Taper Secrets of Ironman’s Fastest Runner
- By Aaron Hersh
- Published Oct 11, 2012
- Updated Oct 24, 2012 at 3:35 PM UTC
While many age groupers are out putting in their final miles on Ali’i Drive, Pete Jacobs is kicking back and resting. Jacobs does only two run worko uts in the week leading up to Ironman Hawaii. This year, he did a 50-minute run six days before the race and a 35-minute session three days prior. We tailed the man with the fastest marathon split at the 2011 Ironman World Championship–2:42–during his final run before Kona.
Jacobs’ final run workout before Ironman Hawaii starts with 15 minutes steady running a little bit slower than his race pace. He plans to run between 30 and 40 minutes total, depending on how his body feels.
15 minutes in, he stops and does a series of toe touches to stretch his hamstrings, alternating right and left.
After the toe touches, Jacobs does a few steps of the grapevine/karaoke running drill.
Next on the schedule is a few very short pickups followed by a few steps of walking.
Jacobs then drops into a deep lunge, one leg at a time followed by standing lunges with his upper body twisting past his leading leg.
His final drill is one leg high-knee skips.
With his drills complete, Jacobs goes back up to speed and continues on his run. He throws a few short pickups into his steady pace, accelerating well past Ironman pace for a few seconds. He drops and shakes his arms periodically to keep them loose. Many of his short efforts were on up-hill sections rather than flats. After thirty minutes he decides to keep going for a few more and pulls off the road at 35.
With his run complete, Jacobs goes through a short lower body stretching routine and slams a gel. Instead of worrying about loosing fitness or trying to keep his legs feeling “sharp” by running frequently, long or fast in the final week before Ironman, Jacobs has an extremely restful run schedule. After these short final workouts, he’s ready to assault the Ironman Hawaii run course record.
FILED UNDER: Ironman / Race Tips / Training TAGS: Ironman / Ironman Hawaii / Ironman World Championship / Pete Jacobs / Run
Aaron Hersh
Aaron Hersh is the Senior Tech Editor of Triathlete magazine. To submit a question, write Aaron at Ahersh@competitorgroup.com.