Weight Train To Improve Performance

I’m quickly finding my feet in each aspect of my training and seeing some good signs as I approach my first recovery week. The last 2 weeks, I have been gradually building the volume as my body adapts.

My favourite workout, during that time, has been the weights session I performed this past Thursday. The previous week, I didn’t have enough time to do as many leg exercises as I wanted to. However, on Thursday, I decided to just do leg weights as my upper body was quite fatigued from the extra swimming I had done in the days prior.

My leg workout looked like this:-

Ø  Deadlifts – 4 sets. First 2 sets as warm-up and the next two as hard efforts for 10 reps. Strict form and focus on ensuring my glutes are highly engaged for maximum force.

Ø  Single-Leg Squats – 3 sets of just 6 reps each leg. Core stability is essential for balance and, again, focusing on the engagement of my glutes. I try to go as low as possible which is about 90 degrees at the knee bend.

Ø  Walking Lunges – 3 sets of 10 steps each leg. Holding a total of 25kg. This was my favourite exercise of the entire workout because I really felt the benefits of working in such a high range of movement. My glutes and quads worked particularly hard and I can tell how beneficial this exercise is going to be to developing my cycling and running.

Ø  Swiss Ball, Single-Leg Hamstring Curls – 2 sets of 20 reps per leg. Isolating my hamstrings and using my core and glutes/hips to stabilise my body while performing the movement.

Ø  Single-Leg Calf Raises – 2 sets of 20 reps per leg. Isolating the calves to strengthen those areas that get really hammered while running.

I had done weights on an irregular basis in the lead up to my races at Geelong and Shepparton last season but, without doing them properly and regularly, I didn’t get the full benefit. By doing these high quality weight sessions on a weekly basis, the effects will translate into greater power and endurance on the bike and run.

Over the next 2 months, I will gradually build my strength in these types of exercises before incorporating a greater explosive power element to the workouts during the final 2 months before the World Champs.

I have a history of weight training in the gym from my days as a personal trainer. From 2004-2007, I spent many hours doing weights for purposes of bodybuilding and strength. In that time, I gained approximately 10kg. Some of that muscle mass has stuck with me in my transfer to endurance sport and that gave me a good base to work from when I took up cycling. As I learn how to train better I am now starting to really take advantage of that strength.

I am 100% confident in seeing great improvements, particularly in my cycling, from doing regular and consistent weights, in conjunction with my other training. It will be that extra element in my program which was missing previously, that could be the difference between winning and not getting on the podium.

I hope you all do weights to complement your swimming, cycling and running. I’d love to hear what you do. Let me know in the comments section.

Training Frequency - Every Little Bit Counts.

My first week back in training has been a good one. It is a great feeling to be active again, eating how I like to and getting good quality sleep. I have completed 5 rides, 4 swims and 3 runs, along with one all over body strength session and 2 core workouts. I didn’t do everything I had planned to, partly based on time restraints and partly on how I was feeling. I didn’t push myself much but got a good feel for the activities again.

Riding was enjoyable. The majority was done at an easy pace with a couple of sessions incorporating some efforts. Running was limited and the legs showed their vulnerability in these early stages with a lack of ability to turnover with any great speed. Swimming was interesting, as I cut all of my sessions short because my poor core strength and lack of muscular endurance showed through, deeming it pointless to push on too far at the moment. I concentrated on technique and simply logging some base mileage.

Just one week is enough to get me pondering about my current plan for the months ahead. Is it planned well and do I have the right spread of sessions to yield dramatic improvement?

I have been looking closely at my program over the past couple of days and, combined with assessing my weaknesses, I have concluded that a high training frequency in swim, bike, run and core is a major key to unleashing my potential.

Previously, in peak training periods, I have performed 5 rides, 5 runs, 3 swims and just 1 core session per week, where sessions covered necessary training elements of speed, strength and endurance across workouts of varying length. This may seem like enough and it has been until now, which is why my performance improved greatly this past season and enabled me to qualify for the World Champs. However, to go those extra couple of steps, and compete for first place, I must change something.

One particular area which I firmly believe will be improved, by increasing the number of sessions per week, is my swimming. In races, my shoulders and core tend to fatigue very quickly causing a laboured and inefficient stroke. My arm turnover decreases rapidly and I am losing 5 or more minutes to the leaders of my age-group in a half-ironman. I intend to rectify this issue by increasing my swimming to 5 sessions per week. The important thing to remember is that not every session is hard. A couple of the workouts will be just about spending more time performing that exercise and engraining those movements into my muscle memory. The others will have greater specificity and intensity. This is where ‘every little bit counts’. Some days I might only be able to do 30mins in the water but even performing three 30 minute sessions along with a couple of 45 minutes sessions per week is far greater than 3 one hour workouts.

The shorter sessions have the added benefit of producing less fatigue, whereby, I can swim without losing form from being too tired to do things right, and provide good quality training. This is priceless while building other aspects around it, such as, core strength and overall aerobic fitness.

Core strength is another area where I will be increasing the frequency of sessions greatly. 3 or 4 sessions per week are essential. This is not just abs. Your core encompasses the complete abdominal system, lower back and muscles surrounding the hips. A large repertoire of exercises is very useful for targeting all of those muscles but not essential and some solid basic exercises might be all you need.

Again, they don’t have to be huge workouts every time, just doing them more often and with great form will ensure greater swimming ability and should assist running and cycling just as much. So much focus is on your core muscles throughout an entire triathlon without even realising it. Therefore, it must have a great deal of emphasis placed on it during a training schedule to reap the benefits.

The above examples of frequency will be present in my riding and running too. I will be aiming for 6 rides and 6 runs per week, after I have completed my initial 4 weeks of base training. Not all 6 sessions are hard. Some are short but provide much needed mileage and general frequency of performing the activity. For example, you could add a 20 minute run after a hard ride or a 40 minute spin on the bike before a hard run session.

In a training week totalling approximately 20 hours, there is purpose in every minute but those purposes can vary greatly. If you are a triathlete struggling to find enough time to train long sessions each week, I suggest looking at performing a higher number of workouts, with shorter timeframes, for each discipline. Training more frequently for the same total weekly volume will be just as, if not more, effective.

Tell me in the comments below when you have experienced an improvement simply by increasing your training frequency.

Cheers, Lincoln.

Back to Square One

It has been 5 weeks since my last post and what a five weeks it has been.

I married the most wonderful person on earth and our wedding day couldn’t have gone better. Everything fell into place perfectly, including the weather, and it was the happiest day of my life by a long, long way.

We then had a wonderful 2-week honeymoon in Singapore and Thailand which consisted of some sightseeing but mainly relaxing by the pool and enjoying some reading material. Reading material for me was several triathlon magazines. Despite a few short trips to the gym, at our Phuket resort, it was my end of season break from training which has perfectly preceded the beginning of my build up to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships.

After returning on an overnight flight just 6 days ago, with very little sleep, I reluctantly returned to work the very next day. It has taken the entire last 6 days to recover from the jet lag and I have the added bonus of a stomach bug making me feel quite queasy at times. The bug seems to be working its way through my system, so, fingers crossed it has moved on in another few days so I can get stuck into some proper base training.

I have attempted a couple of light sessions in the past two days, a light 1 hour 20 minute indoor cycle, a casual 30 minute jog with a few drills followed by some chin-ups and push-ups and a 60 minute steady run. Felt ok on the bike but the running was a little tough. It showed that my joints can lose conditioning quite easily, particularly ankles and hips, and I need to ease back into things after not running for 3 weeks.

I can tell by how my body feels that I have taken an adequate amount of time off training to freshen up but not lose all of my fitness. I am confident that once I complete an initial 4 weeks of base training, I will be feeling primed to start getting into hard, specific sessions. However, I would say now that I don’t tend to like having one long (3 or more weeks) off training at one point of the year and I will look at having a couple of 1 – 2 week breaks a couple of times a year, in the future.

I feel like I’m back at square one for the reason that I am starting a fresh program. It is the beginning of 4 and ½ months of preparation for the biggest race of my life, to date. I must pay close attention to how hard I push myself in the initial stages. I will be focused on technique and general strength across all disciplines while preparing my body prior to the final 8 - 12 week push into the race.

My weekly plan for this first 4-week base phase will be as follows:-

Monday –

·         Swim 3km with mixed strokes and drills.

·         Easy run 30mins with drills.

·         30mins upper body weights.

Tuesday –

·         Ride 2 hours easy/steady to feel.

·         Swim 2km easy with extra kicking laps.

·         Leg weights and core.

Wednesday –

·         Ride 60mins easy.

·         Swim 3km with a few fast 25 metre efforts and strength work with paddles.

·         Run 60mins steady.

Thursday –

·         Ride 90mins with single-leg work and high cadence efforts.

·         Run 30mins with a series of run throughs building the pace.

Friday –

·         Swim 3km with a series of 100 metre freestyle efforts, 3 – 4 at race pace and good rest periods in between.

·         Ride 60mins easy.

·         Core exercises.

Saturday –

·         Ride 3 hours steady.

·         Run 30mins off the bike at steady pace.

Sunday –

·         Ride 30 – 60 mins easy.

·        Run 45mins off the bike with 8 x 1km efforts at Tempo with plenty of rest between each.

It is not essential for me to complete every session each week. It is a desired amount but completely flexible to how my body is feeling and how I manage my recovery. The rest periods between efforts in workouts is very important at this stage, to ensure I am not overdoing it but beginning to ingrain some good work into my nervous system.

It’s an exciting time!

For those fortunate enough to be training for the 70.3 World Champs, how are you going to prepare?

A Successful End To The Season

This past Sunday, March 16, I competed in the Portarlington Triathlon over a distance of 800 metre swim, 26km ride and 8km run.

My goal was to complete the race in 1 hour 25 minutes and finish 1^st, or at least on the podium.

It was a windy morning and I battled through the choppy swim in 13 minutes flat. I was aiming for 12 minutes but I was reasonably happy with this result.

I went through transition in good time as there is a long run after exiting the water. Competitors, essentially, have to run three full lengths of the transition area before reaching the bike mount line. Then I struck some trouble. Normally, I am brisk and smooth at jumping on my bike and getting my feet in my shoes quickly but there is a steep hill immediately after crossing the bike mount line.

I jumped on as normal but I was clumsy at getting my feet in my shoes first go and then immediately lost all of my forward momentum as I hit the up slope. I had to stop and I almost over balanced and fell off, just as many had already that morning. I took one shoe off the pedal, got my foot in the other one still fixed to the pedal and took off again. This cost me at least 30 seconds and was disappointing since I am usually one of the quickest in this part of any race.

I got over the short but steep hill and looked to make up for lost time on the subsequent downhill section along The Esplanade. It wasn’t long before I was into my rhythm, with my head down in my aero position.

Approximately, the first 13km of the bike course followed the coastline around to St. Leonards, which was assisted by a tailwind. Then, there was a right hand turn inland which took competitors into a head wind for about 5km before one more right hand turn onto Portarlington-Queenscliff Rd. This final 8km stretch was undulating with the added difficulty of a strong crosswind. I was really noticing the decline in my bike strength since the Geelong 70.3 race and the less bike training that followed. My legs felt more lethargic than expected and it showed in my bike time of 42.19 minutes.

I flew through the second transition out onto the run. The initial 200 metres includes a tough flight of stairs and then some more uphill terrain. After that, there is a predominantly downhill run to the turn-around point at 4kms. Of course, once the turn is made, it is a predominantly uphill run to the finish.

I was really happy with my run technique for the entire 8kms. Although, my legs didn’t begin to feel good until about the 3km mark, my stride turnover remained high for the whole distance and I felt really strong going back up the hill. My time for the 8km run was 30.20 minutes.

My finish time was 1 hour 28.32 minutes. This was enough to see me in 3^rd place and my first time on the podium in a triathlon. It was a very satisfying result and another step in the right direction towards greater future success.

Last Race For The Season

On Sunday March 16, I will do one final race for this season. It will be the iconic Port Arlington triathlon, which is in its 27^th or 28^th year, over the distance of 800m swim, 26km ride and 8km run.

I have done this race twice previously. On one of those occasions, I forgot to put on my timing chip and consequently didn’t register a finish time or placing. This time around, I will be looking to post a fast time and a first place finish.

I’m going to leave it all out on the course in Port Arlington. I will be very focused on my technique during the swim to limit my losses to the fast swimmers and when I get on the bike I will look to move into the lead. I have never lead a race in my life but I know I could easily make up one or two minutes lost in the swim during the bike portion. Once onto the run, I will focus heavily on my leg turnover. It is slightly downhill for 4 km before turning around and completing the final 4 km slightly uphill. A high turnover on the downhill will serve me well.

My aim will be an overall time of 1 hour 25 minutes. Swim about 12 minutes, ride 40 minutes and run 30 minutes. I believe this will see me at least in the top 3.

Since completing the Geelong 70.3 four weeks ago, I have focused on shorter training sessions with more speed work. However, I can feel the effects of a long season, which began in May of last year, when I started my build up for the Shepparton 70.3 race. Fortunately, after this race, I will be getting married and taking an amazing two week honeymoon. We’ll begin by doing a whirlwind 3 days in Singapore before going to Phuket, Thailand, to soak up the sun and chill out.

I will be relaxing as much as possible on the honeymoon and enjoying several massages, while spending hours with my beautiful wife doing absolutely nothing. I know my body is craving the rest and I won’t start my formal training again until at least a week after we return. It will be essential to rest as much as possible before beginning my build up to the 70.3 World Champs, which will be about a 4 and ½ month process.

The next 6 weeks is looking terrific and after all that excitement, I get to prepare for my biggest race to date.

Tell me, what is your next major race goal and how are you going to approach it?

Ironman 70.3 Geelong

What a day! The toughest race conditions I have ever seen which meant everyone’s, even the pro’s, times were significantly slower than what is normally achieved.

The Conditions – the day started at about 25 degrees and the wind was building. It was predicted to get well into the 30’s and the wind to reach upwards of 50km/h, which it did!

The Swim – The wind made the water very choppy and sighting became very difficult as it was hard to find any rhythm. I decided to take a line inside the marker buoys until reaching the turning point. Most of the marker buoys are a guide only and there were 3 main buoys which you must go around. I chose this in order to have my own water instead of battling all the other competitors. Also, I believed the current was pushing across the course slightly and I felt the initial distance to the first turning buoy would be made easier if I allowed the current to gradually move me in the direction of the buoy instead of fighting it all of the way there. This was a mistake. Once in the water, the water was basically moving straight towards shore and I didn’t get the assistance I was after which meant I ended up swimming a little further than I needed too.

After the first turn I was able to begin swimming a bit more fluently as I wasn’t going directly into the water chop. It was more comfortable but it was still a slow, hard slog around to the swim finish.

The Bike – I pushed through transition quickly and within the first 500m of riding, I could feel the effects of the strong wind as it battered me from the side initially and gave me a few wobbles.

I almost had a bike problem before the race even started as I had discovered during the days prior to the race, a strange noise coming from my front wheel. I tried adjusting the brakes, my speedo sensor and even the skewer but the noise still remained. After looking closer and feeling the wheel turn on its axle, it was obvious that there was a significant bearing issue. However, I only discovered this as I was checking in my bike at transition the day before the race. It was at this point when I realised that I hadn’t packed my spare wheels before leaving home and I always take them in case something like this happens. So, I had to borrow a front wheel from my mate, Rod. Fortunately, he had brought his spares along and he was kind enough to trust me with it.

Because of the new wheel, I wasn’t able to operate my speedo so I removed the computer form my headset but this wasn’t an issue because I had already decided to ride on feel alone and not worry about the numbers. This was an excellent choice as, in the past, I may have been disappointed when looking at my speedo and thinking I’m not doing well and then have a negative mindset from then on. Instead, I didn’t even look at my stopwatch the entire ride. All I wanted to do was ride as hard as I knew I could by staying in my aero position to limit the effect of the wind as much as possible. I remained focused throughout the whole 90km ride and felt stronger on the 2^nd lap, than I did on the first. However, the heat and wind would have the last laugh.

The temperature was rising but the wind made me feel dry. I didn’t know how much I was sweating but I drank a lot because my mouth was dry. I started with 2 x 750ml bottles with a mild electrolyte mix. Normally I would have one bottle an hour and top up with some water for the remaining part of the bike leg but I was finished my two bottles within 1 and ½ hours. I took on a bottle of water and went through that in the next half an hour. I got another one and that got me through to the end of the bike. There was an electrolyte drink available on course but I didn’t think I needed it because I had consumed all of my food equalling about 800 calories and my two bottles of electrolyte mix. Unfortunately, this didn’t satisfy my body’s need for more things like, sodium.

Because the wind was keeping my body fairly dry, I didn’t think I was sweating as much as I was. Therefore, I believed the amount of nutrition I had consumed was sufficient for my needs, and even when I was beginning to cramp in my quads I didn’t think it was a sign of a lack of nutrition. I took this as a sign of working hard on the bike and assumed my running legs would sort out this when I got on my feet again. How wrong I was.

I completed the 90km bike in 2 hours 32 minutes, which is 10 minutes below my PB from Shepparton but there were very few bikes back in transition which gave me a sense that I had performed very well on the bike. It turns out I had one of the top 40 bike splits for the day and only 16 minutes down on the professional winner Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander.

The Run – I was out onto the run at 3 hours and 12 minutes and my legs didn’t feel great but as the initial run out of transition is a steep ascent for about 200 metres, I wasn’t worried and thought I would find my run legs once it flattened out. This didn’t happen. I just did what I could and took little amounts of fluid at each drink station. My stomach felt full of water as I hadn’t absorbed much of what I had drunk through the lack of electrolytes.

Essentially, I was quite dehydrated and there was no way of getting my body back to where it needed to be if I was to continue running and hope to post a reasonable time. So, I just took in what fluid I could manage while running and tried to keep my body cool through putting ice in my top and water on my body. At no point did I feel light headed of jelly legged so I didn’t realise I was dehydrated. Instead, I thought my slow running was from hard bike riding and just the heat in general. In hindsight, there were many signs and I will now have a plan in place to prevent and combat this in future races. My eventual run time was 1 hour 47 minutes. About 20 minutes down on what I would’ve liked to do but it was all relative to the conditions on the day.

The Finish – I crossed the line in 4 hours 59 minutes and placed 11^th in my age group and 64^th overall. It 

was disappointing not to place much higher in my age group but there was still one thing left for the day that I was hopeful to succeed in. That was, gaining a qualification slot at the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mont-Tremblant, Canada.

The ‘Roll Down’ ceremony took place a few hours after I had finished the race and it was an anxious wait as they went through the female age groups first and then from oldest to youngest in the males. The ‘Roll Down’ process is that a total of 30 qualifying slots are allocated to the race and 15 each to males and females. They are then distributed amongst the age groups with a minimum of one per age group and then the rest are distributed to the larger age groups as a percentage of the total number of participants in that gender that it forms. This meant that my Male 25 – 29 category had 2 slots up for grabs. They then allocate the slots to the highest placed finishers in each category, who are in attendance at the ceremony. Only if you attend the ceremony can you accept a slot so you never know who is there and if you might just get a slot despite finishing down the list.

When it came to my group there were three of us hoping to get one of the two spots. When we went to the presenter to state our names for him to check his list and see who were the highest placed from us three, I was the highest. I couldn’t believe it. I was so relieved after missing out by so little at Shepparton.

I am going to a World Championships and I’m going there to win!! I am going to be more focused than ever and be in the best shape of my life so I can produce an incredible performance on September 7. I have looked at the course details and I believe it will suit me with a mostly flat ride with a few sharp climbs and an almost flat run course with just gradual up and down hill portions. It won’t be hot and it is a fresh water lake swim.

I have learnt so much from my race this season and I have a lot of new knowledge to take into my training for the next 6 months.

Tell me, what have you learnt from racing this past season?

Race Time – Geelong 70.3

Three days until my next attempt at reaching my first ever podium finish in a triathlon and a berth at the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championships.

The past two weeks have only been about 80% pleasing in terms of the training I have completed and how fit I feel from it but I have made some simple mistakes which have contributed highly to this.

The training I have missed has been minor but noticeable. Predominantly, this has been my long ride only being of 3 – 3 ½ hours instead of the desired 4 – 4 ½. This puts a little doubt in my mind about overall endurance and how fresh I am going to feel when I hit the run during the race. Also, I have not quite worked on all of the elements of my swim. I have not put any real time into working on my kick which was meant to be one area of focus throughout this build up.

There were also the bike mechanical problems I had. Two weeks ago I had my bike serviced and as soon as I got it home and began to ride, the SRAM Return-to-Centre gear lever for my rear derailleur wasn’t able to shift the gears in one direction. This is just one of those things that can’t be predicted when it will happen. General wear and tear is to blame, so, back I went to the shop. As this happened just before the Australia Day long weekend, it meant, getting a new set of levers was going to take extra-long. I didn’t have my race bike for a total of nine days which left me to grind out my bike sessions on my not so well maintained road bike. But, I pushed on and still had some decent sessions. When I got back on my time trial race bike I was very happy and had a terrific long ride on Saturday. This was my last big session before my taper and I did my best ever time up the 3km climb which I go up on my way to Gisborne. I hope this is a good omen for the undulating bike course at Geelong.

I am glad the race has finally come around. I have been anxiously waiting for it just so I will know if I qualify for the World Champs. By about 3:30pm on Sunday, my fate will be sealed at the qualification ‘Roll Down Ceremony’.

The forecast for Sunday is not looking pretty. 38 degrees and a northerly wind up to 45 km/h. The race starts between 7 – 7:30am and I will, hopefully, only be out there for about 4 hours 15 minutes so the heat shouldn’t hit me too hard and I’ve had plenty of chances recently to train for it. The wind doesn’t worry me too much either. On the bike, if you have a headwind one way then you will have a tail wind coming back. However, it’s the crosswinds that will play havoc. I feel prepared for that as I often battle the wind on my rides to Gisborne. Generally it is from the north-west which means head and crosswinds. Also, I think all of the strength work I have done riding in a big gear at a low cadence will prove a vital asset when battling the wind on Sunday.

My taper has been as good as I can remember for any race. I have only backed off during the final weeks before the race instead of gradually decreasing the training load over two weeks. I think this has left me feeling sharper and I don’t feel fatigued at all. I have taken two full rest days but one of them was due to twisting my ankle last Thursday while having a leisurely kick of soccer with my Dad. I was very sore for a couple of days and it doesn’t feel perfect but riding isn’t an issue at all and I can still run normally. It hurts a little still but nothing that will stop me from going my hardest on Sunday.

I have trained short and sharp on each of the past 4 days and will repeat this for each discipline tomorrow and Saturday. I have, also, had an excellent week diet wise. I have been overeating recently which has meant I am a couple of kilos heavier than I wanted to be for this race. But as I have decreased my calorie/carbohydrate intake significantly the past 4 days in preparation for my carbo-loading tomorrow and Saturday, I have dropped a kilo and realised what I should’ve been doing all along. I just wasn’t careful enough with my portion sizes and thought I needed it because I was training so hard. Still, it’s just another learning experience which I will benefit from greatly in the future.

I can’t wait for Sunday and you can track me online at http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/live.aspx and search for me in the ‘Athlete Tracker’. I am in the male 25-29 age group category.

And tell me, what is the most important thing you have learned while preparing for a big race?