Sam Long has shared his plans to utilise scorching temperatures and a gruelling schedule for what he is calling ‘Hell Month’ during his training in the buildup to the London T100.
The American, who is the PTO World #1 after five podiums so far in 2024, also has two-second place finishes on the T100 Triathlon World Tour but wants more.
Revealing his blueprint to success on Instagram, the 28-year-old ‘Big Unit’ hopes the skyrocketing temperatures in the American Southwest will help him become the very best this season.
Go hard or go home
Originally from Boulder, Long is now based in Arizona, where last summer temperatures peaked at 48 degrees celsius, and plans to train there ahead of the London T100 showdown on July 27-28.
Explaining his reasoning, Long says he hopes the benefits will be as psychological as they are physical, as he pushes his body to the max.
“Hell Month is here: I’ve dubbed the next four weeks this: why? The daily temperatures rarely dip below 76F (25C) as a low and the highs are as high as 110F (40C). It reaches such high temps even by 9 am. The morning wake up is set to 4:45am each day.
“It’s a month to better myself. Not just to train for the next race but to move my long term physiology and mindset up. To become a hardened man. To teach the body how to handle heat better than ever before.”
Not settling for second best
After overcoming huge deficits out of the water to claw himself back on to the podium in both the Singapore and Miami T100, Long remarkably found himself within touching distance of the front group last month at the San Francisco T100.
Unfortunately, however, he wasn’t able to capitalise on his excellent position in California, coming home in eighth place, some two minutes down on race winner Marten Van Riel.
Looking ahead to London, Long assured fans that he would continue to develop his swim over the next four weeks, despite a career best performance on the West Coast.
“It [Hell Month] will also be heavily focused on continuing the swim development through increased volume while holding and improving technique. Let’s go!”
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