Coach Vinnie recently discussed the physical training required to get yourself to the big show in Kona. I want to expand on his comments by discussing some of the other skills you need to develop to help you achieve your Hawaiian Ironman Dream.

In nearly every endeavor, the secret to reaching your goal is to model yourself on other achievers. Yet the biggest mistake age groupers often make is to model their approach on what the pros do.

Even top age groupers have jobs that restrict them from being able to match what the pros can do in terms of training. Sure we may be motivated to log the same type of miles but the one thing we can't do is to invest the same type of effort to recover like they can.

We usually don't have the luxury of finishing sessions and focusing purely on recovery ahead of the next session. Most age groupers have families and work hours, including commuting times, which make it extremely difficult to look after themselves in order to recover optimally so each and every session has a high level of quality attached to it.

This is why our training plans NEED to be developed right, to make sure some body systems are being taxed while others are being allowed to recover. The right plan provides the necessary training stimulus without huge hammer blows and also provides time to ensure we get sufficient sleep and maintain a great diet, the keys to developing the long-term consistency required to secure a spot on the starting line in Kona.

So on whom do we model ourselves? We model ourselves on those who have full time jobs, families, other responsibilities and who are consistently at the pointy end of their respective age groups.

What are the traits that these top age groupers and Kona qualifiers possess?

• They believe with certainty that there is nothing that can't be accomplished.
• In many areas of their lives, they have clearly decided what it is that they are absolutely committed to achieving.
• They are willing to back decisions with massive action (both in the physical sense and also in terms of their mindset).
• They learn to become intuitive to what's working and what's not.
• They continually refine their approach until they achieve what they want. Every athlete can develop the traits above - the Kona dream may come quicker for some than others.

Getting to Kona was a dream for me ever since I saw Welchy win in 1994. That was well before I even had an inkling into the sport of triathlon. When I did do my first triathlon in 2002 and then my first Ironman in 2003, my dream was ignited.

It took me until 2008 to get to Hawaii, mainly because I wasn't backing up the belief I could be there with consistent actions (training correctly, sleep, diet, etc). When I truly decided at the end of 2006, things started to fall into place.

I missed out by one spot in Malaysia in 2007. Then five weeks later at Ironman Australia I was in a sprint finish and missed by 6 seconds! However that race was a breakthrough for me.

A few years ago I watched Charlotte race at Ironman Western Australia and had an opportunity to train on that course too, both of which deepened my desire to get to Kona and led me to qualifying at Ironman Western Australia for Kona last year and again this year.

Look at how many athletes broke the 4-minute mile after Roger Bannister did. He created the belief that it WAS possible. Many many athletes just like you have got to the Big Island by developing this belief and putting it into action.

See you on the Big Island in 2010!

View Our Training Plans on Trifuel.com

Kristian Manietta, Coach - Noosa, Australia
http://www.ironguides.net
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