One of the biggest challenges I have found as a participant of various sports is following the end of the road before I turn down the side streets. What do I mean?

There are as the old saying goes many routes to the same destination. If you point north and keep driving everyone ends up somewhere in the Arctic sticking their flag up on the hill. Question is how many die off ,get lost or run out of energy getting there?

The longer we travel the greater the chance we’ll run into someone going the same way as we are – albeit with a different mode of transport or different stopover points.

Do we follow them if they look like they “know” or keep going our own path?

Learning about how other athletes get “there” and reading lots of “stuff” you start to question if a swing off the track (even for a day or two) might be beneficial

There are occassions when you find out you have been going due south and running into someone who has a clue is just whats needed.

However many of us are making progress, just different tracks?

Who has the best one?  It takes a friggen long time to find out

Generally I like the idea of staying on the same road for at least a couple of racing seasons. If you are working with a new coach you have to give them at least 18mths-2years (arguably more if you are at a high level) to find out if they have a better route for you

To lengthen my analogy- as you progress towards the pole things change season to season- the road can freeze or hit impassable mountains

I remember Faris Al Sultan said he had found that he had to change the program every 18mths-2 years or so because as a pro with his level of consistency day in day out things just eventually went stale. Adaptions slowed down. The sports sci guys agree with that principal. However dont get dellusional. If you cant string a basic week together for 40-50 weeks of the year consistently then you are unlikely to fall into this bracket. You havent stayed “on the road”

When you start out as a new coach you might think your road is the fast one or you know how to avoid the frozen up old routes. The longer you stay at it the longer you realise there are so many routes – and so dependant upon the individual

the biggest battle- picking one and sticking to it. If there was a reason to train a certain “way” at the start of the season just stick on it . When you hear new “stuff” file it away- dont block your ears- but dont worry about applying it there and then.

Wait till you at least get to the end of that road. Then you can decide where you are going to turn. That more than anything is going to lead to progress

Have  just read a book about Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters fame. One of the things I came away with was just how long he has been at it. School bands, travelling peniless through Europe for a decade with bands so underground I’ve never heard of them and in more recent years Nirvana and then onto his own stuff. The apprenticeship Dave has done is very very long with no pay off at all for most of it.

What also struck me is how much of a true muso he is- would have been playing for free/ still writing songs no matter what. The guy is not finished and will never be finished he loves it

How many of us have truly put 10,000 quality hours into the sport we love? When you see those pieces on the good age groupers they all do about 600 hours a year or so. That would mean 16 years of consistent training day in day out to reach “master” level

Now I’ve had periods of 2-3 years where both quality and hours were good but not a 16 yrs straight run! So often I give myself a tick for finishing a good 3 month section or 6 mth “season” but its not even a dent on the 10,000!

So what do I take from this?

a. Like Dave if I’m going to keep going I have to always look for an enjoyable way to do it rather than just ticking the boxes

b. There is so much more room for improvement!

If we were all Andre Agassi we might be justified in saying “you know what I’ve practiced 50,000 hours, I am now 40 and my strength is declining a bit, I need to face the fact that I might not keep improving now”

Luckily that is not the case! I think the challenge of being an older person is having the guts to start the clock at zero on a few things……….there’s plenty of time to clock up the 10,000 on a lot of things if you enjoy them

Anyone fancy taking up playing the guitar with me?

Dont listen to your coach. Dont follow your program

Strange thing to say on a site with a coaching focus?

The best coach of you is YOU.  What do we mean? Ditch all outside help? Sack your coach? No way

what we mean is only you have the full awareness of how you body is adapting to training

when we set out schedules and programs they are not unlike bus timetables or meeting rosters- unexpected events happen or meetings run overtime

a good program is consistent and has a clear direction but it is also adaptable

when we put 20×1km repeats on a program does that mean you attempt 20×1km? absolutely

do you do slightly more or slightly less? perhaps and this is why……….

the most important thing is not to understand the program content but the PURPOSE of the session

if the purpose of a session is to build muscular endurance then if you feel ok at 20×1 you might do a few more

if you are absolutely cooked and starting to strain then you’d consider cutting it shorter

especially if this means we get half arsed efforts out of you for the next 10 days

this is where smart athletes separate themselves- they dont dodge training/make excuses but they are also highly tuned in when its the right time to push it or not

we call this self coaching- its the hardest to learn but its so so important

no genius of a coach can protect an athlete from their own stupidity. no smart coach expects an athlete to act like a dog and bark on command

You have to be committed to the program but its also your responsibility to look after your own needs

Unless you see the coach daily they cant always see if you are slacking off or pushing when you should be backing off

So start tuning into what your own feedback is saying- be honest with it

on those days you have more to give then give it, your rate of progress will be markedly improved

on those days you are spent- act smart get some sleep and reschedule

this is the art of self coaching- master that and you are a long way along the path

this is why its so important to not get hung up on fixed paces for every session and worrying about “X” km. When we give you a 2hr moderate aerobic run it means run as fast as you can whilst staying in the middle of your aerobic range. This can vary widely from day to day and terrain to terrain. It certainly doesnt mean dawdle around at the bottom of your aerobic range “just to comply” with the program- we want max adaption but without disruption to the rest of the program. We also dont want dawdle for 1hr 30mins and then nailing yourself on the “cattle dog” home straight of 30 mins. When you send the coach the “average” HR he hasnt got the time to look through every segment of everyones run to see if this sort of stuff is going on- you have to help out if you want results. Dont be a victim of a program -own the thing

so get into self coaching you’ll get much better results

Its this time of year people start writing their 16 colour training programs. We sit down after winter and start thinking about how to turn our training around. To “take it to a new level”.  How many “New and Improved” labels do you see when shopping for nearly anything. Its human nature to seek higher utility/want something we “better” or will potentially yield greater satisifaction. Why wouldn’t we? This is what has advanced mankind over the generations. But man has also become very good at processing- ie finding something that works well and then repeating with greater efficiency or bigger scale to obtain larger returns. Mining is a good example of this- once you know where the Diamonds are and how to dig them out well then you use larger excavation and drilling equipment and load the stuff into bigger trucks to increase your productivity.

Success in training/(maybe life?) is strongly correlated to consistency. The whole theory of progressive overload is very hard to achieve if you dont have a consistent method of applying it. So why is it that we can be prone to want to mess with our programs so much?

Do you really need a different mesocycle every 3 weeks or do your swim sets or run sets have to change every week?

One thing we have seen in rather large number of cases of success whether it be business,sport or religion is that these people/groups employ a sustained and consistent process- often to the point of obsession

There’s that fine line the continuum between creativity and control, entrepreneurship and risk aversion, flexible and inflexible

So going back to our training life what does this mean? Is it possible that we can take smaller controlled risks with our program (creativity) whilst maintaining a stable proven pattern (control and risk avoidance)

if you are coached you potentially leave the risk taking part to the coach (he may actually use you for creative risk taking without you knowing it or stick to whats proven)

if you are self coached think about whether you have the risk/reward ratio right. Just because the internet is filled with complicated programs and that book you just bought has very catchy looking programs -it doesnt mean you should copy it

Seldom do those who jump around from one thing to the next repeatedly succeed.  You take a risk and follow it through until you can see a sensible conclusion(works or does not) or you stick with whats proven

This is the principal of sustained process management. Have a think about it before getting those highlighters out

It can get to be boring at times or feel like a “grind” but the payoff of sustained process management can potentially be very great

Have a look at the guy chiselling the statue in the photo above. If you walked past him for a few weeks you could comment “wow look at that guy just tapping away at that piece of marble-he’s wasting his time -still just looks like a piece of marble- he should quit get out the cutting saw and turn it into tiles”. Then after weeks and weeks a finished artwork appears that may sell for many times more than all the tiles you could have made from the same marble

The creative part doesn’t emerge until right at the end-all that boring sustained process management has to come first

I’ve come across a lot of press releases,pro interviews and anecdotes on this topic

Story goes likes this………..hey you multisport athletes- combined time wins not who’s the fastest at each discipline- if you want to win at multisport you’ve got to train for it right so stop focusing on one sport at a time and then trying to put them together…..etc

Right?……..

I think there’s a case to say WRONG. Whilst I’m not disagreeing with the fact that there is a minimum level of training that needs to be applied to chain the different sports together eg particularly swim/bike  and bike/run

However a potential problem is people get stuck on trying to improve at all three(or more) sports at the same time. This is entirely possible to some degree -particularly at the lower end of an athletes fitness potential and/or training experience

The closer you get to the front of the field and the longer your experience with training the slower those improvements come. The simple principle of overload gets harder to achieve- the body has become pretty accustomed to most things you can throw at it out of the mulitsport workout bible

So thats the time when a single sport focus can be of potential benefit. For example lets say our subject has a threshold pace of 4mins per km running on the back of years of multisport training. This person does their standard 3-4 runs a week (1 long, 1 moderate, 1 intervals, 1 recovery) along with their 3-4 bike sessions and 3-4 swim sessions.  As a result of this consistent volume you often find they can hold a very high percentage of that FT pace for a long time but when asked to “push it” there isn’t a lot more there. Why?  because the number of times they “test” that limit in a week are very few. The number of total sessions addresses their aerobic development and muscular endurance but very little is being done to regularly raise the “ceiling”

It is very difficult holding those 12 workouts a week to really bust the door down.

Think about studying for a set of exams where you had to keep swapping subjects every couple of minutes- you’d eventually improve but many things would potentially escape you eg that complicated formular that takes a few days of applied questions to sort out

There is nothing wrong with taking a single sport approach for a decent period before coming back to the multisport athlete approach

For example lets give our runner above 4-6 weeks away from swimming and halve his riding time

Shit he’s got all this energy now. Perhaps we give him two interval sessions a week

Perhaps we really challenge the pace of his long run

Perhaps we can do some specific hill work or technique work

Potentially he could have 2 or 3 rest days and still manage to do way more running than before

It would also give him more flexibility to go hard when he felt he had the legs for it

All of these things help teach the muscles and brain to do something they arent accustomed to- its like doing intensive tutoring on your maths

One of the really big benefits of the single sport approach is the extra rest availble, typically more rest =better adaptions (provided you also do the work)

The other massive benefit is the ability to do multiple daily or intraday sessions within the same sport- this is much harder to schedule with 2 or 3 sports all wanting attention

For example the cruisy run in the morning and the harder intervals session in the evening followed by an easy recovery run the next morning to really maximise the adaptions

So be open to both single and multi approaches- they are both necessary and effective if incorporated in the right way

One of the greatest benefits of starting any race is simply to participate.

Lets look at this in contrast. On one hand sport can be uncompromising, requiring unwavering dedication and “all or nothing” if you aspire to pursue it at the highest level. This is essentially a description of a professional approach or that of an individual is willing and able to make the sacrifices this requires.

On the other hand sport is a form of recreational pursuit, social engagement, health supporting and relief and contrast from our other pursuits (some of them professional some of them amateur)

In between is what we might call “semi-serious” ie willing to invest significant time without completely needing to forgo other endevours. Right up the top of these semi-serious are the “pro-am’s” that train and live like professionals yet dont compete at the highest level. Some of them dont actually have any profession (sport or otherwise)

Have you ever heard the expression that “we are becoming increasingly specialised to the point where people know a whole lot about a very little”. This describes the long term trend towards professionalism- increasingly all or nothing approach where for instance a lawyer might stake his whole career on becoming expert on one very narrow area of tax law. There are less and less “generalists” in this world- because the world is making less space for them

What I find is that the all or nothing approach tends to permeate adults approach to their sporting pursuits. That is if you cant be winnning or get to the top level then why bother?

Its an interesting question in the context of the Tour De France being on TV right now. When Tour fever takes hold the roads suddenly become filled with seriously overweight guys flying around on bikes. You can understand the commentary from people (especially females) that they are embarassing and should “just give it up”

Now that simple statement I have a big problem with. Australians one or two generations ago had a much higher participation rate in sport. On top of that more jobs were manual and there was less cheap sugar filled food on tap. But why o why would we ridicule people who actually try to participate?

Maybe the problem lies again in the balance- if these same lycra clad obese types were a little more consistent with their participation, instead of work 24/7 and then for 3 weeks hit the bike when the tour was on then they wouldnt be visually offensive. However they have made a start which is better than 99.9% of the population

I see the same thing happen with athletes. As soon as a job heats up or they have less training hours available they start stating their “retirement” intentions. They literally write a scripted speech for their family and friends as if they were a famed professional and those people really placed some stock in the importance of the event. Because of the “all or nothing” ethos they decide that they simply must ditch the sport indefenitely………..I mean why bother racing if you cant train 15hrs/wk consistently

Most of the serious age group athletes I have trained with have had to make their sport participatory as a first emphasis and from time to time this has to cycle down to accomodate their real professional activities. Whats more common amongst those who have been successfull over a long term is that they actually enjoy the participation itself

There is another group of people who do very well but as soon as the schedule has to bend they cannot compromise. Many of these guys approach training like taking medicine- they do it very professionally but dont enjoy the experience- have a look through those franchise gyms- they are filled with “professional-take the daily medicine” exercisers. In my experience these same people struggle with the concept of just being a participant and as a result drop out or become dissatisfied or frustrated. They avoid racing “until they have time to train properly” I have some mates who have been avoiding racing for 10 years or more yet still keep training away “until that day”. A further step on is they ditch the whole thing forever- as if they were a retiring professional who was only doing it for the money. (Funny thing is most of the real professionals actually would do it for free they like it that much)

This approach completely also disregards the relaxation or social benefits of just entering a race or rolling up to training when you can get there. You may have to accept that you are not ever going to win your age group but you can have a bloody nice life if you just enjoy the whole journey. Nobody over the age of 30 really cares where you placed or what time you did. Sure some do but they are the insecure and those who never made it themselves.

Dont write retirement speeches. Dont make it all or nothing. Participation is a fluid concept. Myself personally will not have time to race an IM this year- but I am not “retired”. I have already entered about 5 other shorter events. Will I have time to train properly for all of them? Im not sure. I’ll be on lots of aeroplanes with work etc so I’ll just have to do what I can. I really enjoy participating and my time with my mates at races. I will never make my living from racing- and most of us make a way better living doing something else. Even when Im winning my age group when I do have time to focus, its really inconsequential in the scheme of things. Its the experiences with friends and the places you race that put colour on the experience

So enjoy being a participant- its just as important as competition- and probably more

In a ride through the local suburbs this morning I observed a group of men walking slowly and frailly with their dogs. I asked my partner how old she thought they were (they didnt seem that old) and we concluded not much older than us.

So it lead to a discussion about what choices these group of men had made to get to that point? – they all seemed happy and content enough and presumably affluent and successfull given the suburb and their attire. Lets assume they were mostly happy with their physical condition and what limits it was going to put on them as they progressively aged.

If I stay in my comfort zone with my life choices- job,family, residence etc then that is one way I can control stress level. If I dont add new things in the mix constantly then its likely to put less pressure on me. Lets call me type B

If I get out of my comfort zone-try new things, switch jobs, force myself to live somewhere else, try to study at night on top of work etc- then that naturally is setting me up for a more “stressfull” life right? Lets call me type A

If I’m type B I’m relaxed already and I probably dont need to exercise nearly as much to level myself out. Type A probably have regular moments when they question what they’ve bitten off and need a lot of exercise to help balance out the stressfull environment they have chosen

The difference between type A and B- type A are constantly looking for stress, type B might be trying to avoid it. We go through life being told stress is bad and to get rid of it. It can be very productive stuff if you direct and balance it properly. Both can be successfull strategies. What’s important is you need to know how you are wired and whats going to make YOU happy.

So that group of guys I saw this morning some of them might be financially successfull and fully content with the relatively sedantry life they have chosen. I know guys like this who are just content relaxed and happy. They dont need to exercise because they dont feel stressed and they are happy with the fact they will become less mobile as they age. They are happy with their choice

Then there will be some people that just cant try enough in life and want to go as hard as they can go for as long as they can go. They want to take on big goals and take big risks. If you have been around sport for a while you’ll recognise this is the personality type of many athletes (more than not). Its very rare that these guys can function well without a physical outlet. In fact the more stressed they are the more they persue extreme athletic endevours- its a fact that a very high % of endurance athletes have high stress jobs or high stress family lives or have high stress “goals” in general.

There are also people between these two extremes- a blend of each. But you must be true to yourself and know your type- emulating the choices of your peers will not address your own stress balance needs. There are many very very successful people out of both camps.

Why labour on this point? We’ll we find in modern life that people will label serious amateur athletes as “weird” or not belonging to type B (or derivative thereof). The focus is on what purpose riding for 200km or running for 42.2km serves? Answer ….none ostensibly….unless you look deeper at the persons makeup……that very activity may be the key to balancing all the other things they want to achieve in life or are demanded of them. If that same person reverted to the lifestyle of type B they might end up being very poor at everything they do.

The  type A’s usually have a longer bucket list than type B. They still want to be moving fast in their 60’s and 70’s- never content that they have done enough. While its convenient and easy to point to stress as a result of their choices- its somewhat less conventional to look at their choices in terms of “actively seeking” a stressful existence

The catch is its damn hard to swap groups if you leave it late- past 40 and its especially hard for men to suddenly cobble together the requisite physical capabilities to train hard.  Just as you cant train to be top of a white collar or blue collar field overnight-it takes many years of education and grind. Another name for this is “stress”. You cant successfully employ type A strategy towards your training one year and type B the next. Being consistent to your type leads to the best result and satisfaction.

We all know people that train like lunatics for a day at a time, or a few months or a couple of seasons before stating that “they have too much on their plate” or are “burnt out” or “just not enjoying it”. In other words they dont see a long term benefit in taking on the extra stress. Conversely there are some people who are always enrolling in another uni degree or races or trying to run fast well into their 50,60 and 70’s. They get called freaks or unbalanced. From time to time their mates try to emulate them and state something like “he’s genetically better suited or seems to have more time….insert excuse here” Ironically some of the highest stressed individuals in their working career are also the most successfull at sport- what they tend to have in common are two things

-being true to their type (comfortable in their own skin and choices)

-consistent lifestyle strategy

Im guessing out of that group of guys this morning half would have been content and the other with regrets. A few might be rich beyond belief, worked hard at the one career and enjoy slow walks, gardening and suburban life- why would this guy want anything else? Nope he’s content. Then there’s likely to one guy who slacked off in his career (cruised) didnt really try to study or read anything and isnt in the best shape. He might not be “stressed” but he’s been unproductive and dissatisfied- not true to his type

Then there are the guys who dont hang out with the dog walkers who are still travelling for work, pulling long hours and running hard in the dark before work- still going for it. These guys have stressfull but highly productive lives- consistently high paced and true to their type

So sit back and reflect on your type and your choices- you might look at stress a bit differently going forward- its a good thing

In response to some recent questions we thought it apt to pen a couple of basic things to keep in mind while running:

What f$%cking part of my foot am I supposed to use?

I am not sure why this topic has to be so complex. There are whole shoe companies preaching the virtues of running on the front of the foot for instance.  Last time I checked the idea of a foot was to spread the load over a large surface area. If we had feet the size of a stilleto we would leave holes in the ground.  In defence of these same companies this is rarely their intention to advocate only running on a small part of the forefoot- it just makes a convenient marketing point of difference if they state that your running will be radically changed- by running moreso on that part of the foot- a big difference

What does the foot do from front to back?

The foot has a couple of really hard thick bones on the back joining the achilles that is dam strong. It then widens out into progressively smaller and complex bones.  If your foot touches the ground at the heel and then progressively rolls forward then the load of impacting the ground is absorbed along the length of the foot

The faster the foot is travelling back behind you the more you can deflect this force into forward propulsion. If you are able to do this very quickly then a lot of the impact is avoided and thus it is less necessary to use the whole length of the foot- contrast slow walk downhill to a fast run uphill. the faster or more uphill you run the less you naturally impact on the rear of the foot

Where the real confusion lies?

People study good runners, very good runners running “fast” with minimal ground impact and note that the rear of the foot does not touch the ground much. They then conclude that to run fast you must run on the forefoot. This has about as much logic as putting the tires off a ferrari onto a dump truck in the hope it will move faster

Ground Contact/Dwelling Time

The longer your foot spends on the ground the more breaking effect it is likely to cause- its simple friction right?. When we see people diagnosed as running on the heels too much that is often just a symptom of lacking enough drive off the ground and leg speed in general. There is nothing wrong with how their feet go onto the ground-its just they dont get off the back of the foot nearly quick enough and roll onto the front-ready to push into the next stride. Learning not brace with the legs and brushing over the ground will help much more than trying to deliberately run more toe centric style (which is not going to help at all -you are just going to impact the ground with less surface area) Whilst some shoes may encourage a cantilever from front to back they cant teach you the right action up in the legs and core that drive this fore aft movement. So forget what part of the foot is right. Use the whole bloody thing and get the technique right

What does the foot do side to side…..basically ?

Again the industry has everyone believing they have a pronation problem or a supination problem or tracking problem or canting  problem etc etc. Whole walls of “control”,  ”stability”, “neutral” and “cushioning” shoes confuse the hell out of people.

Its a complex piece of gear no doubt but basic your foot is designed to land on its outside edge (ie from a slightly supinated position) and then roll in progressively spreading the shocking through the bones and tendons in the feet (pronation). As it does this your arch will compress to further reduce the shock

• Supination- is not a bad thing
• Pronation -is not a bad thing
• Arch compression- is not a bad thing

So why when people buy shoes do the kids in AF get all hung up on “curing” people of these ills. I’ll go out on a limb and say 80% of people in “stability” shoes dont really need them. In fact they are probably making the muscles in their feet weaker.

Excessive pronation or supination can be bad no doubt. So a little help from a shoe can be of benefit. But you must also address whats going on mechanically. Eg If you have no abductor strength and your leg turns in too much due to your feet might flick out to the side and hit the ground on a silly angle. Changing shoes might take the pain away for a while but you’ll probably risk injury all the time.

So remember its good for the foot to roll from outside to inside. Its normal and it gives your maximum strength in driving off the strong stuff in your foot -the achilles tendon and the bigger toes and bigger bones over that side. Next time your run think about using the whole thing. Dont lock down your laces and freeze your foot inside a shoe- get the whole thing working.  (A word of caution- we arent fans of the whole free running on concrete brigade- yes running on grass can be great but doing 20k on roads in vibrams- well no foot was designed for that- see any concrete roads around in civilisations where man is best adapted for running?

Ideas about propulsion

There are a few common ideas about how various experts frame up propulsion.  One way is to look at forward motion of the legs via

-Pendulum (Swing)

This describes the effect of one leg swinging forward and primarilly being engage by the pelvic and hip area

-Cyclic (Cycle)

This describes the effect of the leg bending at the knee and ankle using the various leg muscles – as the knee bends and straightens the legs appear to move in a circular fashion. The more you bend your knee in forward motion the less effort is required to bring the upper leg forward (the lever length decreases)

-Plantar/Dorsifexion (Spring)

Most of your spring comes out of ankle flexion/extension primarily the achilles tendon which connects into the calve muscles.  Its a massive shock absorber too and the fastest way to make adjustments to fore/aft balance

You can experiment with pendulum/cyclic and springing actions in your running motion. There are various drills to seperate each.

The wrong blend

Many athletes pick up books and conclude that “springing off the ground vertically is bad” or “striding too long is bad” or “high knee lift is bad for distance running”

Its all about blend- as you run faster different blends of swing/cycle and spring are needed. There is no such thing as the right technique for all speeds. If you have a muscled upper body you will balance differently on the ground to a slightly built runner. If you have big legs you will run differently again. The key is to experiment with different amounts of swing,cycle and spring that afford you the greatest economy

You need to think about it while you run

Running is actually an act of dynamic balance. If you are not constantly adjusting in the ankles and feet then chances are you’ll have to correct some other way- eg excessive swinging(striding) or cycle (getting low to the ground with excessive knee bed). When you get the right mixture your foot should brush the ground and contact just under your hip- remember the longer your stride -generally the more the axis of your body needs to tip forward

Upper and Lower Body Are Connected

The focus of runners often tends to be the legs. The hip and torso are just as important. Firstly some of the most powerfull leg muscles connect through the pelvic region- which also transfers big forces through the spine.

Twisting/Counter Twisting

When you twist the upper body the lower body wants to follow

-A controlled amount of twisting in the torso helps counter react/balance the twisting forces as your foot rolls in and pushes off the ground

-Too much twisting will need a larger counter reaction- more twisting from the lower body than is necessary and balance problems

Arm/Hand Swinging

When you swing your arm hard  on one side of your body while running the opposite leg wants to follow it

The faster your legs move back the more they benefit from a fast swinging counter weight from a forward moving arm

Many athletes in an attempt to “control” their running or having read that “long distance runners dont use their upper body much” will avoid swinging their arms or stop their torso from twisting at all. All this does is remove a valuable source of propulsion and require an alternative (often weird looking) means of attaining balance

A similar number problems occur if you move your arms excessively

Again its about getting the blend right- and this changes with speed, body type, terrain and situation.

So next time you head out on a run think about:

-using the whole foot along its length

-using both sides of the foot

-using leg swing,cycle and spring

-using upper body twist and arm swing

Plenty of stuff to experiment with there – lot of good books around- I’m vastly oversimplifying but playing around with it is the idea at hand

When a large glassy set of swells roll into a point break surfers suddenly down tools, scramble to the beach and make the most of it when its around.

When sentiment towards a company improves they scramble to secure cheaper equity funds on the back of a rising share price

When the fish are around the trawler men stay out at sea for days pulling as many into the boat as they can. On the other days they mend nets or take some time out

So why is it that athletes tend to be so rigid in their behaviour?

Your energy levels are no different to the surf, business cycles or schools of fish.  They go up and down and not always predictably. By being inflexible in your approach the following things can occur

-You try to train hard on a day that you are low and end up even lower

-You do a short session on a day when you have buckets of energy and end up cruising through it- with minimal adaptions

-You end up sick

Most athletes have one or two high points a week. It’s seldom for more than two days in a row. Over the years we have found that some of the following ideas can make the most of those high points:

Guidlines for “high” days

a.Bookend same day sessions-the day you do hard windtrainer interval session your nervous system is “up”  Doing a short run interval session later straight after works very well because its still in the same window

b. Continuous/Combination sessions on same day eg hard swim followed by long ride followed by windtrainer

c. Back to Back Days eg Hard run before hard ride the next day or the traditional long ride sat/long ride sun thing

d. Extend key workout and/or increase intensity during last 40mins - eg pushing to fatique and past in the last 40mins of a 5hr ride

Usually 2 days after a hard session is when the soreness and recovery process begins- so by wedging a few of your key workouts together you make advantage of the “high”

We find that many athletes will have a strong point about Wed and then Sunday after they’ve had a day to wind down from work.  To make avail of this the key long run might be on Wed and the long ride on Sunday

Conversely if there is no energy there- why dig a hole- make the most of it -go walk or get a massage or adapt your workout

Swimming with a pool buoy the day after a hard ride can be the difference between a quality session and slow mindless rubbish- you might as well work your upper body if its fresh-this allows you to condition your upper body the right way

Moving your key long run a day or two later is an excellent idea if you feel there’s not enough energy to complete it properly.

This approach requires integrity and honesty with yourself- it means that on your “on” days you need to be genuine about going for it. If its a sunny day and you are feeling great why not add 30mins to the end of that run and push into a new level? You cant ultimately expect every session to start feeling brilliant. Just have the radar on for the true “lows”

So what about the other end of the spectrum- how do you approach those low days?

Ideas for “low” days

a. splitting workouts- eg 20min run in am at very slow pace to wake up the nervous system, harder 40 min later when it kicks in

b. short/frequent workouts- we often find those starting back or in the IM blues stage are better doing regular short sessions in lieu of fewer long sessions. this helps provide regular endorphins but allows extended rest by avoiding the duration workouts. On flat days often just doing a 20min swim/30min ride/20 min run will help you relax and loosen up without sitting around all day feeling lousy

c. modifying/aborting workouts- there are days when its genuinely a good idea to turn a run into a walk or cut that 100km ride shorter. If you are smart you’ll tune into the signs. For example if you can feel an injury flaring up or you cant get your heart rate up because you are overtired- then think about quitting while you are ahead.

d. do something else- shock horror……..there are other things to do but train? get your tax return done so when you want to go for that 8hr ride next month you arent sitting inside doing tax on a sunny day. Get that broken stuff at home fixed. All of that stuff provides the organisation to be a better athlete. Its actually time invested in your future training

On aborting workouts

There tend to be two extremes here- those who are terrified of ever missing a day and those that look for any reason. Most serious athletes tend to fall into the first group. The key here to recognise that days off or rest are a form of training. (on the proviso that you actually get the work done up to that point)

As experience grows many athletes get better at recognising those truly low days and are able to abort them guilt free without trying to do makeup sessions.  Some of the best athletes we have ever trained with are hopeless at it. As a result they often end up with poor race results and suffer big lows and highs. It takes self confidence to be resting when others are out training.

There will also be some people who read these posts who genuinely live in denial. They call themselves athletes and have a cupboard full of M Dot gear. However they are always needing rest, and not “feeling right” missing sessions or overdoing others so much they cant train for 4 days. For this group we would say that as long as you are getting benefit out of a session you shouldnt be aborting it. Training is uncomfortable and leaves you feeling flat- especially the last 10% of a workout. Thats the idea of it. So dont be the guy who always dogs the last 10%. Keep fishing when its raining- when you see a waterspout pack up.

Breaking the boundaries on those high days

If you ever worry about not training enough then you can always go harder on the “on” days or in races. The same people who tend to never miss a session quite often never break the boundaries either. They continuously complete workouts that they can already do rain hail or shine, tired or rested.

Personally I would rather attempt something in training I CANT do than something that I CAN already do. Isn’t that the idea? When you get those “high” days- go somewhere into the unknown when you scare yourself. Racing is the perfect time for this- which is why I mostly cover my PM or run watch in racing. I want the data but I dont want it to set the limits

Over reaching v Overtraining

for simplicity lets say training breaks us down in 3 ways:

a. in a way that we recover from quickly (days)
b. in a way that can take a reasonable time to recover (many days or a couple weeks)-overreached
c. in a way that takes a long time to recover (many weeks or months)- overtrained

type c. is counterproductive as it stops training stimulus from being effective

now there is a whole lot of mumbo jumbo on sub classifications of this which I dont think are usefull outside a SS lab

it is normal after a heavy training block to cycle downwards while the body repairs
if this continues on for months you have defenitely overdone it
over time you get better at monitoring training loads and the tell tale signs that a big hole is coming

the common mistakes are to back way too late (overtain) and hit a huge hole -this is the rarity amongst AG
OR to hit a small hole and then overcorrect- which then reduces the training stimulus/slows adaption periodically

in simple terms if the pattern continues downward for several weeks its time to back off
but dont use every time you feel flat for a few days as an excuse

The traps of training to a “schedule”

Training to a 7 day schedule or 3-4 weeks cycle where every session is a prescription or a linear progression is the opposite of this approach. Its seductive to the western brain, looks great in spreadsheets and sells well. Its also very dangerous when an athlete has no regard for their energy level.  Its also wasting time….why?

This game is all about adaption right? Due something you cant do until you adapt and get the hang of it. Adaption rates vary widely depending on the skill, the genetics, the season, rest levels etc

Lets say we give an athlete a “Build” period and we watch the pace of their long run climb for a given heart rate. After 4 weeks they still feel fresh and are still adapting. Then why would we go and schedule a recovery week just because it looks orderly? Keep the adaption going right?

Conversly if this same person was doing a speed block and started to feel a bit low after 2 weeks and having a hard time recovering properly we might schedule an easier week before going again.

The common denominator is tuning into the highs and lows- when the fish are biting keep fishing- when they are absent go in and spend time mending the nets. Unless you tune into the lows and highs- and do something constructive with them- you are going to improve much slower than those who train like robots

The old dichotomies between control and creativity, between linear and lateral progression, between structured and uncontrolled are relevant to the topic

If you are all about control, linear progression and structure then its difficult to accomodate the lows and highs of energy levels- no different to some people cant handle relationships that are anything other than routine and predicatable

For this reason there are some good athletes who train with very little program in advance- scheduling their workouts purely by feel with a big picture objective across the period eg 3×2.5hr runs @x pace during the month

This is at the other end of the spectrum and some coaches work successfully like this with disciplined athletes – ie provide the key sessions but its up to the athlete to complete them based on how they feel

If you cant be trusted or cant tune into those signals of low and high Im afraid you are better off in the regular army and marching when they tell you.

The post race or post season blues

We speak to many athletes that experience an extended “low” after a big race or during the off season. (eg the old saying “The IM blues”). The most overused word on TV is “depressed”. Likewise the most overused word with amateur athletes is “overtrained”. Very few amateur athletes overtrain in the truest sense of the word. Many get injured or are very inconsisent as a result of overreaching too much in a few sessions.

Seldom its a terminal problem if you embrace the idea that “lows” are not a bad thing. It is quite normal to feel a bit mellow and not want to push yourself for a few weeks after IM. The worst thing you can do is to fight it and try and get back “up” straight away. We see this time after time- people who need to mellow out but want to get back to the next high. As a result they stay flat for an extended time and cant make the most of the next “high” in their energy levels. Plan some other projects, see some friends, clean up your house, go surfing, enjoy feeling a bit “melancholic” and read a book. After you’ve done that get ready to go really hard again not half arsed. Chances are you’ll avoid a low that goes for months

Tune into your highs and lows and you’ll have a much happier and successfull day out there. You’ll also avoid those extended “blues” and lows that span multiple months.

Happy surfing

We have included here some useful references for starting your training with a power meter (stuff we get asked all the time). All of these are exerpts from “Training and Racing With A Power Meter , Hunter/Allen 2nd Ed”

1. Working out what your functional threshold power- here is a simple way of testing

http://www.3jc.com.au/FTPTest.jpg

2. Benchmarks for Power output in w/kg- ie what to aim for

http://www.3jc.com.au/Powerguidelines.jpg

3. Visual Explanation of “Sweet Spot”- why FTP training is efficient time wise/adapation process et

http://www.3jc.com.au/sweet spot.jpg

4. Power Profiles- Typical % of FTP a Triathlete can expect to sustain at various distances

http://www.3jc.com.au/PowerProfiles.jpg