Weekly Word 11/30
Bad weather training
Training Hard days
Coaching referrals
As a solid winter storm passes through the Bay area I have gotten the first emails of the winter asking for alternative training and how/if to ride in the rain. It all depends on what your goals are for 2013 and when they are. For most of us the racing season does not begin in earnest until mid spring, with most A races in early or mid summer. This does not mean we are not fully engaged in our training now. As I mentioned a few weeks past, if you want to take a step forward in 2013, not just get back to par, you need to train through your past breaks and come into the season with a better platform to work from. What this time of year means is flexibility. If the weather means you need to run more, swim more and work on the other aspects of training (core, stability, strength, stretch cordz, jump rope etc.), then shifting things around in the schedule makes total sense. If you fall somewhat short on your cycling hours on bad weather weeks, so be it – we have time to catch up on those miles when the weather is friendlier and the roads are safer. Ask me to help you shift the training focus in your log. You can now see why accurate logs become key. Your weekly totals in each discipline help me look at what is needed going forward. I won’t remember that the weather was bad, but I can see that we may need more cycling miles based on past volume (and that the running volume is clearly getting good!).
If you have an upcoming A race or focus, well then we need to get through it. Of course the occasional day and shifting can work, but not weeks of missing the necessary adaptations. These days the clothing and gear allows for some of the most extreme training conditions, enjoy!
When looking at the training, think of good combinations. A 90 minute indoor class with a 3 hr ride after works great. It means you are only exposed to the elements for 3 hrs – but that 4.5 hrs of training will have done quite the trick for adaptation. Again, ask me for alternatives.
I have also been reading on some blogs lately about how hard to train and that suffering is necessary in prep for racing. I want to make sure all of you know what my thoughts are to this: I am a big believer in training not only some serious volume at times, but also digging deep and suffering when it is prescribed/needed. That does not mean it needs to be part of a regular training routine. One thing I want you all to avoid is going through the motions. If you are not absorbing the training, there is not really that much sense in training! I know many of you might be confused by this: as many times we are quite tired in training and I throw in a 16 mile run late on a weekend. BUT, as many of you know, there is a big difference to just going through the motions vs. getting late into a week via aerobic accumulation. The reason I have many of you train tired at the end of the week is because you 1) accumulated that fatigue gradually throughout the week 2) Need to hit a healthy fatigued state in order to run or even bike at a “go all day” pace – that sensation helps you for ultra endurance events. How else can we prepare for Ultra endurance without actually racing/training the event distances themselves?
How does this tie into the “suffering” topic I mention? Don’t just train to train – go through the motions. If you are not absorbing the training, benefitting, hitting the numbers and targets – there is no point to go into a suffering state just to do it. Instead, either back off your day and reengage another day (might just be ‘off’ that day) or stop altogether and rest. I WELCOME the emails from you that say you are flat, tired and need rest. That would be great – then we are onto something. The concepts we apply are still achievable in a few days, vs. just going through bad, negative, draining training. This is why I am now a big believer in training windows of 3-5 days. Again, if not absorbing, why not rest in order to quickly progress to absorbing/adapting again?
When is suffering good? When you are a good ways into an interval and it calls for an extra gear but you body is screaming no…THEN suffer. When you have nailed a great training week and you only need to get through a run or a swim or a bike to close it out…THEN suffer as we did not get this far into the week to let the body fall off or waste the effective training accumulation.
When is it bad to suffer? Weekend group rides where you know you are riding too hard. When you are looking to post a new Strava time that helps you NOTHING in a race. When you are swimming in a masters workout lane that is too fast for you and your send off is too short and your stroke is too awful. When you are running at the track and keeping up times and speeds that you know have nothing to do with the workout but you want to suffer. And, finally, when you are too tired! Too tired = going through the motions. Don’t do it!
Alright – plenty of writing for now. As always – send me any questions or thoughts on these topics.
Lastly – I wanted to remind all of you of the referral plan I work by. Some of you have mentioned you were not aware. If you refer me a client, I discount your coaching by $25/month. It goes as low as $200/month for coaching. Its basically like a month free in the yearly plan. And please send me referrals, I’d like to keep my roster full of athletes YOU feel are a good match vs. those that are brand new to me and my ‘challenging & stubborn’ coaching style. I am not easy on anybody, much less myself. Thats why we all race together!
Word.