eight weeks to get herself up to her regular training level. Once there, she returned to her North American training base in San Diego for a few last weeks of "work" before heading off to Arizona.

 

"A typical training week is probably 25- to 27-hours," she said. "A big week is 30- to 32-hours. I'll only do that much for two- to four-weeks, depending on where my training was at previous to that."

 

Racing is an important part of Major's race preparation - both as part of her training, and to also test herself.

 

"I raced twice when I was home, just for a bit of fitness and to see how I was, then did Ralphs a few weeks ago in preparation for this (Ironman Arizona), and then did a little bit of tapering for two weeks."

 

Major swims at least three times a week, but usually gets in five- or six-workouts in the pool.

 

"There are three main sessions and two recovery sessions where we focus on technique," she said. "One of the recovery sessions will often be an open water swim."

 

A typical workout in the pool will entail 3,600 to 5,000 meters of training.

 

"When I'm at home we usually do 3.8km time trial before the race," she said. "Then, the week before the race, maybe 8 x 100 to get some speed in."

 

Despite the fact that Major basically spends her life in summer - Australia from December to March, San Diego from March to November - she does two of her five bike workouts every week indoors on a CompuTrainer.

 

"I do Computrainer workouts because I can control my wattage and other things a lot more than when I'm outside," she said. She does her long rides, which can get up to six hours in length, outside, though.

 

Major does four run workouts every week, and augments all that with two or three water runs.

 

Each week there's a fairly intensive interval workout that can include intervals as short as 200 meters, or as long at one mile. This year Major has done most of that interval work on roads or trails, but she does also run on a track when she can. Every week there's one "longer" run in the program, too.

 

"Then I do a couple of shorter runs. I also do a couple of water runs a week," she said. "That helps, especially on your big mileage weeks when you don't want to go out pounding your legs all day. The water runs help my muscle tissue to recover."

 

All that training certainly seems to have paid off - Major is rapidly becoming one of THE women to watch on the Ironman scene. We'll see her again later this season when she tries to defend her Lake Placid title, and of course in October when she will once again race in Kona.

 

So how does Ironman training compare to her days competing on the Professional Squash circuit?

 

"I had a lot more time on my hands when I was playing squash," she said. "There's not nearly as much training in squash, and it's a totally different type of training. Our events would go for a week. You'd train in the morning and play at night. In this sport, you've got the whole lot in one day!"

 

 

Faris Al-Sultan:

Germany's Faris Al-Sultan has rapidly become one of the most talented young faces on the Ironman scene. He followed a third place finish at the Ironman World Championship with a win at Ironman Arizona.

 

Al-Sultan's Ironman season starts every year with "two training camps in the United Emirates, where I do a lot of miles and just train as much as possible," he said in an interview a couple of days before competing in Arizona.

 

He likes the United Emirates because "the weather is nice (it almost never rains), the roads are nice, and it's just a five hour flight from home. It's almost perfect conditions."

 

"Train as much as possible" includes 450 miles of biking every week, along with 40 miles of running, and then 10-15 miles in the pool.

 

"That's basically it," he said. "I come home, recover, then I have some hard sessions and then I start tapering for my races."

 

When he is at his home in Munich, the 27-year-old swims five times a week with a swim club.

 

"We do a lot of medley to stay flexible and to not fall into a certain kind of pattern," he said. "I also try to work on the technique all the time, which is difficult if you always try to work on your own.

When I'm at a training camp, a lot of my swimming is alone, and my technique becomes a lot worse."

 

Al-Sultan's biking regimen is ... well, hardly regimented!

 

"On the bike, I train outside. If it rains, then I don't go."

 

"I hardly do any intervals on the bike," he said. "Most of the time it's just racing or doing easy stuff. I do a lot of strength work on the bike where I put on a high gear and really push hard. I do a lot of that."

 

(Anyone who saw Al-Sultan pull away from the rest of the field on the bike in Arizona won't have any problems believing that statement!)

 

In terms of running, Al-Sultan regularly does one hard track session every week.

 

"Then one race or a longer run," he said. "For the race I'll cycle there, do the race, then cycle back. It's a very good workout. Then the rest (of my running) is pretty easy."

 

"Two or three times before an Ironman I do a two-and-a-half or three-hour run," he said. "I go pretty easy for 1:45 or 2 hours, then for about 20 or 30 minutes really hard."

 

Al-Sultan will test his training formula in three Ironman distance events this year - in addition to his race in Arizona, he'll also compete at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, and will, of course, be back in Kona in October.

 

You may contact Kevin Mackinnon at kmackinnon@ironmanlive.com