I recently went to Brazil, where I had the chance to watch the Brazil Ironman race.  I have done the Brazil Ironman 3 times (2005; 2006 and 2007.)  It is along a beautiful course with just a few hills on the bike course and one hill on the run.

The Ironman competition was born in Hawaii during an awards ceremony for a foot race.  A debate ensued among competitors about who is the more fit -- swimmers, runners or other athletes. One of the participants, Navy Commander John Collins and his wife Judy, dreamt up a race to settle the argument. They proposed combining three existing races together, to be completed in succession: the Waikiki Rough Water Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112 miles, originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). "Whoever finishes first we’ll call the ‘Ironman’," said Collins. Fifteen men participated in the initial event held on February 18, 1978; 12 completed the race, led by the first Ironman, Gordon Haller. His winning time: 11 hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds.

This year’s Ironman Brazil took place on May 31st in the City of Florianopolis and hosted 1500 athletes from 34 different countries.   Eduardo Sturla won the race in 8 hours and 13 minutes.  Our own Florida triathlete from Lakewood Ranch (Sarasota,) Heather Gollnick, took 3rd place in the women’s category.

I also had the chance to watch my brother, who I also coach, finish his first Ironman in 12 hours.
Watching the race reminded me of a training tip that I always provide to my athletes. I always tell them to race progressively. It is a common mistake to start too fast, especially on mid-to-long distance races. If you start out too fast you will burn all of your fuel early, and you will feel the loss later on in the race when you need that fuel.  That is why it is so important to do progressive training.  Progressive training runs are workouts in which you gradually increase your pace during your run.  A progressive training run does more than just add some variety to your training routine;  it can also be used to train for negative splits, improve your race performance,  build your lactate turning point*, raise your mental toughness, condition your central nervous system, and improve your ability to run at a quality pace when fatigued.

* Lactate threshold training will raise your lactate turning point, which is the rather vague running intensity at which your body begins to produce more lactic acid than it can process for energy.

Lactate turning point is tightly associated with race pace. When you improve your lactate turning point, all of your race paces from a mile race to a marathon will improve. That makes lactate threshold training one of the most valuable weapons in your running training, and progressive training is one of the most efficient ways to do that.