After a few posts about nutrition, this one is almost all about training and progression. I thought I'd share with you how things have been going, where I am now, and where I want to be heading from here.
Since I have made the decision to step up to the Half Ironman (70.3) distance, I have been focusing on building up my endurance and strength, especially on the bike and in my running. This "foundation" period has now lasted for 12 weeks, which ended just before mid January. What I'm writing about here is a brief account of how I have trained during this period, and reflect on what I have achieved so far and what still needs to be done until my first main race in May.
Once I've decided to go up from the Olympic distance to the Half Ironman distance, I needed to start working on increasing my endurance. With the distances of the bike and run legs of the race more than double, this needed to be the priority. Moreover, the initial phase of my training needed to focus on my overall strength as well, since my body would now have to endure a lot more stress over much longer periods. As for the swim, the increase in distance from 1.5km to 1.9km wasn't that big, and I already did more than this comfortably in my previous training.
The first challenge that I faced with stepping up the distances was being disciplined enough to slow down! Having been used to training and racing for shorter distances meant that I was always going at a fast pace, one that I couldn't sustain when the distances doubled. Anyone who has made that change would probably understand how tough this can be.
The second challenge, which was also related to the distance (and hence the longer time) was the mental strength. Doing a 5 hour bike ride during the winter on the turbo trainer (i.e. at home) or running for 3 hours on my own without music meant that I had to train my brain to deal with the potential boredom. So, setting up the turbo trainer in front of the TV and preparing which films to watch on the Apple TV or on YouTube did the job nicely. With the running, I just had to take these long runs to discover new places, or explore different routes to get to different places, while not thinking about how long I've got left.
The third challenge was taking care of nutrition. In the shorter distances, with races being done and dusted within a couple of hours (or slightly more in my case), one can get away with messing around with nutrition. A bit of carb boost and some water is usually good enough to get you to the finish line. However, step up to races that go over 5 hours and beyond, and you really can't get away with guess work any more. I won't bore you with the details here, as I have written a lot about the subject in some other posts over the past few months. But, I'm always happy to discuss the subject if you're interested.
The fourth, and final, challenge for this phase was recovery and injury prevention. Recovering from a build up of such large volume training, especially at my age, is a crucial aspect of proper advancement and injury prevention. So, I have taken recovery even more seriously now more than ever, implementing anything and everything I believe works. Ice baths, compression clothing, specific recovery nutrition at specific times/days, proper stretching, proper warm-ups and cool-downs, and ample recovery weeks within the training schedule. Additionally, of course, I have to make sure I know how to listen to my body, knowing when to stop and when to just ignore the pain. So far, so good...
Once I have dealt with finding the right formula to dealing with the above challenges, my training has been going well. I have achieved the targets for this phase, covering the right mileage and hitting all the other milestones I have set out to achieve.
But, now that I have moved onto my next phase in this training cycle, I had to take stock and reassess, and I have come to some conclusions. While swimming has always been my strong discipline out of the 3 sports, I now feel that it has actually turned into the weakest link. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I can't swim any more, but the progress I have made in my cycling and running has overtaken anything I have done to my swimming. Especially with running, I have focused a lot on it for the past 2-3 years, since it has always been the sport that I found most challenging, but now I can actually say that I find the running to be my strongest discipline!
Coming to this conclusion about my running has really stunned me! Yet, if I think back to how much attention I have given it over this long period, it really is no surprise. I'm not done yet, but I can live with the form and pace I have achieved so far for some time without having to worry about it much.
Next, I'm quite happy with the improvements I have made so far on the bike. My cycling has seen some development since the beginning of 2013, although I still lacked strength, which was the main cycling focus I had during this phase just gone. I am still not fully done with improving my cycling, with such tweaks still to be had in such areas as climbing and position on the bike, but where I am now compared to, say, last summer, is not bad at all. The plan now is to start taking on more cycling specific challenges, including planning some epic rides regularly...
As for the swimming, I shall start giving it a bit more attention now. I'll start going back to doing at least 6 swim sessions per week, focusing on my weaknesses a bit in the beginning, and just try to reinvigorate what has become some slow and sloppy swimming.
I have now moved onto more intense training sessions, so it is much more enjoyable and I can start to feel like I'm progressing a bit, especially with speed. It is also fun when I'm able to join the running club in their track sessions, which is great for motivation and a change of scenery. I'm now going to try and join a masters' swimming club for some of their sessions, although they meet around my bedtime :) In the plan, also, is to arrange a big ride with a friend of mine every few weeks, going on the same routes as some of the big cycling races. We'll see how it goes.
I'm always happy to hear your opinions, recommendations and comments, so please keep them coming!
I hope you're either training hard or are about to start training hard ;)
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