Week summary 1/28-2/3 and some talk with Mark Allen

Week summary: No workout Friday, which ended up being travel day all day.
So, 6 day week:

Swim 13,000 meter (4 sessions) 4:01
Bike 140 miles (4 rides) 7:55
Run 40 miles (6 runs) 6:06

Low back became very sore on Saturday's bike ride. Became even more sore over night and worsened yet doing flip turns on Sunday mornings swim. Went ahead and ran 11 miles 2 hours after swim Sunday, and awhile later after stretching, road 25 miles in the rain, Z2 power. Felt ok until the 12 mile 25 mph headwind on the way back. Now back is so sore I can hardly sit up straight. We'll have to play it by ear for tomorrow's planned workouts of 4k swim, 10 mile run and 25 mile ride. We'll see.

On the way down, Mark Allen sat down by Ann in the airport as she was looking over the top 10 women pro times from IMAZ past 3 years. He asked Ann, "so, you doing that race?" Ann looked over at me and said, " is that Mark Allen?"
I looked up from reading my log book, and of course recognized him immediately.
We sat together on the plane and talked a bit on coaching and such. You can gather alot of information in a very short period of time if you ask the right questions, and listen.
We talked about his running preparation going into his Kona victories in the 80's. I asked him how the hell did they post nearly as fast bike times at Kona in the 80's on road bikes, with all the innovation in aero technology and nutrition, ect. He chuckled at this and just said, "yeah, I guess". I find in incredible that the overall times at Kona havent changed that much considering how many years of technology in the interim since the Allen-Scott days.

I asked him what he thought of Clearwater World Championships. He didnt seem impressed with the race as he sarcastically repeated to me "world championships?". Yeah...I explained to him my thinking in the whole thing. Many people cant get to Hawaii World's for whatever reason. The Clearwater race allows people who cant experience the true Hawaii experience to have a feeling of what it's like.
This is true, the race is run very much like Kona as far as the way they take care of athletes, the promotion, ect. Mark agreed, "yeah, its something I guess". Overall, he was very unimpressed with the creation of a 1/2 World Championship. I told him Ann and I dont plan on running there again, mainly for the obvious fact of you cant truly compete with those who cheat at the race, and cheat the sport. Again, he agreed and stated many of the athletes he trains feel the same.
Yet, it is a promotional monster that will go on. I think the ultimate key is course selection and the presence of officials.

He told me many of his athletes complain of others who draft on the course and doesnt know how to respond to some who feel cheated. I explained to him my thinking and what I tell my athletes. You CAN legally draft, just play it safe and stay 8 or so bike lengths back. If a pack passes you, go with them, but stay legal. I know this works because if I ride legally behind someone, I can see my watts drop about 5-10. Well, 10 watts is alot in an Ironman. It can translate to 10 minutes in a 112 TT. Of course, you dont stay legally behind someone or a pack the entire time. But, if you stay legal as much as you can and use people to get a bit of legal draft, you can save several minutes. Anyone who uses a power meter knows that if you literally draft off someone, the watts drop up to 80 or 100. So, catching a bit of a legal draft and saving 10 watts is legal, and can improve your race. More so, it may keep you in contact with those you're competing with, so you can make a move on the run. He seemed to agree to this by nodding his head, but I got the feeling he didnt have tremendous experience with power meters. I could be totally wrong on this though.

I explained to him why I liked Australia's course because of the "T" pattern, and the overwhelming presence of officials on the T portion of the course, which was most it, which leads to athletes not being tempted to draft. Who know's...maybe Clearwater, and IM Florida, will make positive changes in the future.

Anyway, I learned a few things in our short conversation. He wants email on our progress this season, esp from Ann, of whom he seemed very impressed in her times this year considering she's nearly breaking the top 10 overall at age 38. I told him that on our 2006 Ironman Hawaii poster, Dave Scott signed his name directly above Mark Allen's. He laughed and said, "yeah that's typical...or something like that". I told him this year we'll have him sign our poster right across the top so every other pro we see will sign under his name.

We said our goodbyes and said "see you in Kona".