photo courtesy of Brian Mengel
because there were no past experiences to Step one: Fix the Swim a sense of pacing is paramount. He was
compare to Joe’s current progress. Instead, Given Joe’s swimming background, we swimming 500s, 800s, and 1000s, totaling
we watched his transformation through wanted to root the majority of his early about 4000 yards per session.
his daily training, monitoring him with season physical conditioning in the pool. At first, the interval duration was
all the tools we had at our disposal, like We could count on his familiarity with the daunting as he was misjudging his intensity,
physiological testing, field testing, and race sport as an efficient approach to keeping his causing him to lose pace toward the end
results. We watched how he quickly picked overall fitness level high, while improving of the workout. This response is not at all
up new skills, and at every turn, Joe came the new skills and techniques that needed uncommon. We weren’t trying to make him
through. He was a natural. for the bike and the run. Like many former faster in the water – we were trying to make
Brian again alluded to what he saw in competitive swimmers, Joe’s swimming it easier. It took us about a month to define
Joe’s potential in mid-summer. Joe had won abilities needed some adjustments to be the pace that would work for him. Once we
a few local races by this point, and made a more triathlon-specific. came to this realization, we then set to work
gutsy move near the end of the Philadelphia At first glance, his collegiate swimming on manipulating his workouts to specifically
Insurance Triathlon. Joe was in second place results were fairly moderate. Joe’s talent lower that pace.
overall midway through the run – about 45 was largely shaped by a childhood of open- Every month or so, we gave him a few test
seconds back. Brian was watching the race at water swimming and competitive racing sets to complete that were nothing more
around the 3-mile mark, and made only one through the legendary New Jersey shore than big workouts. After only four months
comment as Joe ran by: “Go get him.” lifeguarding program. What he lacked in the of training, he was holding a pace that was
It was all he needed to hear. There was skills necessary to excel as a competitive comparable to his collegiate race pacing,
a noticeable shift in his pace. On the flat pool swimmer, he more than made up and it was coming at very little expense to
and straight course, Joe could see first place for when he got into open water – an the rest of the work he had on his training
up the road, and without care for pacing or environment that often rewards the very calendar.
discomfort, he made the decision to win the stroke mechanisms that pool swimming
race. That desire to win is immensely difficult punishes. With his collegiate swimming Step two: Get on the bike
to teach, and many coaches believe it is history in mind, we went to work on his The most significant challenge Joe faced
impossible. triathlon program. this year was his lack of riding experience.
Brian asked me one morning to start I knew Joe had done plenty of super- Completely new to the sport, Brian’s first
looking for information about who I thought threshold work in training laden with 100 instruction was to have Joe join him on the
would be in contention for the Age Group and 200 yard repeat intervals in previous group ride that he leads every Saturday
National Championships. When I got back to years, and he had become completely morning. On the first ride, Joe showed up
him later that day with my search results, we stagnant and unresponsive to this type of on his borrowed bike in a cotton t-shirt and
pored over the information and it occurred training. We replaced these short intervals right away was riding 10 meters off the back
to me exactly what he had in mind. with long endurance intervals in which
Continued on pg. 68
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