The Journey So Far

It has been a huge learning curve for me over the past 5 months as I have trained for the race in Shepparton. It started after I returned from an amazing European holiday which began just 4 weeks after I completed the Melbourne Ironman. This meant I started my build off the back of a two month break. I was certainly a long way from the fitness I had a few months earlier but I think that was a blessing in a way. It has allowed me to do a proper preparation for a specific event and let me learn how to build a program for such a long period of time.

I wrote my program for the entire 6 months in advance. This contained the work that I wanted to achieve and what I thought would get me where I wanted to be at the end of it. However, I exercised flexibility within this as I knew things can easily change as I progress or I may have set backs. I made changes along the way as I discovered areas that were lacking and how I felt I should address them.

One of the most significant changes I made was in my swimming. After about 3 months of doing the same old things and thinking I just had to get stronger doing long efforts, it was obvious I wasn’t getting the improvement I needed. So, I got some advice and started scheduling sessions that didn’t exceed 3km in total. I was now devoting one session to strength using paddles for most of the work, one session to race pace using a series of 100 metre efforts and one session for higher speed training with a series of 50 metre efforts. This saw, almost, immediate results. I became stronger in my technique, I was sitting higher in the water, my arm turnover had become faster and my kick was now providing much greater effectiveness. I continued with these sessions until this week where I have now added an extra kilometre to each session by performing extra intervals during each workout. For example, during my Wednesday swim, I performed 30 x 100 metres instead of 20. I even did the first 10 with less rest than previous while maintaining my desired splits in the low 1:30s/100m.

Another major change I have made to my training has been my mental approach. I have developed my psychological strength during training but, also, away from training which has been reflected in my diet and my ability to make more use of my time in order to fit in my training.

The benefits I have seen with my added mental strength have been incredible. In the past, I have never pushed myself properly in the pool but things didn’t start improving until I really tested my body. The process of setting a target for any single session and sticking to it, making sure I kept at it when my arms were about to fall off, has all come from psychological improvements. I now have a better indication of how much further I can take it.

My mental ability to focus on the goals of any particular session and ensure correct form is used throughout has pleased me greatly. This has been put to great effect in bike sessions performed on my indoor trainer, where I have focussed on single-leg work, pedal stroke balance and tough sessions using a big gear. Also, my running has benefited by ensuring consistency in both long runs and hard interval workouts, particularly, on the treadmill while doing very high speed efforts. If I was to lose focus on the treadmill I would fall off.

My mind was tested a lot during the first 3 months as I was finding it difficult to gain fitness as quickly as expected and I was experiencing issues with my hips, knees and ankles mainly when running. It seemed, after being far less active for those two months and spending a lot of time sitting on a bus or plane in transit, my body needed extra time to sort itself out upon returning to training. This meant having many frustrating run sessions, initially, until I figured out what my body could manage while getting in adequate mileage. After 3 months, my knees, ankles and hips were feeling much better and accustomed to more strenuous work. 

Weight training to strengthen all of these areas played a big role in this process but if I didn’t maintain a firm focus on the overall picture and the end goal, I wouldn’t be in such a good position right now.

I got my body strong and settled after the first 3 months and then started to put in some bigger, more specific work across all disciplines. I swam more freestyle with real purpose instead of doing easier breaststroke and backstroke laps of the pool. I did some big gear and hard hill work on the bike and began honing a solid race pace and technique on the run. My volume increased across the board and I designated 3 specific sessions to each discipline that needed to be completed each week. Getting 3 specific sessions done on each discipline now provides me with enough mileage and race preparation work. I then through in one or two strength/weights/core sessions around them and some short, light bike or run sessions, if possible.

I have found the routine which works for me and it feels amazing. Knowing what I am doing each day and feeling appropriately fresh from having the right amount of time between key sessions is allowing me to get into the best condition of my life.