Weekly Questions - Meet Tunney MOD WARNING POST 1

tunney

pgibbo wrote: »

How long should people build up to in your opinion for the bike and run for OLY & HIM & IM? Or do you think it should be time based, particualrly for the run?

I know from experience that having only ran 10 miles once and not running more that 7 apart from that one 10 miler is not advisable for a HIM :pac:

Horses for courses.

mloc123

Is it possible to train for and finish an Ironman in 4 months? Genuine question.

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

Is it possible to train for and finish an Ironman in 4 months? Genuine question.

Depends.

Some assumptions:
* the person is carrying a good bit of weight
* the person is a weak swimmer
* the race is 50/50 non wetsuit
* the person has the time to train
* the person has the inclination to train
* the cut off is 15 hours
* the person is happy to do 14:59:59
* the person has a background in the sport

Then yes it is.

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

Have you ever questioned your methodology with Jackyback - he hasn't performed in many of his A races why?

Permission was granted to discuss this.

Firstly there is alot of bull out there around Jackyback - which is amazing given how open he has been about his training. It is a small community though and its amazing what you hear back so I do know the source of most of the bull.

At the very basic levels training and racing are two amazingly different things. Some people can be great trainers and poor racers. Some can be the opposite. We all know people who train amazingly and hit huge numbers but on the day go to pieces. Likewise we know people who do very little but on the day perform amazingly.

Now specifically onto Jackyback. First thing you have to look at is who is the man. A highly driven and motivated sterotypical type A personality. Extremely successful in his career - as a result of drive and hard work. Large and young family so very busy and little sleep. Zero patience. Now, now, now, bigger, faster, harder.

Knowing who he is and how he ticks things are kept under control and mostly go well in training. London - well that sprang up out of nowhere with little winter base so wasn't happy when that was sprung on me but back to the triathlons.

So onto Abu Dhabi, Roth, and Frankfurt.

Roth. The mother of all fails. A crap swim, a crap bike and then puking your ring, crashing into a volunteer and then pissing yourself as they caught you. Medical tent for the day.

I think the average wattage on the day was 150 or so. That's the sorta wattage that.... Well no one who is even vaguely trained should hold that poor a wattage for an IM. Especially when the work was doing to hold 220 and the plan was to race off 200 - a 5:15 or so bike and being able to run.

So what happened? Roth is a nice swim. A relaxed swim. A straight swim. Okay water could be a *little* cleaner but its fine.

It shouldn't result in having to hammer yourself into such a hole to hold 150 watts that you end up getting weeks and weeks of cardiac testing and genuinely concerned that you were going to die and concerning those around you too.

Obviously we went over things in detail and all we could think that would make someone vomit in the swim, keep vomitting on the bike and being unable to drink on the bike (this did the medical damage), was food poisoning. He had prawns the night before so we blamed that.

Ignorely the health issues, this epic failure and so public too made huge dents in his confidence. IM racing, long course racing is 80% mental, 20% physical IMHO. He was shot confidence wise. To be honest the behaviour of elements on here didn't help.

Onto Abu Dhabi and an early season opener to try and rebuild the confidence shattered in Roth. Suggestions of a short course focus for a few years were not heeded so off we went. Anyways- sitting at my kitchen table tracking online and my phone rings. Jackyback????? WTF he is racing. But it was him. The bike didn't happen. A pathetic wattage, truely terrible. But it felt like FTP. Something very wrong. Chatted a bit but there was nothing that could be said. He finished anyways.

Discussion when he came back. Similar sensations and results as Roth, but clean eating. Stumped.

So I went and researched, and read, and discussed with people, dug online, asked online, and eventually came up with a potential reason. A certain percentage of the population suffer from an inner ear issue which results in severe sensations of illness when moving from prone to upright - particularly when exerting themselves in the prone position. Translation - some people get horrible motion sick when moving from swimming to cycling.

A eureeka moment, something that could be replicated in training. Like a software bug once you can replicate something you can fix it.

Solution - ear plugs and motion sickness tablets and an extra swim hat.

Now not enough time to trial before Frankfurt but I was happy that the situation would be resolved.

Frankfurt should have been a good race. The training was done, there was a fix for the inner ear issue that would have removed most of the side effects of the inner ear issue. It should have been a good race. There is little you can do about a fractured rib. Anyone who has fractured one can testify to the pain - I fractured one before and its sore. So I don't think there is any mystery as to why Frankfurt was a disaster.

I really don't see how any training methodology could have avoided the above. What would have would have been a five year plan. This would have been caught and solved well before an IM was entered. But back to the type A personality. Thats not how Fran operates and I have to deal with that. He is who he is and I can guide him but not change him.

Oryx

Just got to say, what a great post. Respect to you, and to JB. It explains a lot about what went on. I felt for him when it all went wrong, so many times, so to have answers to the issues must mean a lot.

I hope Mr Type A gets his A race eventually.

mossym

fair play for both the honesty of that post, but especially to Fran for letting the history be discussed like that.

catweazle

Oryx wrote: »

I hope Mr Type A gets his A race eventually.

I have no doubt he will - hes a hard worker and they eventually get their rewards!

For anyone hoping to go long at some stage could you rate the three courses you have done as regards accessibility, location, touristy stuff, course (you may have done more).

I know you rate Frankfurt highly but it does nothing for me - however it may be the best option for me for a few reasons

couerdelion

Fair play to the both of you for the honesty of that post.

I remember reading his race reports after the races and feeling both gutted for him and astonished that he carried on when most would have pulled out long before.

Looking forward to reading about him finally getting to enjoy his Mai Tai in Hawaii one day.


Not sure if I'm regretting nominating you... you're very much like me in a lot of regards and I aren't sure I like that
(except for the diesel engine)

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

I have no doubt he will - hes a hard worker and they eventually get their rewards!

For anyone hoping to go long at some stage could you rate the three courses you have done as regards accessibility, location, touristy stuff, course (you may have done more).

I know you rate Frankfurt highly but it does nothing for me - however it may be the best option for me for a few reasons

Race|Accessibility|Location|Touristy|Swim course|Bike Course|Run Course|Support|Go back|Rank
Austria|Hard to get to|Very picturesque|Feck all|Nice, canal unnerves some people, horrid glare on the water on the return leg, need tinted goggles|Nice, some climbs, no cobbles, nothing technical|Okay. One bit through a tunnel gets very clammy and I didn't like it|Good support, figure of eight run course means very spectator friendly|If I ever think I am on form again yes with the kids|1
Frankfurt|So easy to get to|Junkies, prostitutes and the ECB|See location|Similar to Austria in that its a lake, some years its horribly short, like 1:10 swimmers swimming close to an hour.|Cobbles and tram lines, also long|Steps and ramps, worst of the three|Excellent, excellent|Yes|2
Roth|Hard to get to but not Austria hard|Nice|Didn't see much given the circumstances|Excellent swim course|Similar to Frankfurt course but its 2km short rather than 3km long|Epic, favourite run course|AMAZING bike support. No run support.|Definitely|2

tunney

I suppose what I am saying is I would go back to any of them

Austria has a special place in my heart.
Roth I have a score to settle with.
Frankfurt is a good course and SOOOOO easy to get to.

catweazle

Thanks for that - and last question as it is friday - when on average do they start annoucing race dates and do they change much - eg if I was doing one this year Ironman Uk would suit (my wife)* best :mad:

Write that one in the black book Shell to run

Oryx

IMUK was prereg and sold out in a few days.

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

Thanks for that - and last question as it is friday - when on average do they start annoucing race dates and do they change much - eg if I was doing one this year Ironman Uk would suit (my wife)* best :mad:

Write that one in the black book Shell to run

Austria is typically the same time or there abouts as Frankfurt. First week in July or last week in June. Roth two weeks later usually.

If wifey is an issue and its mainly cost - Frankfurt is the cheapest by far, then Roth, Austria the most expensive.

Oh Roth is waves - Glenda's response to that one is "I'm not watching waves, I hate waves"

tunney

Oryx wrote: »

IMUK was prereg and sold out in a few days.

I'd rather rip my own boll0ck off with a rusty pliers, saute it with some onions and eat it than do that race.

Oryx

tunney wrote: »

I'd rather rip my own boll0ck off with a rusty pliers, saute it with some onions and eat it than do that race.

I'm not even going to ask why but I will make note and see if I agree with you on 21/7

tunney

Oryx wrote: »

I'm not even going to ask why but I will make note and see if I agree with you on 21/7

Thought you were doing wales?

I did the UK half for years and have no time for the organisers. Sole reason

Oryx

tunney wrote: »

Thought you were doing wales?

I did the UK half for years and have no time for the organisers. Sole reason

Nope. Ive done the uk half, organisation was okay, the location drove me mad

tunney

Oryx wrote: »

Nope. Ive done the uk half, organisation was okay, the location drove me mad

Ahh well in that case just ignore my comment

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

The above post captures everything really, better than i could put into words. What it does is highlight the most important of coaching. It's not how many letters after your name, qualifications or the several different training approaches and thousands of articles you have read. It's all about UNDERSTANDING THE ATHLETE YOU ARE COACHING and modifying the approach to training.

Pretty spot on summary in fairness, he forgot to mention i am awesome though....and a better coach:)

shotgunmcos

Aydin Repulsive Saleswoman wrote: »

The above post captures everything really, better than i could put into words. What it does is highlight the most important of coaching. It's not how many letters after your name, qualifications or the several different training approaches and thousands of articles you have read. It's all about UNDERSTANDING THE ATHLETE YOU ARE COACHING and modifying the approach to training.

Pretty spot on summary in fairness, he forgot to mention i am awesome though....and a better coach:)

In a way you have it bang on but the awesome bit comes first.
Like the building blocks of emotional intelligence coaching is a similar order.

Understand yourself first. Your values. Your comms style. Your natural impact on different values and styles. So what the client will understand about you. Self awareness.

Then as you stated JB, understand the client/athlete. The ability to ask questions that give you real answers, awakening answers, insight to create the plan. Social awareness. Genuine curiosity will do it. Our kids are experts.

Finally, steering your athlete. Using questions, passion and guidance that to keep the focus and energy on but holds the athlete accountable for finding their way. Empowering them. Social management. Practice on kids, then your client or vice versa, but never the OH.

So Tunney, rate yourself out of 10 for each block?
What is JBs self defenseman mechanism?:)
When did you last cry and why?
When have you pushed yourself to the absolute limit, empty tank?
What are your pet hates?
If you were a woman for a day, what would you do?
If you were invisible for a day what would you do?
Dogs or cats?
Sell your P2 cheap to a newbie aiming for a try a tri or no haribo ever again?
How long can you hold a plank for after reading this? (I know JB asked already but his post was type A overkill )

Zebrano

Favourite motivational quote

TRR

Hi Tunney

Just wondering about coaching side of things!

-on average how much time does coaching 8 athletes take?

- are you in regular email contact with all 8 athletes or in general do you just get an email at the end of the week with a report?

- you said in a previous answer that you get as much enjoyment from your athletes success as you do from your own successes! Is this entirely true? If so do you think this could have an impact on your own drive to get back into full fitness?

trihead

hi Tunney,

Few mixed ones here...

1. Do you still have a Haribo addiction?
2. Where did you meet you wife, Glenda?
3. Has she ever done a triathlon? Did you try and get her involved in the early years?
   
4. You were originally in Belpark years ago and had a 'break up' as such with the one of the guys there. Have you moved on from this or would there still be an issue if you paths crossed accidentally in a non-triathlon setting, for example a work setting or with kids?
5. Do you think you will continue to race (triathlons)in some format as you get older ... 40s / 50s?

thanks:)

tunney

Zebrano wrote: »

Favourite motivational quote

Memento mori

tunney

shotgunmcos wrote: »

In a way you have it bang on but the awesome bit comes first.
Like the building blocks of emotional intelligence coaching is a similar order.

Understand yourself first. Your values. Your comms style. Your natural impact on different values and styles. So what the client will understand about you. Self awareness.

Then as you stated JB, understand the client/athlete. The ability to ask questions that give you real answers, awakening answers, insight to create the plan. Social awareness. Genuine curiosity will do it. Our kids are experts.

Finally, steering your athlete. Using questions, passion and guidance that to keep the focus and energy on but holds the athlete accountable for finding their way. Empowering them. Social management. Practice on kids, then your client or vice versa, but never the OH.

So Tunney, rate yourself out of 10 for each block?

Full marks for effort but everything can always be improved.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

What is JBs self defenseman mechanism?:)

Not sure I understand the question

shotgunmcos wrote: »

When did you last cry and why?

No idea, good while ago I suspect.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

When have you pushed yourself to the absolute limit, empty tank?

Been a LONG while. Lisboa half would be the only tri I can recall, any and all 5km and 10km races I've ever done.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

What are your pet hates?

Eating with an open mouth
People starting to eat before everyone is served
People "helping" the waiter clear the table out of some sort of Irish sense of shame and guilt
Misuse of words when talking
Alot of things annoy me

shotgunmcos wrote: »

If you were a woman for a day, what would you do?

Whinge and b1tch and moan probably.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

If you were invisible for a day what would you do?

Kick the cr@p out of Bertie Ahern.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Dogs or cats?

Dogs.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Sell your P2 cheap to a newbie aiming for a try a tri or no haribo ever again?

No haribo

shotgunmcos wrote: »

How long can you hold a plank for after reading this? (I know JB asked already but his post was type A overkill )

Will try tomorrow.

tunney

TRR wrote: »

Hi Tunney

Just wondering about coaching side of things!

-on average how much time does coaching 8 athletes take?

Alot, an awful lot really.

TRR wrote: »

- are you in regular email contact with all 8 athletes or in general do you just get an email at the end of the week with a report?

Daily, multiple times a day for some

TRR wrote: »

- you said in a previous answer that you get as much enjoyment from your athletes success as you do from your own successes! Is this entirely true? If so do you think this could have an impact on your own drive to get back into full fitness?

The amount of time invested can be a drain on time available.

yes I do get an awful lot of satisfaction from my athletes performances.

tunney

trihead wrote: »

hi Tunney,

Few mixed ones here...


Do you still have a Haribo addiction?

Not as bad at all as it was

trihead wrote: »

Where did you meet you wife, Glenda?

Computer Applications in DCU in 1997

trihead wrote: »

Has she ever done a triathlon? Did you try and get her involved in the early years?

No, she has no interest. She runs, does spinning and she used to cycle for commuting but zero interest in triathlon.

trihead wrote: »

You were originally in Belpark years ago and had a 'break up' as such with the one of the guys there. Have you moved on from this or would there still be an issue if you paths crossed accidentally in a non-triathlon setting, for example a work setting or with kids?

This will last until the day I die. People who know what happened know why. To get a flavour reread this thread and there is one post that tells alot. Also google "Matt Coughlon high court action apology" to get another taste of this individual. Another telling part is how pretty much EVERYONE left the club with me - hence Phoenix TC, rising from the ashes.......

trihead wrote: »

[*]Do you think you will continue to race (triathlons)in some format as you get older ... 40s / 50s?

I hope so. I look a the Man with the Tan as how I would like to be in my 50s.

Dory Dory

If you're permitted to say, who is the Man with the Tan?

Kurt Godel

If you were a woman for a day, what would you do?

If you were a woman for a day, who would you do?

Better question;)

Oryx

Kurt Godel wrote: »

If you were a woman for a day, who would you do?

Better question;)

You want to know what kind of man he goes for???