Trains, Travels

Despite ten years of abstinence I am curiously immune to the after effects of alcohol. While most of the house continue to sleep off the numerous bottles of wine consumed last night, I find myself awake and alert four hours after I went to bed. The perfect time to write about my goals for 2012.

The last twelve months has been a period of significant change: my first full year settled back home, growing a fledgling business and making a fatal error when it comes to triathlon training – starting a relationship. The latter has been responsible for my developing fondness for wine, particularly red. My life has broadened from the narrow, Ironman focus of previous years, naturally my objectives match this and while a significant number relate to training and racing, an equally important portion don’t.

I review each year in light of my previous objectives; 2011 is the first time I failed to meet my sporting goals. Even the less specific, unmeasurable ones – how do you define rebuilding your run? What ever that meant to me at the beginning of last year I am quite certain I didn’t achieve it. I’ve dwelt on that before and I want to look forward. I’m nervous of setting specific goals for the year; after falling short, measurability scares me. I have also reached a stage, perhaps driven by a frustrating season, where I question my motivations as much as my goals. I know I’ve said this before, but in terms of triathlon I simply want to enjoy my sport.

Also I would like the run performance from the peak of 2010 at the same time as the bike fitness from the peak of 2011!

My coaching business is successful. My stable of athletes remains full with a small amount of turn over throughout the season; it’s a reassuring position to be in. I consider myself a smarter coach now than I was a year ago, a core objective for the year ahead is to continue to learn, refine and improve. But I also want to achieve more with my business, work better with my athletes and find new ways in which I can work with others. Developing the coaching consultancy idea into something concrete would be a start and I ponder the possibility of offering bespoke plans for longer periods without the ongoing support, a halfway point between the expense of a coach and the broad brush of a training manual. More thought is needed, business objectives will have its own list in its own time.

One new branch is my involvement in running a training camp – joining Steven Lord in the Pyrenees in late June to deliver an experienced inspired by our time at Epic Camp.

Sport, business, leading finally to life. Balance is the objective, dividing time between triathlon and the other things that interest me. I have been obsessive and blinkered for the last few years and it’s time for some change. Remarkable as it seems I do have other interests – art, cooking, apparently wine! I can’t recall when I last visited a gallery or exhibition, and despite the enjoyment it brings me I bake infrequently. At least the recent purchase of a Kindle has already ended the drought in reading. It’s good to have other areas to explore.

What about Kona? I think my two year plan may have become three. Pragmatism plays it’s part, with such a busy year ahead, were I to qualify I doubt I could afford to go. Wales may provide a first chance for 2013.

Finally. Better time management. That’s probably the most important objective of all.

• Tweet
• 2 Comments

It had seemed a perfect day for a club ride, clear skies, roads free of ice, but the bitterly cold winds soon burrowed through my layers of gloves. Twenty minutes down the road, as numb fingers fumbled brake levers, a collective decision was made to abandon. I took the fastest route home and once there spent half an hour with my hands stuck to the radiator, life painfully creeping back into them. I haven’t put my heavy weight gloves on in this season’s mild, occasionally damp weather. Where has the winter gone?

The apparent delay to the cold and ice is obviously an advantage for training, with the right clothing there is nothing to stop a determined athlete going outside. This time last year I focussed on what could be managed indoors, how training could be adapted and how to get the most out of limited facilities. This year the question of winter training can focus on how the period is most appropriately used. I wrote about my own winter plans last week – swimming and running are my limiters and cycling can quickly be rebuilt in spring – an easy choice, but not one that will work for everyone.

Before you decide on how to divide your time there’s the traditional base mileage to consider; winter months spent training long and often slow to build an aerobic base on which we then build speed. I have no issue with developing aerobic capacity, but the approach doesn’t seem to suit many of the athletes I coach whose training is limited by free time. Before I even consider the impact of weather conditions, work, family and socialising all make their demands. My ‘average’ age grouper can manage around 12 hours training each week, rarely more and sometimes less; if they’ve already filled that time with training, they can’t increase volume. Big mileage isn’t an option.

Winter needs simple goals. There are two factors to consider – what training can be done and what training needs to be done. Specifically are there areas of weakness that can be focussed on even if conditions limit options. The weather can restrict cycling, at least forcing training indoors, but swim and run are more flexible, conditions need to be severe to stop them. Obvious choices for winter training, yet I rarely make them the goal. Despite its convenience most of my Ironman athletes are more limited by bike fitness than run fitness – the former affects their marathon performance more than the latter. They can gain from building run fitness, but they benefit more by becoming stronger cyclists.

Cycling may be the training they need to do, it’s not always the training they can do. When Winter conditions prevent cycling outside the prospect of five hours on a turbo doesn’t bear thinking about. Fortunately there’s more to cycle training than endurance; rather than focus on riding long an athlete can work on developing threshold power. Short, hard sessions several times a week, training indoors, but only for an hour at a time. With dedication and focus the winter months can be very productive and they enter spring with a new FTP to build their endurance from. Less hours spent training on the bike means more time elsewhere, usually resulting in increased run volume. The main winter goal remains developing threshold power, but run endurance can be attacked simultaneously.

The winter training plan for many of my athletes takes this form. Swim sessions are spread throughout the week similarly to the rest of the season (it’s unfortunately rare that athletes will invest the time to improve their swimming); bike sessions are short and to the point, should conditions allow there might be an occasional longer ride, but the plan focusses on intensity; the remaining hours are dedicated to running, with less intensity and more volume to target endurance. As the year progresses the balance between the two can shift to keep the athlete developing regardless of the time available.

Winter is perfect for focussing on specific aspects of your training. I don’t see the need for the already aerobically fit and time limited to plan a period training long and slow. We certainly shouldn’t feel particularly tied to training traditions if they don’t work for the lifestyle we lead.

• Tweet
• Comment

Christmas cake was the appropriate choice for this week’s cafe stop.

The frequency of coffee stops on my training rides will be familiar to anyone following me on Twitter or Facebook. I make no apologies. I like coffee, I like cake and I like cycling – it logically follows that I’m going to like stopping mid-ride to combine all three. When I have the time, why not?

And it is real training. I don’t potter around, find a cafe, then potter home; the typical ride involves a good effort before and after. I earn that cake. I don’t stuff myself with snacks and energy drinks, if it weren’t for those cafes I’d probably not eat a thing on many of my rides. Cakes are my energy bars!

I used to be defensive, apologetic that my training wasn’t focussed, but there’s nothing to feel guilty about – for every time I’ve stopped there’s a half-dozen I haven’t. I do the training I need and just happen to add in something else I enjoy in the process. Multitasking. Now I proudly celebrate my stops, sharing a photo of each cake via Instagram.

For the next few days the cakes are on credit – I’ll earn them in the New Year. 2012 will see new cafes, more pictures of cakes and many more miles ridden.

• Tweet
• Comment