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

My first over-distance swim

The other day I ended up swimming further than the ironman swim distance (3.8k or 2.4 miles).  I merrily swam 4k in 1 hour 24. Very happy with that.  I did the 3.8k distance in 1.19 which bodes well for the ironman.

I understand that swimming in a pool is easier than in open water because in the pool you can see, there’s no current, the water temperature is good and you get the advantage from pushing off at each end.  But in open water you’ll often have the benefits of a wetsuit to help so perhaps there isn’t too much difference.

A wetsuit helps your buoyancy and helps the water flow better over your body which reduces drag.  Richard Hammond’s programme last Monday on BBC1 showed in slow motion photography how water distorts a human body when it’s swimming.  You could see the skin and fat rippling and dimpling as the water passed over.  Contrasted with the firm skin of a dolphin, you could see why swimming is relatively hard.

Let’s hope my new wetsuit (an Orca Alpha) toughens up my skin in all the right ways and makes up for the lack of pushing off to be had in lakes, sea and canals!

Tags: Add new tag, open water, swimming, wet suits

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

Cramp - youch

I’m still smarting from another failed attempt at going sub 4 at the Amsterdam marathon last month.

Conditions were perfect.  I was uninjured, had dropped about half a stone, had been strength training at the gym once a week, doing weekly pilates for that essential core strength and had had a great training period hitting all my target paces. Even the weather was even kind… or was it? It was very warm little warm for mid-October but I wasn’t worried because I’d done lots of long, hilly training runs in the the heat of the summer (and there were some hot days this summer!).

The weather might have contributed to my downfall - cramp. I was having a lovely time, bang on target and running well within myself and feeling rather smug that I was sticking to my 9 min mile target pace so metronomically. But at 15 miles I felt cramp threatening at the top of my hamstrings and by 17 miles it was pinging away throughout both calves.

I ignored it but started taking on the supplied energy drink whenever possible because I knew it contained electrolytes… but the drinks stations were only every 5k and it was all in cups which is useless. By 20 miles I couldn’t ignore it and I felt I was running like John Cleese doing the silly walks sketch. At 23 miles I admitted defeat and resigned myself to getting over the finish line anyway I could even if it was at a shuffle.  I did 4.05. It’s not fair.

So what caused it? Don’t know.  Never suffered before. No one seems to be able to offer much insight, although enter ‘cramp’ and ‘marathon’ into Google or a running forum and you’ll get plenty of posts from people who have had their marathons ruined because of the sudden stabbing agony.  Interestingly, three other people from my running club who did the same race also suffered for the first time.

The obvious problem perhaps was that it was a warm day and I wasn’t able to drink as much as usual; and that makes sense. However, my ultra-running doctor friend pointed out that the electrolytes mainly involved in muscle function are calcium and phosphate, whereas we sweat sodium chloride. She also added that many of her patients have significantly disturbed salt levels and they don’t all suffer with cramp.

Another thought is that perhaps I drank too much water the day before and diluted my salt levels. I’m not  a doctor but I can’t think that I drank that much. Also it was a cold day; I wasn’t sweating or eating anything unusual. However, one or two club mates don’t drink any water the day before a long race. Instead they drink some sort of sugar/electrolyte-replacement drink instead just to make sure they’re topped up with water, carbs and salts.

Long distance running is cruel… but that’s why achieving a target time or distance is something to shout about and be proud of. But I’ll add ’salts’ to the growing list of things to get paranoid about in the days before my next long distance event.

On the upside - all that gymming and pilates-ing paid off.  In that last six miles I used my arms and upper body in a big way to keep my legs vaguely pointing in the right direction. So all is not lost; and I’ve learned a bit more about my body in preparation for next year’s Big One - an ironman.

Tags: Add new tag, carbo loading, carbohydrate loading, cramp, electrolytes, marathon, salts