Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast · Rob Wilby

TEN mistakes I always see IRONMAN first-timers make | Ep 577

·28 min·1 clip

Rob Wilby says Ironman marathon walk breaks can make athletes faster than running nonstop.

1. Oxygen Addict Triathlon Podcast episode 577 focuses on the 10 mistakes Rob Wilby sees first-time Ironman athletes make. 2. Rob Wilby is the host, coach at Team Oxygen Addict Triathlon Coaching, and the person giving the training advice. 3. The episode exists to help first-timers avoid training errors that can ruin a first Ironman race day. 4. Wilby says many athletes over-focus on steady long rides instead of polarized bike training with hard intervals and endurance work. 5. He says run intervals are a high-risk choice and argues that bike intervals are the safer place to build top-end fitness. 6. Wilby says pool time is wasted when athletes swim too much with poor technique, because bad strokes get embedded by repetition. 7. He compares swim technique work to a golf driving range, where practicing the wrong swing only reinforces the mistake. 8. Wilby says training through fatigue without recovery leaves athletes undertrained, not tougher. 9. He recommends recovery in every week and a recovery block every three or four weeks. 10. Wilby says indoor FTP and outdoor FTP can differ by five to ten percent or more, so athletes need separate testing for each environment. 11. He gives an example of an athlete who rode to indoor numbers outdoors, then detonated on the run. 12. Wilby says Ironman is more of an energy-limited event than a fitness-limited event, and he ties that to fuel planning. 13. He says athletes should aim for 60 to 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour and practice that intake in training. 14. Wilby says brick sessions are mainly about teaching the brain how the first five to ten minutes off the bike feel. 15. He says long brick runs, including efforts up to two hours, are unnecessary for most first-time Ironman preparation. 16. Wilby says walking is a strategy in Ironman, and his athletes often use one minute of walking every 10 minutes on long runs. 17. He says open-water swimming adds sighting, drafting, wetsuits, and traffic around other athletes, none of which pool-only training fully covers. 18. The episode has a solo, coaching-heavy format with direct instructions, examples from athletes, and sponsor reads for Precision Fuel and Hydration. 19. People training for their first Ironman will get the most value from this episode. 20. Athletes looking for race-day stories or entertainment may skip it.

As heard by us

Practical Ironman coaching that keeps recovery and pacing front and center.

Rob Wilby stays in coaching mode and keeps the focus on first time Ironman mistakes. He circles back to the same point from a few angles: overtraining is easy to do, recovery needs to be built into each week and each block, and fitness usually improves when recovery is treated…

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First Ironman build? Hear the mistakes coach Rob sees most often.

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