It's all about the bike!

It's all about the bike may sound like a cliche, or a well known book. But when it comes to triathlon, and more importantly, middle (70.3) and full (140.6) distance races it's far, far more than just a cliche. 

For illustration purposes only

When I'm planning and writing session plans, especially those for longer distance races, the main focus is on the bike, with AT LEAST 50% of the overall session plan being dedicated to the bike. The main reason for this is so that you will not only give yourself the best possible chance of completing the bike leg in a time that you're happy with, but also so that you can get off the bike in T2 and exit onto the run with your legs in the best possible condition. Obviously, this takes some self discipline in how well / efficiently you pace the bike, ie. if you "smash" the bike leg and demolish your pb I can almost guarantee that you'll pay for it on the run. If you put too much into the bike and save yourself as much as 20 - 30 minutes, it'll probably cost you an hour or so on the run (in an Iron distance race). so pacing is of absolute paramount importance. I was at a seminar last year and the coach delivering it made the point that you can be a sub 3 hr marathon runner, but if your legs are shot when you get off the bike, it'll count for absolutely nothing. 

Going back to the original statement of "it's all about the bike", there's a common misconception among novice athletes that if they're only competing in sprint or standard distance races they don't need to put the big miles in, as is the case for Ironman athletes. However, even if you're "only" racing sprint distances, you still need to be putting the miles in. In it's very basic form, triathlon is an aerobic endurance sport and even the sprint distance races will take around an hour for an experienced athlete and possibly twice that long for novice triathletes, so the main focus of your training should still be on building aerobic endurance, because the better and more efficient your aerobic endurance, the more efficient you should be. Endurance can only be developed by putting the long, easy miles in and then "bolting" the speed on top of that. In much the same way that we structure the run sessions, if you push too hard on the bike in training. your muscle cells, ie the mitochondria, won't develop and become more prevalent within the muscles, so although you might feel like you've buried yourself on a long ride, you've actually done very little in terms of building your aerobic endurance, so you can see why it's important to not only put the miles in, but to train correctly too. Personally I tend to race standard distance most of the time, but my weekend rides are still generally around 60 miles and then I'll use the midweek club rides to develop my speed. 

The jump from sprint / standard distance to Ironman.

In the past few years I've noticed a huge growth in the popularity of Ironman and iron distance races, with many athletes making the jump from absolute novice or sprint distance up to full iron distance within a year or so. This is great and I've always maintained that if an athlete follows any properly written, structured and progressive session plan, they'll succeed in completing the distance. That said, for some athletes, there's a danger that if they don't train properly they'll always be chasing their finish time, instead of racing the event with absolute confidence, if that makes sense? These tend to be novices who train alone or don't follow a set training plan, so it's absolutely vital that more emphasis is placed on the bike training than the other disciplines, in general. Even more so when competing in Iron distance races. Yes, there'll be cases where someone is a competent cyclist and runner, but a weaker swimmer, in which case you'd still place a large emphasis on the bike, but you'd also focus on their swim, or whichever discipline was a significant weakness. I mean, what's the point of being a great cyclist and runner, if you can't make it past the swim cut off? So each case / triathlete is taken on merit. 

It's all good and well having the best speedsuit, a fancy pointy helmet and a sleek TT bike, but if you haven't put the work in during training, you'll not get the most out of yourself or your kit. Most of us are "hobby" triathletes and we have varying degrees of motivation, drive and ambition, with some athletes having ambitions to push for age group places and others getting great satisfaction from racing with club mates etc, but at the end of the day, one thing that we all need to be doing is following a structured and progressive training plan. 

The thing with a lot of novice athletes though, is that they probably aren't used to sitting on a bike for 7+ hours, so regarding their bike training, the emphasis needs to be on aerobic endurance, which will mean putting the long hours in on the bike, often at what feels like an easy pace, as well as a fair share of speed and strength sessions. There's no set way to train for this, ie, some people say that winter is all about building endurance and summer is about adding the speed. But a friend of mine, who is a multiple Kona qualifier and age group winner, does most of his speed work throughout the winter and then adds the endurance element during the summer. It's horses for courses though and it depends on what works best for you, although it's generally easier to build endurance rather than it is to develop speed. Regarding the way that training is structured and following the 80/20 "rule", an analogy that I often use for endurance training is that if you think of the body as a diesel engine, which you can tune up to become highly efficient and deliver a lot of power etc, the more low intensity endurance training you do, but isn't particularly fast. Then, when you add in the really tough, short, speed and strength sessions, which is like bolting a big turbocharger on to the diesel engine and you've suddenly got this highly efficient engine, but it's also capable of delivering great speed too.

Don't get hung up on power.

For illustrative purposes only

While more experienced athletes will possibly have a power meter on their bike, which, if used correctly, will allow them to gauge their efforts much more accurately and efficiently, it's important not to get too hung up on the numbers. You could have the scenario where one athlete is capable of producing many more watts than another one, but because of the type of training that they've done, they may not be able to hold it for very long. This may work well on a sprint distance triathlon, but on an Ironman, they may find that they're struggling in the latter stages of the bike. So while it can be beneficial to use a power meter, the most important thing is to get your training structure right first and develop the aerobic endurance. 

Although this post started off more about 140.6 distance races, competing in and racing in sprint and olympic distance races is a totally different race strategy to that of an Ironman. If you're using a power meter your power outputs for sprint or olympic distance should be around  80% - 90% of FTP and 70% - 80% of FTP, respectively. Whereas, during an Ironman, you should be throttling right back to around 60% - 65% of FTP, which may sound easy, but maintaining that sort of consistent power output for 112 miles requires not only a lot of restraint, but also a huge amount of aerobic endurance. 

In Summary

• Dedicate at least 50% of your overall session plan to the bike.
• Train smart - structure your training so that approx 80% of the sessions are very low intensity, maximal aerobic function sessions and 20% are very high intensity.
• Get the miles in - no matter what distance you're racing, get the miles in and build your aerobic endurance "engine".
• Don't get hung up on numbers too much. Strava KOM's are all good and well, but think about the session objective that you're doing.
• Be patient - there is NO shortcut or magic wand. It takes time, patience, dedication and discipline to develop as an athlete. 
• Most importantly, enjoy it. Although it hurts during races and we might wonder why we do this, the rewards are immense.

If you'd like to speak more about your goals and ambitions and how I can help you on your triathlon journey, click on the link below which will take you to my coaching Facebook page, where I can be contacted through

Certa Cito Tri Coaching

Post race recovery

Allowing time for the body to recover

"So, as the muscle pain subsides in my quads and calfs, I've still got some soreness in my ankles and knees. However, I'd already decided that I was going to take at least a few weeks off, post Lakeland 50.

That said, I still often see posts on various Facebook pages and groups from people who are doing a "recovery run"".

Can you answer me a question? What exactly is a recovery run? If you've done a big race and have got any muscle soreness or stiffness and you haven't allowed your body time to start healing, how can doing an activity that is only adding to that trauma and fatigue make it a beneficial recovery?

If you want to do something that makes you feel as though you're doing something beneficial, try a little gentle swim, or a very short and easy FLAT bike ride, maybe even a walk. But don't do something that's going to delay the healing process. Make sure you eat healthy with plenty of lean protein to help with the muscle healing, healthy fats and carbs to replenish energy levels and glycogen stores and drink plenty of water.

Recovery takes time and can take weeks, and in some cases even months. Just because you're feeling better and your muscles might have stopped aching within a week of a big race, it takes a lot longer than that for the body to recover properly. There are 11 systems in the body and all of them have a direct connection with how we live our lives and do exercise:

1. Circulatory system:
   • Circulates blood around the body via the heart, arteries and veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells and carrying their waste products away.
   • Equalizes temperature in the body
2. Digestive system:
   • Mechanical and chemical processes that provide nutrients via the mouth, esophagus, stomach and intestines.
   • Eliminates waste from the body.
3. Endocrine system:
   • Provides chemical communications within the body using hormones.
4. Integumentary system/ Exocrine system:
   • Skin, hair, nails, sweat and other exocrine glands.
5. Lymphatic system / Immune system:
   • The system comprising a network of lymphatic vessels that carry a clear fluid called lymph.
   • Defends the body against pathogenic viruses that may endanger the body .
6. Muscular system:
   • Enables the body to move using muscles.
7. Nervous system:
   • Collects and processes information from the senses via nerves and the brain and tells the muscles to contract to cause physical actions.
8. Renal system / Urinary system/ Excretory system:
   • The system where the kidneys filter blood.
9. Reproductive system:
   • The sex organs required for the production of offspring.
10. Respiratory system:
    • The lungs and the trachea that bring air into and out of the body.
11. Skeletal system:
• Bones supporting the body and its organs.

Many of these systems take an absolute hammering when you do a long endurance event and some of them will naturally heal quicker than others. However others can take a long time to heal or recover. You're far more susceptible to illness following a long event, for example, because your immune system is massively depleted. 

Similarly, the digestive system will also be affected. This explains why you can feel sick during a long event. Or why, when you've finished such a long race you've got very little appetite. All the systems will be affected in some way or another and ignoring the effects that endurance races / training has on your body will almost certainly lead to either a prolonged period before you recover properly, or in worse cases, you can lose months and months of training before you start to pick up again. 

I've read articles and interviews with athletes, some of them elite level too, who have lost almost a full season of racing because they aren't allowing their bodies to recover properly. I know there's the "old school" athlete who just tries to keep pushing through it, but eventually you'll plateau and then you'll notice that you start to drop off with your timings and results as you try and push your body harder to overcome what you're perceiving as a loss of fitness.

After a long event, take a minimum of a week to 10 days off and do absolutely nothing. Allow things to settle down a bit. Then start introducing some light sessions, maybe a brisk walk or a very short jog. There's a common misconception that if you're not training, you're losing fitness. It takes around 2 weeks for any fitness levels to start to drop and if you're an experienced athlete they'll only drop off very slowly. Therefore, if you spend a minimum of 3 or 4 weeks recovering properly after a long event, any drop off in fitness will be negligible. 

Following this, start easing your way back in to training and build gradually. You might even surprise yourself as you surpass your previous levels of fitness due to the enforced rest and recovery period. 

If you'd like to speak more about your goals and ambitions and how I can help you on your triathlon journey, click on the link below which will take you to my coaching Facebook page, where I can be contacted through

Certa Cito Tri Coaching

Train Smart

Sutty

Lakeland 50 Ultra Trail Marathon - race report

Lakeland 50 2018

Pre race

After a fairly short and restless nights sleep on the Friday night, which wasn't unexpected due to the amount of people on the camp site and the general buzz of anticipation, as to what awaited us on Saturday morning. I was up early and pottering around the campsite, with virtually no one else about, having the choice of all the thunderboxes and I actually found one with loo roll in, which saved me from a panic and wasting a pair of socks. From the near 30 degree heat that we'd had on Friday as we cheered the Lakeland 100 competitors off, it was a pretty chilly morning with some torrential rain showers and heavy skies. Which to be honest was a bit of a relief for most of us fair skinned competitors. I was surprisingly relaxed and felt no nerves at all, which was really out of character for me, so I just enjoyed the build up and getting my kit on and as others started emerging from their tents and motorhomes the atmosphere started to grow too. I'd had a sausage and egg barm from the caterers on site and was looking forward to getting on with the day. Other Invictus team members started arriving and we were soon all together and going into the briefing, which had the usual humour from Marc Laithwaite. Then it was time to get on the coaches and head to Dalemain for the start.

Dalemain start

At Dalemain it was already busy with loads of supporters there already, as well as the competitors in the Lakeland 50 getting themselves sorted, there were also cheers and applause every time one of the Lakeland 100 competitors came through Dalemain, which was the halfway point on their race, those guys are something else completely. It was really good to see Clare, Gemma and Dave who had driven up from Wigan to support us, so it was quick hugs all round, last words of encouragement and then being herded into the starting pen, ready for the start of the Lakeland 50.

Dalemain to Howtown 17.8km

I still hadn't been feeling nervous, but I knew that it was going to be a tough day. I'd not been able to run properly for 5 weeks leading up to the race, due to injuries to my hip, thigh and glute and the arthritis in my knee had flared up a bit, but this wasn't going to stop me enjoying myself. The plan was to stick with Jack until Howtown, then I'd probably fall behind and settle into my own rhythm. So off we set, to the sound of ACDC, Thunderstruck ringing out from the p.a. system. What I hadn't banked on though was how warm it was when the clouds cleared and the sun came out and within 5 mins I was boiling hot and had to take my jacket off, this was the last time I was to see Jack. I set off again and just gradually settled into my own pace. Chatting to the odd other runner, having a laugh with some and generally just plodding along. It always takes me a good few miles to get into my rhythm, so I knew that I just had to relax and wait for that to happen. As we came through Pooley Bridge the atmosphere was great, with loads of people shouting and cheering and with the tourists thinking "what are these lunatics up to"? After an hour or so my back had started to hurt, which was slightly sooner than expected (it's usually about 2 hours), so I decided to take my first painkillers. I was carrying enough drugs to fell a baby elephant, so knew I'd be ok if I took them at the prescribed intervals throughout the day. So down with the first 2 codeine, pressed lap on my watch so that I knew when I'd taken them and I couldn't have any more pain relief for another 3 hours and just crack on. By the time I got to Howtown we'd had a couple of heavy showers and although the niggles in my legs were sore, I was happy with how I was going. Straight into CP1, quick dib of the dibber on my wrist, to check in at the CP, then I picked up a handful of jelly babies and biscuits and popped them into a plastic sandwich bag and off out again, ready to take on Fusedale.

CP1 Howtown

Howtown to Mardale 15.2km

Feeling fresh and energised by the little stop at Howtown I set off up Fusedale. I'd read comments earlier in the week that Fusedale is often referred to as "the cauldron" because it's so notoriously hot and humid in summer, but there was to be non of that today. I'd got chatting to a lad about stuff in general and we stuck together for a mile or so, until the climb started. It was about this time that the hail started too, so I just put my head down, pulled my hood up and kept plodding away. It soon became clear that many of the competitors were really struggling with this weather and were having some proper sense of humour failures (they obviously weren't northerners 😉), the pace got slower and slower until eventually I just stepped off the footpath and started passing them. The higher up we went the worse the conditions got, some people were literally being blown over by the gales and the hail stones were getting bigger and coming at us horizontally, it was that windy. Some competitors were even just stopping and sitting down. This just seemed to fuel my energy levels and I was overtaking loads of competitors, all the time I just smiled to myself, remembering that if you smile you can't feel fed up at the same time. As we got over the top of Fusedale and left onto High Cop the hail had stopped, but it was still windy and blowing a gale, so I thought it'd be nice to have a little trot with a tailwind. As I started to run though, the pain in my knee and hip suddenly went through the roof, I literally couldn't run at all. So I just had to make my way down to Low Cop and then down to Haweswater as best as I could, stopping regularly and keeping my mind occupied by taking water, salt tablets, jelly babies etc. Everyone who I'd overtaken going up Fusedale had now repassed me and I was feeling frustrated and a bit down. Fitness wise, I felt great, but the pain just wouldn't allow me to do anything more than walk downhill. As we got onto the footpath that runs parallel to Haweswater I managed a few little runs where the footpath was flatter and it was a relief to get some better pace going again. I'd stopped at a stream and refilled my bottle and the ice cold water tasted absolutely amazing, so I was using little things like that as a way of staying "happy" and focused. The weather was still changeable, going from pleasant sunshine to torrential downpours with virtually no warning at all. So it was a case of constantly jacket on, jacket off, jacket on, jacket off. At one point at the top end of Haweswater, at Mardale, there was a huge black cloud and a massive bolt of lightning and that's exactly where I was headed but I just focused on getting to CP2 at Mardale where I could regroup. Thankfully, by the time I got to the Checkpoint the cloud had passed and I could take on board fuel. I had what felt like a litre of Coca Cola and half a loaf of ham and cheese sandwiches, before setting off again.

CP2 Mardale

Mardale to Kentmere 10.4km

Not long after leaving Mardale we were treated to more of the Lake District's finest summer weather, with more driving rain, hail and gales. This time, directly into our faces. Ascending Gatesgarth Pass it was just a case of head down, grin and bear it, using my poles for balance as well as helping to push me up the incline. I'd done this part of the course a couple of weeks earlier, with Jack and Ste, as a recce and it was tough then, in nice weather, but today it was just brutal. I just concentrated on not looking up the mountain and just kept putting one foot in front of the other and the top would arrive sooner or later. Cresting the summit and we were going straight into the teeth of the gale, the driving rain sapping any body heat and I'd started getting colder and colder because I wasn't going fast enough to generate heat. Halfway down and I was shivering uncontrollably and getting a bit worried because I knew I had to warm up somehow, and fast. I was starting to let my head go down and I had a thought that "if I can get to Ambleside, I can drop out there", I quickly told myself to shut up, get a grip and keep moving. So I put my waterproof pants on and carried on shuffling down the steep descent, which was as much as the pain would allow. As I got nearer the bottom of the descent the footpath levelled off a little bit, so I was able to increase my pace to a slow trot. This felt amazing, not only because of the body heat it generated, but also because it felt so good to get some proper movement back in my legs. I caught up with a bloke who was just ahead and he'd been crying, so I asked if he was ok and he told me how cold he was and that he couldn't feel his hands, so we stayed together for a while and we both carried on towards the bottom. As we dropped lower, he seemed to pick up a bit and the feeling came back to his hands, so I set off again at a slow, painful trot. This was a key stage for me because I knew that by the time I reached Kentmere I was over half way, but as I went through the couple of fields before the Kentmere CP I looked at my watch and knew that any hope of a 15 hour race was a rapidly fading possibility, so then my focus shifted towards just finishing it. I was sore, cold, soaking wet, tired and hungry, so the next CP couldn't get here soon enough. The marshalls at the Kentmere CP were amazing, not just for being dressed in grass skirts and having a "beach party" but also by taking my bottles off me and filling them up with Coke, or blackcurrant juice, making sure I had enough to eat and drink and then I was off out again. I'd decided before the start of the race that I was going to spend as little time in each CP as possible, so I was still trying to maintain getting in there, quick refuel and fill up, sort myself out and get going again.

CP3 Kentmere

Kentmere to Ambleside 11.8km

Leaving Kentmere I was still struggling with the pain, the painkillers didn't feel like the were still having a great effect and my back was aching even on flatter sections (it only usually hurts going up hill), but I knew that every single step I took, it was a step closer to the finish line, albeit 23 miles away. I'd had my third lot of painkillers by now and I tagged on to a couple of competitors from Manchester, so we spent a few minutes chatting about random stuff, until we got to the climb up Garburn Pass and they started to fall behind. I was feeling ok ish, so I just ploughed on, knowing that when I got to the top of here it was comparatively flat all the way to Ambleside, with just a few hills in between. I then caught up with another group and we stuck together most of the way to Ambleside. One of them asked me how I was feeling and I remember saying to him "I wish my body felt as fresh as my mind", I was content with how I was doing, knowing that I was strong enough to finish. Passing through Troutbeck was a surreal moment because there were 4 ladies wearing massive duck costumes at a road junction. Either that or these painkillers had just produced an awesome side effect. Dropping down to Ambleside the group I was with pushed ahead and I was alone again, until I caught up with a bloke who was by himself too. So we stuck together 'til Ambleside. He told me he wanted to start triathlon and had heard about the sport. He didn't know I was so heavily involved in the sport and I think he soon came to regret mentioning it when he couldn't shut me up talking about it. Coming up the road into Ambleside and we started jogging and it was a great feeling when I saw a friendly face in Gemma, who told me that she had a message from Ruth and Hannah and that they loved me. I think I managed to disguise my bottom lip going at this point. Luckily normality was resumed soon after when Clare told me that my mate Phil had posted to say "get a move on" or words to that effect 😃. Coming into Ambleside CP and it was great, partly because it was nice to see some proper civilisation for the first time in what felt like ages and I spent a while (far too long) talking to Clare, Gemma and Mike, before setting off again. 

CP4 Ambleside

Ambleside to Chapel Stile 9km

Leaving Ambleside and feeling ok I was almost looking forward to the next section. It was a nice flat few miles to Chapel Stile, with only a small hill in it. However, within 5 minutes of leaving Ambleside I remembered that I'd wanted to take my waterproof trousers and jacket off and put my headphones on, ready for some tunes if the going got tough in the dark. So there I am, stood in the pitch black, trying to strip off and get my headphones out, without knocking my headtorch off and with not enough strength to balance properly, I must have looked ridiculous. Wardrobe change completed and off I go again, before getting to a cross roads only to have complete brain fade. I was stood there looking at the Lakeland 50 road book guide that we all had, cross referencing it with my GPS map and I still couldn't work out which way to go. Maybe I wasn't as mentally fresh as I thought! Until someone coming up behind me shouted "go left". So off I went again. I knew that at the top of this road we went onto Loughrigg Fell and then it was on to Skelwith Bridge. After Skelwith we followed the river to Elterwater and I was hoping to trot again along here because it was so flat, but with the state of my legs, feet and back, there was no chance of that, so I just walked but used my poles and tried to set a good pace walking. I was actually catching a few people up and passing them, even though I was walking, so that did wonders for my morale. During this section I'd developed hiccups and they lasted for what seemed like hours. I was behind someone and had been hiccuping for ages and I'm sure he actually tutted, the cheeky sod. I'm pretty sure they were getting on my nerves more than his! Coming into Chapel Stile and I nearly took a couple of wrong turns and had to be corrected by another competitor a few times, before finally arriving at Chapel Stile Checkpoint and the most amazing chocolate cake. Again having my bottles taken off me to be filled with Coke, but my request for them to add a shot of Jack Daniels fell on deaf ears. I'd been feeling sick every time I'd tried to eat anything but jelly babies since the Kentmere CP, so when I tried the chocolate cake and didn't have any side effects it felt great.

CP5 Chapel Stile

Chapel Stile to Wrynose 10.6km

From leaving Chapel Stile I knew I only had about 10 miles to go and although my body was screaming at me to stop and let it rest, but there was absolutely no way I was going to pack in so close to the finish, I could almost touch it, it felt that close. Just after leaving Chapel Stile and it started chucking it down again, so it was back on with the jacket. A couple of miles later and my headtorch started flashing, letting me know that the batteries were starting to run out. So I decided to change them, holding my phone in my mouth, with the light on, while I fumbled about in pouring rain trying to swap the batteries, before cracking on to the last checkpoint. During the next few miles groups started to form as competitors caught up with those in front who were starting to suffer now and this wasn't helped when we came to the first of two ladder stiles. All I could think was that Marc Laithwaite must be a very sadistic man, to put two 10ft tall ladder stiles in the course, at about 43 miles 😂. After these it was up another hill and following the footpath to the small forest, before the unmanned Wrynose CP. At one point, near the top of the hill, I looked behind me back down the hill and it looked absolutely awesome to see a really long line of torch beams all the way down the hill. After the forest it was just a case of traversing a hill and fighting our way through another sea of ferns and across some rocky ground, before emerging onto what's normally boggy ground, but was much drier because of the recent weather and a short walk towards the CP, which was the penultimate one. 

CP6 Wrynose Pass

Wrynose to Tilberthwaite

This was the penultimate leg of the race and I knew we didn't have all that far to go. By this point though any small hill felt like a mountain and each step going down hill felt like I was being struck by lightning, with shooting pains in my feet, ankles, knees and hip. Not to mention the constant ache in my back and shoulders. I was holding my poles behind me and lifting the weight of my pack up, to relieve the pressure on my shoulders and that seemed to help quite a bit. Coming to the bottom of Wrynose Pass and we turned off the road and up another hill. I knew that we weren't far from the finish now and I kept smiling to myself as I recalled some of the laughs that we'd had on the recce's that we'd done as a group. It was along this stretch that Mick put some dried grass on Jack's shoulder, only for Jack to chase him and try to throw him in a bush, with Mick squealing like a schoolgirl 😂, I don't think I'll ever forget memories like that and it was recalling those that made this section seem easier than it possibly was. I don't recall much else from this bit, apart from one bloke asking me how far to the CP and I said about 2 miles. I thought he was going to either start crying or punch me, such was his shock. I was obviously more tired than I thought, because it turned out to be just round the corner, oops. Shuffling into the final CP and I felt wrecked. I'd been on the course for over 16 hours and hadn't sat down since 1100 on Saturday morning, so I just asked if I could sit in one of their chairs. I knew this may be a mistake, but I just had to take the weight off my feet and knees. Luckily, after a few minutes I climbed out of the chair, actually in all honesty, one of the marshalls lifted me out. I grabbed some more jelly babies and was ready for the final 4 miles. I asked where the box was that we put our £1 toll fee for the Tilberthwaite steps, which was actually a charity donation to someone's young son, called Jacob, who is suffering from cancer, so just for one night the steps had been renamed Jacobs ladder. 

CP7 Tilberthwaite

Tilberthwaite to Coniston (finish) 5.7km

Leaving Tilberthwaite I decided I'd put my headphones on, so searched for a suitable playlist, turned it up loud and hit the steps with all the ferocity and speed of a baby garden snail. I'd got Metallica - Blitzkrieg blaring out and all I could do was wince as I tried to lift a leg up a step at a time, before using my poles to push my body up and repeat all the way up. Luckily there are only about 25 or so steps and they were all lit up with green Cyalume sticks (so looked amazing from the bottom), but it felt like each step was 5ft tall and they were never ending. After conquering the steps I just used my poles to push me up the hill before I came to an old ruin. There was a low wall that was about 2 ft high and it was just too inviting to walk past without sitting down for a few minutes and have a little rest. I ate nearly all my remaining jelly babies, drank all my coke and set off again. Getting to the rocky scrambling section and standing at the bottom of it, looking up and thinking "how the hell am I going to get up there"? I just inched my way up it, taking it slow (very) and steady, eventually emerging onto the grassy footpath again. From here I knew I just had about 1.5 miles to the top before it was all downhill to the finish. As I got further up it started raining heavier and heavier, I'd got Slayer - Raining Blood playing now and the thrash metal just kept me going through the final bit. The rain started to ease slightly but I started to get really worried because my vision had started to blur, the higher I went the more blurred it got, so I was thinking all sorts of things about what was wrong with me. I was wiping my eyes to see if that helped, but it didn't. Then it dawned on me, I was walking into a bank of cloud and it was actually fog that was reflecting the beam of my head torch. The mind can play some funny tricks when it's tired. Panic over and it was up to the summit and down the other side. Descending was the usual pain with every footstep, but I was soon on the tarmac road that led into Coniston. At the T Junction I was met by Angie from McLovin' bikes who gave me some praise and told me Mark was up the road, so after getting up to him and telling him that he was a liar for telling me I'd love the event, I was off to the finish line, crossing with a time of 17 hrs 35 mins and 30 secs. After a quick finish line selfie I was taken into the marquee and met by a roar of cheers and cowbells (I still hate those bloody cow bells), before burying my face in my hands and blubbing like a baby, before sorting myself out and getting my medal and finisher photo. I was in absolute bits, physically, but I was buzzing from being able to get through the day and being able to dig deep when I needed to.

Finish Coniston

In conclusion

From last September, when I was lying in a hospital bed, feeling completely broken and in a world of pain, I've never looked back and thought "if only". I've only ever tried to look forward and remain positive. Yes, there have been many days of pain and many days where I just couldn't face putting my trainers on and getting out running again. But I've only ever tried to lead by example and remain positive for as much as I could. On some of the training runs that I've done, when I've been in absolute agony, bent double in pain and the people I've been training with have encouraged me to carry on and that I'm doing ok, when family have showed unwavering support, from literally lifting me out of bed and drying me off after a shower in the early days after my crash, or by helping Ruth out by giving her lifts to the hospital or to come and visit me themselves, or by just being subtle in their support, things like that have kept me going. Without the support of friends, clubmates and incredible family, I'm not sure I'd have got this far in such a short space of time. For all that, I'm incredibly indebted.

All the way through the Lakeland 50, I tried to remain as positive and mentally strong as I could. There were times when I could have let things get on top of me and stopping at the next checkpoint would have been the easy option, but I kept going. Drawing strength from recalling listening to people like Marc Laithwaite say that getting to the finish line should always, always be your goal and don't make any rash decisions that you will regret for a long time. When I said to those competitors that "I wish my body was as fresh as my mind", I meant it. I was so utterly focused on not giving up and knowing that the mind is by far the strongest weapon in any athletes armoury, because ultimately your mind will give up before your body will and I wasn't prepared to let this happen. On the Thursday before the race my dad gave me some advice (as dad's do) and he told me not to "over do it" and I could stop if it feels like it's too much. I told him that "that's just a state of mind". I didn't mean to sound arrogant or blase, just that I knew that I was mentally strong enough to finish this race and if I stayed strong mentally, my body wouldn't let me down.

The Lakeland 50 was the most brutal race that I've ever done, by a long way, to see grown men crying because of how they were feeling, to cope with not only an extremely tough course, but the weather conditions as well made it feel all the more like a great personal achievement. If you go into it with any sort of niggles and pains, it'll find them and amplify them tenfold. Similary, as you progress through the race you may find other parts start breaking down and will hinder your progress. But as long as you keep going forwards, putting one foot in front of the other, you can do it. These races are meant to be "enjoyable", but they're meant to really push you. Afterall, how do you know where your limits are, if you don't push yourself beyond them?

Heart rate zone training

What are heart rate zones?

Heart rate zones are a series of predetermined ranges of an athletes heart rate relating to a set intensity of exercise. The actual BPM of each zone will vary quite a lot from athlete to athlete, however the actual effort that each athlete is working at will be roughly the same. 

Depending on what literature you read, there can be anything from 5 to 8 hr zones, and other coaches even split the upper zones into "sub zones". When I'm producing zones for the athletes that I coach, I tend to group the 3 sub zones together that are sometimes used in zone 5, although this is mainly for simplicity and ease of use for the athlete.The zones that I use range from Zone 1, which is the easiest level of exercise, up to zone 5 which is Threshold and above. 

I've heard people say things like using zone 1 or 2 for fat burning, but in my opinion, this is the wrong way to look at it for endurance athletes. In it's very crudest form, we'll burn fat at all intensities of exercise and some studies suggest that we'll burn more fat at higher intensities. That said, it also depends on whether you've eaten and what it was, before exercising as this will relate to what fuel source your body will use first. In order to change the way that we think about zones, instead of thinking about their fat burning efficiency, think about what energy system being used in each zone is intended to work on. 

In zone 1 and zone 2 you're working at the bottom end of the aerobic zone and this is the area or intensity that approx 75% of your training should be done in, if you're an endurance athlete. No matter what distance of triathlon you're doing, it's an aerobic sport and so that's the energy system that you need to pay most attention to. When people talk about using zone 2 for fat burning, what's really meant is that if you're doing a long aerobic session on the bike, or a long zone 2 run, in order to maximise the way that your body will utilise fat as a fuel source is to start off in a fasted state, then you're "forcing" your body to utilise fat as a fuel source which is a highly efficient way to fuel yourself during a long race, even though you'll still need to maintain an intake of roughly 60g of carbohydrate per hour in order to keep glycogen stores topped up. On a sprint or standard distance triathlon you can get away with using gels, or similar, as a fuel source, but on a 70.3 or 140.6 distance race you need to pay extremely close attention to how you fuel for it. 

But I digress, back to zones. 

So, now we know that zones 1 and 2 are aerobic zones, this means that when you're training in these zones you're actively developing the efficiency at which your body synthesizes something called ATP. ATP or Adenosine Triphosphate stores and transports chemical energy and is what converts chemical energy into physical energy at a cellular level. Within the ATP are organelles called mitochondria and these are often referred to as the power house of the cells all of which can be developed and increased in number during zone 2 training. Therefore, when you're working in zone 2 you're developing your aerobic fitness at a cellular level, which will yield massive results the more you do and the longer you do it for. It's because of these factors and the way that we develop our aerobic fitness that triathletes and distance runners / cyclists and swimmers do as much as 80% of their training at zone 2. It takes months and months, but with correct structure, progression and recovery, the results speak for themselves.

Zone 3 is also an aerobic zone but it's what we often refer to as tempo and depending on which coaches you speak to, or what literature you read, this can be a bit of a grey zone because it's working at the very upper limits of the aerobic system, but it's not hard enough to push into the threshold and anaerobic systems. So it's not developing your aerobic fitness as well as the zone 1 or 2 stuff and it's not making you faster and stronger as the sessions done at threshold and above are. 

So then we start getting up to zones 4 and 5. Depending on the formula that you use to determine your heart rate zones, your threshold will be somewhere between mid zone 4 and the bottom of zone 5. In these zones you're working hard and although you're not developing your aerobic fitness as much, your speed will improve and your body will get more efficient at processing the lactic acid that you're producing. You'll also become efficient at utilising carbohydrates as a fuel source. As you push above your threshold your heart and lungs are working pretty much to their max and the lactic acid will build up in your blood to a level that you won't be able to continue exercising at. When you reach the point where you can't breathe any faster, you will have reached what's called your VO2 max - your maximum capacity of oxygen use, the higher your VO2 max, the fitter you are. These high intensity interval sessions are good for building up the body's resistance to lactic and will help promote fast twitch muscle fibres to fire and work. However, because the benefits for endurance athletes lie within zone 2 aerobic training, we try to limit the amount of high intensity sessions that we do to a max of 25% of our training. 

Calculating HR Zones

There are quite a few different formulae that can be used to determine your HR zones. The most basic of these is the 220 minus age formula, which will give you your theoretical max heart rate, which you can then use to set your zones as percentages of that. The main issue with this is that it doesn't take into account any underlying issues that you may have. Some people have a slower heart rate, sometimes because of medical reasons and others because of medication. Similarly, others may have a higher heart rate. 

The method I prefer to use is to do a test to determine your max hr and then work it out off that. To do this a running track is ideal because it's so flat, so there are no fluctuations caused by gradients etc. Start off by doing a good warm up for around 20 mins, to include some drills and strides etc. then carry out a 20 minute test. To do the test, the easiest way to do it is to have a run specific watch like a Garmin etc. Start off at a pace that you can just about manage to hold for 20 minutes, after the first 5 minutes, press lap on your watch and continue to run for the next 15 mins. By the time you finish your test you should be at a max effort and should struggle to go much further. Ideally, there should only be a few BPM between your average and max hr, as you'll learn that you can hold a high intensity for the duration of the whole 20 minutes. When you've finished the test take the data from the 15 mins of the test, looking at the average and max hr. These can then be used to set your zones. If you're using the max heart rate, zones can be set as:

Zone 1 - 50-60% max

Zone 2 - 60-70% max

Zone 3 - 70-80% max

Zone 4 - 80-90% max

Zone 5 - 90-100% max

Your average heart rate for the 15 mins of the test is what we refer to as threshold. This isn't the most scientific way of determining your threshold though. To do that you need to do testing in a laboratory environment where blood samples are taken at various intervals to determine lactate levels within the blood. The reason why we don't use the data from the first 5 mins of the test is because for this period you'll be settling into the test and your heart rate will still be rising to near max. 

What you'll notice as you do more and more of the tests is that your max heart rate will gradually become more consistent across the tests as you develop as an athlete and learn how hard you can push yourself

Using the RPE method

RPE refers to Rate of Perceived Exertion and is usually on a scale of 1 - 10 or 1 - 20. This scale is called the Borg scale and can be used to measure how hard your training sessions are. If you think of Zone 1 being the very easiest of exercise, probably a very fast walk and zone 5 being the hardest effort you can imagine and then look at that on a scale of 1 to 10, it'll give you a good indicator of how to grade your effort

Summary

So to summarise very briefly, try and complete at least 75% of your training at zone 2 to increase your aerobic efficiency during a race or training session and complete the other 25% at a very high intensity to promote lactate tolerance and to develop speed. I can't stress enough just how important zone 2 training is though and without it or with not enough of it you'll not reach your potential within endurance sports. 

If you'd like to speak more about your goals and ambitions and how I can help you on your triathlon journey, click on the link below which will take you to my coaching Facebook page, where I can be contacted through

Certa Cito Tri Coaching

The importance of recovery

We've all done it, finished a big session, swam, ran or cycled our blood to water and what do we do when we've finished? Just jump in the car, go home, have a shower and chill out, often neglecting to refuel and / or rehydrate properly.

There are many different ways that we can and should recover after a training session, whether it's just doing some stretches, foam rolling or eating and drinking the correct food. Some even go so far as to have an ice bath (bbrrrrrr).

Before we can start thinking about how and what we should be doing to help our bodies recover, it's a good idea to know what happens to your body during and immediately after training or racing

During exercise

The first thing you'll notice as you start a training session or race is your breathing increases and your heart rate rises. This is to supply your muscles with more oxygen and to provide your brain with more blood, which can help you to feel more focused and there will also be a number of "feel good" neurotransmitters are also triggered, such as the endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, and GABA. Some of these are well-known for their role in mood control, which is why we can feel elated or content after a hard training session or race.

If it's a hard intervals session, as you continue through the session your body will be using carbohydrate as its primary fuel source because the body wont be able to metabolize fat for fuel efficiently at this intensity and your muscles will be using the glycogen stored within them for fuel. At a cellular level the skeletal muscle will be synthesizing something called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) in order to produce the muscle contractions that we need to move. In order to produce more and more ATP we need to increase our oxygen intake, so your breathing rate and heart rate will continue to increase. We can actually develop how well our body synthesizes and produces ATP by doing a lot of zone 2 or lower aerobic training, which will mean that we're far more efficient as athletes, more info on zone 2 training and how it works can be found on the links below:

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/zone-2-training-for-endurance-athletes/

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/the-power-and-importance-of-mitochondria/

When you reach the point where you can't breathe any faster, you will have reached what's called your VO2 max - your maximum capacity of oxygen use, the higher your VO2 max, the fitter you are. As you progress through the session and your muscles start to fatigue and you can't take in enough oxygen to fuel the muscles, your muscles will start to fill with lactic acid, which is when you'll start to "feel the burn" or are heavy legged etc. At the same time, while you're exercising hard, your muscles are being pushed literally to breaking point. This doesn't mean that they're going to snap or fail, but all the time you're exercising your muscles will be suffering from trauma and will start to develop micro tears in them as they struggle to cope with the intensity and workload. It's this trauma and these micro tears that gives you the feeling of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) for a few days after a really tough session or race. As we progress as athletes, it's this constant trauma, recovery and adaptation that makes us faster and stronger.

Post Exercise

Immediately after you've finished the session, your body will be trying to normalise lactate levels and you're likely to still be breathing pretty hard and with a high body temperature but as we continue to recover our heart rate and breathing will start to slow down and will return to normal and as a general rule, a good indicator of fitness is how quickly you recover after an interval or a session.

30 minutes or so after you've finished your session you'll probably start to develop a raging hunger. Often a hunger so great that you'll feel like you could eat a horse. This is your body's way of telling you that you need to replace the glycogen stores that were used during the session. Carbohydrates are stored within muscles in the form of glycogen, so if you treat yourself to a slice of cake or something else that's high in carbohydrates after training is perfectly fine, within reason. 

The ideal time to start refueling after a hard session is to consume a meal within an hour or so of the session / race completion. This can be either whole food or liquid form, and should contain both fast-digesting carbs and protein. This will prevent your body from using its own muscle tissue for energy and help encourage muscle synthesis. Regarding the muscle synthesis, it's important to help the body to start the process of repairing and strengthening the muscles that have suffered from the trauma and impact of a hard session and one of the best ways to do this is to provide them with protein and carbs. Whey protein is an ideal protein supplement for this. When refueling after a training session, bear in mind the type of session that you've done. If it's been a really tough intervals session, or a session where the muscles are likely to have suffered trauma, then you're going to want to help their recovery and repair by taking on board proteins, as well as carbs. However, if you've just done a long swim and the muscles, although tired, won't have suffered the same level of trauma, then a more carbohydrate based refueling may be beneficial. 

As well as refueling the muscles with protein and carbs, it's also important to rehydrate the body and to try and regain the electrolyte balance within. There are many different supplements available on the market, often in a tablet form and a popular one is the electrolyte tablets that you can dissolve in a normal drink. It's important to replace the electrolytes as well as lost fluids because if you just drink a lot of water after a hard session, there's a risk that you can suffer from an electrolyte imbalance, which is when the amount of a certain electrolyte that you've lost via urine or sweat isn't properly replaced, or it can become more diluted by drinking too much water, which doesn't contain electrolytes. In extreme cases you could have a blood-sodium level that falls too low, or even develop something called hyponatremia. This can occur if you drink too much water during an event, such as a triathlon, because you lose sodium in your sweat. This dilutes the sodium content of your blood, so when your sodium levels are too low, your body’s water levels can rise too high which causes the cells to swell and in extreme cases can be fatal.

I've sometimes heard people say that no matter how much they eat after a hard swim, that they're still hungry. Hunger can actually be another sign of dehydration, so it's important not to confuse the two, especially if you're on a controlled diet. It's no good taking on board 2000 calories to refuel, if all you need is to rebalance your hydration levels.

Recovery methods

In the following section I'll talk briefly about some recovery methods that can be very beneficial. However, these don't relate to DOMS, that feeling that you get a day or two after a killer session when you really start to contemplate getting a Stannah Stairlift installed. When you're suffering from DOMS, as mentioned previously, this is actually trauma and damage to the muscle, which is totally different from just being a bit stiff, tired and aching. If you're suffering from DOMS there's little that you can do apart from just waiting for the pain to subside, although you may want to do a very gentle spin on the turbo or an easy swim or some pool jogging, but until the muscles heal, you should refrain from doing any strenuous training or racing, which will delay the healing process and will probably just exacerbate it.

Stretching

Often the most familiar and widely used form of recovery after a training session is to do some stretching. Each stretch that you do doesn't really have to last long and their main purpose is that it helps to keep the muscles flexible, strong and healthy, We need that element of flexibility in order to maintain a good range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight, Which can lead to poor form, which will ultimately and inevitably lead to injury. Stretches are best performed straight after a training session because the muscles are warm and supple, so will be responsive to the stretch. Never stretch a cold muscle though. If you think of muscles as if they're like plasticine, if it's cold and you pull it, it just snaps, but if you roll it in your hands for a while you can really stretch it, muscles can be thought of in a similar way. 

When doing the stretches, work on the muscles that have been used during the session and perform them in a controlled manner. Don't overstretch, push just to the point that you can "feel" it in the muscle and hold it there for 15 seconds or so. I find working through the stretches in a logical manner helps. ie, lower calf / achilles, then upper calf, then hamstrings, quads, glutes and into the upper body and so on. 

Foam Roller

The foam roller is a great bit of (torture) equipment and can really help to ease out the aches and pains that we suffer from. As triathletes, we put our bodies through a hell of a lot. often far more than a single discipline athlete, as we work all the major muscle groups from shoulders to ankles and feet. 


The process of foam rolling is called self-myofacial release and can be done using a traditional foam roller, as seen above, or a hard rubber ball or even a rolling pin or golf or cricket ball. Foam rolling works by identifying trigger points or "knots" in the muscles and as we roll over them we can feel them as painful areas. Nearly every single athlete or triathlete etc will have muscle soreness and knots, so it's important to identify these and treat them regularly. By foam rolling regularly you will help to "iron out" the knots and help to keep all the muscle fibres running nice and parallel to each other. If you think of your muscles as fibrous tissue, sometimes these fibres become more rigid and can "stick" together. It's this that we can feel as knots. Deep muscle compression helps to break up or relax tight muscles and adhesions formed between muscle layers and their surroundings. Imagine you are tenderizing your own muscles. They should be soft and supple like a baby’s muscles.

The most effective way to foam roll is to apply pressure to a specific muscle or muscle group, often your body weight is sufficient for this. Then roll slowly at a rate of about 5cm every couple of seconds. As you pass over an area that feels tight or painful, stop and pause for several seconds and try to relax the muscle. This can sometimes take up to 30 seconds or more. As you relax you should start to feel the pain ease. 
If you come across an area that's too painful to apply direct pressure, you can adjust the roller so that instead of applying direct pressure, you can work on the surrounding area and loosen the whole area. 

You should roll as many muscle groups as possible and do it as regularly as every 48 hours or so. The more you roll, the more supple and loose your muscles will be, which I can guarantee will have a direct positive effect on your running. There are countless videos on YouTube that will demonstrate good foam rolling exercises.

Ice Baths

Possibly even more dreaded than the foam roller is the ice bath. This is really one of the most counter intuitive things to do for recovery and I'm not going to lie, is absolutely horrible for the first 5 minutes or so, until you go numb. 

The theory behind ice baths is that they help the micro trauma that the muscles suffer during a tough session or race, in much the same way as applying ice to an injury works. Another way that they're thought to work is the cold causes your blood vessels to tighten, which in turn helps drain the lactic acid out of your tired muscles. If it's something that you're going to try, you don't actually need to use ice, I often just filled the bath with cold water only and sat in it for around 15 mins. That was perfectly cold enough, trust me. 

There's much conflicting information as to whether ice baths actually work or their effectiveness, so if it's something that you feel is benefiting you, keep doing it. If you simply hate them and can't imagine anything worse, it's fine to steer clear. 

Compression clothing

There's a plethora of compression clothing that's available to us. Big brands like 2XU, Compressport, Skins etc. etc all claiming to offer the best recovery products out there. 

Many people talk about the effectiveness of compression clothing, but personally, I've found that if my calves are a bit sore or tight, when I put my calf guards on it almost feels like instant relief, so it must do something. 

The theory behind compression is that when the muscles are "held" or compressed by a specific garment they are stabilized, which in turn helps to reduce the amount of muscle vibration and oscillation, which is thought to help reduce fatigue. 

As a post exercise garment it's said that through this stabilization that an increase in blood flow is promoted to the muscles and this will help to heal the micro trauma in the muscle and to aid recovery

Sleep

Lastly and possibly the most important fundamental of recovery is sleep. Most people take it for granted, but if you're not getting a decent night's sleep, especially after training, it'll eventually have an impact on your body, which in turn will impact your health, recovery and subsequent fitness. Ideally, you should be aiming for 8 hours sleep per night. When training for long distance races and feeling the pressure to fit as much training sessions in as possible, one of the first things that people will sacrifice is often sleep. You might think to yourself that you'll get up at 0500 and get out to do your long run or ride before you start your daily commitments, but you need to be aware that if you're going to do that, you need to go to bed earlier and make sure you still get a good nights sleep. I know children, work, stress etc can all impact your sleep, but if you employ certain things into your routine, it should help you to get a better nights sleep. 

1. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule and routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. A set sleep routine will "train" you to fall asleep and wake up more easily.
2. Cut down on caffeine. For some people, a single cup of coffee in the morning means a sleepless night. Caffeine can also increase the need to urinate during the night.
3. Be physically active. Regular aerobic exercise like walking, running, or swimming provides three important sleep benefits: you'll fall asleep faster, attain a higher percentage of restorative deep sleep, and awaken less often during the night.
4. Limit daytime naps. Prolonged napping can disrupt your natural sleep cycle and prevent you from feeling tired enough to fall asleep.
5. If you use tobacco in any form, quit. Nicotine makes it harder to fall asleep.
6. Use alcohol cautiously. Alcohol depresses the nervous system, so a nightcap may help some people fall asleep. But this effect disappears after a few hours and may even lead to waking up throughout the night. Alcohol can also worsen snoring and other sleep breathing problems.
7. Improve your sleep surroundings. Remove the television, telephone, and any other devices from the bedroom. This reinforces the idea that this room is meant for sleeping. An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and minimal clutter.

In summary

Never neglect your recovery, it's equally as important as your training and if you want to keep progressing and keep the chances of injury to a minimum it's probably even more important than the training. It doesn't have to take hours and hours, but if you build it into your routine and make it something that you just do 3 or 4 times a week, it will pay dividends. I've lost count of the amount of people who regularly tell me they've got tightness in muscles or a niggle that wont go away, yet prevention is often much better than cure.

If you'd like to speak more about your goals and ambitions and how I can help you on your triathlon journey, click on the link below which will take you to my coaching Facebook page, where I can be contacted through

Certa Cito Tri Coaching