Motivation and consistency are two of the most important ingredients to endurance racing success. Sure you actually have to do some training and maybe a little genetic talent helps at the top, but if you’ve got the drive, patience and do the work results follow. Over an entire season it can be hard to keep the motivation flowing and when that goes consistency typically follows.

With the European Ironman season coming to an end and every weekend seeing major races go by this may seem like an odd topic to pick up. Many athletes have completed their A races and are either enjoying some R&R or if they’re a bit more obsessive planning some end of season events. Motivation, commitment, consistency may well be the last things on their mind coffee and cake could be far more appealing. If you fall in that category this is probably one to file away to look back on.

There’s a couple of months before my season climaxes in Hawaii putting me smack in my mid-season the perfect time for the blues to strike. Last week they did. Following weeks of hard training and pushing the motivation suddenly vanished. I was torn between an obsession with the numbers and performance and an outright desire to lay around! As I discussed next year’s racing plans with some of the athletes I coach I considered just how important keeping motivated throughout the season is.

I routinely emphasise the importance of consistency. The ability to train day after day and make gradual progress to a goal as I’ve said is key. Consistency doesn’t mean that the training is slow or easy, it means it’s happening. I am happier seeing a string of decent sessions over the course of the week than a stellar day followed by underperformance as the body tries to recover. The net benefit lies with the first approach even if those sessions don’t make you feel like a rock star.

You can see this approach in the training programs I build both for myself and others. For those who doubt it I do include intensity, but I’m measured in its usage. The backbone is a lot of steady work, aerobic conditioning to develop the underlying energy systems and strengthen muscle and tendons. If an athlete has less free time then intensity will make up more of their weekly schedule, but where possible I’m cautious.

Areas of weakness are always approached slowly opting for short, but frequent sessions of steady-state training. I start to move towards harder and more structured sessions only when I’m convinced the risk of injury is minimised. It’s frustrating watching other athletes cycle through phases of injury, recovery, hard training and back to injury. Sometimes I want to tell them to step back, take their time and eliminate the cause of the injury.

Whilst being injury free and healthy is obviously essential to maintaining consistency motivation is the other factor. What happened when my motivation disappeared last week? I fell into the exact pattern I’ve been describing. One day training myself hard the next being lucky to get a 10km run done. Up and down day after day with those hard days lacking any quality as well. You’ve seen the result in my weekly summary yesterday.

It’s not only the inconsistency in the training schedule, but the details that hold it all together start to go. Sleep became less of a priority for me. I was tired and now sleeping even less which did nothing to promote positive recovery. It’s very easy to lose control of your diet and make poor food choices in this situation. I managed to hold out pretty well there, at least till my rest day.

Given its importance how can we maintain motivation over a season that can stretch for months. I’m already considering my plans for Ironman Austria in 2011 that’s twelve months of training away. It would take a remarkable individual to sustain their focus over that entire period. For most of us we need to be able to break that time down into more manageable chunks.

Smaller goals on route to the major races are one of the best approaches in this regard. Never plan a season with just one race in as aside from the motivational benefits it’s a real test of your progress. My year of Ironman racing was fantastic for motivation as one race finished I only had a matter of weeks till the next there wasn’t time to be demotivated! Not that I recommend stacking so many major races. Generally I prefer shorter, more intense racing along the way to a major event.

Training camps are another excellent way to boost morale. They provide an opportunity to stretch your limits and work harder than normal and often they give you a change of environment. On a budget the simple way to do a camp is from home. Setting bigger training goals, taking the time off work to support it and just get out there and do it. You’ll be on the same routes as normal which can be a little boring, but it does the job. Getting away somewhere sunny and warm is even better though. My recent trip to Lanzarote let my top 43 hours over eight days something I’d not achieve at home.

The best motivator for me is the training group. Whether it’s an organised club or simply a bunch of mates having people to train with gets me training. If I’ve arranged a five hour ride with someone I’m going to turn up to ride five hours even if my bed looks more appealing. Better still the motivation of other athletes improves performance that day. I love doing bike threshold sessions with others as there’s enough competition to make me push a fraction harder.

I’m sure we’re all familiar with these techniques to help keep the mind interested over the longer term. The other question we need to ask is what causes lost motivation? When we set ourselves these goals we’re clearly keen to complete them to the best of our abilities. Whilst we’re initially excited over our plans the mind quickly prioritises the present. July 2011 is a long way away, but the next few day’s work needs dealing with now. If you’re not careful though you’ll be reminding yourself there’s still time a few weeks before your event.

Fatigue is a big de-motivator in my life. It might be the morning sessions on a given day leave me with little energy to do the work in the afternoon. A decent swim and run and suddenly going out on the bike is much less appealing. Typically the chronic training load and slow accumulation of fatigue has a big impact. Over time tiredness subtly builds up and to the observant a drop in performance becomes obvious.

Last week is a case in point worn out from a big block of training my expectations to keep going couldn’t be met. Were I more sensible and less optimistic when drawing up my plans I’d have factored in extra rest around this period. It’s easy to imagine you can keep on piling on training, but at some point there needs to be some give. Even when physically you can withstand it an easier week can be of great benefit mentally. Sometimes that mental break is as important as the physical one.

Over a season’s training you should expect and factor in these breaks. Not just easier weeks, but proper downtime for a long season. Take a less important race and plan to have a week off after it. A total break will do a lot of good for the mental side of the sport allowing you to relax and put things in perspective. Maybe exercise a little, but avoid doing training. Move to keep the body going not to make it fitter. Indulge a little and enjoy a ‘normal’ life!

I’m pleased to say my motivation has returned thanks to a proper day’s break and a bit of indulgence (Sticky Toffee Pudding!) Performance is returning through a big focus on getting the sleep my body needs, but I’m keeping that in balance. With a big race at the end of the week I need to be measured in the work I do. I want this week to be challenging, but I don’t want it to break me!

Failure! That’s how I feel about the past week. It’s not been what I wanted on a training level at all. Having backed up week after week of solid training I finally have one that falls apart. Plans disintegrate, consistency fails and I yo-yo from solid days that are still a bit too easy to almost complete recovery days. Motivation sinks and the week finishes with a full rest day.

Yet I don’t feel disappointed. There’s a sensible voice in the back of my head telling me my expectations were simply too high. In the past few weeks I backed up a hard block in Lanzarote with a hard running block. Inevitably when you start putting some of the toughest training you’ve done together and don’t have much rest you grind to a halt.

All the time I’ve been focussing on losing weight too and having some success there. Much as this morning I weigh 1.2kg higher than yesterday thanks to combining a rest day with a belated birthday dinner! It’s additional stress on the body during a stressful period, but the important thing is the major weight loss is now done and I can focus on eating to train much more.

I had the pleasure of meeting up for an easy ride with John Franklin on Saturday. We shared experiences as full time athletes both the good and the bad. It was remarkable how much similarity there was. One of the topics was how vital it is to know your body and as I said to John I know mine well, but get frustrated it won’t always do what I want. When I planned this period the sensible voice in the back of my head knew this crash might happen.

The reality is it’s not that bad though. I may not have had another massive week boosting performance across the board, but I maintained my fitness levels for the week at a very high standard. When I look in my Performance Manager Chart in WKO+ I see figures at similar levels to Ironman New Zealand and way above what I entered races with last year. Take running alone and fitness levels are at an all time high!

The numbers this week disappoint. I’ve not been my usual big volume self, nor can I claim much quality in those sessions.

The numbers

The good

I can find good. Mainly getting back onto the bike, but beyond that I struggle. As mentioned I think the fact I maintained my fitness levels in the performance manager whilst not consistently training is the biggest positive. There was no big fall back here, but no real gains either.

As you can see the first month of my Kona Build has done a lot to bring Chronic Training Load (CTL) on. This last week though has been more of a plateau. An inevitable point in a training cycle and one that you have to deal with. I tried working through it at first, but fatigue just went against me.

Yesterday I made the call to take the day off and rest up. I ate very well and more importantly slept lots too. The result seems to be a lot less fatigue today, but time and a few hours of training will be far more telling.

The bad

My original objective was to train like normal this week so an obvious bad is I didn’t. Whilst I think in the long run the lighter week may do me good it’s still a negative that I wasn’t smart enough in my planning to account for this. I dealt with a plateau in an ad hoc way.

The paltry amount of swimming is terrible as well. I’ve no real excuse that one is purely a motivational issue last week. Swim sessions are poorly timed for me ensuring early starts all round (oddly I can get up early, but starting training is hard!) The result was I failed to go swimming as much as I should have even when the opportunity was there. When I need to be taking forward steps in the discipline it’s a major error.

The very low run volume by recent standards is also a major disappointment. I’ve said one measure of the success of my 100 mile run week would be if I backed it up with another solid run week. I failed. I was just too tired most of this week and struggled to motivate myself out the door. Add to that a slow tightening up of my left hamstring that gave a little discomfort and I was happy to run less.

Sleep isn’t charted here, but is probably the most significant bad of the week. Typically I’d sleep seven to eight hours a night. This past week I was lucky to make six. Bad habits and a mind buzzing with thoughts and ideas would keep me up. I’ve a number of little projects on the go all means of supporting the lifestyle and I find myself routinely distracted. I need to make sleep a priority again.

Thoughts

So a disappointing week which I can explain away. Too far out from Hawaii to be considered a disaster and potentially the rest and the experience will do me good. At least I’m more aware of my fallibility in the face of a plateau. Next time I reach this point I can aim to deal with it in a sensible manner. Constructing my plans beyond next weekend’s ITU Long Distance Worlds has been influenced with a better recovery period built in.

The week ahead is an interesting one I have the ITU Worlds at the end of it, my final race before Hawaii. Whilst I’d like to do well there it’s not a major goal and I’m left with choices. One option is to taper properly this week and go in extra fresh to see what happens. The other is to carry through a hard four day block of training before a two day mini-taper.

General wisdom would say the former gives me the best chance of racing well in Germany. However it impacts Hawaii preparations, giving me two to three weeks of at best maintenance in the middle of my build. A block of hard work now may leave me fatigued for the race, but it would minimise the overall impact of fitnes. Build up a little more till Thursday then lose some fitness over the race and recovery.

Either way the plan is a good recovery week of regular, but light training after Germany leaving me fresh and motivated for the final pair of hard Hawaii training blocks. I know once the ITU race is out the way I need to have extra focus to ensure I train to my best.

Inspired by Matt Fitzgerald’s recent book Racing Weight I decided to keep a food diary during the 100 mile run week. I figured it would give me an interesting insight into how much I’m actually eating and how it relates to training and weight loss. With weight loss being part of my current focus I expected to be eating less than required in simple calorific terms.

The process of keeping a diary proved to be quite enjoyable in the end and it’s a habit I intend to maintain from now on. I can definitely see the value in understanding how my dietary intake relates to current feelings of health and performance. Also establishing a baseline of dietary practices for maintaining a decent race weight is important in the longer term.

As you’ll know from the previous entries on the run week I dropped weight very rapidly. Whilst I suspect the initial day’s weigh in was unusually high and the final weigh in exceptionally low I was clearly eating far less than I imagined. In simple volume terms what was on my plate appeared huge, but in terms of that calorific content it was a lot less than needed.

Keep that in mind when you look at the tables below. This is not an example of the perfect training diet. On this diet I lost a lot of weight, but generally manage to train well. I was eating similarly during the 43 hour week out in La Santa and I’m sure Roger would attest to the quality of work I was doing. Weight dropped off there too.

The caveats then are that you should take this as an extreme example and not necessarily something to follow. You will have to be getting good sleep whilst eating like this to stand a chance of keeping performance levels up. You have to ensure the diet has plenty of sources of micronutrients in and that you feel healthy on it. At no point do I feel weak or ill as a consequence of my diet. You may feel hungry, actually you will feel hungry!

I’ll revisit the food diary again once I’m looking to maintain weight to allow a comparisson of my eating habits. The primary strategy I’ll use is an increase in carbs, primarily via potato. I suspect I’ll sneak in the odd treat too (in addition to that nightly hot chocolate), but I’m wary of these in case I get sugar cravings! I can’t really do much about volume of food other than increasing the snacking. There was a distinct lack of nuts in the diet last week and I’ll rectify that.

I’ll also start eating more (at all!) during training sessions as currently I don’t eat at all. Food during the longer more focussed bikes and runs that are coming into the plan will be essential for good performance. I tend to opt for cheap cereal bars as there’s no point spending money on expensive sports nutrition for training. Full time athletes tend to have to be budget conscious after all!

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below. The diary is accurate and only excludes drinking water that I’m aware of. Not all the eating habits are that good I’m sure you’ll note. Perhaps it’s also less strictly paleo than you anticipated? It fuelled a week where I ran 166km, biked 250km and swam (just) 7km.

The Diary

It’s almost redundant to be writing this the day after I posted the diary of my run week. I want to be consistant in reporting my Kona build so I’m going back over now familiar ground. I’ll try to base this more on figures and analysis.

Running dominated the week. I learnt a lot about my capacity to keep going and ways to approach big mileage. I was most surprised with how my legs seemed to get stronger day on day. Rather than tiring the constant moderate pace seemed manageable. The toughest aspect was the mental side of dragging myself back out there in the final days!

The impact on my body was heavy. The weight loss that happened in the week was unexpected in size and more than I wanted. Sure I want to be close to my race weight, but even I’m aware I shouldn’t be dropping that much so quickly. No signs of serious problems though I’m clearly closer to my training limits than I have been. Keeping a balance on volume and intensity is important now too much will do me no good.

Some of the niggles in leg muscles seemed to clear themselves up over the week. I did foam roller a couple of times and started wearing compression tights to bed. I was surprised that the compression seemed to help, I’d become sceptical about it, but am reconverted. I even started wearing my socks down at the lake. It did take the edge out of all the standing around!

Fatigue built day on day. If you look at the hours in the table below you’ll notice I ended up biking and swimming a lot less. I honestly couldn’t find the energy for more! Cycling was mostly easy though I was pleased to throw in some solid, but shorter efforts in the second ride of the week. Motivation really struggled leading to the low hours elsewhere. I was tired and by the end if I’d not publicly had the target I’m not sure I’d have made the effort!

The difference splitting runs up over the day makes was interesting. Comparing how I felt on Friday after running 36km over three runs with running 30km in one on Sunday is a revelation. The break down involved in a single big run is so much more significant and I felt the soreness on Monday. It emphasises how the long run has its place you can rack up volume without it, but there’s some specific benefits to be gained from it.

The numbers

The good

I built myself to a new all time high level of Chronic Training Load (CTL) or fitness for running. As the above chart from WKO+ demonstrates I’ve no held such a high CTL since the start of 2009. This is a great place to be as I start to move my run training from largely just volume to a more focussed series of sessions. It’s a good sign that I can handle a high training load of running and should hopefully be able to avoid injury.

This is the first time I’ve had a week where the contribution of Training Stress Score (TSS) from my different activities came mainly from running. Cycling contributed a paltry 355 points to this week’s TSS whilst running accounted for 945 points. What’s worth noting there is whilst my weekly hours were lower than usual my TSS for the week was largely the same.

How compatible TSS from running and biking actually are is another question. I certainly think that 945 TSS of even easy running is far more strenuous on the body than achieved via cycling (assuming comparable intensities). They’ll always be something of a disconnect here so whilst it’s nice to see consistency in the figures, individual sport’s TSS seems more important to me.

The bad

The most obvious bad is how heavily all this running cut into my work load in the other sports. I watched the bike CTL (fitness) I’d built in the last two or three weeks ebb away. Ultimately this had to be accepted I’d made the decision to focus on the run and was reaping the rewards in terms of training load there. As ever it’s easy to plan heavy training loads all round, but much harder to execute. Keeping the balance whilst progressing all three sports is part of the challenge of triathlon training.

It also has to be said my attempts to go swimming were terrible last week. I’m not sure if I can really blame fatigue for this either. Largely I lacked the motivation to get to my time slots efficiently. When your local pool is as warm as a bath it’s not very alluring either! Having been spoilt in La Santa it’s a shock to the system to be back. I don’t think I lost much in the time as the few short sessions I did were good quality, but with ambitions to improve in Kona I need to be working here.

I can’t let weight loss go unmentioned. If you tracked the weight at the end of each diary entry you’ll have noted I lost 3Kg over the week! That’s ridiculously high. I’ve added the chart of weight loss for the last few weeks which I think adds some reality to that process. Firstly be aware that I lost 1.5Kg of that total weight loss overnight on the last day. I had some stomach issues after all.

I suspect my weight after La Santa and in the lead in to the week was coming in a little high. I’d been feeling bloated for most of the period after La Santa and you can see it fluctuates at a higher level than I recorded over in Lanzarote. I have a friend who insists he can never go to La Santa without coming back with some kind of fluid retention that takes a week to clear. Whether that was affecting me I can’t say.

I’m counting the rapid loss as a bad though as I don’t want it falling at this rate. It may have placed me at my target weight for the ITU Long Distance Worlds and I may be very close to Kona weight, but I wanted a bit more control getting there. Big running weeks create quite a hunger I can tell you and my meals have been massive. I do have a food diary for the week and may publish that if there’s interest.

Thoughts

The run focus has been a very positive experience, not just this last week, but those leading up to it. It’s helped to transform my running from something I was getting through to something I’m enjoying again. I’m well placed to really make some in roads into my performance now and with two months to Kona I’ve plenty of time. It’ll be interesting how this volume translates into performance in the ITU Long Distance Worlds, I think they may be too close to benefit fully.

Cycling has ticked a long maintaining a reasonably high level, but it’s time to restore some balance and start working here. The plan for the next week or two sees me focussing more effort into the bike and keeping the run at a high, but reasonable volume. The aim it to bring the bike CTL up to around the 100 level before Worlds. A mini-taper/recovery cycle will make a dent, but then it’s about getting to a peak for Kona.

I’m cruising too much in the pool at the moment. Letting my swimming tick over, but not working hard enough to gain speed here. It’s time to maintain a more serious volume of effort which I know helps me a lot. The other key is to ensure two good quality pool sessions a week working on developing my threshold pace. I have to remember I want to be looking at the hour for Kona this year.

I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t have made a more rounded and balanced week of training. I realise now that I didn’t fully appreciate the toll running would take and how tough it could be. I’m glad to be returning to a regular routine and mixing things up. Hopefully I can start to reap the rewards in my running and see improvements elsewhere.

Monday – Weight: 73.8Kg, Run: 26Km
Woke up a little nervous about the first run. It’s been three days since Lanza where I already pounded my legs will three recovery days be enough? It doesn’t feel like it. That sort of attitude doesn’t get 100 miles run so it’s on with kit and out the door for an hour. Remarkably I felt better than expected, perhaps the week will work out after all!

Confident with the first run under my belt I head off for a ride with my mate Rich. I might be able to run, but clearly I’m not over Lanza. The next four and a half hours are a struggle and I wonder if the batteries are going in my Powertap. Any excuse for the poor effort!

After a short break it’s back out on the road to imaginatively run the reverse of my morning route. I’m going to get very familiar with the local roads over the next week. Once again it felt good and the hour flies by. Not only that I’ve notched up a couple more kilometres than I need.

Tuesday – Weight: 73.1Kg, Run: 24Km
I head over to the Tri2O Lake for a combination of running, swimming and cycling. We’re not far from the Kennet canal path so I can add some variety to my routes. I head out for an easy run with Clive his pace is a little higher than I like, but within my comfort zone. We split at halfway and I spend half an hour on my own. More concerning than loneliness is the tightness and discomfort in my right ITB – early days for an injury.

Rain calls off plans for a threshold bike session and instead I’m soaked riding home. Thoughts of doing the set on the turbo evaporate in the absence of any enthusiasm. I decide this week is about running so best to focus there. Besides I find turbo trainers mind numbing – it’s going to be a tough winter!

Another slightly shorter run in the late afternoon keeps me on target for the week. If anything the leg soreness was worse it’s definitely a concern. I’ve been reminded that you should always be cautious setting yourself distance goals. There may be a point where I have to make a call and bring the project to an end.

Wednesday – Weight: 72.8Kg, Run: 23.5Km
I decided to sleep in compression tights for the first time in ages and my legs actually feel a bit better! I head out to run another 10K and find that there’s still plenty of soreness, but once I’m warmed up it dies down. My initial kilometre is always slow, but I settle into a more acceptable pace after a while.

In addition to the compression I’ve started using the foam roller on the right ITB. The strange thing is my legs felt better running than resting! For some reason when I’m inactive my ITB tightens and is most uncomfortable. My second run confirms this and I begin to wonder if the solution is just to keep running!

I skipped any other form of training as I felt too tired. I’ve realised run training breaks you down a lot. It’s far harsher on the body than cycling or swimming which I’ve not really appreciated that till now. At the same time I seem able to keep on going, no bad thing when 100 miles is the goal.

Thursday – Weight: 73.4Kg, Run: 16.5Km
A second attempt at Tuesday’s combined run, swim and bike this time with success. I ride over to the Tri2O lake and head out for a canal run. The right leg is still a concern and doesn’t show any signs of getting better. I decide that an easier run is best this morning and cut it short at forty minutes.

A swim doesn’t nothing to help the leg, but the ride proves to be a lot better than earlier sessions. I think aside from the ITB tightness my legs are finally recovering from Lanza. The same can’t be said about my weight which seems to be stuck and I’m feeling bloated.

It took will power to get a second run out of me. I felt fine once I’d warmed up, but left it too late to do the distance I’d planed. I admit I wasn’t disappointed as an easier day was needed even if the final three days have become a bigger challenge.

Friday – Weight: 73.2Kg, Run: 35.5Km
This was odd my legs felt better and the tightness and discomfort had vanished. Could it be the twenty minutes before bed with my legs up a wall? The foam roller and the compression tights may have helped. I’ve always been sceptical about compression in recovery, but maybe there’s something to it.

The first run went well though my legs feel sore afterwards. I’m tired and the consistant discomfort hasn’t helped. Motivation has fallen and my planned bike ride slowly slips away. I did the worst thing I could and started shuffling training sessions to catch-up later. Eventually I headed out on a second run before lunch just to do some training.

A run and some lunch helped me feel a lot better. I remained ambivalent about riding until the idea of running more dawned on me. An evil plan was hatched to run 42km in one day – a full marathon! The plan was brilliant! Lethargy wasn’t and later that afternoon I headed out on the next run.

Some music kindly donated by Paul helped me along the way and I found myself moving with a little more pace. Halfway through the run I passed someone and they latched on. Motivation! My pace picked up and an easy run headed towards tempo territory. The next half hour was exhilarating as I dropped my new companion, but kept on pushing.

I arrived home with my legs feeling fantastic. No more aches or pains! Was the solution just running more and harder? Unfortunately my stomach doesn’t feel as good and puts pay to a fourth run for 42km. I take some amusement that I’d been discussing the topic of stomach issues and training stress with my new supporters Biestmilch that morning. The positive is I’m no longer feeling bloated though!

Saturday – Weight: 72.7Kg, Run: 10.5Km
Still lethargic from all the running my long swim became heavily abbreviated. On the other hand I put in a decent effort in the time I have. I’m feeling very comfortable in the water which is a big plus. With a couple of months to Kona there’s room to be optimistic here.

After work at the lake I came home, ate and put off training for an hour or two. Eventually I go for my first run. This time no music, but that same higher pace effort. It’s a very positive run leaving me feeling strong. I wish I could muster that same energy for other training. It’s a run focus week, but I’ll be glad to restore some balance.

I can see where Lydiard was coming from with this kind of volume. What’s interesting is how the tightness and soreness cleared over the course of the week with little direct action from me. Not only that my legs and core feel much more stable on each run. Fatigue seems to have become less of an issue too.

I’m tired and close to the target so I ended up taking the rest of the day off. I’ve planned four very big days ahead and some rest is needed.

Sunday – Weight: 72.4Kg, Run: 30.5Km
Had a bad night’s sleep from a combination of developing hunger and mild cold like symptoms. More impact from stress? Whatever the cause I was up early and tired. Still lethargic thoughts of an early morning run are abandoned I’ll stick to a single long run in the afternoon. Instead I go to the lake for work and have a great session one-to-one coaching open water swimming.

Coming back before lunch the lethargy was still an ongoing issue! I abandon a plan to get the run in then and instead followed Challenge Roth for inspiration. It doesn’t fail to deliver with impressive results from Rasmus Henning and Chrissie Wellington, particularly Chrissie of course! Also great to see Biestmilch athlete Sebastian Kienle‘s fastest ever Ironman debut. Going sub-8 hours first time out is setting the bar high!

It’s wasn’t inspritational enough to get me out until five in the evening. Finally I put my run kit on and started. Soon I’d settled into a comfortable pace and with pleasant weather was feeling great. Fifty minutes in and my stomach starts to complain necessitating a visit to some bushes! More signs of the affects of the training load?

Other than that interruption I had a great run. My legs felt quite fatigued as I reached the 25km mark, but I kept pushing to ensure I hit 30K and had a comfortable safety margin on 100 miles. I got home knowing I’d achieved the goal one hundred miles run in a single week! I was also pleased to have finished with a proper long run as the Lydiard method recommends.

Monday: the aftermath! – Weight: 70.9Kg!!!!
Just had another bad night’s sleep! Hunger again and more of those cold like symptoms that seem to vanish during the day. Tired again, but with a big, balanced day of training ahead. I’m returning to the biking and swimming now.

Most shocking was the weight on the scales this morning as I’ve suddenly dipped below 71kg! I had to double check! Clearly the emphasis is on eating more now. I’m getting close to goal race weight and it may be taking its toll on me too. Whilst that reading is probably low I realise and crash like I’ve had the past three days is significant.

Off for the first run of the day soon. Just a short one to the pool!

Not that I’ve always been at a suitable race weight. In fact after going full time I started to gain a bit. It’s easy to eat a lot when you train a lot and get the balance wrong. It wasn’t until after Epic Camp in 2009 when Scott Molina advised me to lose some kilos that I got serious. Changes to diet, food timing and my approach to training were needed, but the results in the second half of 2009 speak for themselves.

Getting it right once doesn’t ensure you keep getting it right and I have to be honest and admit I went off the rails a little after Kona last year. It was the culmination of a dream and I relaxed. I kept things under reasonable control for Ironman Western Australia and New Zealand, but wwas way off for Lanzarote. 80Kg – I was a balloon!

Since returning to training things have been progressing in the right direction. Where I can I take my weight at the start of the day and track progress. Being a statistics addict this all goes into Excel and a pretty graph is the result. As you can see loss has been rapid as I expect under my Rules for Racing Lean.

Up till now it’s been manageable, but I’ll admit that there are signs of cracks. Differentiating the impact of diet and other training can be difficult, but I’m seeing indicators that adjustments may be needed. Generally feeling a bit weaker on the bike, which could easily be due to the amount of running I’m doing. Perhaps more indicative is the slight sense of irritability I’m developing!

Fatigue, hard training and trying to lose weight aren’t easy bed fellows. The goal is to find the lightest weight you can hold that maintains health and performance. Those two items are the critical factor being light can make you faster, but once it stops doing that you need to eat.

I’ve opted to eat a mostly Paleo diet as this has proven to work for me in the past. Apart from its effectiveness I like many aspects of the approach. I enjoy the types of food and whilst variety can be low if you’re lazy in the kitchen like me it doesn’t have to be. What’s key though is there’s lots of nutrient dense foods so you eat a lot, but keep calories lower whilst packing in the nutrition.

As an athlete there’s a need to balance in more carbs than Paleo suggests. A big day of training can place huge energy requirements on my body and it’s hard to keep up. Fundamentally part of my success at weight loss comes from a very strong calorific deficit at times. My body has little choice in shedding kilos, but with nutrient dense foods coming in it hopefully disposes of the right ones.

Signs are that I’m placing a lot of stress on my body and it’s time to consider how strict my diet is. If training quality dives too far then it becomes a real issue. There’s plenty of running still to go this week so I’m not expecting significant quality training else where, but next week normal service resumes across the board. In the circumstances I need to be very aware of eating for training.

Out in Lanzarote I borrowed the book Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. I’d heard about it and seen bits of it out there on the web and in Triathlete magazine. Clearly I was the target audience so was pleased to have the chance to read it. I wasn’t disappointed either whilst there’s nothing radical in there it covers the topic well and takes a very sensible approach.

The book provides an approach to eating and endurance training to maximise weight and body composition for racing. So weight loss is a theme, but it’s all about the quality of food you have and when you have it. There’s no particular diet adhered to, this isn’t Paleo or any other specialised regime. In fact one of the more interesting chapters considers the intake of carbs, protein and fat and largely concludes there’s no magic ratio.

Success has been seen with relatively low carbohydrate intake, but also relatively high. Generally if the overall calorific balance is sound for those undergoing regular endurance training body composition should sort itself out. Whilst I am definitely on the lower end of the carb spectrum I do suspect I will need to up this once my weight is where I want it. It’s reassuring to see that there shouldn’t be compositional impact from this.

A good portion of the book considers various ways of assessing quality of diet. It’s an interesting idea and I think with the exception of my cheese addiction my foods tend to score highly. Inspired by this chapter I’m keeping a food diary and I’ll have a go at scoring it for a blog post next week. Having not tried it before it’s harder than I expected and shows up how much you eat even under a strict regime!

Probably the other chapter that really struck home with me was the importance of meal timing both in terms of hunger management, but also in utilisation of nutrients. I try to ensure that I finish my workouts before meals for tow reasons. Firstly because the body should be primed to absorb nutrients at this point and secondly because having your meal as post workout recovery reduces the amount of snacking that goes on. The book says a lot to back this position up and encourages the use of real food for recovery over energy products.

I’ve not come away with significant new ideas, but it certainly made me think and consider my diet. I’m well aware that my approach to Paleo probably over emphasises weight loss and may impact workout quality at times. With a longer period to my A race I can focus more on prioritising eating for performance and maintenance of body composition. It won’t be a drastic alteration, more a subtle adjustment in ratios of food types.

There’s sections on the effects of types of training on weight loss and body composition and usage of supplements too that are relatively interesting. I don’t think you should necessarily structure your training based entirely on ideas of body composition though, that said the suggested structure is pretty standard. The supplements section seems a little weak to be honest and much more interesting are sample food diaries from elite athletes. As he readily admits it shows there’s no single solution and what works for one won’t for another.

Definitely worth a read if you’re trying to achieve weight loss whilst endurance training. The balanced focus acknowledging how adaptable the body is and how it can respond to a wide range of diets is good. Ultimately it won’t tell you exactly what you need to do, but gives a sound framework to devise a diet that works for you.

I now need to log a good day of eating for next week’s blog on scoring diet quality. It’ll be embarrassing at the moment with the amont of cheese consumed most days!

Very much a week of two halves. The first a storming finish to my big week in Lanzarote and the second crashing down to some much needed recovery. I often say how easy it is to plan to keep pushing, but sometimes the body tells you otherwise. Getting back home on Friday was definitely a case of this and I crashed out for most of the weekend.

Obviously I’ve already written plenty about the period in Lanzarote, too much in fact! Looking through the last four weeks of training reports I’d say I’ve been through a good three and a half week block finishing in Lanza. The recovery was necessary and now I can embark on the next chunk of hard work.

I don’t schedule specific recovery days, but prefer to back things off when I’m getting signs that I need it. Usually it takes the form of easier or slightly shorter sessions, but sometimes in more chronic conditions I can fall off the wagon so to speak. Ideally I need to watch those easier days to avoid this extreme case, but something like a training camp can push you over the edge.

The numbers

The good

The good comes from the quality of work done in the sessions this week. Particularly given that all occurred in the first three to four days. Whilst logging up volume I wasn’t slacking off the work required. It’s been a big boost to confidence too showing me how strong I can be even under difficult circumstances. It’s important to be able to take away positives from sessions.

I suppose I can also say it’s good to train to the point where I absolutely needed proper recovery. It shows how much I’d worked and how well I’d progressed. Usually I’d try to tick along, but it just wasn’t an option. Fatigue, motivation, they all dropped to low levels. Rather than push through it I accepted it as necessary and should see the benefits in the long run.

I also shouldn’t forget the experience of trying out some of Roger’s new schedule from Torbjorn Sindballe. There are some interesting bike sessions in there I will be lifting into my schedule from now on. Very focussed towards biking strongly over the Ironman distance.

The bad

Well I missed my numerical goals didn’t I? The target for this week was 130km of running and I ended up running less than the last two weeks. Of course this is all just a consequence of using calendar weeks as a guide and it hides how much I ran in a straight period in Lanza. I don’t feel too disappointed because I made the choice not to try for the week’s target with the aim being to be recovered for this week’s 100 miles.

If I am disappointed with low numbers it’s in both swim and bike where I hoped to at least log a bit more distance during the easy days. Part of the problem with swimming is facilities when you’re back in the UK. You have to choose and manage your time better than I managed as I wanted more sleep! With the cycling it was purely a case of motivation. The weather was lovely out there, yet the idea of more hours on the bike didn’t appeal.

Thoughts

From a purely numerical stand point it would be easy to get very down about the last week. I didn’t hit any numbers I’d typically set myself. A more informative way to look at things is to consider the Training Stress Score (TSS) I’ve been racking up the past few weeks. Whilst week four has been the lowest thanks to the recovery days it still totalled around 1150 TSS so well within the parameters of a decent week.

As you can see on my daily TSS chart the general trend has been an increase in the overall TSS for bike and run. Lanzarote gave an opportunity for a particularly big boost which is most notable for running. The main thing is I’ve been routinely handling days of high TSS for a period of 3 weeks leading into this last one.

If I take my training hours for bike and run I can also be pleased that both week three and week four saw an average combined TSS of 60 per hour. Weeks one and two averaged 50 per hour or below. Not all hours of training are equal clearly the past two weeks has seen better quality even when quantity was lacking.

Overall I’m happy with the first four week block and eager to get on with the next one. It contains a few new challenges not least running 100 miles this week. Also they’ll be a week built around the ITU Long Distance Worlds where I’ll take a short taper. That’ll be followed by a structured recovery week where I anticipate less running and lower hours in general.

Falling across two weeks of my Kona build I think it’s worth giving my time in Lanzarote its own analysis. Hopefully my last post showed what a big week I’ve had, but what does that mean in numbers and more importantly impact on fitness? We’ll start with some top level numbers, but dig a little further.

The numbers

Bear in mind that this covers an eight day period of training in Club La Santa due to flight timings. Even so it averages out at over five hours training a day and on arrival I only trained for an hour and a half.

Swimming

It’s hard to meaningfully analyse the swim, but I felt it needed mentioning at the least. I am working to improve my swimming so the trip was good in terms of providing facilities and time to train well. That said I never felt at my best and would say if anything I felt slower than the last time I was in that pool! Not really what you want to be thinking.

I didn’t do enough hard swimming to really judge if my pace was actually lower. To an extent swimming was something I slogged through with fatigue. Running always was the priority and I am better at pushing myself on the bike when I need to. I was pleased to do at least one 6km set, something of a staple of my New Zealand build. I need to get back into that habit as part of my general Kona build.

Cycling

Lanzarote is great for cycling so I was always in the position that I wanted to emphasise my running, but doing some good biking was so appealing. As it was the general intensity of any ride was higher than it had been at home and this was whilst running more. Roger provided a couple of good sessions with real quality work in towards the end which helped as well.

As the performance management chart shows though I didn’t apply the same large boost to my fitness (CTL) that I have on previous trips out here. I simply wasn’t doing the very long riding I’ve done before. Four or five hours was the maximum with some specific sections of harder work or deliberately hard climbing.

I still achieved a Training Stress Score (TSS) of 950 over the 8 days, enough to cause this more gradual rise in fitness. I arrived in La Santa having let my bike CTL drop to around 88 with some easy days. I left with a bike CTL of 97 so in reality a reasonable shift. That said with some very necessary easy days following the camp CTL is dropping to only 1 or 2 points higher than when I left.

This more gradual gain is entirely what I hoped for though. I could never reasonably expect to make massive growth of bike fitness whilst pushing so much on the running. To make an overall steady climb from this region in the nineties seems ideal. Worth noting is that whilst this year I’ve twice managed to maintain a CTL around 120 in the lead up to races (and biked well) last year I never went over 100 in my run up to Roth, UK or Kona.

I was doing much better work on my running back then too so perhaps the kind of work required to develop my run well will preclude such hard bike work. Slow growth in cycling fitness with the potential to raise CTL further later is perfect if it’s going to allow major growth in my run. I certainly can’t complain and recent experiences have cemented a number of more structured session plans into my week.

I think I’d like to carry a CTL around 95-100 into ITU Long Distance Worlds. After that race keep active on the bike for recovery and perhaps increase my bike emphasis in the final Kona build. Clearly the balance between cycling and running will need to be monitored closely to ensure I’m making positive progress in at least one at any time.

Running

An amazing week for running. I really enjoy the running around Club La Santa and don’t seem to grow tired of any of the roads and trails. It can be quite challenging with hills or you can pick easier paths. I was clearly running a lot to build up 99 miles in 8 days. With my 100 mile run challenge starting on Monday it’s a confidence boost to see how close I was. I’m glad I wasn’t tracking numbers so closely that I felt obliged to go for it early

It’s a different story in the performance management chart here with CTL rocketing up from 36 on arrival to 53 on departure. Once again the mass of fatigue I’ve built up is seeing the CTL fall a little, but we’re still in very solid territory. For comparison 50 is the peak CTL I held before either Roth or Kona. Good runs have come off the back of building to this number.

I’ve been pleased to discover I can handle such a rapid build in running and just keep going. Even more significant were the one or two higher quality sessions I achieved in the middle of this massive build. A tough half-marathon run at a reasonable pace and at least one fast run chasing Roger. The right motivation could pull me through some tough times and get me moving. This is something to remember out on the race course.

Next week the 100 mile run challenge begins on Monday. The aim is to complete a Lydiard style 100 mile run week and see how it feels. Of course I’m making it more of a challenge by still biking and swimming. I will at least be holding back on the load from the other two to boost the chances of finishing. Exactly what my chart will look like after that training will be interesting to see, also the question of whether I can maintain it!

For those interested it took a TSS of 885 to run almost 100 miles. That’s more TSS than I log on the bike some weeks! I at least know what to expect on that side of things from next week. I also know I need to run more than 10km a day in order to maintain my CTL around the 50 mark. I guess I’ve got some work cut out for me.

Aftermath

One thing I can tell you plans of falling straight back in to hard training have fallen to the wayside. Friday I was so tired and sore from travel I couldn’t manage anything more than a massage from The Tri Touch. A painful experience which I think is doing good, but today the lethargy continued with a splash in the lake and an easy run. Tomorrow I hope to do just a bit more.

With serendipitous timing Chuckie V posted an article about getting over training camps. I think it helped filter into my mind and remind me that I’d just done the equivalent of an Epic Camp and need to recover. Smashing out a distance or time goal this week isn’t the priority, but being ready for the next big block of work is.

That block of work is imminent to. Starting Monday and ending a few days before the Long Distance Worlds I’ll be pushing once again. The aim is a 100 mile run week followed by a more balanced week still with a high volume of running. For the ‘taper’ week I’ll start with one or two tougher days based on intensity not volume then properly ease up to hopefully race well.

Beyond that race I’ve not made detailed training plans yet, but it’s on the long to do list. I know running will still be the focus, but I also know I want to push on the bike a little bit more. My training camp and some recent discussions have inspired me and given me new sessions to try. As well of plenty of solid riding there’s going to be some hard sessions in there in all disciplines.

I’ll have the fitness to support it and I’ve got the drive too. Knowing I’m already in my 2009 Kona shape is encouraging that I can genuinely work to make Ironman Hawaii 2010 an even better race.

I’ve been on Lanzarote and in La Santa enough to know how good it is for training. I was even willing to ease up a little before heading out. A concentrated training camp can do wonders for fitness, but you have to be careful not to over do things in the lead in or aftermath. The full benefits come from serious overload followed by recovery.

I’m afraid this post is epic in size you may need to set aside some time!

Day 0 – Thursday – 1.5km Swim, 0km Bike, 11km Run

I’d booked an early flight to give plenty of time for training on arrival. It almost worked, but I failed to factor in how tiring the journey and night spent in Gatwick would be. I had fantasies of logging several hours right then and there, but a short run and swim were all I felt up to.

Day 1 – Friday – 6km Swim, 107km Bike, 22.5km Run

Fortunately I made up for lost sleep on the first night and woke feeling refreshed. A good job as I’d big plans for the day. I had ideas for structuring the week and thought I’d see how they overlapped with Roger’s plans. Having a training partner makes a big difference if you’re both pushing each other and I know Roger and I are well matched in this respect.

With a Gold medal at European Long Distance Champs only a few days in the past Roger’s plans involved less training than I intended. Having just taken on a Torbjorn Sindballe as a coach Roger was unsurprisingly keen to stick to the recovery sessions.

We headed to the pool just after 7am and got stuck in to our respective swim sets. I must admit I wasn’t feeling it and found the swimming frustrating. Once I was out the water it was off for the first run of the day around my favourite trail from La Santa. A little bit hilly to start, but beyond the first 3km it rolls on quiet roads.

Run done and brekkie eaten (scrambled eggs with ham and cheese my daily staple out there) Roger and I headed off for a ride. With recovery his focus Roger needed half the ride I’d planned so we parted ways and I went South for a circuit of El Golfo. To stop me slacking Roger reminded me he didn’t expect to see me before 4 hours of riding was up.

With my run focus when I got back it was out on the roads for the second and longer run of the day. Nothing too fast at this point, just logging the distance. This was my first time discovering the pleasure of the lagoon loops I dread to think of how many times I’ve circled that now!

Clearly well motivated I finished with a second swim racking up some serious hours of training. I wondered how long I could keep that volume up though.

Day 2 – Saturday – 3km Swim, 101km Bike, 31km Run

The plan for day two was effectively repeat day one. Not very imaginative, but it would let me notch up run mileage and keep biking ticking along. Much as it wasn’t a priority when you have the roads of Lanzarote to hand it seems a crime not to use them.

Mostly things did go to plan I just got a bit carried away running and went further than intended in both morning and afternoon sessions. Enough that I didn’t fancy the idea of another double swim day so made do with just the morning set.

Day 3 – Sunday – 6.1km Swim, 0km Bike, 23km Run

I’d planned my long run for today and chosen a nice hilly route from La Santa to Tinajo via side roads. Before I could do that it was back in the pool at 7am when it’s normally nice and quiet. I took the time to have breakfast before hitting the roads. Fatigue was already setting in it wasn’t time to be going short.

I’d run this route in the lead in to the Ironman and forgotten how challenging it is. There’s a lot of climbing to the roundabout in Tinajo and once there it’s a long down hill. Easy on the aerobic system, not so kind on the legs! To make up more time I threw in another lap round the lagoon for good measure. By the end my legs were shattered and pace dropped.

Thoughts of a recovery ride went out the window. I was tired and riding from La Santa means climbing straight from the door. Hard to ride easy when you’re either going up hill or into the wind. I popped into the gym for a bit of core and weight work then took another dip in the pool to ensure I made the most of my time!

Day 4 – Monday – 3km Swim, 108km Bike, 21km Run

Roger’s program was starting to ramp up so I was keen to join him. We were out early for a four hour ride with 45 minutes of intensity to finish. Both nervous about the session and a little uncertainty how it would go. I wasn’t expecting much from my now quite sore legs.

Despite that fear when the interval started things picked up. I surprised myself riding increasingly strongly and by the end I was right where I wanted to be and felt I still had more. A great session that showed how you can push beyond what you think.

The hard work wasn’t over when we returned it was straight out for a short run at a tough pace for fatigued legs. Roger guided by his Polar immediately hit the 4:30 minute/kilometre pace. I took time to warm-up and after he’d gapped me was working hard to hold him at 50m. A bit of determination kicked in and in the final kilometre I put in a spurt surging past him up the short rise to the La Santa roundabout.

Whilst Roger was mostly done for the day I’d more to go. We went for a swim session and then I threw in another run to up the mileage. A much easier pace than the first effort. By this point I’d found I could settle in and sustain around 5 minutes/km indefinitely.

Day 5 – Tuesday – 0km Swim, 0km Bike, 31.1km Run

Throughout the week Club La Santa offers lots of events and it would be a shame not to join in with at least one. I talked myself into running the Tuesday Half-marathon. A hilly course reversing a lot of Sunday’s long run route. It was soon apparent I wasn’t going to be the fastest guy there. Three people put 100m into me in the first kilometre and I had no response.

I toughed it out and even though this was training found the nominal ‘race’ was enough to give me an extra push. That said by halfway I was in pain and glad to meet Roger for the final few kilometres. He helped me focus and maintain a comfortable sub 4:30 minute/km pace. I was surprised to be running this well as I notched up my 100th kilometre since arriving in Lanza.

Race done and I was gone! Again plans for an easy ride vanished and it was another case of a gym trip along with a very easy 10km run. Much as I was tired I needed to notch up miles on route to the weekly goal.

Day 6 – Wednesday – 3.7km Swim, 129km Bike, 9.5km Run

Another big day in Roger’s schedule. Despite being shattered I was willing to play along. We were at the pool for seven prompt to knock out 4km. As usual I started slowly and struggled to keep pace with Roger until about 1km in.

Eventually I got moving and was really getting into a rhythm when the mini-tri started. In fact they didn’t wait for me to finish a set and I suddenly collided with one of the triathletes pounding down the lane. At least given him a taste of what a swim start could really be like! Frustratingly 300m short of the target, but no time to hang around I got out and went for second breakfast.

Today’s bike was a larger version of Monday’s – five hours with a full hour at intensity to finish. Monday had reassured me that the session was manageable, but the way my legs felt was worrying. The next three and a half hours passed painfully, but neither of us vocalised our thoughts of bailing. When we hit the bottom of Timanfaya it was time to go.

It’s funny how fast an hour of pain passes. We pushed as hard as we could despite protestations from our legs. Once again I was surprised with what I achieved. I liked the session a lot and can see it becoming a regular along with the weekly threshold set. Job done it was an easy roll back to La Santa for another transition run.

I made no attempt to hold a good pace my legs were totally shot and the hilly route I’d agreed proved agonising! Roger kindly waited for me at a couple of points and reassured me it was impressive enough after all the running I’d done. I was having far more negative thoughts even annoyed with Roger for ‘making’ me have to try to keep up!

There was no more training that day.

Day 7 – Thursday – 6.3km Swim, 46km Bike, 10km Run

I woke ravenous after yesterday’s efforts. If nothing else this week made big in-roads towards race weight! We rode out extra early to grab breakfast in Teguise and be back with time to pack. It proved too early for the cafes of Teguise and we ended up back in Famara where we breakfasted on what was apparently six portions of tortilla (tiny portions it seems).

All packed for my late flight I still had ten hours to kill, plenty of time to train. The first stop was the gym where I hoped serious effort with the foam roller would loosen off my tight glutes, hamstrings, ITBs etc! I think it worked, certainly when I ran that evening things felt a bit better.

Despite lethargy and low motivation I pushed through a 6.3km swim set without interruptions. Pleased to have that done and starving again I quickly had something to eat before even contemplating the run. Once more a motivational hurdle had to be overcome to get out there for those last few lagoon laps.

I’d promised myself a trip to the Atlantico buffet to finish the week. Things seemed to have been scaled back since my last visit. Disappointing at first then I discovered that a leaner me couldn’t manage half what I’d previously eaten there. I ensured I got my money’s worth in steak and other paleo treats of course. Uncomfortable full it was enough to get me home without the need to snack. A miracle when normally airports are an endless excuse to eat.

So back home in the UK recounting this epic tale! I’ll save any analysis of data for another time it’s long enough already!

I had some excellent run form around the time of Challenge Roth, Ironman UK and also Kona, but since October there’s been a definite dip. Run performances dropped off and the perceived effort for my pace was way higher than it had been. The cause was a combination of racing heavier and of running less in training. My desire to emphasise the bike keeping me far too tired to really do good work on the run!

Some history

The past year and a half of run data in WKO+ shows a real roller coaster of fitness (CTL) on the run. The graph above charts my run CTL since January 2009 which I started with some of my highest ever run fitness. I was running a lot at that point, but probably biking a little too easily. I’d do weeks where I’d run off every bike starting with 15 minutes a session and building up to 45 minutes. Combined with regular run training the volume soon added up.

Despite this I had a shocker at Ironman Australia due to a badly managed taper combined with far too much weight. That run hurt. I remember being out there on the course and spectators cheering me on telling me I’d be finishing in under 10 hours. Whilst that would probably make most people happy I felt like saying I’ve been there plenty of times before!

As you probably know Lanzarote never gave me the option to test out run form. Thanks to the abscess the whole race was a bizarre and painful experience. Completely different to the usual discomfort I go through it was about surviving. I suspect even without an injury I was too heavy to really run well.

The three good runs of 2009 came off the back of a concerted effort to achieve optimal race weight and to careful build run form. The primary strategy to achieve improvements in running was simply a game of running a minimum of thirty minutes a day. With good diet dealing with the weight issue I quickly found myself running better than I had in a long time. The regularity of the training combined with a few longer and harder sessions was enough to strengthen my run.

Since Hawaii I’ve struggled to return to that good run form or race weight. Possibly due to a need for more recovery than I allowed, but also a conscious choice to really work on the bike. A decision I made on the basis that my run was pretty good and there was greater margins to gain on the bike.

Just look at the drop in run CTL in the chart, massive! I was running far less than I’d done in the previous year of training and unsurprisingly the next two races, Western Australia and New Zealand, had what I felt were at best painful, mediocre runs. Performance relative to the field wasn’t bad, but was certainly off what I think I can achieve.

Moving on from the history lesson this year’s run in Lanzarote doesn’t bear much thinking of. Slow and once again painful thanks to too little to late on the training side (the five week lay off) and also to lumbering myself with some extra kilos again. I wasn’t in great shape for that race that’s for sure.

Here and now

Having realised I can’t rest on my laurels if I want to perform well in Kona it was time for change. My bike has become stronger from past few months of focus which means it’s time for it to go into more of a maintenance mode. I’ve started my Kona build with a very strong run focus and determination to go to Hawaii in the best run form of my life.

Having been inspired by an Arthur Lydiard biography whilst in New Zealand I’ve adopted many of the features of his approach. Admittedly it wasn’t designed with triathletes in mind (we weren’t around) so there’s some adaptations to be made. The core principles are sound though and the main thing to hold in mind is that swimming and biking provides a lot of the additional aerobic conditioning Lydiard encouraged.

Despite that I like a challenge so one of my goals is a 100 mile run week the number of miles Lydiard generally had his runners train. I wouldn’t say it was essential in fact far from it, but the process of building myself to that volume involves plenty of running which has to be a good thing.

I’m only a week away now. I’ve made massive progress in the past few weeks helped by losing some of Lanza’s excess kilos. Volume has been high, but it’s not meant a significant drop off in quality. Sure if you looked at today’s session you might think things weren’t going well, but you should take into account I’d run 130km in the previous six days including a 1:34 hilly half-marathon the day before.

I’m regularly surprising myself with faster run times and better performances than I’d expect. The volume of running I’ve undertaken has clearly been of benefit. My previous Ironman pace feels so easy right now and I can click along at that for hours every day.

Scroll back up and look at the graph and you’ll see there’s a huge spike in my run fitness (CTL) these past few weeks. A consistent, heavy build period has brought me back to that fitness of early 2009. Despite the rapid increase I seem to be holding up well and am able to back up with strong workouts in all disciplines.

All that said I took the discomfort of today’s run as a sign I was reaching the limit of overload and need to hold back for a couple of days. It fits perfectly with having to fly back to the UK, but will mean a little more work at the weekend to get to my goal of 130km this week.

Then it’s onwards to 100 miles we’ll see how that goes at the end of next week.