Trains, Travels

There was no plan.

That is the single, underlying cause of this season’s ups and downs. Training was leisure time; I avoided strict structure, did what I wanted and had other priorities. It wasn’t without results, apply a stress often enough and it will lead to changes, but directionless it built towards nothing and eventually collapsed. There were compounding factors, but at the core was a lack of psychological investment in my fitness, I was happy to focus elsewhere. It’s not a total write off – I’m not unfit, lessons can be learned and it leads to a different season analysis.

I don’t need to pull data from WKO+ to prove I have trained less, but putting figures into Excel gives me the raw statistics. At this point in the year I have just over five hundred hours training, 60% of my volume from 2010. Besides the large difference in hours, the distribution of training also diverges – this year 85% of my time has been spent on a bike, compared to 63% the year before. Broad overviews hide a lot, 2010 started with huge volume as I cycled the length of New Zealand, I had set myself up for a bigger year.

My analysis begins by considering weekly volumes, with particular attention on cycling. I know this year’s records are not as precise, bike data is reliable, but there are discrepancies in swim and run. As the season had been dominated by cycling I was more interested in comparing bike figures anyway, but the impact of other training can’t be ruled out. Perhaps my improvements on the bike reflected the energy I saved elsewhere?

The dark bars in the chart above show distinctive patterns between the two years. 2010 starting with more volume and has three distinct training blocks built around races. In contrast 2011 begins slowly and builds to the summer, hours tend to be steady from then on. Last year followed my boom-or-bust model, peaks of training with lows in recovery, this year was a little more even. More energy to focus on cycling and a consistent build. But hours say very little about how I’ve trained.

Training Stress Scores (TSS) begin to factor in intensity and potentially give a better indication of how I have trained. As cycling was my main interest I decided to only consider bike TSS. I again have to acknowledge that running and swimming will have influenced cycling; in particular there was a heavy run block during 2010 when cycling was almost nonexistent, weekly TSS would inevitably be lower. Aware of these limitations, comparing weekly TSS shows a similar pattern to hours, except during the summer months the difference between 2010 and 2011 is less pronounced. If anything it looks like I bank more TSS during the summer of 2011.

More bang for the buck. My power data provides more evidence that I have trained harder this year. As the chart above shows twenty minute Mean Maximal Power (MMP), the best effort for that time, was consistently higher over the summer; the same pattern is repeated with sixty minute MMP. More broadly weekly averages of mean maximal powers are around 7% higher this year. I may not have had a plan, but I was pushing myself a little harder.

Considering power output further, I plotted a full mean maximal chart, showing my best efforts over durations from one second to seven hours. Again, 2011 mostly demonstrates higher power outputs. I suspect it is largely indicative of changes in my training regime – fewer long rides, more tempo work, more sweet spot and threshold work. No plan didn’t mean I was riding without thought, most weeks I aimed for a certain mix of intensities in training. Large periods of 2010 lacked that same level of focus within individual sessions, broad goals were in place, but often I simply trained.

All of this analysis leads to some largely unremarkable conclusions:

• You can build fitness without a plan, but you won’t necessarily make the best job of it.
• You definitely won’t deal with injury, layoffs or poor time management well without one.
• Not running or swimming gives you much more energy to put into cycling.
• Cycling harder makes you a better cyclist.

Unsurprising, but a reminder of how being a working athlete and being a full-time athlete differ. The laissez faire approach to training that worked at higher volumes, doesn’t work when I have other distractions. If I want to continue to grow my business and continue to develop as an athlete I need to properly plan. I don’t need to worry about the hours, consistently applying an appropriate level of stress over a long period of time works – riding slightly harder for three months, delivered far better results than a four week burst of high mileage. Next season I can plan, manage volume and intensity more and achieve better results.

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Perhaps I should start with an apology. I have been quiet of late, posting infrequently and lacking direction on the blog. Life has been busy and unfortunately time management is a weakness of mine. Busy is good, it largely represents the continuing success of my coaching business, more than my training at least. My season wound down with exhaustion following Epic Camp, but while ITU Long Distance Worlds remained on the horizon I felt I should keep training. I couldn’t – the motivation wasn’t there.

The race is done, it’s time to move on. Next year will be busy and I need to prepare. Plans are loose and objectives vague – I roughly know what I want to achieve, but haven’t considered how I’ll get there. Foremost in my mind is some return to form. I’d like to put the mediocrity of this season’s racing behind me. I prioritised work, but the cost to my performance was a disappointment. I want to do better.

It would be naive to think I can simply switch back to racing well, as if I chose not to do my best. Results came from fitness and fitness from training or a lack there of. I have trained less this year than in any of the previous three; a shift in focus allowed me to improve as a cyclist and still wear myself down. There’s an interesting topic for a future post – how I trashed myself on fewer hours. My priority was work, but my problem wasn’t a lack of free time, it was how I used it. Time management again.

Work has worked, the coaching business is a success. I’m pleased with my achievements so far, but there’s more I want to do. Eighteen months ago I returned to the UK with the idea of starting a lifestyle business to support me as an athlete. That idea is over. While racing is fun it doesn’t pay the bills. I want more. I reached a point that can sustain my lifestyle months ago and my thoughts turned to how I can take things further; at its core is the desire to be a great coach and offer great products. Just as I have set myself performance goals as an athlete I am considering them as a coach.

So next year I want to perform better in races and in business, while confessing to time management issues. Which is why it’s time for a clean slate, planning everything from the ground up. Training plans are easy, business development harder, but my biggest challenge will be acting on whatever I plan. There’s much I want to achieve and my success metrics just got a lot more complex than a result sheet or bank balance.

In respect of my original apology – this blog will be focussed on training over the winter months. Expect more interesting and varied content!

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Bags packed, breakfast eaten, kit on – ready to go. Then my phone rang. It was Aurelie, the GB Team masseuse, letting me know the swim had been cancelled. It was unconfirmed and seemed unlikely; the weather was colder, but we’d been in Lake Mead without a wetsuit two days before. Tension broken, our schedule slowed once the rumour was confirmed. We headed to Lake Las Vegas with mixed feelings – there was somethign exciting about a last minute change, but the race felt incomplete without a swim.

Transition was chaotic. More than normal. ITU officials confirmed the cancellation, but we were given no more information. It would be a bike-run starting sometime later that morning, nobody had a clear picture how the race would proceed. The morning was cold, it felt like winter outside the heated transition tent. Athletes crowded together waiting for some form of instructions.

I’d entered a triathlon, but would be racing a duathlon. It wasn’t what I’d expected, but not being swim fit I wasn’t too disappointed to lose the swim. I didn’t feel short changed. Whatever the reason for cancelling all any of us could do was race the course put in front of us.

At 7:45 we were called to our bikes and told to get ready for the start. Arranged in numeric order we queued behind the mount line, set off at five second intervals. It didn’t take long to reach the front and be on my way. Age groups were grouped by nation, all the 35-39 year old Brits set off in a block; five seconds after me was one of my housemates, Dave Francis, he came flying past in the first kilometer. I settled in, tried to control my heart rate and get into a rhythm, but the loop around the resort was a lumpy start.

The sun added a little warmth, but I needed the jersey and arm warmers I’d thrown over the top of my GB kit. There was a decent westerly blowing, nothing excessive, but enough to occassional twitch the front wheel. It ensured Lakeshore road was fast. I exchanged places with a few in my age group, falling back on the climbs and coming past on the flats. The 54 chainring was a bonus, but the 42 felt a bit much on some of the bumps. It felt hard, harder than in the week, negative thoughts filled my mind. I pondered retiring from racing (again!), wondered whether I’d been doing too much in the lead in (I had) and considered what it would take to abandon.

For fifty kilometres I was uncertain – I didn’t feel good and wasn’t happy with my race. I knew it was normal, I go through this most races, I just had to hold out. Sure enough as I turned onto Northshore Road I started moving through the field and my mood lifted. I kept in control, my plan was to push from the turn around and work the return leg into the headwind. Even so the slight gradients and the big gearing let me cruise through the athletes ahead. I turned and picked it up.

I knew there was the climb out of the National Park ahead of me and after a week of riding locally I knew how tough it was in a westerly; once I hit the base of the climb I dropped the gears and spun my way up. By now everyone was suffering, I continued to gain places. After a small reprieve we hit the Three Sisters – a trio of short, sharp climbs. Bottom gear again and out of the saddle, I hauled myself up and round stalling competitors. Then it was the grind, a gradual ascent that sapped tired legs. But I still had more to give.

I wanted the bike time so I pushed. I kept moving through the field, chasing athletes ahead well aware it was costing my legs. I have no run fitness, pushing the bike would make little difference to how I’d suffer later. I arrived in transition, sat in a chair and pondered the 30km ahead of me – I wasn’t looking forward to it. I hoped that like Challenge Henley my legs would work reasonably.

The run started with a downhill, lulling me into a false sense of security. It was short lived. After the turn at the bottom of the hill I slowed, hamstring and achillies tightened under the load and I struggled to the top. Again my mind became preoccupied with how I could abandon – I was torn between the fact I have never DNFed and the discomfort. I decided it would take a real injury and as the tightness in my legs had eased off that didn’t seem likely.

I counted down each painful kilometre of that run. The ones where I had stomach cramps and a stitch, and the ones when my knees ached from the continual pounding. I struggled through; walking aid stations and trying to keep the rest of the run controlled. A few words of encouragement from another GB teammate got me to pick up my effort 3km from the end and push the last stretch home. Driven by the desire to finish I found the energy to open up the pace.

Indifference best decribes my feelings to the day. I never felt at my best and whilst I know preparation was far from perfect I’m disappointed to yet again be racing poorly. Next year needs to be different – a return to form. No more racing until I’m run fit.

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