Archive for the ‘cycling’ Category
A glimpse at the life of a full time athlete
Earlier this month I did a week’s training camp in Lanzarote. What an eye opener. And what a great week!
It was a triathlon/running camp organised by Martin Yelling, Liz Yelling and Ian Corless. Liz obviously focussed on running (she’s in her pre-London phase so was training hard, herself), Martin and Ian focussed on the bike with the help of pro ironman triathlete Joel Jameson, and Loughborough Uni-based swim coach and Olympic team psychologist Dave Fletcher led the swimming, again helped by Joel. The coaches were top notch - all so good at what they do, but also supportive, inclusive and generous with their time. And they all had a sense of humour and made even the most gruelling sessions … less gruelling.
There were two runs, a swim and a bike each day which we could all dip in and out of as we wanted. My focus was on the bike as it’s my weakest tri discipline, but with such a good swim coach on hand I’d have been mad not to swim every morning, too.
My routine went something along the lines of wake up, banana, swim, breakfast, bike, food/rest/food/sleep, wake up, banana, swim, breakfast etc etc. By the end of the week I’d trained for almost 30 hours - more than double my previous max week total. That might be a normalish week for an elite triathlete, but for us campers such big volumes were extraordinary and not sustainable for much more than a week.
Most people’s focus was on working hard to make the intelligent most of the camp’s offerings, then relaxing and eating properly to recover from one session and gather energy for the next. With no normal household or work responsibilities it seemed normal to do at least two sessions a day. After a couple of hard days I had an ‘easy’ day - although I’d already swum for an hour and biked for two! The ‘easy’ bit was a whole afternoon and evening off with no session planned. I begun to wonder how on earth I ever thought one session was enough back at home. But of course a training camp’s not normal and, unless you’re very lucky - or a professional full-time athlete - it’s hard to fit that level of training and recovery into a regular day.
In fact I was over-reached by the last day. Over-reaching is the first stage of over-training. Heart rate can be erratic, mood temperamental, sleep impaired. I’d been unable to sleep well at all for the whole week which certainly didn’t help my recovery but on the last day I was experiencing a few tell-tale signs. My heart rate was stratospheric during the easiest of warm up drills in the pool. Then I threw a strop on the bike when it was too fast for me (well… it was meant to be an easy recovery session and it was proving a tad faster than that).
To avoid over-training I thought I’d been very careful: picking my sessions, not doing the run sessions (because I know I take a long time to recover from them and I wanted to have energy to do the major bike sessions properly)… but I’d obviously done just a bit too much. Alternatively, perhaps I got it right, but the lack of sleep meant I didn’t get the full recovery my poor body so desperately needed.
Luckily over-reaching is fully reversable with a few days off and it was obvious to us all that the week following the camp needed to be an easy one to help us recover and let the training bed in. If the camp had been one day longer I would have exploded. Martin was very nice and said it meant that I’d got it about right.
Now, having been back for just over two weeks, I’m starting to feel the benefits. My energy levels are returning and I mashed through a long bike at the weekend in a much shorter time than it would have taken me this time last year - at the same sedate perceived exertion level and heart rate. And that was at the end of quite a big week.
So. I’ve booked for next year. I’d recommend a training camp - but make sure you get one that has the right level of activity and ethos for you. I’m so glad I went on this one rather than a cycling-specific one - I just don’t think I’d have coped. Club la Santa in Lanzarote is a mecca for this type of activity and I can see why. And the silly tan lines for 2011 are coming along nicely.
Tags: Add new tag, cycling, heart rate, Lanzarote, nutrition, over reaching, overtraining, recovery, sleep, swimming, training, training camp
I am an ironman!
Lou finishing Challenge Roth, July 2010
Well, I did it! I completed my first ironman-distance triathlon on 18th July 2010 at Roth, Germany. I’ll write more about it soon but for the timebeing all you need to know is that I am thrilled to have done it in 13 hours, 46 mins and 24 seconds.
It was very ‘doable’ and I had no real problems although I’ve got to be much more technical next time about what I eat on the bike so that I avoid a bloated tummy and nausea on the run.
I’ve entered Ironman Regensburg in Germany for 2011 and am hoping that an extra year of cycling in my legs will help my time improve. Watch this space!
Cycling vs running from a body’s viewpoint
Preparing for the ironman, my training week now involves not only a long run, but a long bike and a long swim instead. Anyone who’s a distance runner either looks forward to or dreads the long run… but whichever way it’s an important session that has to be fitted in, come what may. So, as you can imagine, fitting in three long sessions every week can be tricky.
The long bike is now my major weekly session. Cycling is my weakest discipline - and certainly the one I have least experience in, so it’s going to be my focus for the entire ironman build up. The rationale is that if you’re strong on the bike part of the race (112 miles) you’ll be in good shape for the run (a marathon). It makes sense that being a super strong runner means nothing if the bike element leaves you in pieces before the run even starts.
Long bikes at the moment for me are anything over four hours - or about 50 miles; although I’m now feeling that if I did ‘only’ 50 miles for a long bike it’s now not really enough, except in a recovery week. The longest I’ve done is six hours which is what it took to do a 76 mile cyclosportive on 7th March. I’ve done a couple of five-hour rides, too, so it’s all going in the right direction.
What’s interesting is how different I feel after a long bike to a long run. Yes I feel tired all over - but in a pleasant, sleepy way rather than a completely drained, shattered way. And, however much my legs ache during the ride, going up the hills, they never feel as tired afterwards as they do after a long run.
It’s all obvious really, I know, but it’s brought it home to me quite how much we hammer our legs - joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons - when we’re running. It’s given me new respect for anything we can do to look after our legs and bodies after running, in particular. So the ice baths (or even just cold ones!), stretching, massage, sleep and good food are just vital!
Tags: Add new tag, cycling, ice, ice baths, ironman, long bike, long run, nutrition, recovery, running, sleep, stretch
Sport Relief - if they can do it, we all can!
Have been loving the Sport Relief coverage. If all those relatively unfit celebs can achieve what they’ve achieved with hardly any training, think what we can achieve if we do train!
The cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End was of particular interest because cycling is all relatively new to me, as it was to the cyclists. Davina McCall really trained hard in the short period they had to prepare… and, funnily enough, she coped really well. Good girl!
And Eddie Izzard. How fantastic was he last year? Not sure how I’d have felt if he were my client - I’m sure he drove his advisers and sports therapist mad (eating ice cream and drinking on the way round, stocking up on chocolate, running when he was exhausted, sprinting when he was injured) but if I take my coach/massage therapist hat off, I have to say I think he was great.
It really shows how much our amazing bodies can do. He just dug in and was stubborn and wouldn’t listen to the demons in his head. We can all learn from Coach Eddie!
Tags: carbohydrate loading, discipline, injury, nutrition, pacing, recovery, running