What is the best way to train?

I have often read about triathlon training methods to see if there is anything I should try or change in my own training program. However a lot of the time when I read about new methods I often get the feeling that authors only seem to be interested in the so called serious or full time athletes.

Don't get me wrong I do not disagree with what the experts have to say but I do think that the age group triathlete has to seriously weigh up what fits their lifestyle best. By this I mean that there obviously has to be a balance between training, family, profession, recuperation and relaxation and this balance is very highly skewed towards training when listening to the experts.

In order to explain my point I will look at weight training as an example. I do not have to be convinced of the benefits of weight training I am fully aware of them, but in order to obtain a benefit in strength the workouts have to be fairly regular and by this I mean at least 3 per week. In order to find the time to do an extra 3 workouts per week something has to give. I currently do 3 running, swimming and cycling sessions in a week and at least 1 of these would have to be sacrificed to be able to participate in a weights session. I feel sacrificing one of the core activities in my chosen sport in order to supplement the core activities of my sport is a little silly and in the long run counter productive.

I once heard that a tennis player once said that in order to get better at tennis one needs to play tennis. I will extrapolate this theory and say that to get bet at participating in triathlons one should endeavour to swim, run or ride as regularly as possible. This means that in my book you should never sacrifice a swim, bike or run session in order to engage in a supplementary activity.

If you are not bound by a job, a wife, children, lack of sleep, and are able to easily relax go ahead and try as many training activities as possible. However if you are like me only retreat to other activities if boredom or staleness means that you are ceasing to enjoy your standard triathlon sessions.

Triathlon round up

We were lucky to have a great day for the triathlon on Sunday. By great I mean cool and cloudy. There are down sides of course. There was a bit of a swell in the water and the return legs on the bike were tough into the wind but this is great when compared with stifling heat or high humidity.

I am very lucky to have a wife who also competes. This means that we can train together, and race together giving each other encouragement along the way. I like to see her do well and love her very much.

My race was a good one. I had a great swim, an average bike and a good run. The ankle injury held up well giving me no problem at all in the run. This is the last triathlon in Melbourne for over a month due to the Commonwealth Games being here during March. My next race will be in April over the Olympic Distance of 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km Run.

Preparing to race

I haven't had a great week on the training track as during my easy run on Wednesday I twisted my ankle. After the initial limping, and swearing I attempted to get home and must admit the pain eased after a km or so. I iced it immediately for an hour and now after a couple of days am left with a nasty bruise around my ankle. I can now jog without pain but upon waking in the morning the ankle feels a little tender.

My next scheduled triathlon is tomorrow so I hope it holds up ok. The race is at a bayside location in close proximity to Melbourne called Elwood. It is probably the biggest race of the season due to its central location. The distance is a 600m swim followed by a 20km bike and 6km run.

I suppose i class myself as an experienced competitor having completed probably around 100 races over the last 15 years. It is amazing how your thought process changes over time. In the beginning most of my anxiety concerned completing the distance, expecially the swim, and just getting through the race.

After getting through the phase of just completing the race my thought process changed to racing and trying to place as high as possible. Although still a hack triathlete I still feared not performing at my anticipated levels and the levels I perceived my peers placed upon me . My initial fears and anxieties of completing the race were now gone but were replaced with these new anxieties about poor results or by looking bad in the eyes of my peers.

I think I have now overcome these fears but like before have additional anxieties to replace them. My new fears concern pain. I know the distance is not a problem and I have confidence in my perfromance but I know from my previous races that putting yourself to the test always involves pain. The lungs screaming for air during the run, the legs yearning for relief during the ride, these are feelings that I know I will feel at some point during the race and the thought of them scares me.

I want to improve and this involves a testing process. The price of a good performance is the pain of effort and as I age the thought of this pain becomes less palatable. I am not yet prepared to give up my sport so I must find a way of dealing with these fears.

Swimming - How to get better

I started participating in triathlons during the early 90's and to be honest was virtually scared of the water. I persisted with my training and over the years gradually became quicker, but I was never at ease in the water. I also reached a stage where I ceased to improve despite how hard I worked. Its usually at this stage that we blame old age catching up. I didnt however feel this was the case. I trained with other people older than me who were better swimmers but not nearly as fit. If age was the reason I was not improving then why were these guys better than me.

It was at this stage I made the staggering discovery (It only took a decade) that no matter how hard I swam during training I was not going to improve. The reason - Its not my fitness which governs the ease and speed of my swimming it is my technique.

I stopped swimming and started swimming drills, attended some drill sessions, and read. I virtually only drilled and worked on body position for around six months then returned to some structured workouts. I now swim as quickly as I did previously but with a lot less effort and a lot more confidence.

If you are not improving STOP. Get a coach work on some drills and try to become a better swimmer rather than a faster one. By continuing in your old ways you will only become better at swimming inefficiently.

Dont fear losing fitness. If you are cycling and running your fitness will be fine. Swimming technique is what will help you and you must work at it. I am sure you will improve if you take my advice.

My training has been curtailed recently. I slightly cut my foot and feel that I should not tempt fate by running in pain and risking injury by an uneven gate. I therefore only rode yesterday - about 25 km and only swam this morning.

Weekend Training

Saturday is usually the day when I do my tough Run/Ride session. However because of my mid week aquathon I took it a little easier today. I still did a Run/Ride but just eased up on the intensity. The ride was 40km done at about 3/4 pace whilst the run session consisted of only 8km at 60% pace. The legs felt heavy especially on the run indicating that I may still need to take things easy for a few more days.

This week

I have been feeling a little off all week and on the training track have been taking things a little easy. The easy week did have one point of high intensity and that was I participated in an aquathon on Wednesday night. The aquathon consisted of a 3km run followed by a 6oom swim and then another 3km run. Obviously this was a tough hitout and I was surprised by my efforts during the first run. It was the quickest I have run for years. The swim was disappointing whilst the second run was average. Overall I was pleased with the result.

Other training consisted of an easy swim on Tuesday, an easy ride on Thursday and another easy swim on Friday.

I feel that high intensity efforts once weekly followed by easy sessions is improving me at the moment and I am looking forward to finishing the triathlon season with some good times.

Rest Day

During my triathlon training cycle there is often a need for a rest day where no exercise is performed. Today was such a day for me. I began to feel a little off colour and took this as a sign that perhaps a rest was needed.

Lazy Sunday

A nice 40km recovery ride today. It left me with enough energy to cut the lawn and tidy the garden. Other than that it was watching the cricket. Great score by the Aussie of 344 and gilchrist is back in form.

Reducing your training

I have said in earlier posts that I now do a lot more easy sessions than I did previously when I was younger. In this way I have been able to actually increase the amount of sessions I do during a year as I spend less time injured. It seems like an easy thing to do but there is an inbuilt mental need to want to push yourself harder. The 'No pain, No Gain' theory still sits firmly in my mind and the desire to push harder is always present. As the athlete ages these urges must be suppressed more often as recuperation times after tough sessions is lengthened as age increases

I will discuss more 'Easy Session' theories in later posts but in short I try to limit myself to one tough session per week which almost occurs on weekends when I can relax fully after training.

Todays session was my tough 40km bike and 10km run session. Bike time for 40 was 1hr 23min. Run Time 41min 45sec. I was spent at the finish of this and spent most of my afternoon watching television. Tomorrow will be an easy ride on the mountain bike.

Swimming like Ian Thorpe

After watching Ian Thorpe swim during the Australian titles yesterday i decided that during my swimming training today I would visualise myself swimming like "Thorpy".

In my mind I am sure I looked exactly like him but unfortunately my times failed to measure upto his. I guess this means that 1 of 2 things may have happened. I either wasnt swimming like Thorpey or there is another factor other than visualisation that is needed to swim quickly. I suppose I will have to come up with some other method of improving my times.

Training today consisted of swimming only with drills for 15 minutes followed by 5x200m then 5x100m

The Office Environment

I think every office has a person whose prime responsibility to provide misery and pain to all other office colleagues. In my office it is the senior secretary who seems to be carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. This would be fine if she kept her worries on her shoulders, but she seems intent on spreading her foul mood throughout the entire company. She is rude and abnoxious to all who dare interrupt her day with queries and questions about work. She is envious of anyone who receives any sort of benefit and is even short with members of the public ringing the firm. I have never seen somebody so moody. For goodness sake if it is so bad being at work why doesnt she leave.

Thank goodness I can unwind after work with some exercise. Triathlon training for the day consisted of a morning swim session of drills for 15 minutes. This was followed with a group swim session. A group of 3 of us took it in turns to do a 600 mtr set. Each member did 100mtrs then rotated with the next member to do the next 100mtrs. This was done continuously without stopping. We did the set twice and finished with 1 set of 300mtrs done in the same manner.

In the afternoon i did an easy 40 min jog.

Aussie swimming championships

The Australian swimming championships are on at the moment and i have just watched Ian Thorpe swim in a semi final of the 100 meteres freestyle. He swims in such an effortless way gliding through the water whilst those around him seem to thrash and battle against it.
When I swim I visualise looking like Thorpey hoping that some of his speed will rub off on me. Unfortunately it isnt working at the moment but I will continue to try and hope to improve.

Training today was an easy to moderate 35km ride on the mountain bike followed by stretching.