Coaching Smarter Triathletes: Brian Maiorano

Running the Entire Ironman Marathon

If you've watched or raced an ironman distance race, you know that half of the field walks much of the marathon. For those prepared to walk, and who have goals of just finishing...that's fine. But if you've trained and prepared to run the whole marathon...it can feel like The Zombie Death March.

Finishing an ironman is a great athletic achievement. But running the whole marathon is a whole other challenge; it will put you in the minority of those who cross the finish line, and is a sure sign of a successful race. At Triathlon Lifestyle Coaching, we've honed the type of training needed to do this. It's a complex mix, and involves being prepared physically, mentally, and logistically.

Of course, athletes hoping to podium or those with a lot of ironman experience will have different strategies. But here's a formula that's worked for most of the athletes we coach.

Running Fewer Miles Than You Think

There's a myth that to run the whole ironman marathon, you need to put in mega-mileage running weeks. Not so. If you take a long-term approach (ie: 5-6 months), you can get by with no more than a few 30+ mile weeks. Even if you're only running 10-12 miles a week now, a steady build over six months will give you all the run fitness that you need.

Running Frequently and Consistently

While you may not run mega-miles, you do need to run consistently. In most weeks, you need four runs. Depending on the season, there may be speed work or a brick. But always a long run, and always a transition run (2-3 miles) after your long ride. Commit to these runs, week in and week out.

But if you do miss a run (or a whole week of running), don't try to “make it up” by cramming in extra miles the following week. That's a recipe for injury. Instead, accept that you've had a setback, and adjust your plan accordingly.

Staying Injury Free

Training for an ironman involves a long-term plan. It means slow and steady fitness gains. It's common for self-coached athletes to become impatient and rush the process—or feel that more is better. But ramping up long runs too quickly, trying too much track work, or running too many miles in general are all big risks for causing injury.

And there's no quicker way to lose fitness than to spend a few weeks laid up from injury caused by an overly aggressive training plan. And few people who get hurt during ironman training have the patience to back off long enough to heal properly. An injury 3 months out from race day often means racing with some niggling version of that injury.

We strive to totally avoid injuries. We build training plans where improvements are low risk, incremental and consistent—which will lead to race day fitness greater than if you'd jumped in head first but gotten injured because of it.

Swimming Efficiently

It all starts with the swim—and you need to be efficient and relaxed through it. Energy wasted here will haunt you ten times over during the run. Even though the swim takes up only 10% of the race, it can ruin your race if you exhaust yourself in the water. But don't confuse speed with efficiency. Sure, we'd all love to breeze through the swim in sixty minutes. But you can have an easy, relaxed swim even with a 1:40 hour split.

We've found it's best to focus on perfecting your swim stroke. You want to be comfortable and efficient in the open water, and can cruise through the 2.4 miles with relative ease—even if you're middle or back of pack. That efficiency is much more important than speed for the overall success of your race.

Learning to Love Your Bike

Running the whole marathon is all about being fresh after the bike. In a sense, the bike is just a warmup for the run. There are books to be written about this topic alone—but in short, you need to train long and hard on the bike. Like the swim, it doesn't inherently matter if you're fast or not—you just need to be fit enough so that 112 miles on the bike really isn't that big of a deal. Likewise, even if you run a 3 hour stand-alone marathon—if you don't have great bike fitness, you probably won't be running the entire ironman marathon.

Pacing and Realistic Goals

Success on the marathon is also tied to proper pacing. And that starts with setting realistic goals. I've heard all sorts of wildly optimistic ironman goals that involve blazing bike splits and marathons approaching the racer's last half-marathon pace. And often times people will hit them—but pay dearly late in the race.

Pacing matters even on the swim. Think about the effort it takes to swim an extra 10 seconds/100 faster. Even if you push that hard through 2.4 miles, you'll save a grand total of 7 minutes. And if you've worked really hard to gain those 7 minutes, you're sure to pay them back many times over across the next 10-12 hours.

Likewise, riding too hard is one of the biggest causes of a terrible marathon. Ironically, this seems most problematic for faster cyclists—because there's a desire to exploit their strongest sport. Learning to pace yourself on the bike is a huge factor—I spend more time coaching this than almost anything else. It's often hard to realize just how slow this pace is when compared to even moderately hard training rides. For example, on race day, the first 25 miles should feel ridiculously easy.

Similarly, it's typical for people to start the marathon too fast. The first 3-6 miles may feel pretty easy, and you'll need to hold yourself back. You need a realistic goal pace, and need to stick with it early on. While you shouldn't expect to negative split the marathon, you also shouldn't be slowing more than 2 minutes/mile over the 26.2 miles. Slowing by 3-4 minutes/mile is a sign of having started too fast.

Fueling

Gastrointestinal issues are another reason people walk much of the marathon. A lot of these are caused by fueling mistakes—taking too much/not enough of the wrong food at the wrong time. You need to practice your fueling and hydration from week one of training, so you get it dialed in by race day. Most people start their training by not taking enough calories, and it takes time to adjust to digesting more while riding and running.

Write down a plan for what and how much you're to eat during each portion of the race. By all means, don't just wing it.

But even if you pull this off as planned, ironman is tough on the digestive system, and you still might have problems. Diarrhea and nausea are common, but they don't need to stop you from running. You just need to be prepared to deal with them. A quick tip: learn about Imodium. It may become your best friend on race day.

Mental Preparation

Regardless of how well you've trained, paced, and fueled , running the last half of the marathon is going to be extremely hard. It will hurt a lot, and it just might be the hardest thing you've ever done (unless you're a mom—I understand the marathon is a piece of cake compared to the second stage of labor...). But this is where you get to show your toughness, and separate yourself from the half of the finishers who are walking much of the course.

You'll find many people who had good fitness, good pacing, and good fueling—but just mentally give up and start walking. The mental preparation needed to avoid this is a whole other topic. But, in short, you need challenging yet reasonable workouts to prepare you for these last couple of hours, and strategies for staying in the moment. You need to embrace your discomfort, prevent it from turning into suffering, and be prepared to keep running through it all.

Sticking with a Nutrition Plan Versus Adapting to New Conditions

Following a Nutrition Plan

A few weeks ago I wrote up a nutrition/fueling plan for my friend James to use while racing the Chicago Marathon.  He'd had intestinal issues during the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, and wanted to make sure his stomach was solid in his attempt to qualify for Boston.  It was a detailed plan, listing exact quantities of gels/liquids at various times, starting two hours before the race and listing at which times/mile markers in the race to take another gel.

My last text to him before the race was "stick to your plan even if there's chaos."  By this I meant that during a race with 10,000 people, the unexpected is sure to occur.  Maybe it'd be hard get to crowed aid stations, or he'd drop a gel packet or two, or something else entirely. Regardless, it was important for him to maintain his calorie intake.

To help himself stick to the plan, he wrote the mile markers (and corresponding times) of when he should take each gel. And when the race started,  he stayed with his plan perfectly. 

Because he likes drinking Gatorade at aid stations, we had made that a major component of his fueling plan--over the whole race he would take in 400 calories worth of Gatorade.  This would comprise almost half of his calories and all of his fluids (about 2 quarts, or 3.5 bike bottles).  

One unforeseen condition was that the raceday temperature was much cooler than he's used to training in.  Because he was sweating a lot less than normal, he didn't need as much fluid as usual.  So by midway through the race his bladder was very full...

His choices at that point were to 1) stick to the plan and figuratively cross his legs; 2) stop and pee; 3) stop drinking fluids; or 4) substitute a gel for some of the Gatorade.

Stopping to empty his bladder would have taken precious time, and stopping drinking fluids would have had the effect of him not getting the calories he needed.  Substituting a gel for the Gatorade would have worked, but it would have required some thinking that's not always present during the single-focused mind that comes with racing.

So he chose option 1, stick with the plan and cross his legs.  It worked out perfectly.  He ran a remarkably consistent pace the whole race, beat his goal time by a minute, and qualified for Boston!

Knowing (or not) When to Adapt to New Conditions

Last Saturday I raced the Olympic distance course at Pumpkinman, outside Las Vegas.  The course features a long, hilly bike course through the desert.  On Saturday it was particularly hot (low 90s) and windy.  I had made up a hydration/nutrition plan knowing the weather forecast, but had failed to grasp just how much fluid I'd really need, even though I've trained quite a bit in those conditions.

The last climb on the bike course took almost 40 minutes (it was a long course--my bike time was 1:38, and even the fastest bike splits were almost 1:30).  There had also been a last-minute change in the course that lengthened it--and I hadn't grasped the magnitude of it.  We were on the bike course for 15 minutes longer than we were anticipating. 

Anyway, during the last climb, I knew something was wrong because my power output was about 10% - 15% lower than what it "should" have been. But it didn't dawn on my that it was dehydration at that point--so I stuck with my hydration plan.

Or at least I meant to.  The unforeseen condition was just how steep this last climb was, meaning that my speed was generally less than 14 mph (often lower than 10 mph) and that I was out of the aero bars, grabbing the bullhorns in a more upright position.  The problem with this is that I use a drink holder on my aero bars that holds the straw right at mouth level--but only when I'm in an aero position.  It's normally a great way to effortlessly drink. 

But, with being out of the aero bars for 40 minutes, the straw was out of my immediate vision, and I forgot to drink.  The consequence was that not only did I come into T2 thoroughly dehydrated, but I did it with water still on my bike.  So when I blazed out of T2, thinking I was in a really good position, I promptly doubled over with stomach cramps within 200 meters.

Stomach cramps while running are a classic sign of dehydration.  But it still hadn't dawned on me, and I stuck with my original plan of thinking I just needed a cupful of energy drink at each aid stations.  So I walked off the cramps and started running again (at my planned race pace, instead of slowing down...).  And within a mile was doubled over again.

It wasn't until mile three that I finally realized how dehydrated I was, and started gulping water at aid stations.  Of course by this time it was far too late--my stomach was still cramping, and I was thoroughly exhausted.  My "run" was reduced to shuffle, walk, bend over, repeat.  I was glad to just cross the finish line.

Even though I drank probably a gallon of fluids after the race, it wasn't until 9:00 o'clock that night I finally urinated.  Dehydrated, indeed.

All the Ways that I Failed to Adapt

Unlike James' decision during his marathon, it was not wise of me to stick to my plan--conditions were just too different than what I was expecting.  Here's all the ways I should have adapted:

• When we got to the race site on Friday I realized how hot it was--but didn't adjust my plan.
• I didn't learn more about the course adjustment, and didn't plan for more water for the extended time.
• Halfway through the bike course I noticed how hot and windy it was--but didn't grab an extra water bottle at the aid station.
• During the steep climb when I was out of the aerobars, I should have reminded myself to drink, even though it was inconvenient.
• After my first bout of stomach cramps on the run (and feeling a huge ring of salt around my mouth) I should have stopped at the first aid station and drank a lot of water.
• During the run I should have slowed down my pace--instead I tried running at my planned race pace, and consequently had to walk quite a bit. 

 

Training Like We Race: Comparing Two Riding Styles

The Great Western Loop
The Great Western loop is a 40-mile mountainous route in eastern San Diego county.  Featuring long steep climbs (3200 feet of vertical gain), rural lightly trafficked roads, fast descents and scenic wonders, it's a staple ride for a lot of local triathletes. 

It starts with a 20-minute warm-up on the flats, followed by an hour of nearly continual climbing--steep hard hills that demand attention (sometimes just to keep from rolling backward...).  We regroup under an oak tree at the top, and then start on another half-hour of gentler climbs and rollers through an extremely scenic part of the ride.

On this last half-hour I've tended to fall off the back, and hadn't really figured out why--except maybe that I would see the hard part of the ride as being over, and generally would slack off and admire the views. 

For each of the past two weeks I decided to hold the wheels of the people who were always in front on this stretch to see what I could learn. 

Riding Like an Ironman--Smooth and Steady
On July 2nd on this stretch I held the wheel of Elizabeth, who sometimes joins us when she's looking for a short ride.  Elizabeth races a 5-hour 70.3, wins her age group, and is headed to Kona this fall--for her, "riding the Great Western Loop" often means two laps around.  On shorter distances she and I ride at a similar pace, especially when climbing.  I would guess that our power/weight ratios are pretty similar. 

Here's what my power-meter file looked like while holding her wheel for the 7.5 miles of this stretch.  

 

On this file, the solid yellow line is the power in watts, and the blue speed in m.p.h.  Note that the higher speeds coincide with low/zero watts--these are downhills where we're coasting.  A brief spike in power indicates a short rise in an otherwise downhill stretch.

The most notable thing about this graph is the steady application of power.  My normalized power was 210 watts (the straight, dashed yellow line), and all of the climbs ranged from 220 to 270 watts, generally hovering around the 230-240 range.  For me, 210 watts is a zone 3 tempo effort, which is the zone that most non-pros race a half ironman in.  The 230-240 watts is a low zone 4 effort, and is the zone most hit during climbs in a 70.3.  Both of these are solid aerobic efforts, with very little anaerobic activity.

Even though Elizabeth also wins sprint-distance races, her specialty is the half and full ironman distances.  So it's completely expected that she would train primarily in these zones for long distances.  Remember, she often does this loop twice--with the second lap faster than the first.  So it's important that she not fry her legs with anaerobic efforts.

Road Racing--Accelerate, Rest, Hammer, Hang On
On July 9th on this stretch I held the wheel of Matt, who rides this route weekly with me.  Matt is in his second year of triathlon and races sprint and Olympic distances.  His bike splits are generally in the top 10% of the men's field.  For both him and me this 2:30-hour route is usually our long ride of the week, and we finish it with a few-mile transition run (after which we're pretty exhausted and ready for lunch/beer/nap).  Matt and I also ride at a similar pace, and I'd guess that our power/weight ratios are pretty similar.  Here's what my power-meter file looked like while holding his wheel for the 7.5 miles of this stretch.  

  The most notable thing about this graph is the huge accelerations on all of the short hills.  Even though my normalized power was higher (238 watts-the straight dashed line), the spikes above that are visibly much higher than the week before.  These accelerations started at 300 watts, and progressed to 350+ watts.  The 300 watts is zone 5a for me, and readily manageable for a few minutes at a time.  The 350+ watts, however, is an anaerobic zone 5b--a few repeats at this level hurts a lot. 

After the second-such 350-watt acceleration/recovery, I passed Matt at the base of a steep hill and held 270 watts (high zone 4) for 5 minutes.  My thinking was that I really didn't want to have to do another 350 watt acceleration, so I was hoping to tire him out.  It was an effective strategy--at the bottom of the next descent we were both tired and he was content to let me lead with a tempo pace for the last 4-minute climb.

For sprint and Olympic distance triathlons, going into zone 5a on short climbs is very effective for keeping momentum.  Note that my time for this 7.5 miles was 2:30 minutes faster than the week before when I was in zones 3/4.  But the zone 5b is really hard on the legs.  The anaerobic effort builds a lot of lactic acid, which can be really bad for the run.  This style of short, sharp accelerations is very typical of road racers who are trying to drop competitors out of their draft.  But it's maybe not the best strategy in triathlons, where drafting is not legal.

So, Which Style is Better?
It seems that neither style is inherently better--it's just a matter of learning to train and race to fit the courses that you're racing.  For 70.3 races, you'll race primarily in zone 3 and low zone 4 (for climbs).  But training in high zone 4 and even zone 5a will make those race paces much easier. 

For sprint and Olympic distances, training a lot in zones 4/5a is critical, as that's the effort you'll be racing at.  Even some training in zone 5b (30-60 second sprints) is useful, so you can do some short bursts without frying your legs.  But it's important to learn to not spend much time in 5b during a race.  Matt's last race featured a lot of short steep climbs on the bike.  He had a great bike split, but his run pace was well off his typical speed.  My hunch is that, among other factors, he may have gone into 5b too often on the bike.

Training Strategies
Riding with training partners of similar abilities and goals is great in lots of ways.  Matt and I usually push each other into zone 5a and 5b efforts because--well, boys will be boys and that's just how we are.  It can be hard to self-motivate to endure that kind of discomfort.

Riding with Elizabeth seems to involve a lot of story swapping--which almost demands staying in zones 3/4 in order to be conversational.  In fact, Elizabeth is well known for--at the base of long, steep climbs--asking questions that require long, detailed answers.  But that's a whole different training strategy...

Resuming Training after a Big Race

Wildflower, nearly a month ago, was an "A" race for me.  I had tapered for it, and was pretty fried afterward.  It was my fifth race in seven weeks, and I needed a break (mentally and physically) from triathlon.  But taking a few weeks off from training can be tough, especially following a big race for which you've tapered--because tapering itself can be a mental challenge.  Here's a few tricks I've learned for enjoying down time and then re-energizing to start training again.

Post-Race Blues
A big race can be a very climactic finish to many months of hard training.  I find it hard to suddenly not have a focus for training, and can feel a little directionless.  It's a mixture of sad because the race is over, and also a sense of accomplishment over having finished something that I'm proud of.  Complicating this are mixed feelings over how well I may or may not have performed.  All in all, I can be a little edge.

To fill the sudden void, here's what I tend to do.

Be Nice to Your Body.  The first week after a big race is a great time to lay low--go for walks and let your muscles recover.   If you just can't stay off the bike or out of the water, keep things at a very easy effort.  After Wildflower I had a severely sore left glute--I could barely bend over, and walking hurt.  And then I caught a cold.  In short, I was miserable.

Indulge.  Take a week or two enjoy the indulgences you might otherwise limit during training.  For me it's donuts, pastries, and french fries.  Yes, I always gain a couple of pounds after a big race, and I'm fine with that.

See New People.  This is a great time to catch up with friends and family you might not see as much as you'd like while you're training.

Take a Vacation.  I've found that getting out of town--for a week or even a weekend--can be a great way to refocus after a big race.  A couple of years ago I scheduled an end-of-season vacation to the Caribbean.  Warm waters and rum-based drinks were a great transition to the off season.  After Wildflower I took a 10-day camping trip up the central California coast.

Stay Mentally Stimulated.  Keep the mind busy--start a new book, catch up on emails, or find something new to learn. 

Be Careful with Alcohol.  With reduced training comes reduced endorphins, serotonin,  adrenaline, and all the other exercise-induced chemicals that make your brain feel good.  This really is a chemical withdrawal, and you'll want to be careful about substituting other chemicals (like alcohol).

Resuming Training
When you do pick up training again--whether it's after a week or four weeks off--start slowly.  Remember that your fitness is probably at the lowest it's been in a few months.  Consider that the point of tapering is to sacrifice a some fitness to gain freshness--and then throw in a week or two of post-race recovery--and you'll be sucking wind if you try to pick up at race pace right away.

My standard training is in the 10-12 hours a week range.  My pre and post-Wildflower training hours looked like this:

2 weeks before:                        9 hours
1 week before:                         6:45 hours
Race week (including race)        7:30 hours
Week after the race                  1:30 hours
2 weeks after race                    7:00 hours
3 weeks after race                    7:30 hours
4 weeks after race                    9:00 hours

In the 2nd and 3rd weeks after the race, I was mostly doing light efforts, punctuated by a couple of epic hill climbs on the bike (there are some phenomenal ocean-to-mountaintop roads along the California coast that just couldn't be ignored...).  Regardless, it was all very unstructured and very fun.

This week, the 4th week after the race, I started doing tempo workouts again.  After 5 weeks of greatly reduced hours, I can definitely feel my lost fitness.  It was hard work to hold a tempo pace for 4 miles of running, and likewise for 16 miles of cycling.  And my "long" run of 7 miles felt like 12.  Ouch.  But I'll build those durations back up over the next few weeks.  Each week I'll a mile to my tempo-paced run, 4 miles to my tempo-paced bike, and 1-2 miles to my long run.

This is a conservative reentry into training--but a good way to avoid injury.  It also let me mentally recover.  I'm now excited about training again--something I couldn't have said a week ago.      

Analyzing Wildflower Triathlon Results

Last week I analyzed my bike results from the Wildflower Olympic-distance triathlon.  This post analyzes the entire race results, with an eye toward improving my weak points for future races.

This chart sums up the results.

Since I'm nowhere close to competing for a podium position in a race of this size, I'm most concerned with my percentage of the winners' speeds.  This is a very useful tool to track performance through a season, and from year to year.  See this post for more details. The 81% is faster than the 79% I did at last year's very competitive Boulder Peak Olympic-distance, but worse than the 85% at this year's Super Seal race in San Diego (which is not nearly as competitive, however).  In short, I'm happy with my time.

Of course, I'm happiest with my bike split--the top 9% of the field and 89% of the fastest person's bike split.  If you pick only one sport in which to do well, making that choice the bike will most help your overall time (almost half of the overall time is comprised of the bike leg).

On the other end of the spectrum, we can see just how terrible my swim time was. Two-thirds of the field beat me, and my speed was only 59% of that of the winners.  Note that even such a dreadful performance only cost me 13 minutes--while a top bike split still cost me over 8 minutes.  It's a good illustration of why swimming is the least important leg for non-elite age groupers.

My run was in the top third of the field, with my time over 14 minutes behind the winners. My speed, 73% of the winners, was a good bit slower than than 82% I raced in the spring's Super Seal race.

Analyzing Wildflower Triathlon Bike Results

Last week I showed how I made a strategy for the bike leg of the Wildflower Olympic-Distance triathlon.   My strategy foresaw a lot of short, steep rolling hills that I planned to take at  zone 5 power, and then recover on the way down the other side of the hill.  Here's how it all worked out.

Pre-Race Recon
We drove the bike course when we arrived at Lake San Antonio on Friday.  The first thing we noted was that--other than Lynch Hill (the first/last hill)--most of the hills were not that steep at all.  This was especially true of the ones near the middle of the course where I had hoped to coast for three to five minutes for recovery.  Eyeballing them told me I'd have to pedal at least at a tempo pace to maintain good speed.

What went wrong here?  One, I was rushed when I did the first plan and simply misread the elevation profile in a couple of places.  Second, and more importantly, I vastly overestimated the steepness of a 2% grade.  Looking at the mapmyride.com elevation profile (which is exaggerated vertically), it's easy to think you can coast down it fast.  Not so, and it was obvious once we saw it in person.

The New Plan
Knowing I wouldn't have a long recovery in the middle of the course, I switched my strategy to a much more conventional time-trial strategy of keeping a relatively even wattage.  I still wanted to go zone 5 on the first two hills, but otherwise stay mostly in zone 4.  Because there were a lot of short recoveries (steep downhills for coasting) at the start and end of the course, I planned on being in high zone 4 rather than a low-mid zone 4 like I would on a flatter Olympic-distance course.

Planning a Race-Day Bike Strategy

"Shouldn't I just go out and hammer as hard as I can on the bike, and then try to hold on during the run?"  Well, maybe.  Especially during a sprint-distance race.  And it is a common strategy, especially for strong cyclists.  But devising a strategic plan based on your known power output--and sticking to it--can leave you fresher for the run without slowing you much on the bike.  Likely giving you a faster overall time. 

The best way for this to work is to have a power meter and know your watts at Functional Threshold  (basically, how hard can you pedal for an hour). Knowing how many watts you can hold for 5 minutes and 1 minute is helpful during a hilly race.

On a flat sprint-distance course (12-15 miles), you can probably hold 95-100% of your FT power and still have a good run.  On an flat Olympic-distance course, it may only be in the 85-95% range.  A good idea is to experiment during your training bricks to see how well you run after riding the race distance at various power outputs.

A hilly course is a bit more complicated.  If you've been training with hill intervals of various lengths (1 minute to 20 minutes), you can likely hold a higher wattage on the hills, and use the descents to recover.  Climbing hard is one of the best ways to shave minutes off your time.

Below is the step-by-step process I used to plan a strategy for the upcoming Wildlfower Triathon (Olympic-distance course).  This will be my first time riding it, so I wanted to do some recon.

Training in Race Conditions

How important is it to train in the conditions you'll race in?  Very!  Let's take a look at a few important situations.

Running Hills
It's hard to race on hills without actually training on them.  Your body position strengthens different muscles (glutes and calves) more than on the flats.  And you need to learn how to drive off of your back leg much more than running on the flats.  There can be a tendency to shuffle up hills--which is slow. 

Descending steep hills also takes practice.  Being too controlled on a descent is hard on the knees and the quads--not to mention slow!  The key is to learn a controlled fall--leaning forward and bringing each leg out in front of you just long enough so that you don't fall on your face.

Cycling Hills
Riding hills demands a different position on the bike--shifting your weight back to use your quads more, and maybe getting out of aero position.  If the climb is steep enough, knowing when to get out of the saddle.  While many argue that time trialing should involve a consistent effort, there are huge time gains to be made on hills.  Knowing for how long and how hard you push on a short climb without blowing up can really affect your bike split.

Like running, descending hills takes practice, especially if they're steep and windy.  If you're speed is over 30, you're probably better off just going into a tuck and not pedaling at all.  The extra 1 or 2 mph you'd gain probably is better used in resting.   But the amount of time you can gain through excellent descents is generally a lot less than the time you can gain by excellent climbing skills.

Open Water Swimming
Swimming in open water is so different than swimming in a pool it should almost be considered a different sport.  I think the difference is like running trails in the mountains versus running on a treadmill. I'm not a fast swimmer at all; but in open water swims I beat a lot of people who smoke me in the pool.  Here's why:

Analyzing Race Performance

So you've just finished a race.  Once you're finished panting, guzzling water, and receiving congratulatory hugs (okay, sometimes before), you probably check your finishing time.  And once the results are posted, you start comparing your time to others in your age group and gender group.  And probably in the overall standings.  If you've raced the course before, you probably compare that time to this most recent time.  And you might have even had a goal time that your were trying to reach. 

Making all of these comparisons might even influence your mood and attitude (for better or worse) about how your race went.  But how objective are these comparison?  Generally, not very.  For a number of reasons they don't give you good information about how well you raced that day compared to other races in your season, or even compared to the same race in previous years. 

If you're competing for an overall podium spot, or for an age-group podium spot in a big races, that's likely a goal in it's self, and no other comparison is needed.  But for the vast majority of the rest of us, here are some things to consider.

Race Courses Can Vary From Year To Year

• Swim length. Marking an open-water swim course is not an exact measurement.  Even a 5% error over 1500 meters will make a 75 meter difference.  A 5% error is the equivalent of being off by half an inch per foot--which may be a lot when using a ruler, but not much when trying to measure long distances over water.  So swim distance alone could easily account for a minutes difference from year to year.
• Bike and run length.  Even in long-standing races the bike and run courses have minor variations in a given year.  Construction, a new bike lane, etc., can cause small detours that might change the length by a minute or two.