Trains, Travels

Perhaps you’ve noticed I’ve not reported on the state of my Kona preparation in a while. The last three weeks haven’t been going to plan. With six weeks left to the big day I’m increasingly anxious. This post is part cathartic exercise to get past the issues and part lesson in the skewed perspectives of endurance athletes.

It begins with a successful ITU Long Distance Worlds. A mediocre swim, reasonable bike, but notably strong run gave me the race I wanted. Everything on track and my run was an asset again. I’d ambitious plans for the following eight weeks before I’d taper for Kona. Then I hit the first bump in the road.

The little niggle in my calf was now an issue and run training was out. Even walking was painful if anything more so than running. The only approach was stop running and hope that with work it would heal. Three weeks later and there were still problems, but my suspicions moved from calf to hamstring.

Losing fitness

I’ve sat watching fitness I worked so hard to build dwindle. All that run training and then a huge break! The plan was to be pushing further than before. Instead I spent each evening using stretch cords and a roller to iron the problem out. Once again I’m optimistic as the calf feels much better, but an easy run tomorrow morning will answer that.

The big question is how much fitness I’ve lost? My concerns are based on the Performance Management Chart in Training Peaks WKO+. A blue line represents fitness (Chronic Training Load) in terms of the training load over the past few weeks. A few weeks ago it towered above previous heights, but now drops daily.

How much can a graph tell me about performance? With fitness at an all time high I had a superb race in Immenstadt, but I’ve seen great biking after a long break and drop in bike fitness. From big fitness gains earlier in the year the charts may drop, but performance seems to last.

I’ve four weeks left to work on the run and I’m allowing myself a little optimism. Sub 3:05 may still be possible it’s not time to give up yet. Rereading the Journey of Justin Daerr helped reassure me the possibility remains. I just hope for pain free running in the next week!

Still holding on

Run fitness may trend down, but for the bike it remains stationary. The graph stubbornly refuses to rise without consistent days of hard bike work. Every week there’s been hard days of work, but not tightly scheduled to push the numbers up.

Each session is harder than last year’s equivalent. I’ve the ability to work at higher power levels, but that blue line says it’s not good enough. The key must be performance if I’m working harder and the raw power numbers are up then I’m moving in the right direction.

Friday’s terrible turbo didn’t help my anxiety. Just as I get used to indoor cycling again (I was amazed how much I did in my old training diaries) I have a nightmare session. A classic threshold set of twice twenty minutes at threshold.

It was going well until my hamstring started tightening. In a moment of weakness I bailed on the second set. The discomfort was enough that trigger point and friction massage was preferable. I inflicted some serious pain on the hamstrings via a tennis ball then followed it with gym work the next day. I don’t need another niggle flaring up at this point!

Poor focus and priorities

With running absent from the plans I should have been swimming much more instead it entered maintenance mode too. If there’s any positive in this (and there isn’t much of one) I’ve reached a point where I can maintain a one hour Ironman swim form. I’m not slower than before, but unfortunately I’m not faster either.

This brings up the underlying issue of focus. It’s not been there since ITU Worlds, like I peaked too soon. My attention has been drawn in surprising directions as I find myself pulled into the working world. I’ve spoken about sustaining this lifestyle and as coaching becomes more successful it takes more time. Perfectly reasonable, but I’ve become engrossed in the process to the point of distraction.

With other activities fighting for time it’s easier to make excuses. The pool will be too busy, too warm, isn’t good for training, I can train later, I’ll do more tomorrow… Excuses are easy and of course I’m working not just wasting my time. I want and need the business to be a success, but this is poor time management and prioritisation.

It creeps into every detail and the list of errors grows. Insufficient rest leading to fatigue which is another potential excuse. Poor recovery leading to niggles and tightness that shouldn’t be there. Nutritional mistakes as I still prioritise weight loss when increased intensity demands I fuel my training more. All leading to frustrating detonations like Friday evening’s turbo session.

This isn’t what a smart, focussed athlete does.

Moving on and peaking

There’s four more weeks till I taper. It’s been enough for some good Ironman performances in the past. There’s no reason it can’t be the same again especially considering those performance graphs have me fitter than this time last year. If I believe them when they say I’m losing fitness then I need to believe them when they say I’m fitter than 2009.

What’s needed is proper focus and prioritisation. My coaching is important, but it doesn’t need to impact on my training. I’ve time to do both. My personal emphasis for September is train, rest, recover and eat well. I need to be smart and work towards my goals not drift. Everything I do now is a step towards my race in October.

What’s key is gradually building back fitness, but primarily working to improve overall performance. When I land in Hawaii on September 26th I want to be injury free, fit, and ready to taper well. No taking niggles, excess weight or undue levels of tiredness to the big island.

For comparison with the weekend’s Ironman training plan I thought I’d post a sample week from the final portion of my Kona build. This is the template I’m basing the next five weeks around adjusting for work and events. It’s a challenging structure with demands for both volume and intensity throughout the week.

Hopefully you can see aspects from the previous simple plan creeping in. There’s an attempt to have a number of quality sessions in each discipline. The main difference is I have more hard sessions and also a lot of additional workouts. As I described in the previous post they’ll be the ones to go should performance in key sessions suffer.

Until a week ago the plan looked nothing like this it was overly ambitious in volume, unclear in focus and set me up to fail! Considering and analysing past training allowed me to step back and see what was important. This template is the result giving a better balance of training and free time. Key sessions have clear objectives and provide a means to measure performance and development.

Aims

Coming from a large run block and recovering from a calf injury the focus is very much biking. There are four main bike sessions a week each including a good dosage of hard work regardless of length. I’m sticking to only one significantly long ride and using hard efforts in the others to work on threshold. My aim is to try to push my threshold a little over the next five weeks and establish clear race pacing.

My run form (when I can run) is in good shape and as I heal I see signs I’ll quickly be back where I was. The presence of an injury forces me to adjust key run sessions along with additional ones the priority is recovery. It’s not ideal, but the process needs to be well managed and I’ll deviate from the plan by utilising frequent, short runs until I am comfortable going longer.

I aim to swim every day chasing that nebulous feel for the water along with developing fitness. I’ve seen benefits from focussed blocks of swim training so five weeks of consistent swimming will see me in good shape for Hawaii. Again I plan to have plenty of hard work in there and particularly to pay more attention to structuring open water sessions.

Challenges

A failing in my self-coaching is routinely committing myself to unrealistic plans. The volume and regularity of hard sessions may lead you to suspect I’ve done it again, but remember it’s a template. Most weeks will have adjustments made to fit around life and recovery so I anticipate losing a few hours. Perfectly fine so long as I hit the key sessions hard.

Some combinations here I suspect will prove more problematic than others. Saturday’s endurance ride definitely falls into this camp and I’ll need to see how the double threshold sessions on Friday and Sunday work out. There’s also the question of how well I can handle the Monday ride with sub-threshold intervals in. After the weekend this may prove more challenging than I imagine.

Whilst Tuesday and Thursday allow me some time off the bike and hopefully a stronger Wednesday ride their run content is tough. I know a long run is rarely compatible with recovery from experience and whether it will leave me too tired to make the most of the long ride is an open question.

On a similar theme planning to go to Masters swimming on days with either a very long ride or a tough threshold bike may be optimistic. At least on Friday I can space them out so I am fresh again by early evening (aided by a nap perhaps!) Whether I’ll drag myself the thirty minute drive to the pool on Wednesdays is another matter.

I chose to remove gym work as I didn’t feel it added quantifiable value and was sure it would impact my interval sessions. A little more free time and opportunity to rest seems more important. I’ll include a core and basic strength routine work in the evening, but no long gym workouts.

I think this provides an interesting comparison of the other extreme to the simple week’s training plan. The proof of this approach will come both in my ability to execute it satisfactorily and the subsequent performance in Kona. My objective is to head to Hawaii with better fitness than last year and subsequently deliver an improved performance.

In this regard time will tell.

I may not be able to run, but I can still write about it. Improving my run is a key part of my plans for an improved Kona performance this year. Now I’m in the last six weeks of Kona preparation I want to consider my race goals, how close I am currently and what I need to do to reach them. Six weeks and a taper feels like plenty of time one minute and all too short the next!

In 2009 I ran a 3:16 in Hawaii which was good, but leaves room for work. I was in great run shape in terms of weight and consistency of training. However what I was lacking was a volume of training behind me. Aside from one significant run week I had followed a program of short, frequent runs. It didn’t do a bad job, but left me with the question of what I needed to do to take the next step.

I’ve given a partial answer in the first part of my Kona build. The one hundred mile run week, or more specifically moving to a larger weekly run volume. One hundred miles was simply a target based on a classic training volume quoted for runners. For a triathlete with two other sports it’s too much to consider, but as an experiment and run focus was a perfect goal.

The test for this approach came at the ITU Worlds and I was pleased with the results as I recorded the 9th fastest age group run split on the day. My time of 2:08 for 30km was close to three hour marathon pace which would be the dream for Hawaii. The combination of weight loss and high volume running had prepared my legs well.

With certain kilometre markers missing and others misplaced on the course the individual distance splits weren’t much use in judging my pace. However with three laps I can compare my performance across the three. I know average pace was roughly 4:16 per kilometre, but how did I distribute that over the race and were there any low patches?

What stands out in the graph is that kilometre eight was way out! I suspect some of the middle kilometres were long as well as the last kilometre. At least by comparing laps the distance between markers is less important as the chart gives an idea of relative pacing.

Lap One (green) started faster than planned, but felt comfortable and I decided to stick with it. This is always a risk and I know I’ve suffered because of it in the past (Ironman New Zealand springs to mind). The dip around the 5km mark is interesting because I can’t explain why I dropped off pace that early, but what saved me was a passing pro. I managed to latch on and run 10m back from him.

It’s much easier to run faster if someone else dictates pace and from then on the lap went well. Being able to run at the same pace as a pro (admitedly off a slower bike split) was good for confidence, but once he shot off down the finish chute I was back on my own.

Lap Two (yellow) starts slower mainly from losing my pacer. I suspect I was experiencing a dip in energy as I’d not taken quite enough nutrition in lap one. It’s a minor point overall as the impact was minimal. Whilst slightly slower I’m more consistent and things pick up around 17km in. My plan was to up pace from 15km and honestly I tried, but the real impact of this didn’t start till the 17K point. I then matched the first lap without the benefit of a pacer.

Fatigue is developing in the final lap (red) although I felt surprisingly good for that point of the race, far stronger than I can ever recall at the 20km mark. A slight waver in pace to begin, but then I made a concerted effort to push harder spurred on by the closeness of the finish line and a few of my competitors. The last 6km of lap three are all faster than any of the previous laps.

It’s hard to judge based off the dodgy distance markers, but for the last few kilometres I dropped the pace below 4 minutes. I knew I was moving at that point and really just doing my best to keep pace as high as I could. I’d not read too much into the pace values in the chart the main thing for me was I could finish that strongly. There was still a lot in the tank – a very positive sign for Kona.

That’s a lot of analysis for a single leg of a race. I went into that race to learn and the only way to achieve that is scrutinising the results. I could come away and say it was a fantastic race and clearly my running is in great shape, but with six weeks I want to get every last improvement I can.

The course in Hawaii will be hotter and is far more undulating which will impact the time. The question becomes how can I minimise this impact and get as close to that three hour pace as possible. It’s hard to replicate the heat and humidity in the UK especially as summer seems to have failed on us. The terrain is a different matter.

I need to focus on selecting undulating and hilly courses and working the uphills hard. I’ve never really felt they were my strength so inroads here could make the Queen K much more comfortable. Last year I tried to push the pace on the return to Palani only to blow as I hit the top of the final rise. Concerted, structured hill reps and bounding to develop strength will be the focus.

Getting past my current injury is the other big issue. Massage from The Tri Touch identified a nasty little knot/strain in my left calf. It’s slowly clearing through a process of stretching, massage and rehab. I’ve started using cross training machines to work the legs along with some running specific weight work. Though it feels better every day I’m sticking to plans of no running this week and then reassessing. Better to be 100% than risk further damage.

When I’m past this problem I’ll start with an easy week of frequent runs and from there look to build up volume week on week. I’ll be aiming at a lower target than 160km in a single week – no more than 120km running per week this time. That’s still significant and the most important aspects to maintain will be having a quality long run, hill session and some pace work at and above race pace.

Once I’m out in Hawaii I’m planning to execute some decent run training in the first few days. Last year my run taper was sharp from 14 days out I never felt I could run well. This year I want the time and experience of some running in the heat. The main thing is I’m doing nothing too hard within about ten days of the race.

The next test now is how I return to running once my calf has healed. I’ll be interested to see how pace and feel come back given my body weight is largely where it was pre-race. From there it’s hard work with a little more emphasis on injury avoidance through to the taper. The final test comes on October the 9th when I’m out running on the Queen K.