How I hit my peak and kept life in balance

50 weeks into my training and now just 10 days out from my half-Ironman race, I think I have finally got the balance right and found the rhythm to train and keep the rest of life moving.

In the past three weeks I have completed 21 training sessions with my only days off been for pre-race and the day I gave plasma. In addition to the quantity I’ve had some excellent quality sessions and the best part is my wife has hardly noticed.

So what was my magic elixir? How did I do in this past three weeks what had been such a struggle for essentially a year before?!

1. Night time

The biggest secret was making the most of night time. There were a number of parts here that led to success. First one was capitalising on time when my wife went out. Last weekend was a great example, she had her sister’s Hens Day (pre-wedding party) and was out all day Saturday and stayed the night at her mum’s. I couldn’t train during the day as I had the two kids, but by 8pm once the kids were asleep, instead of playing Madden on the PlayStation or watching a movie I’d had saved up for a while (Lone Survivor), I jumped on the bike on the Computrainer and smashed out a 2:30 TrainerRoad session. A little bit of my soul died on that trainer, but my legs and endurance more than made up for it.

I’ve actually done the bike session at night a few times now as my wife has started going to the gym some week nights so again, once the kids are in bed, it means no impact to her and I get a quality session in. Win-win.

2. Pets

We have a Labrador called Holly. I’ve started using her as an excuse to get a short 5-6km run in consistently as she needs the exercise and I can kill two birds with one stones. Occasionally I do have to sacrifice my run to take the kids with me (which is great fun in itself) but overall this has led to runs that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to do, or been able to extend a run that I had scheduled. For instance the Sunday prior to the Olympic Distance triathlon I had a 12km run that I was able to do and then swing by home, pick up Holly and pull out another 5km, giving my 17km in total.

3. Shorter but regularly

This is largely to do with swimming – work has been steady during January but it still meant that I wasn’t able to get away for 60-90minute swims as often as I would like, so instead I have been doing 40min swims more regularly, 3-4 times a week. This is still not a great swim volume but it’s better than nothing and I believe my swim fitness is as good as ever. A true case of take what you can get. The other lesson has been to take any opportunity – twice in recent weeks I’ve had work or meetings pop up in my usual swim time (sometime between 11am and 2pm) meaning it looked like I would miss a swim that day. Instead I worked through and headed out for a 45min dip at 4:30 and was still able to get home in time for the kids bath.

4. Commuter training

One of my plans for this year as I build back up towards a marathon focus for mid-year is to run into work one day a week. I haven’t quiet managed that yet, primarily because it’s 25km and I don’t want to go that hard this close to my race, but I have started to get off a few stations early and run home. It requires some logistics planning to ensure I can leave my laptop at work, have the right running bag, locker at work to hang my suit in, collect everything the next day, but it has meant again some extra runs that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred.

The fact that it’s summer and nice weather has certainly helped, and touchwood my health has stayed in shape despite the larger training volumes. The key now is to get the balance right in terms of fine tuning and not overdoing it as the taper begins.

Relax WADA…

Yes, I have a needle stuck in my arm, blood coming out of me, spinning in a centrifuge and then getting pumped back into me. But relax WADA, this is no complex doping system – just decided to give a blood plasma donation.

My blood type (AB+) means I have universal plasma (anyone can receive it). Plasma is used as an anti-clotting agent, immune system booster and to boost some proteins in people with deficiencies. It is used by people in trauma, burns, kidney and liver issues and many other scenarios.

The benefit of donating plasma for an athlete compared to full red blood cells is that the blood is circulated back into the body, meaning that the lethargy and depletion of cells usually experienced in a full donation is not as bad. This means a quicker and better return to training, although I still took a rest day on the day I donated and easy, recovery training the next day.

Feeling flat

I’m two days out from my first Olympic Distance triathlon and I should be excited. Instead I am feeling flat.

I’m tired. The weather is atrocious. The swim is likely to get cancelled as the deluge of rain will wash too much pollution into the bay. I have to get up at 5am on a Sunday. Woe is me!

Seriously I’m lacking a bit of energy, thinking it’s a bit of a combination of first week back in the office and hot weather (I know I said it’s wet – just really humid as well).

Hoping I can pull it together and have a good race on Sunday. If they do cancel the swim it will most likely become a run-ride-run, which actually suits me, but the 1500m swim of this race was meant to be a dressed rehearsal/warmup for my half-Ironman in three weeks.

Wish me luck!

Holiday training

Away from a routine, lots of extra food, traveling – training during the Christmas period is not as easy as it seems!

Christmas this year presented a few training problems, firstly my birthday is just before Christmas and my parents came to stay with me which meant more disruption to the usual routine. And then for Christmas we traveled interstate to spend it with my whole family in hot, tropical Queensland.

This worked out okay, and I managed to get a few quality run sessions in. The challenge was my brother lives essentially on the side of a mountain so any runs I did were automatically hill sessions! Some hills were so steep that I actually couldn’t run them, especially downhill and it did wonders to smash my quads and hammies.

The picture I’ve attached is of a sign about 2.5km into my first run and it wasn’t a lie! These hills kept going and going! Combined with the fact that it was 34C/93F and humidity was above 70%, this was one of the hardest runs I’d done in recent times.

As the elevation chart above shows, it was one serious climb with more than 360m climbing in a very short distance. When I got back home I was drenched in sweat and jumped straight in the pool to cool the legs down and kick out the lactic acid.

I stayed there for six days and managed to get in two runs, one ocean swim and a few pool swim sessions but am glad to be back home now and hit up some quality training – did a good bike session yesterday and planning on a run today. I hope you all had a great Christmas period and have managed to get all of your training in!

Seven things I love about TrainerRoad

I started using TrainerRoad to power by bike training one month ago. Here are seven reasons I will never bike train with out it:

1. Time efficient: I have two small kids, a busy job and a loving (and very understanding) wife who I also want to spend some time with. I also have to squeeze in run and swim training. It is not an option for me to go for countless long rides, leave the family behind for 3-4 hours or head out and not know when I return. I need my training to be snappy, efficient and within a defined period. With TrainerRoad I hop on my bike in my study and know I am riding for 60, 75, 90 or 120 minutes. My wife knows also and can plan around it. And when I ride I don’t have to stop for traffic lights, worry about weather or get stuck chatting at the coffee shop.
2. Safety: I’m not a life long rider and my bike confidence is not great. My hometown of Melbourne in Australia is not particularly bike friendly. While I know I need to ride on the road to improve my handling, I love the safety that comes from training on the trainer and not having to worry as much.
3. Variety: The prepared plans are a thing of beauty. It’s like having a cycling coach for less than $10 a month. I can do high intensity/low volume or low intensity/high volume and I know what order to do it in to maximise the return and not damage my body. Every workout comes with a TSS score and an Intensity Factor (IF) rating so I know in advance how hard each workout will be, meaning if I’ve done a hard run session I might opt for a lower intensity ride, or vice versa.
4. Ease of use: I have a Computrainer, a Garmin 310XT and a Garmin cadence and speed sensor. I install the software, plug in the Computrainer and my ANT+ dongle and off I go. It’s just a case of logging on, choosing session and ride.
5. User interface: The interface is clean, clear and crisp. It tells me how long I’ve ridden, how long to go on each set, my power, target power, heart rate and cadence. And a nice graphical representation for good measure. In addition, I love changing between full screen for a focused session or the horizontal option which places the data in a bar along the bottom of the screen while I watch a movie or YouTube clips on the rest of the screen. Nothing better than a long ride with re-runs of past Tour de France’s or Ironman World Championships!
6. Data recording and history: Like most triathletes, I’m a numbers geek. I love my data and analysing every aspect. TrainerRoad lets me review all past rides from the program, website or app. And it allows me to easily transfer the data across to Training Peaks. What more could you ask for?!
7. It works: In just one month I have seen increases in power, speed and cadence. It gets me riding more often and improving my results. I used to be happy with an average speed of 30k/hr – in my most recent rides I am now averaging more than 37 k/hr! For my half-ironman race, this equates improving from a 3:00 ride to 2:25! Now it’s no given that will be the end result on race day, but this improvement is repeating itself and I have TrainerRoad to thank for that!

Playing catch up

A wise man once told me that if you miss a training session, let it go. There is no use playing catch up, just accept it and move on. I missed almost two weeks of training sessions late last month due to a major work event, and while I’ve not attempted to play catch up I sure have learnt a few things:

• One run in a fortnight may lead to a slight decrease in pace but it can be recovered fairly quickly, within a week or so of regular runs.
• Limited cycling in a fortnight is similar, but given the base I was coming off I wasn’t losing much!
• No swims in two weeks means you will feel like a rock in your first swim back – and sadly my second, third, fourth and fifth!

Since my two weeks of chaos I’ve had two very solid weeks of training and this week has started off just as well. I certainly feel that the absence of training and the emotional and physical toll of working 20 hour days has certainly impacted my output though. There’s no use worrying about it though, it’s just a case of accepting it, understanding and rebuilding the base without overdoing it.

Why sneaking in a training session during the work day is a win-win

As part of my process in keeping my training discreet and not interrupting my family or work life, I try to train at times that minimise inconvenience to others. As part of this approach I regularly do my swim sets and occasionally a run during the work day as part of my lunch break.

Given work usually starts and finishes past the prescribed hours, and with the benefit of work place flexibility I stretch my 40min lunch break into an hour or so and get a solid workout in a three to four times a week usually.

Good for me, you might say. Well it turns out according to a new blog post from the Harvard Business Review I’m actually doing my boss and workplace a favour as well! The article, titled ‘Regular exercise is part of your job’, states that exercising during the work day leads to:

• Improved concentration
• Sharper memory
• Faster learning
• Prolonged mental stamina
• Enhanced creativity
• Lower stress

So turns out that my discreet training is not only making me a better triathlete – but also a better employee!

Half-marathon comeback

So it turns out quality is just as good as quantity.

I ran my first half marathon in almost a year and will certainly claim it as a ‘comeback PB”!  When I planned out my event calendar at the start of the year I had two half marathons scheduled as part of my run build in the off season. I missed the first event in July as it coincided with my brother’s 40th birthday which I was interstate for and I must say I was a bit nervous as last weekend approached as it was targeted as my next race.

Readers would know that my training this year has been nothing if not inconsistent. And lacking quantity – generally two runs a week at best, supported with two swims and maybe a strength session. My longest run all year was a 16km training run a fortnight ago and a handful of 14km runs. Speed sessions had become a once a fortnight event, but were of great quality and showed that I still had the leg speed – I just didn’t know how long I could hold it!

Yesterday morning as the alarm went off at 6.30am I threw on my gear and headed in to the Sri Chinmoy Yarra Boulevard Half-marathon. This race last year was where I set my 21.1km PB – a superb 1:32:37. I thought if I could go around 1:40 I would be delighted.

Hence I was stoked to push myself mentally to overcome my lack of run specific training and cross the line in 1:37:13 (4:32/km).

The pace started off fine and I got through the first few kilometres in 4:15-4:20 pace. From about six or seven kilometres in though I knew it was going to be more a case of willpower than leg power. I managed to hold my pace through half way, clocking 10km off in 43:59. The course was a short 1.1km loop followed by four 5km loops. Having raced a lot last year paid dividends  though – I knew how far I could push myself and how much I could hurt and that to embrace the pain and realise it was just part of it.

The legs pulled up reasonably well – had a new pair of BodyScience compression tights to test out and the results were great. I’ll take a few days off training now to recover, possibly get a swim in if work commitments allow.

Definitely a huge confidence boost though, knowing that I still have a solid base and pace and hopefully some refined training will have me in good shape come tri season!

Willpower

This may seem an odd photo to post. It’s not pretty, it’s scenic, it’s not even that funny. But for me this picture shows my willpower.

That $2 coin has been sitting on the top of my monitor stand at work for two weeks now. ‘So what?’ I hear you say.

Well normally that $2 coin would be snapped up by me in an instant to go and buy a can of Coke from the vending machine up the corridor when I get an urge for sugar – which was occurring daily for a while there. The fact that I see that coin there everyday, knowing I could use it to buy a can of Coke but choosing not to is something I am very proud of at the moment.

It’s a small thing, but drinking less Coke will help with overall fitness and physique but more importantly it’s showing I am not reliant on it, not addicted to it and able to stay strong when it would be easier to give in.

Flexible schedules catching on

I loved this article that appeared on Triathlete.com this about the need for flexibility.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in writing this blog and balancing training with life and work is that things will never go to plan and you need to be flexible in your approach and make the most of what you get.

The article is not perfect in that it still assumes more perfect days than ‘life in the way’ days; but it’s get to see the premise of flexibility in training getting broadly discussed; in this case assigning preferred workouts for a week and then allocating to the day that best suits depending on work, energy and general well being.

Triathletes are generally high achieves and accepting anything less than the best can be difficult. I found myself earlier this year thinking if I was wasting my time, but I also know as kids get older training time should improve and anything I do now will serve as a great base for future attempts.