ED's Exploits - March 2010

Questions…Questions?

I did my first triathlon back in 1985, before tri-bars, fancy wheels and wet suits. The must have accessories in those days were a Leary pair of shades and a suntan, (skin cancer had not been invented back then). Which begs the question, when do you start wearing shorts on the bike? Too early and your knees get too cold, too late and you look like a bottle of milk in the transition area! Two years ago I wore shorts in the second week of February, but usually it’s the end of March or early April. And of course, once you start, you cannot go back. Seriously though, the weather can change quite a bit on a 4 hour ride so it is probably sensible to wear longs well into May or June. The pros will train in Longs all year round, to keep the muscles warm, especially round the knee. I don’t notice the cold so much on my legs, but stop to mend a puncture and all of a sudden it’s chilly. What seems like a dilemma in April though, is forgotten by June, when it’s factor 15 and wearing a pair of pink Briko’s!! When do you shave your legs though?? That really is a dilemma, but we can talk about that another time.

Its early season, you probably have a few races in your legs; the change from training intensity to race pace can take more out of you than you think. As the season kicks in the temptation is to increase the training as well. Experience has taught me to do the opposite. Let your body adjust to racing, cut your training load back, just for a couple of weeks. It’s a long season, go 100% now and it’s easy to come down with a cold or virus. As you become used to a higher effort, you will be able to return to your usual schedule and be stronger for it.

I worked as part of the massage team recently at the Mad March 20 mile. Race director Lawrence Downs and his crew (mostly Zoom Tri Club members) put on a great race, good atmosphere, enthusiastic marshals, plenty of tea and cakes, we worked very hard but it was good fun - it almost made me think about taking up running again!

Running or cycling, spice up your distance work with some quality tempo intervals. Within your long run, try 3x 10mins, at a good intensity, so you have to concentrate but not too fast. It has to be aerobic, but it has to be honest. On the bike, make them 15 or 20mins - it should feel hard, but not too hard. Quality base work will make you bomb proof.

My own season has kicked off and the good news is the winter training seems to have worked, which is always nice! Some points on the road, a bit of prize money from time trials and the glass is definitely half full. The older I get the better I was!!

See you up the Road…

E D

What's in a TBCUK Training Camp...?

Last week we had our first UK long course training camp at Sandy Balls in the New Forest. Camps like this can provide a real platform to boost your training, add motivation and train with like minded people that are focused on a key goal.

To give you an idea of what's involved at a TBCUK camp, here's a quick run down of the highlights and the sessions we covered. To kick off its always interesting to hear athletes goals for the season and check out where they are in their training. Our group had a mixture of experience, with almost all but one looking to attempt their first Ironman or Long course race this summer.

We met up on Friday evening to outline the weekend ahead and share our goals and expectations of the camp. Sports psychologist and Head of Sports Science at Southampton University Candice Lingam-Wilgoss gave an insightful and interactive session on goal setting. She told us about one of her Olympic athletes and how drilling down into each goal helped to create meaningful milestones in their training. This was a great example of how to maintain motivation and keep us on track.

Saturday morning and it was a 7am start with Swim coach Steve Barratt and a technical stroke session with video analysis, followed by breakfast and a rather wet 45 mile ride round the Forestman bike course. Although it rained, it was good practice to train in those conditions - after all, on race day, we get out and do it whatever the weather. Following lunch the first of the afternoon sessions was taken by TBCUK Senior coach Will Newbery. He gave a practical session on core strength for long course athletes, the importance of which was quickly realised - these simple exercises really demonstrate the need for developing core stability and strength, to keep race form together as fatigue sets in - on both the bike and run.

After a short break, it was time to get back outside for our hill run session. Although the group were pleading with me for a little longer (not!) we headed back to the comfort of a shower and another fuel top up. In the the final session of the day nutritional coach Tony Derbyshire shared valuable insights on the critical issue of getting your recovery and nutrition right for the big event. This proved to be one of the most talked about sessions - especially over dinner an hour or so later; thoughts had turned to macro and micro nutrients - where lean meat and endless portions of fruit and veg became our best friends.

Sunday morning provided the second opportunity to work with Steve on that swim stroke, before heading out for a long bike-run brick. The groups were split, with group leaders leading the pacing. The bike element was supported by a refuel and repair TrainingBible Van. It was a long ride, varying between 56-70 miles and thankfully the sun came out, bringing the beautiful New Forest to life. I filmed a section of the bike ride to show you the kinds of roads we ride on, which I've posted on You Tube. Off the bike and onto what must be one of the toughest off road, long course marathon routes. The groups ran between 6 and 9 miles over the undulating terrain. Tired but happy we tucked into a late afternoon lunch before heading home.

All the athletes that came along worked hard and were buoyed by their achievements over the weekend. Some athletes seemed to get physically stronger, and all will have benefited from the sharing and learning. If you have not tried a camp approach before then it may be worth considering one to enhance your training - it can be a real confidence booster to know that you can go the distance and best of all you can look forward to a real step up in your performance levels a few weeks later.

What is Critical Power?

What is Critical Power?
Nick de Meyer TBCUK Master Coach

This is a question I have been asked many times as a coach I hope this posting helps to simplify what it is and how it relates to other, better known measures, like heart rate.

Let’s backtrack a bit and answer the question: What is power? Power is an excellent method of measuring exercise effort or intensity and has become the most important measure with professional cyclists in particular. It is favoured by the pros because it is seen as a more accurate measure of performance. It is normally measured in Watts and, like heart rate, can be used in percentages of its maximum output to define training zones. Power measurement is immediate and doesn’t have the delays associated with heart rate. No sooner you push harder on the pedals it registers wattage, where as heart rate does not respond instantly to effort, it usually is delayed for 15 to 20 seconds.

To measure power you need to fit a power meter to your bike, there are now a number of these devices around and are becoming much more accessible. In the next few years you will see almost every road bike fitted with a power meter as the technology is refined. (You heard it here folks!)

In essence, Critical Power (CP) is a method to measure your power output. It’s basically the highest average power you can hold for a particular period of time. Just like training at different heart rate levels can improve your overall fitness; training at different CP levels will do the same. Dr Andy Coggan the brains behind the methodology developed CP zones from 1 minute to 360 minutes (seen in blue on the attached table). As you adapt and get stronger and fitter from following your training programme, these numbers will improve, relative to the goal of your training plan, and dependent on which phase of training you are in.

CP 60 and Lactate Threshold
This is the wattage number that triathletes find most useful. Most of us involved in competitive Triathlon or Cycling will have heard about Lactate Threshold (LT), no doubt we will have all felt it on a tough ride. This is the point when we are riding when there is a rapid rise in the blood lactate level. It’s when the body's rate of lactate production exceeds the rate of lactate clearance. This causes that burning feeling in the muscles and can cause a slowing of our pace. This level of intensity can be maintained in a typical standard distance triathlon race or 25 mile cycling time trial and in some cases a bit longer. For this reason, and the fact that it is very sensitive to training status, LT is a very valuable piece of information for planning training intensities and race pacing strategies. This Lactate threshold level represents critical power for 60 minutes or Functional Threshold Power as it sometimes known. All our training zones are then based on % of this number.

How can I use this?
To establish your baseline “Functional Threshold Power” (FTP) you need a power meter or turbo with wattage. Warm up well and then start a 10 mile or 30 minute time trial. Hit your lap button after 10 mins and record your highest average wattage. Then subtract 5% from that total. The reason that we are subtracting 5% of the watts from your 20 minute test is that FTP is defined as the highest average wattage or power that you can maintain for 60 minutes. Most athletes have a hard time focusing for 60 minutes on a maximal effort and those that can, learn very quickly that a 60 minutes time trial is not that much fun! Testing at 20 minutes is more realistic in terms of getting athletes to do more regular and higher quality tests. Use it every 4 weeks or so to chart your improvements. Use the % in red seen in chart below to calculate your training zones as a % of your FTP:

ED's Exploits - Feb 2010

Eamonn Deane, TrainingBibleUK's very own cycling legend shares his thoughts...


The Times they are a changing…

A couple of surefire signs that spring is round the corner: Firstly the advent of the Bournemouth Jubilee 100 mile reliability trial, the final ride in a series of four (the others being the 50mile, the 100km and the 75mile). From November through to February these tourist trials are very popular, with 121 riders signing on for the 50 back in November. The numbers drop off a little as the distances increase but with the recent addition of a 100km option, on the same roads as the 100 mile, the turnout is still high and there is always someone to ride with if you crave some company! Take each ride on its own and they are simple enough, however, to do all four over one winter always proves a challenge. There is an engraved medal for anyone who manages it. Sickness, punctures, mechanicals all take there toll. The ice this year broke more than a few riders’ hearts and dreams of that medal were put off for another year. Having been riding these reliability trials for quite a few years now, it always amazes me how unreliable some people are: not carrying enough fuel, only one spare tube and having no idea of the route seem to be the most common “crimes”.

Another sign of the changing season is the club dinners and prize presentations come to and end. I have been invited to a few over the years and was a guest at one recently but there is no such thing as a free lunch, a speech being required or even having to “sing for me supper”. I like the formality of these occasions, with the saying of grace and toasting Her Majesty, it is also an opportunity not just to congratulate those who have won trophies but to thank all those people who work behind the scenes, be it promoting events, marshalling or making the tea - without these people there simply would be no sport.

It has proved to be a challenging winter on the bike, with more than a few road rides turned into turbo sessions. Not sure what I prefer, the turbo session takes less time but you know it is going to be hard - there is no chance to skive like you can out on the road! Freewheeling is cheating!! I am lucky enough to have my turbo permanently set up in the garage with an old racing bike, ready to go. I have no excuse really. However sometimes this winter it has been so cold out there I have started my sessions with hat and gloves on. Love em’ or hate em’ turbo training works.

There are no short cuts in training for endurance sports, however lots of hard work will bring rewards, look for consistency, quality, and commitment and when the going gets tough just dig in and get on with it. Your training will work, it just won’t happen overnight!

One of my athletes, who’s training for London, came for his weekly massage having clocked up 131 miles in training. After he left I went out on the bike… well, I couldn’t have him running more than I’d cycled!

See you up the road,

E D

Confidence - the difference that makes a difference!

One of the most interesting aspects of being a coach is listening to athletes talking about their sport and how they perceive their own performance. I recently had the opportunity to meet with a couple of athletes one shortly after another.

In my initial discussion with the first athlete, I got the impression from what they were saying that they believed they were a 'mid packer' at best. That was until they gave me some details on their performances, which for a vast majority of people would be a very good result (top 5/10 in age group depending on the race). It became clear that this athlete's biggest limiter was how they talked to themselves and how that self talk served to reinforce their behaviour and the outcome of their races. This is a person that I believe has podium potential, but is being held back by a lack of self belief, they are allowing themselves to stay within the realms of their comfort zone, avoiding going all out for the win as they think this will result in failure.

A short while later the same day, I was speaking with an athlete that, had I not known them, I might have been persuaded was going to give Craig Alexander a good run for his money. When in fact, they would probably place mid pack in most local sprint races. The contrast could not have been starker. This currency we call confidence is so important to us all in everything we do. So how do we build our self-confidence so that its stands on more than a foundation of sand? How do we become more robust to handle different challenges that sport and life throw at us?

Maybe the first place to start is by recognising whether or not we suffer from low self-confidence. Sometimes it's not always so apparent, some people may appear much more confident than they actually are. 'Fake it until you make it' is a well known self development technique. So how do we recognise under-confidence? We start by asking ourselves a few of these questions..Do you find it hard to accept compliments about how well you have done? It could be that, like our first athlete you don't push yourself for fearing failure or at least not meeting expectations. Maybe you allow other athletes thinking to govern your training or racing behaviour - those last minute changes of plan on the morning of your A race or doing everyone else's training except your own!

Low self-confidence often manifests itself in negative self-talk, body language and 'away from' goal setting (setting goals that avoid or move away from a problem or limiter). I would suggest we also want to build confidence grounded in reality not just spouting hot air in the hope its going to make us feel better about ourselves.

So here are my two pennies worth to help you become a more confident athlete:

• Starting Off: Write down and keep an achievement log of all the successes you have had however small. I.e. consistency in your training, improving your swim T-pace, staying focused on a tough turbo session, or whatever it might be. Keep it in a place that you can regularly update and reward yourself for these good performances.
• Spend some time thinking about your race goals, and make sure you have a mixture of outcome and process goals. Outcome goals are the ones we set each year like, beating our PB at a key race. Process goals are designed to help us get to our outcome goals, like training consistently for 8 sessions per week. Every time you reach one of your milestones record it in your achievement log. Don't forget to celebrate that success!
• Start to get to grips with managing your self talk as soon as you can, notice the language you use, and start to change it for more positive language. So a phrase like 'I am never...going under the hour for a 25' might be turned around to 'If I focus on my bike training, going under the hour could be possible'. Now we have moved the 'never' to a 'possible' what we need next is a series of small milestones that we can tick off on our way to 60 minute heaven :-)
• Using imagery is a regular part of many elite athletes training. Thinking and feeling what it will be like to achieve your goal, imagine through all your senses as you hit that swim PB or the sense of achievement when you log 12 hours of training!

Build on your own knowledge and skills in your chosen sport, this helps to build inner confidence about what you are doing. Keep yourself grounded, set regular, small but stretching goals and keep ticking them off your list. As the saying goes 'success breeds success'. It might not be an instant quick fix, but with application your confidence will hit new heights.

Bernie's 1000km Ski Challenge for RM Heroes

Good friend of TrainingBible Bernie Shrosbree is going on an Exped!

Ex TUSEN TAKK (Norwegian for a Thousand Thanks) is an expedition taking place in Norway between 21 Mar and 10 Apr 2010.

A team of 10 Royal Marines will ski 1000km through the Rondane, Douvrefjell, Jotunheimen and Hardangervidda covering an average of 50km a day for 20 consecutive days. It is equivalent to 1 and a third marathons on skis a day and an overall height gain exceeding an ascent of Mt. Everest.

The team will consist of 5 experienced skiers, aged between 47 and 50, some veterans of the Falklands, with 5 younger skiers, most veterans of Afghanistan, from 45 Commando RM and the Brigade Recce Force; the old guard handing over to the new guard so to speak. We will be joined by former Royal Marine Bernie Shrosbree and potentially an adventurer/reporter.

The route will take in areas of military significance in Southern Norway, to include: remote war grave locations; areas of wartime activity; and locations of Royal Marine winter deployment fatalities. The final 250km will follow the route taken by the Heroes of Telemark – “The Saboteurs’ Route” - on Operation Gunnerside where British-trained Norwegian commandos succeeded at destroying the heavy water production facility near Rjukan, dubbed by the British SOE as one of the most successful acts of sabotage in World War II. This wartime act was made famous by the film Heroes of Telemark staring Kirk Douglas and will be the culmination of the expedition.

The aim along the way will be to raise money for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund, which is struggling to generate funds, particularly in light of the success of other military focused charities. Whilst we would not wish to detract from the work these other charities do, we feel it is important to support our “Corps Family” fund which is there to support us all in our time of need. Secondly, a number of the team have been directly affected by cancer; my (Lt Col Gary Green) wife Dionne passed away on 30 Sep, Major Willie Hannah’s son Billy is in remission following treatment for Leukaemia and Col Jim Hutton’s wife is currently fighting ovarian cancer. The parents of other skiers have also died fighting this dreadful disease. So we will also try to raise some money for cancer charities Macmillan and CLIC Sargent.

We will also take with us the Baton see www.thebaton.co.uk and you will be able to watch our endeavours by logging onto www.rm1000kmski.com. In the meantime, if you would like to help us help others you can make a donation at www.bmycharity.com/rm1000kmski

Thanks for your Support

Weekend Training Camps

Now that we’re firmly established in our new home at Sandy Balls. TrainingBible UK will be hosting a wide range of camps and seminars in 2010 from the New Forest Triathlon Centre. There are camps for all distances and standards; for Triathletes who want to go long at IM distance events, triathletes new to the sport, or for Mountain Bikers and those interested in off road running.

After Christmas we’re hosting a ‘healthy habits’ weekend in January to kick start our training after the holidays. Come and enjoy riding in some of the most beautiful scenery and running on forest trails with likeminded people. A team of TrainingBible coaches led by Head coach Rob Griffiths will be focusing on developing your key skills in Cycling and Running efficiency. Specialist strength and conditioning coach Iain Noble will be leading a session on Triathlon specific strength training. Joining the team fresh from her Sahara challenge will be Barbra Cox, Head nutritionist and driving force behind the highly acclaimed company Nutrichef, she will be delivering a seminar session on the 10 key principles of healthy eating for busy triathletes.

Our camps at Sandy Balls are residential and prices include 3 nights weekend stay, on a self catering basis, starting from only £150. We also offer a price to attend just the camps themselves, for those that don’t want to stay over.

Our full programme of activity is below:

Date in 2010:	Camps:
15th - 17th January	‘Healthy Habits’ Triathlon coaching weekend
19th - 21st February	Forest Trail running weekend
6th March	Beginners introduction to Mountain Biking
19th - 21st March	Middle and Long distance triathlon weekend and Forestman familiarisation weekend
28th - 30th May	The ‘Tough’ Long distance triathlon training camp
4th September	New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon – Course familiarisation and training day
25th September	Beginners introduction to Mountain Biking

For more details on each one, please click through to:

http://www.trainingbible.co.uk/camps-clinics/camps/

Or contact Rob Griffiths 07939 214906 or Jen Daykin at Sandy Balls 01425 651210