Coach Jackie Acana: Observations

Jackie is one of our most experienced and sucessful coaches. After returning with her athletes from Kona I asked her to give us her perspective.



I thought it may be beneficial to tri group members for me to list out what skills were most associated with the athletes I coach and who I have watched over the years who experience the most success. These athletes include not just “winners” of the race or their age group but the true ambassadors of the sport. I am sure you must have come across the athletes who exude excitement about our sport and perhaps even motivated you to give it a “tri”. This also includes those who have met their goals for their race or season. This most definitely includes those who decided to increase their exercise, give up a bad habit, improve their food choices and enjoy a more vibrant lifestyle no matter what their place was in the race. The athletes I have witnessed with the most success have shared the following traits:

Stick to the plan – Successful athletes do not make arbitrary changes to the plan of action that was established to support their goals. Naturally, any good coach or self coached athlete will make adjustments based on major schedule changes, injuries and illness. However, the most successful athletes do not change their minds about where they are headed. They do not second guess where they were going or why. They put their faith in the path that was set out and don’t waiver. I once met an athlete that thought nothing of changing direction mid-season and even during taper to follow what the latest article said or some tip picked up from a guy they met at a party. They ended the season frustrated with their results. Be a diligent goal setter so every step you take is getting you closer to your dream. You need to break it down into manageable pieces and start tackling them one by one.

Be consistent – The most successful athletes do most of their workouts most of the time. Sure, there are legitimate times you should miss a workout. For example, when you are sick you should skip it. However, most other reasons do not take the entire day and night. Most successful athletes find a way to be creative with their schedule so they can get it done. It may not be their favorite time or location. Perhaps they’d rather run outside in the morning but had to go into the office early. The creative athlete will run at lunch time on the treadmill or after the kids are in bed at night if they have to. They may not like the alternate workout as much but they will do what they have to do within reason to achieve their goals. This also means they are consistent on not just a weekly basis but on a daily basis. Missing 4 days and then doing all missed workouts in one day is not how the highly successful athletes do it.

Be realistic- Setting your sights high is a good thing....to a point. Expecting to be vastly improved in a short period of time will generally lead to disappointment. I know many of you as children were told you could be anything you set your minds to. Well, at 5’3” I am probably not going to play basketball at a competitive level no matter how bad I want it. Keep your goals high but achievable with some reaching. Keep in mind this includes a realistic time table. It may take years, not weeks to reach more difficult goals. In our society the desire to do nothing or the absolute minimum and get something for it quickly is widespread. I am not sure why since it does not work in the long run, ever. The athletes who are very successful do not follow this popular bandwagon. They do not expect it to be easy or without sacrifice.

Be Patient and Persistent – While this often ties into being realistic it is also about not giving up. Yes, it is hard sometimes. That is what makes it so rewarding. It may take years, not weeks to reach more difficult goals. Did it take you 20 years to gain that extra 20 pounds? Well it will probably take more than 20 days to lose it in a healthy way. Be patient with the process. It is easy to backslide into old habits. The important thing the most successful athletes know about pursuing difficult goals is that they will fall off at times. Their success comes from getting back up again over and over again.

Be Flexible- Anything can happen on race day. Things can go wrong and frequently do. Many things are beyond your control. If you enjoy the disciple and like seeing the results of your hard work, it really isn’t as important what happens on race day. Many talented athletes have lost my respect by having temper tantrums at the finish line because of this or that perceived unfairness. You need to be able to go from plan A to Plan B or even C or D. This is the best way to ensure your “success”. In advance I like to think of my best case goal. If everything is just right, what am I capable of achieving? Next, I have the “What is most likely to occur” goal. This is the one I will tell my friends and family about. I never tell them the best case goal so I can keep the pressure off myself. Next is the “what if things go wrong “ goal. This is the goal I go to if I have a mechanical or a stomach problem. It is the goal I can live with if things out of my control start to happen. Finally, the main goal I have had since I first started and is still very important to me which is simply to finish. Finishing is why we start. It is for the glory and bragging rights after the pain goes away. Finishing is the only goal I encourage my beginner to have. One caveat; I do not encourage anyone to try to finish if it would cause permanent damage. Bad injuries and illness fall into the category of “Let’s not be stupid, we can always do another race if we handle this problem now correctly”. Being able to move between these goals go a long way toward making you a successful athlete.

It is not just about the workouts – When I first started in this sport I thought if I just did all the workouts in my plan, I would be on the podium. It took some time to realize it takes so much more than that. The best athletes have dedicated themselves to a whole lifestyle approach which includes flexibility, nutrition, stress management and core strength. The athletes who stay in the longest also include rather than exclude their families and important non-athletes in their lives. These are all important aspects you should include if you want to stay in the game for more than a season or two.

Have Fun- In the final analysis, this is a hobby. It is supposed to be fun. The most successful athletes do not forget this. While they may have on their game face during the race, they are in it for the joy of the sport, the camaraderie and the lifestyle. Enjoy the journey. Granted, I do not enjoy every hill repeat on the bike, every minute of every long run and surely not every lap in the pool. Generally, however, I find it worthwhile and rewarding when I finish. Find joy in your training by sharing it with others or find serenity in training alone. Do what works for you but have some fun doing it.

Everything counts and it is all worth it.

jackie@xcellperformancegroup.com
702.376.0437
2033 Hobbyhorse Ave.Henderson, NV 89012

Quest for Kona: by Jay Watson

Quest For Kona, an Ironman Arizona Race Report
by J.A. Watson

As many of you have probably done, I started watching the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona on T.V. a couple of years ago. I was captivated by the Hoyts, Blazeman, the parade of nations, the underpants run,etc. and thought Kona would be a pretty cool thing to do. I've been doing Tri's for 3-4 years, did the bike portion of Silverman the first two years, and have been somewhat successful in OLy-1/2IM races. But I've never done a full ironman or even a marathon. So I figured I had an outside shot of qualifying for Kona when I aged up in 2009. My plan was to volunteer for the spring 2008 IMAZ and register for spring 2009. When they changed the date to fall 2009 and I could register online, I went ahead and signed up for this years fall race.

Looking at past results, I figured I would have to go 10:30 in M45-49 to have an outside shot. OK, that's doable: Swim 1:15, Bike 5:15, then run my first marathon in$;00 with transitions thrown in there somewhere! I've had issues with pulling calf and hamstring muscles when I run, and I only run with compression sleeves on my calves now.(even though they look hideously ugly!) I'm an Ob/Gyn doctor and have a 10yr old daughter and 8yr old son, so my training schedule is usually 2-3 swims, runs, and bike rides per week. Masters swimming at 5:30am for the past 2 years, longest run 16 miles, and longest bike 81 miles.

I tapered for 2-3 weeks and drove down to Tempe on Thursday night. Friday morning I did the Gatorade warm-up swim at Town Lake. 65 degrees, choppy, murky and swam for 35 minutes. I was surprised at how many foreigners were there and there wasn't a lot of body fat to be seen, so I was a little bit intimidated. I took advantage of the free massage and told the masseuse that I had problems with my calves and hamstrings. So he proceeded to give me an A.R.T.(active release technique?) massage, which left me feeling like I had charley horses in my calves! I spent all day icing and compressing my calves, and the next day heating and trying to massage and roll out the knots in my calves. NEVER try anything new on race day, or 2 days prior to race day for that matter! I felt much better by race day though.

Race Day: My day started at 3:30 with my typical pre-race banana and oatmeal breakfast, then drove from my sisters house in east Mesa to the race sight. Calf sleeves and trisuit, lots of chamois cream, got body marked, checked out my bike, loaded up aerobottle with accelerade and velcred 2 flasks of powergel and accelgel to my bike. Suntan lotion and then tried to relax till wetsuit time. Surprisingly I fely pretty relaxed at that time. I spoke with a guy who was doing hios 16th IM of the year!Don Hennesy? I want his job!!! I jumped in the water 14 minutes before the start, and set up about 2/3rd the way over to the bouys-away from shore. I started my watch when the pro's started 10 minutes before us and positioned myself about 5 people back from the front and waited for the cannon to go off. My swim going out was very uncrowded and I got bumped more coming back in, but also caught a good draft on the inward leg. I felt good the whole swim and checked my watch after my wetsuit was pealed off and was pleasantly surprised with a 1:05:35. (37/247 in AG) WOOHOO 10 minutes ahead of schedule!

I put on a TT suit over my trisuit for the bike and had a decent T1 of 5:49. I headed out on the bike and started reeling in the faster swimmers. I tried to keep my pace steady and not get overly excited, but I know the adrenalin was running high. I got passed by the first and only pack I saw about 10 miles into the bike, but they thinned out going up the hill to the turn around. I didn't see any penalties get handed out, but I did see a few people in the penalty tents. The marshalls did seem to be ever present on Beeline Hwy, but nowhere else that I saw. I was surprised there was a headwind going out on the first 2 loops, then it shifted to a tailwind for the 3rd loop. First loop
22.19MPH, 2nd 21.64MPH, and the last loop 22.09MPH. I didn't bother to pick up my special needs bag, since the volunteers were AWESOME! Every high speed handoff was like they'd been practicing all week long! The only glitch I had was when my TT suit zipper broke as I was trying to zip it down in the last mile. I ended up just tearing it open. I'm glad I started zipping it down well before T2. Bike:5:05:50.....SWEEEET! T2 1:14 and headed out to do my first marathon at
6:18:27.
I put on Desoto arm coolers on the fly and tried to take in water and
gatorade at each aid station. I kept telling myself to run the whole marathon-NO WALKING! First 2 miles I did at 7:30pace, but it felt like 8:30 and I thought the markers might be wrong. Probably oxygen debt! I knew I had a long way to go. I didn't know where I stood, but saw 1 guy pass me on the bike in my AG and 5 on the run. No muscle cramps or pulled muscles, maybe that ART was a good thing?! My pace started to drop on the second loop. I had to stop to use the facilities twice, so maybe I was drinking too much. I bonked slightly at 20-21 until I got
a gel at the next aid station. I kept pushing it and caught back up with 3 guys in my AG in the last 3-4 miles and pushed hard the last 2 miles as I was still unsure how I stood for Kona slots and didn't want anyone passing me coming in.

Finished at 10:12:43(run: 3:54:17). My race couldn't have gone better, but I knew qualifying times would be lower on such a perfect day. Turns out I was 13th in AG and only 7 Kona slots. I still had to go to the rolldown the next morning just to make sure. I felt bad for the guy who finished 8th in under 10 hours and still didn't get a spot. YOu actually had to be faster in M45-49 than M40-44.(9:53 vs 9:54) My time would have put me in 3rd M50-54 which would get me to Kona, but I've decided not to pursue that next year as family and finances take priority.(Maybe!) Maybe Silverman will be my Kona. No Kona spot for me this year, but I had fun trying! I'll just have to experience it vicariously through Michael Sullivan for now!