I had that last week. As I explained a few weeks ago, I had a bit of a rubbish exprience in my last race (the first tri of the season). Flat tyre aside, it would have actually been a decent performance. But I didn't 'feel' it; I didn't love racing. I was over it even while riding ok pre-flat. For me, that's really disappointing as that's my major motivation to race at all. I realized I'd been too busy, too stressed (yep, work, travel, training and having a baby on the way seems to be fairly stressful... who'd have guessed?) and dialled it back for a few weeks. Skipped a local sprint tri. Focused on the training. Focused on enjoying the process. And while I was getting my equipment, bike and nutrition dialled in throughout these sessions, it turns out I was also getting my head dialled in.
There's a point in every triathlete's season - and I imagine it's the same for the pros as it is for us Age Groupers. Sometimes it's a race, sometimes it's an easy swim or a recovery jog, or it might even arrive while sat at home eating dinner. For me, it's almost always a key, longer session. It's the realization that you've reached that point... you're finally 'fit' and near race shape.
I had that last week. As I explained a few weeks ago, I had a bit of a rubbish exprience in my last race (the first tri of the season). Flat tyre aside, it would have actually been a decent performance. But I didn't 'feel' it; I didn't love racing. I was over it even while riding ok pre-flat. For me, that's really disappointing as that's my major motivation to race at all. I realized I'd been too busy, too stressed (yep, work, travel, training and having a baby on the way seems to be fairly stressful... who'd have guessed?) and dialled it back for a few weeks. Skipped a local sprint tri. Focused on the training. Focused on enjoying the process. And while I was getting my equipment, bike and nutrition dialled in throughout these sessions, it turns out I was also getting my head dialled in. Last week, I was lucky enough to spend six days on a mini vacation with The Wifey and a couple of friends of ours over on the Balearic cycling Mecca of Mallorca. The focus was a break in the sun - it would be, we figured, our last chance at such a break for quite a long time thanks to the bun in wifey's oven - but I also wanted to get some consistent riding in. I'd heard, of course, just how popular Mallorca is with cyclists these days but, having last visited more than 15 years ago, I hadn't witnessed it. The first clue was when - two weeks before heading over - I was totally unable to rent a road bike on the island (all sold out), so had to book my own bike on the plane. Not too much of a bother.
The rest of the week continues with some cycling interspersed with excellent meals, plenty of drinking and random outbreaks of karaoke. It was important for me to remember that we were there for a fun vacation and break from work, with some nice weather thrown in. I rode - but it wasn't a riding holiday. On Sunday, I headed up to Arta and a decent climb behind that pretty walled town; I climbed once, descended, climbed again, then headed for home - less than 2 hours in total with 4 x 10m intervals at up near my FTP. The legs were feeling it a little by Monday, so I opted for a run and some sightseeing instead. On Tuesday, we spent the day in Palma, lapping up the beautiful architecture, charming streets and (yep, you guessed it) local food and drink on offer. Palma was around 65km from our apartment in Cala Millor, so I came armed with the bike in the back of the car. As we left Palma, I donned my cycle gear and put the bike together, then rode back east, with a diversion north to make the ride a little longer. There was a pure headwind most the way, which was excellent as this 3h ride was focused on strength, with 4 x 10m big gear intervals, spinning at around 60rpm. This was a great ride and, by now, I could tell that I was riding pretty well.
When is a camp not a camp? A few weeks ago, a big bunch of my club mates – as well as what seemed to be members of every other team – headed off for 10 days of cycling in the warmer climes (and climbs) of Spain. The benefits of these training camps are undoubted – especially early in the season, they act as a real training catalyst, taking you from steady base training into high quality swimming, biking and running. For me, however, with work busier than ever, several other commitments and a pregnant (non-cycling) wife, disappearing for 7-10 days of cycling simply wasn’t an option. And I expect that’s a situation that an awful lot of people find themselves in. Your holidays from work are, after all, limited; even if you have the time, if you’ve a family at home (and another half is somewhat less passionate about endurance e sport than you), do you really want to spend a large bunch of days off doing your own thing without them?
Sure, these types of weekends or holidays can’t quite ever replace a full 7-10 days of smashing it at a dedicated cycling or triathlon camp, but they can replicate many of the benefits. My biking has definitely improved – I averaged 10W (AP and NP) more during the Amstel Gold than I put out last year, did it around 20 minutes quicker and felt far better afterwards. So, if you can’t manage the big training camp, don’t worry. They’re good, but they’re not irreplaceable. This weekend was the third annual ATAC Spring Training Camp (my second), held near Ommen in the east of the Netherlands, near the border with Germany. We’ve held the camp at this location as one of our member’s family runs a beautiful campsite there with a house that can hold around 20 people. Plus, we’ve found that the quiet roads make for some great training. Once again, I was responsible for the training elements of the weekend; a responsibility I enjoy more and more as my interest, knowledge and education of coaching grows and I find just as much enjoyment in helping others to perform as I do in my own training and racing. After another two weeks of meticulously sticking to the simple exercise routine that Lorna of Wilson’s Workouts had sketched out for me, last week I headed back to see Lorna and have my final session of mobility coaching (for now, at least). As I described in the last post on this subject, the exercises had gone well. Again, it took around 10 minutes to run through them all and I was repeating them around three times per day. This sounds like quite a lot – and a word of advice is that mobility coaching isn’t a quick fix and solved within the sessions themselves, most the hard work comes when the athlete heads home – but I found a nice routine. Usually, I did my first set of reps after breakfast and before heading to work; if I felt stiff or restless during the working day (and had time), I’d head to a quiet area and run through the exercises then; otherwise, I used my triathlon training as a reminder, doing exercises before and after each session. It definitely took commitment and willpower, but I was fully on board and wanted to make sure that I got the most benefit from the time and expertise. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. As well as being another wonderful example of the English language’s propensity for throwing up slightly bizarre turns of phrase (Bob’s your uncle, anyone?), that is also a damn fine proverb to apply to triathlon training. Just putting your head down and doing the same thing – unquestioningly – may get results (then again it may not), but it’s also a decent short cut to lack of motivation and a short relationship with endurance sports. If you want to keep the love alive, you’ve got to mix it up. That applies within training sessions, of course. I feel like that should be obvious, and yet I still lose track of the number triathletes, cyclists and runners I know who go out and train at one pace – no matter how far – with no actual objectives behind the session. My personal and professional lives met this week when, for World Sleep Day (today, btw), we worked on some great digital and social content based on a survey we did at Philips to identify sleeping trends around the world and the things that prevent most folk from getting a decent night of shut-eye. Meanwhile, as I mentioned a few posts ago, this season is my 'marginal gains' season - I may not be able to train quite as long or far as I have before, so I'm going to look for the other things I can improve to try to wring every last drop of possible performance improvement. And sleep is a big factor. To read the first part of this series of blog posts, click HERE. So, as you no doubt recall perfectly because all my dear readers cling to my every word, remember every detail and wait with baited breath until my next blog post… we finished the last post with me coming away from my first biomechanics session with Lorna from Wilson’s Workouts with a set of four exercises that I needed to repeat four times per day. For the next two weeks, I did exactly that. The exercises are relatively simple – two of them I could do sitting down, one is performed leaning against a wall, and the final one involved lying on the floor. “Exercises” is also a very active name for them – they’re essentially static. I did them in work clothes before heading to the office without any problem at all. It’s been a week of light activity on this blog, as Wifey and I spent a lovely long weekend in Portugal with my folks. My parents are under the impression that they’re building their dream home in the sun to retire to in the next few years (it’s a false impression – it’s actually my personal base for triathlon training camps). They wanted to head over to the Silver Coast (the house is a little north of Lisbon) to check the progress of the house and complete some paperwork and, not having seen the house or the area before, we went over for a long weekend of R&R. I am, at heart, a writer. I like narrative. I like themes. I even like to theme each of my triathlon seasons. This season’s theme, I’ve decided, is “squeezing every last drop”. What do I mean by that? Well, for the five years or so that I’ve been doing triathlon to a greater or lesser extent, I’ve gradually trained a little harder and a little smarter. I’ve improved nutrition. I’ve learnt what sort of taper suits me. But there are tens of other things that go into performance. 2015 is going to be a big and busy year for me, with work reaching new heights and other big things in the offing, and so simply ‘training more’ is not an option. In fact, I’ll probably have to train significantly less – but I think I can offset that with smarter training, lifestyle and looking into other elements, such as sleep, mobility, strength and proper recovery. As always, I promise to let you all know how it goes and which elements make the biggest differences. Maybe these are things you can use in your own ‘performances’ – whether that means triathlons, marathons, fun runs or just life itself. So, what's your theme for the 2015 season? What, other than the basics of training, are you going to focus more on in the 8 months ahead? |
AuthorMatt. Brit in Amsterdam. Triathlete. Ultrarunner. AG30-35. Slightly in front of the middle of the pack. Slightly behind the front of the pack. Categories
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