Key Training Block

The past two weeks (week 4 and 5) in Boulder have seen me put in some really hard work but the accumulative fatigue has definitely caught up with me, so needed a little backing off (http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/27/overtraining-tough-it-out-or-recover/).

Some key sessions and insights:

For my run training in Boulder, I train with the RRB club, under head coach Darren De Reuck and we normally do two quality sessions and one long run a week. As i’m eager to do well in Kona, I’m pushing my limits somewhat (fortunatly I recognise that) and my 4th week totalled 100km, but it was last weekend that probably knocked me back somewhat.

On the Saturday I did 22km, including a hard track workout (3 sets of 800/1600/800 with 2 min recovery and 3 min between sets) and when you are doing a mile sub 5:50 (or sub 3:40/km) the 2 minutes between intervals is barely enough recovery, so over the course of the whole session you accumulate a lot of fatigue and experience some serious Oxygen Debt. This was immediately followed by a hardish 3km swim workout.

Ideally I should have ensured I had a few days easy running to recover,  but when you are pushing boundaries you tend to push them till something gives. So the next morning I was doing the Heart and Sole Half Marathon, as part of a 34km long run and although I was awmazed out how comforatble I felt, running 21km in sub 1h40 and 2h 50min all in all (including stops), the accumulative fatigue would soon sneak up on me.

Bear in mind the previous weekend over 3 days I had done a 160km bike ride, 32 km of running and a quality session, which totalled 20km, plus 2 big swim sessions, so this wasn’t just a sudden ‘hit’. Anyway the Monday was an active recovery day and then Tuesday I did a 17km Fartlek session on tired legs (but was moving well), followedd by a swim and then a 50km bike pacing test. This started to show that there was too much fatigue in the legs, but still I was pushing on.

Wednesday I had an easy 1h40 min run on the trails, it was very hot and I think I was a little dehydrated, which wasn’t clever…. took the rest of the day off.

Thursday I needed to do 6 x 10 min hills on the bike, aiming for some decent Watts, but struggled to hold the Watts after the third one and although I completed the session, I knew my legs were shot. Ian Rodger, who has been helping me with my biking picked it up a lot earlier than I did and had been trying to cut my cycling back for a few days, but I had been compounding the problem by continuing to push hard on the run side.

Anyway, seems we are on the same wave length now and I’ve cut the running back a lot, which will freshen the legs up quite considerably and I could already feel less fatigue when I rode 160km yesterday, at about 34km/hr average for most of the ride, except the final 20km when I just spun easy.

So this week and next will be very low key runwise, while the bike (and the swim) requires another big week (for Kona) before I start a mini taper into Las Vegas.

Lessons Learnt:

1. Listen to your body.

2. Don’t think you are a young Pro, when you are almost 52.

3. Watch for any signs of over training.

4. You need more recovery than you think you need.

5. Running can hurt your body (more than biking and swimming).

6. Rather arrive at the race 100% helathy and 90% fit, than 90% healthy and 100% fit. You will have a far greater chance of doing well.

7. Where possible seek the input of an independant 3rd party or coach, as you are training in a cocoon and want to push hard, to prove you have what it takes.

8. Lots of Recovery required, massage and in my case, Compression Boots and/or Ice Baths, as have access to great facilities at All Sports Recovery.