Lionel Sanders’ lessons from Ironman Canada: nutrition, pacing, shoes and more

Over the weekend, Lionel Sanders took on the Ironman Canada course in Penticton, dominating the competition with an eight-minute victory in the altered event, which excluded the swim due to cool conditions. Sanders discussed his insights from the race and his role in the legacy of this once-iconic, but now defunct, event with Triathlon Magazine’s Kevin Heinze.

Go figure – Lionel Sanders dominates swim-less Ironman Canada

Triathlon Magazine: We know that lately you have been trying to improve your on-course nutrition, what did you learn from racing on Sunday?

Lionel Sanders: So I puked my guts out at the finish line, so I still did not do a good job. I mean, it’s fascinating to me that I’ve done it for so long and I never had problems in this department, and now I’ve developed a problem. That’s still a work in progress, so I think it’s probably maybe too many carbs and then my stomach starts to shut off. I need to work on something that works a bit better.

What were you drinking on the run?

Maurten, the entire time … The makers of the product say it doesn’t upset your stomach. It didn’t upset my stomach until it did. And so I don’t have an answer to my problems there. I have eight weeks to keep preparing and practicing.

I think for me right now it’s too many carbs. I think when I do too much, my stomach gets irritated and starts to shut down. And, if I do less carbs, the irritation kicks in later, so it really is a question of why am I ingesting so much? My body can’t seem to absorb all of that. Back in the day I only did 80 or 90 grams per hour and now it seems everybody’s doing 120 to 140.

Of course, there’s a trade off between having a happy gut and having the energy to sustain your intensity level through the whole event. Were you fading on the run?

Oh yes, for sure. I pushed 10 per cent more power than I did five weeks ago at Lake Placid. Part of that was because the swim was cancelled and I had fresher legs. And then I paid for it on the run. I faded really badly, so that was a learning experience.

Any other insights?

I tried out Nike Alphaflies. After Placid, I found my legs were pretty beat up and the Alpha flies are really cushioning, but for my run stride I don’t think they are great for me. l will probably go back to a firmer shoe because my legs are just as destroyed today. I prefer more of a racing flat. You know, sometimes you don’t really learn this until you put it into action in a racing situation, but I talked to Craig Alexander back in Slovakia. He said that he did a ton of huge bricks and that seemed to solve the issue in training as opposed to having to do it in races.

You also said you used a heart rate monitor for the first time in a race on Sunday. When you were looking at the numbers did they freak you out?

Yeah, it did freak me out a little bit. My heart rate is low and it tells me that it’s probably muscle fatigue that keeps my heart rate from going up. As I raced, my heart rate actually went down. My muscles start getting tired and then I can’t keep my heart right up there, so it feels like I’m sprinting to keep my heart rate up. Having the numbers to back that up gives me insight into the proper training to meet the demands.

Most of the new school athletes seem to have this already worked out. They’re not doing this fade fade, fade across the disciplines. Me. I’m just surviving. New school guys aren’t surviving. Kristian Blummenfelt is not just surviving the Ironman. He is running fast to the finish.

Let’s talk about the bike course. It’s only the second time the Ironman has been held on the new bike course and you set the record at 4:09:07. How does this course compare in difficulty to other Ironman courses you’ve done, and how significant of an achievement was this for you?

This is a great course. It’s an honest Ironman, not a free ride like I’ve done at Ironman Florida. That’s like, don’t barely have to pedal the bike and it goes 40 kilometers an hour, you know? This is a true Ironman course. This is kind of what, you know, Ironman was built on. It’s a hard challenge. When you look at the history of this race, some of the best ever to do the sport have come here. Peter Reid for instance, has won it and then went on to win Kona. So, for me as a Canadian, it is fantastic. It’s a shame that the race is going away because I’d like to come back. It’s one of three Ironman races that I’ve really wanted to win. The others were Mont-Tremblant and Kona.

Regarding the win itself here, for me, it’s a testament to staying focused and staying on the right path because a lot of guys I started with are gone now. Yeah, I’m on the older end of the game, and the game is hard, now more than ever. The new guys are complete in all disciplines. So yeah, there wasn’t a swim, but I was cognizant of that and I had to make sure that I had a good bike/ run, better than any time that I would lose in the swim.

Breaking news: Ironman Canada swim cancelled due to cold water

So, little bit of overcompensation, right?

Yeah, just just to make sure in my mind and everybody else’s mind, including my competition’s, that even if there was a swim, you know, we would have certainly had a good race. Regarding the course records, I’m not really focused on those external things. You know, in the moment you’re going for it’s fun, but now I really am focused on achieving my best, and if I do Kona, Kona is where I want to do it. If I’m able to finish there and say that was everything I could do and I executed it well, I will be totally fine with that.

And that’s how you get the best overall results, too … I mean setting a course record or winning a race is cool, but it’s not as satisfying as achieving your best race. I’ve won lots of races, but the ones that I remember the best are the ones that I have executed the best, regardless of the outcome.