How to become an Ironman age-group champion

Brian Forgerty describes himself as a “part- time triathlete, full-time insurance broker, hoping one day to swap.” He’s also holder of the 2019 Ironman UK title, winning with a 10-minute cushion in a time of 9:27:12.

Brian started tri in 2012 after calling time on a football career, which involved playing for Burnley FC and semi-pro clubs around the northwest. He’s also now a coach for TriCentralUK.

Here his then coach Matt Bottrill breaks down how you too can smash your Ironman age-group…

How to smash the 3.8km swim

The key things to remember here are not to be overambitious on what could be your weakest discipline in 226km racing (it was Brian’s), and to try and draft on the feet of faster swimmers. This is what Brian and I worked on:

1. Train as a group

Injuries cut short Brian’s football career, so the challenge of Ironman appealed. We looked at his strengths and weaknesses and he’d a lot of power that needed refinement.

The swim is his weakness discipline, so mentally it can be tough, so training as part of a group motivates him.

His swim coach, Tanya Slater, pushes him harder than if he swam alone. Brian has three sessions per week in a structured coached environment, which gives him a good mix of endurance and speed sets.

2. Limit the damages

“The swim is always a case of damage limitation for me,” says Fogarty. “As a weaker swimmer, it’s important that I stay relaxed and try and swim as efficiently as possible. Over the years I’ve improved and made some big gains, which have helped me hold on and swim on the feet of faster swimmers.”

3. Be ready for open water

Before the race, swim in the open water to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the race. Here’s a great session to try out:

Warm-up

Dry land, inc. arm swings

Main set

4 x 500m laps as:

• 1st lap max effort just like the start of a race, sighting every four strokes
• 2nd lap steady swim recovery
• 3rd lap 10 strokes hard after every buoy, aiming to breathe bilaterally
• 4th lap breathe every four strokes and sight every six. Swim steady to last buoy, then max effort to finish.

Cool-down

3 x 100m easy

How to smash the 180km bike

Back in 2017, Fogarty clocked a 4:50:43 split at Ironman UK that was faster than all the elites in Bolton. Here’s how he did it…

4. Look at every detail

Optimising speed, power and aerodynamics is critical to going faster. We set about making Brian a much stronger cyclist and getting consistency within the training.

First we used power profiling to see what his strength and weaknesses were. We use Training Peaks to look at his data to see how he adapts to training.

Then we worked out his CDA (drag coefficient) and broke down every key component of the bike, from the bearings to the rider position itself. The rider is 80% of the drag so we looked at the best clothing and helmet selection.

We also had to make sure Brian could hold the optimum time-trial position in racing, so we made sure we did 80% of our riding in that position.

5. Quality over volume

Everything we do is based on training stress (TSS) rather than looking at the volume of hours. We base everything on the amount of time Brian spends in each training zone so we can work out the chronic training load (CTL) that he can take.

Every week is based on variety and different paces. Pacing in order to ride fast isn’t just about how much power you have.

It’s also knowing how to pace into headwinds, tailwinds, up and downhills, with lots of race simulation efforts. It’s not just getting the miles in! That’s the key element where most athletes go wrong.

• How to pace your first Ironman

6. Mix up your long bike sets

We aim for 6-10 hrs on the bike a week. A key set is:

Warm-up

10mins: high cadence

Main Set

20mins: 65% of functional threshold power (FTP, the max power you can sustain for 1hr), cadence 90-100, include 3 x 10secs maximal sprints

30mins: 90% of FTP, cadence 80-90, focus on aero position

15mins: 65% of FTP, cadence 90-100, refuel

30mins: 90% of FTP, cadence 80-90, focus on aero position

15mins. 65% of FTP, cadence @90-100, refuel

30mins: 90% of FTP, cadence @80-90, focus on aero position

20mins: 65% of FTP, high cadence recovery

Cool-down

10mins: 50% of FTP, really easy

7. Pace your race

For his Bolton bike pacing, the key was optimising speed, power and aerodynamics. Our goal was to start quite hard and hit the front, but then to back off the gas to leave energy for the run.

The magic intensity factor for Ironman is 0.80. Brian was in good shape and went beyond this and raced at 0.85. His target run pace was 6:40-7mins per mile.

“My biggest piece of advice is don’t set off to fast even if you feel good,” says Brian. “Have a realistic target pace in mind and stick to it; you’ll be glad you did by the 20-mile mark.”

8. Find the balance

We’ve learnt a lot from Brian’s success but also from his failings; that’s how you get to build the perfect programme.

So the communication between a coach and athlete is key; it’s not just the training, but an athlete feeding back on how they’re feeling. This is the winning combination.

“Balancing my full-time job and training can be tough,” states Brian. “Managing time is vital; I combine certain sessions as and when I can, like riding or running to my swim sessions.”

How to smash the 42.2km run

9. Racing mindset

“My race day mindset is to relax and enjoy the atmosphere! It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with everything in the build up to the race. Sometimes I have to remind myself why I do this.

“I had a good opportunity at Bolton to really try and push that bit harder than I might usually have done.

“I also know the course very well so I wanted to make that count and make up good ground on the pro’s. I felt good on the bike and was confident with my recent form I could run a really strong marathon.

“This was the case and I was very happy with my overall result.”

Top image credit: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for Ironman