Trains, Travels

My first week back at training is done! I’m exhausted!

We’re under control and on plan, but I really need all the rest I can get right now. I feel it if I go anywhere below 7 hours sleep and notice the benefits when I’m over 8 hours. There’s no room to shirk on those commitments if I want to get through it all. Not too successful on the naps yet, but sleeping well at night. I didn’t break a few days blog silence to discuss my sleep habits though.

Instead I’ve plotted a graph and have some thoughts to go with it. Yes, this is a straight up training analysis post!

Heart Rate versus Power Revisited

If you follow this blog then this graph has come up before. It’s my average power at varying heart rates. Measurements like FTP and training with power on the bike tend to lead us away from heart rate as a metric. Power isn’t normally available to me during a race though so I find it useful to track the two and have an idea of what I’ll be capable of on race day. Of course an affect of increased fitness will be higher power at a lower heart rate anyway. I’ll be working less for the resulting power.

There are two lines on the graph. The red line is the Power:Heart Rate relationship prior to Roth. I’ll admit now that the data sets used for this were spread out an a little erratic. It was a new idea at the time. The green line is the Power:Heart Rate distribution from my rides the past week. I guess it’s obvious the difference is that currently I’m 15-20 watts down on what I was prior to the break.

The aim over the next few weeks is to raise that green line up to the level of the red. I’d say above the red if I had any certainty of achieving that in a month. That highlighted range of heart rates, roughly 132-142 BPM is critical as this is where I expect to be racing. The higher the power I generate in that range the faster my bike whilst still being in shape to run well.

Whilst I’m sure sample size may have an influence what we’re seeing there is the de-conditioning caused by a total break. I don’t need to go back over how important that break was for me, but this side effect wasn’t unexpected. I’ll admit to an element of uncertainty as to how rapidly I can get back to my ‘old self’. Anecdotally as the week has gone on my riding has felt better. I’ve certainly worked hard and had two or three very solid rides in the past few days.

I’ve not produced a graph for it, but to test the theory I compared Power:Heart Rate ratios from the first three rides this week with the last three. The result is that at least below heart rates of 140 BPM my power output has already improved. Above that though we still have plenty to do! The important thing is that in a matter of seven days I’ve already started to move things in the right direction.

It makes me optimistic that fitness will return quite quickly with some work. I’ll be plotting that graph out weekly to closely track the changes so will really see how things progress. I’m also trying to be very focussed whilst on the bike, working to paces and heart rates in a very structured way. Intervals, hill repeats and lots of solid paced work will be my friends till Kona.

Aerobic Decoupling (briefly)

At some point I want to properly visit the topic of aerobic decoupling. To summarise briefly it’s a comparison of the average Power:Heart Rate for the first and second half of a ride. Decoupling refers to a change in those ratios, for example fatigue raising the heart rate or lowering the power produced over time. Good endurance produces a smaller de-coupling as you’re better able to sustain your effort.

Joe Friel typically talks about good endurance giving values below 5% for this ratio. In other words a well trained athlete shows at most a small amount of decoupling. When I first learnt of this I was surprised to discover many of my rides had slightly negative values. Unless I’m mistaken I’m tending to ride harder for a lower heart rate in the second half of the ride!

It’s interesting in that it tallies with my perception of many of my rides. Particularly on longer sessions I’ve often felt it took an hour or two to ‘warm up’ and get into things. Searching found a brief comment on Friel’s blog. It appears negative values indicate that power is coming into line with heart rate after starting erratically. Not sure why I have a slight tendency towards this, Friel does mention caffeine!

I bring this topic up here because this past week the value has been particularly low. Often down around -10% where previously I might typically see it around -1% for a long ride. To me that implies that my heart rate is taking quite a while to settle and starting out each ride much higher than normal.

Again my perception has been that my heart rate is higher and more dynamic than it’s been in a while. By this I mean I’m better able to raise it to its highest levels than I have been in a while (see previous posts about low heart rates). So perhaps these low de-coupling values are a result of this more dynamic heart rate and a longer period before it settles? It may warrant it’s own graph at some point!

And the rest

It’s not all about the bike though and there’s two other sports that factor into the total work. I mentioned how I’d got myself in the pool sooner than originally planned. So far I’m glad I did as my swimming seems erratic in quality. Earlier in the week I had a couple of decent sessions, but performance is tailing off a little. More than likely fatigue, but I’m keen to keep consistency as a major focus. My time in France is likely to see a reduction in overall swim time so it’s important to be getting good training in now.

Whilst I can’t report impressive results in the water, running is returning to form rapidly. The first and second time certainly tested me more than expected, but I’d say I’m already back to my steady pace. Makes me wish I had a bit of high tech equipment on the run to compare heart rates and pacing. Perhaps I’ll find the money at some point!

I’ve settled into running daily, the usual minimum of thirty minutes. It’s working well. Strength and fitness have returned. Admittedly my 90 minute run yesterday left me feeling pretty worn, but they may have been due to the stomach issues! I’ll hit the two hour plus long runs in the next week or so. They’ll also be a bit of experimentation with double run days.

I’m confident that right now I’m not far off the condition to replicate my last pair of Ironman runs. I have to admit I’m not sure of the best way to progress from a 3:10 IM marathon to a 3:00! I’m going to do a more detailed running post in the coming week to consider this. So whilst I’m experimenting with a few things in this training block I’m not really aiming to achieve any kind of breakthrough. I need more time to think it through and come up with a strategy! Input is welcome on this one.

There are four more very solid weeks lined up ahead of me. Whilst I’ve seen how quickly I can return to training from a lay off I’m well aware this isn’t going to be easy. Right now it’s manageable, but I suspect that if I let things get on top of me, slip behind on recovery, I could easily be derailed. I’m committed and will keep working at it. Tracking things closely so I can pre-empt problems and tow the line.

Week two begins early tomorrow. Right now I can’t wait to go to bed!

I’m not sure whether the title should finish with an exclamation mark or a question mark. We’re now less than seven weeks away from Kona and I’ve started my five week build to race fitness. After a very solid three week break it feels like a bit of a mountain to climb. Still I needed the down time.

Three weeks of living without a schedule and doing little felt weird. It wasn’t quite right, I didn’t feel myself. Despite that I was a little nervous coming to the end of it and trying to jump back into training. On the one hand it didn’t feel good not training, but then I wasn’t my most motivated either. It’s with relief that I can say that motivation and drive have returned. Based on the evidence of three days on the program at least!

Whilst I may not have done much training during my rest I certainly thought about it. I spent at least some of the time drawing up the training program from here to Kona. Coming into it well rested, or at least hopefully well rested, I’ve put together a heavy block of work. Here’s my chance to put in place the final touches before what must count as an A race so I’d better make the most of it.

I may put up a copy of the plan in the future, not sure yet. Not that there’s any great secrets in there! Even if that were the case it’s already had some modifications. In fact I made my first adjustment before the first session of the first day! A wise choice though – I decided I needed to get on top of my swimming and quickly. The way I felt in the pool on Monday morning there’s an uphill battle ahead.

Day by day though I’m feeling more like my old self. Tuesday saw my first long ride and whilst my companions were certainly pushing me at times it felt a lot better than expected. I didn’t completely die and managed reasonable efforts at times. The top end is missing and my heart rate is higher than I’d expect for the effort. I don’t think that’s a surprise at this point.

More important than the plan’s details is the commitment behind it. Whilst I lounged around, a little disgusted at myself for being so lazy, I decided what was needed was proper commitment for Kona. Sure I’ve trained a lot over the months, but I wanted some of the focus that came during the first days in Oz. I was managing big hours, hard training and had all the details down too. Recent posts on dieting may have hinted at my love of rules. As such I came up with some rules for the Kona build.

• No procrastination because it’s impaired training too often. No delays, no putting off training for later – get on with the plan. Training is the priority.
• Rest well because I’m going to be very fatigued the next few weeks. More sleep, naps in the day, any chance to take it easy do so. No staying up late whatever the distraction.
• Focus on nutrition which isn’t too hard given the recent diet obsession. Just keeping that up and making nutritional choices based on optimising my performance. I can manage two months of perfect eating to get the most in Hawaii.
• Train hard because I’ve had my rest and now’s not the time to be slacking. I know to move forward I need to be putting in the hard work, not just showing up for the sessions.
• If there’s time and you feel good do more as to an extent more is more. When it doesn’t impair recovery or my ability to hit my key sessions a bit more swim, run or bike can do no harm.
• Watch everything because I need to keep on top of every detail of training. I’m aiming to work hard, but I need to temper this with the sense to know when I’m pushing too far. Breaking myself in the build would be far worse.

Really the point of the list is to remind myself how serious this is for me. Sure it’s fun, I do it for pleasure., but part of that pleasure is racing and racing my best. If I want to do that in Hawaii in October then I need to train well and that will mean sacrifices elsewhere. Is this new to me? Not entirely. Consider this a re-declaration of my commitment to this sport. As of today I’d say I’m scoring a B for the rules, I want to be scoring an A though!

A plan, a set of rules, a goal and five weeks of training followed by two weeks of taper. That’s what sits between me and my first time in Kona. There’s lots to do in that time and whilst these first few days of training are tough going I’m optimistic.

I have a few points to focus on in the next few weeks. Generally the aim is to use the coming fortnight to get myself back up to fitness. Then I’m off to the Pyrenees for a very tough week of work. Lots of cycling and lots of running to push things up. Once I’m back home I want to finish things off with two more solid weeks of training. I expect to be exhausted and ready to rest by the end of it.

Specifically I want to work on plenty of threshold swimming, pushing myself harder in the lake. Technique still needs work, particularly the final push of the stroke which I’m tending to cut short. Cycling is just a matter of plenty of riding and lots of it hard. The mountains will help sort that out! I’m sticking to the pattern of lots of regular running that worked well for Roth and UK. I’m not looking to improve things much in such short time though, just get a good level of run fitness.

There you go. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Well, I’m sure some of you will appreciate it anyway!

If you’ve read my About Me page (much in need of updating) you’ll have read ‘I aim to improve my times in Ironman triathlons with a goal of reaching Hawaii’. Well I’m going to Hawaii. I’ve completed the goal. Which is why when I first got asked what my aim for Kona was it dawned on me I didn’t have a clue! I really hadn’t thought about actually racing there despite al the work to get a slot.

Well it seems a little silly! Answering that I want a solid race or to gain experience of racing there don’t seem good enough. After all I always want to have a solid race. At first I really had no idea what to aim for. It’s all new territory after all. Or is it?

I’ve happily made predictions or set rough time goals for races where I’d no idea or experience of the course. Search back to the end of last year and I was boldly aiming at a 9:30 in Bolton ‘course allowing’! With no knowledge of the course or prior results to consider unsurprisingly I was a little off with my estimations. Kona comes with a long history of results over a well established course. With data to back me up I should be far more willing to pull a figure out the hat! Not only that it’s an opportunity for a graph…

If I’m entirely honest that was just an excuse to play about with numbers in Excel again. As I started to look at the data I realised it doesn’t really give me much more to work with. At least not on its own and without a lot more work. So for now a quick chart and a couple of top line numbers. What the graph does demonstrate is that the bulk of people come in between 10 and 12 hours. For my age group you can tighten that down to 10 to 11 hours. Actually for male 30 to 34 it really goes from 9:30 to 11:00.

I’ve marked two lines on the chart – the median and mean finish times in my age group. Originally I calculated the mean as the quick and obvious thing to look at, but I think it’s too skewed by the slower finishers which whilst rare are way out there. If you’re keen for exact numbers the mean finish time for male 30-34 year olds in Kona last year was 10:42:48 and the median was 10:10:31.

Realising how liitle this really helps me I did start to think about better ways to analyse this. Firstly perhaps comparing the distribution of finish times across the range of races I’ve done. This would at least allow me to establish if Ironman race results tend to follow a similar distribution pattern. Comparing the distribution pattern of results (not the actual finish times) would eliminate the effect of variation in courses and conditions to an extent. So if the distribution of finisher times tends to be consistent across races then I could pick a finish goal based on a percentile in my age group.

That’s a lot of work! So another alternative I considered was looking at my finish times relative to female pros then trying to use those figures as a guideline to a Kona finish time. It took about 5 minutes of working along those lines to realise that was also far more effort than I wanted to put in! Also the field and the nature of a World Champs would lead me to suspect a lot of athletes are either performing at their best or blowing up spectacularly. I’m far from convinced that comparing the time difference from other races would count for much anyway.

Where this all leads me is that if there is some sound statistical route to predict a race result it’s far more work than I’m willing to put in. However I also know I’ve been willing to spuriously predict times in the past and I don’t see why I should stop. So, here’s the goal – sub-10!

Yep, that simple. I’ll aim to break the 10 hour mark in Kona. It’ll be better than average for my age group at the very least and I think I should be able to pull that off. Whilst I’ve no experience of the specific conditions in Kona I like heat and have raced well in winds. I don’t see why Kona should be so different to any other race. I execute a typical race plan and breaking 10 hours shouldn’t be a problem! I’ll let you know my opinion on October 11th!

And Then What? Part II

You may have noticed things have been quiet round here the past week. My final recovery week before the Kona build has been busy. It all relates to my longer term plans. A year has shown me I love training and racing a lot. Which gives me a longer term aim of finding a way that sustains this lifestyle. The goal is to establish a coaching business and develop and grow it to a point where I can keep training and racing like this. If I can avoid working in an office or commuting, that’d be perfect.

To start myself along this road I ironically spent my week getting up early and commuting into London. Then spending all day sat studying. I’ve now completed my ASA/UKCC Swim Coaching Level 1 Course and my UKA Level 1 Assistant Coach Course. I would have fitted in the BTA Level 1 this month too, but unfortunately the course I wanted was cancelled. That’ll be next year.

To an extent the qualifications are formalities. I’m sure we’ve all seen there’s plenty of coaches out there with a real mix of standards and qualifications. The real challenge will be establishing a reputation and client base. After all I’ve looked at coaches online and know how easy it is to be sceptical about their capabilities. No slur to the many great coaches out there, but if you look online it’s hard to be sure what you’ll be getting. Outside of my own training my ability to coach is an unknown entity to most.

For now though the focus is on Kona. I have a five week build period ahead of me followed by a two week taper. Big plans for the period, plenty of hard work. Partly why I’ve allowed myself such a lot of rest. It was time to allow myself some proper recovery before the next push. Back to normal service next week and probably a lot less stats as my time is filled.