Another month, another new location - out of london again and a pretty outstanding set -up for a pair of broke triathletes! We were asked/invited to house sit for a friend of Steven's; Roger is a relatively new convert to ironman, but after a a few pretty solid performances and then, i suspect slightly to his own surprise, qualifiying easily for his Kona slot at IMNZ 2009, which is where the two off them met, really gave him some focus. He is now gunning for a podium at Kona this year. Based on his personality type, clear ability and how he approaches training (and his busy , high-acheiving life in general), i have no doubts that he will be on that start line with an excellent chance of doing so.
On tuesday he and i went together for a long run - for me that's anything over 2hrs, though for Roger, who runs a 26 mile route each week, I'm not sure that it would quite qualify. But he had a busy day arranged and so 2 hrs was good for him too. we set off, at about 4:45/km pace, chatting. After a mile or so , there was no slowing in either his conversation or the pace. I had to bring it up - Roger, this is a tad fast. When I head out for a long run, i just don't worry about the pace...but with the help of my Garmin i know that it'll be around 6-6:20min/km, my heartrate rarely exceeding 130BPM, which is comfortably within my 'easy aerobic' range. Now, Roger tells me that all of his running is at race pace, or at least AeT Hr - which equates to sub 5/km, over 3hrs! Admittedly Roger is a lot more time - limted than me, and does fewer run workouts each week, but it really is quite a diffrent training approach. We've had similar race results and aspirations for the marathon, and having come to a compriminse which resulted in a pace of around 5:10/km and my average Hr at 140 - closer to the top of my aerobic zone, i am now wondering about pacing up my long runs. it' s clearly not a great stretch for me - i was still able to maintain converstaion at this pace and trained well the following day....so i am seeing yet another area where i could really be putting in a bit more effort!
After this run, Roger ate, did a few things in the office then set off for a ride with Steven whilst i rested, settled into the house that we'd be staying in and got to know his wife and the house keeping staff. Yes, the house keeping staff. As it turns out, our house-sitting duties are minimal; the deal being far more of a generous offer of temporary accommodation than a requirement for pet care. That is luxury temporary accommodation by the way -it is a beautiful old country manor house with extensive grounds, very close to Rutland water which is were the Vitruvian take place. There are more rooms than i have yet had time t to explore, and am sure that many of them are never used, but when all of the 4 kids are around the place is a madhouse - the life centre being the large kitchen complete with Aga and bleached wooden work surfaces.
What i am enjoying most about this is the wonderful vegetable garden and fruit orchards. Currently producing carrots, courgette, beetroot, cabbage, onion, beens, leek, tomatoes, rhubarb, spuds, and cooking apples. Apricots, plums, nectarines apples and pears are about to come ripe too. It's wonderful being able to wander around the gardens and collect dinner - and makes me realise that this is the sort of lifestyle that would make me feel very content. Not the huge house, in fact that freaks me a bit, but i mean the self sufficient, or at least partially so, way of living. its about having an understanding of the environment, where we fit in and how to make use of what is freely available to us, with a little effort. Admittedly its easy to say this when someone else has done all the hard work and i'm just pulling it out the ground, washing and cooking it! Anyway, i'm feeling good because i 'm feeling very healthy (also quite flatulent) for all this fresh, organic food. As we speak i have a carrot and beetroot cake in the oven.
Today i raced the BigCow Olympic distance tri at Milton Keynes. Always been my favourite oly race and fro the years that i was captain of tri London tried to arrange for our club champs to be held there. aside from being a super quick (it's almost certainly short in all 3 parts!) the organization is great and remains totally approachable and human , unlike many of the other 'big' races on the calendar. Since i had some vouchers for a free entry to use up, i entered it as a means to kick start my racing form and a bit of fun with my sister and a few club mates. Lotte's running is really coming on well - i was half and half pleased that she ran 7 seconds faster than me today. in fact i was a little depressed that having come off the bike in 3rd place 45 seconds behind the leaders, i was loosing ground to them during the run. but steven pointed out that these were seriously fast girls and i'm just not in that league anymore over this distance. it was a painful 39 min for this old diesel engine! however i was pleased with my swim, which i really pushed from the start and found myself pushing between single swimmers trailing the lead 3 or 4 exiting teh water in 21 1/2 min ( gotta be short!) . the bike was a bit frustrating as, like teh run i felt i was lacking that top-end mentality. There were spells of agonizing, leg burning lung busting effort, which is what gets you teh bike splits you want in an Oly, but these were interspersed with spells where i found myself tapping along in auto singing Nina Simone tunes - maybe a jazz soundtrack works for Ironman but its hardly appropriate level of effort for 40k TT! but with a finish time of 2:12 ( 3min off my Course PB) and 3rd place awarded with very generous prizes and home in time for a cool down ride and teh tour aint bad.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Monday, 13 July 2009
balance
with so many factors that effect our ability to perform well on a day to day basis, it's easy to focus on those which are most obviously directly related to 'end result' and overlook the more subtle influences which may be just as important. the more obvious influences are generally the easiest to deal with. perhaps not the simplest to 'solve' - in fact there may be no absolute solution - but their straight-forward and tangeable nature allows us to identify, justify make steps to recify.
this can be applied across all types of work/pursuit but is probably a bit vague, so i'll be less general and speak specifically about my own situation, since i have found the balance is far more crucial since the start of life as a full time triathlete.
now, performance on a day to day basis equates to executing and enjoying good quality training - which, with consistency will improve my overall athletic performance and enable me to achieve my racing and, eventually, career goals.
the most obviously related external factors influencing my performance are energy intake, sleep/recovery, and available time/general stress levels. the first and second of these seem the most straight forward; an imbalance is easy to identify and adress, though it is complicated by the impact on sleep/recovery aspect that getting the third part right may have.
This third part is a far greater challenge, with secondary factors coming into play such as keeping on top of correspondence and various coaching/writing projects, keeping on top of bike/kit maintenance and domestic tasks, giving sufficient attention to steven to keep our relationship healthy, and staying in touch with the other important people in my life. All of which are important to me. They may also be sources of stress in themselves (and I am often criticized for taking too much on and not giving myself enough time to relax) - but necessary in order to create the balanced environment which in my opinion is the MAIN factor which influences my day-to-day performance.
i've learned that emotional discord is detrimental to my training - i find it too distracting, it removes my focus and motivation and it can actually feel physically exhausting. not to mention the impact on sleep, which of course contributes further to the problem. An example is anxiety about finance. Now, i don't consider myself to be especially materialistic, am comfortable living on a tight budget and also lucky enough to be well looked after by steven and my family. However without a regular income of my own i have a tendency to feel a little insecure on this front from time to time. so, whilst to those around me it may seem that i'm expending a disproportionate amount of time/effort on ventures which may (or may not!) provide income, besides the fact that they are things i'm interested in anyway, i feel that in the long-term these efforts are worthwhile for my own sense of security. its all about balance. too much time spent this way and training hours are compromised it becomes a source of stress.
another is harmony within a relationship. obviously i wont go into this too much, but whilst it may be more efficient, too much time head-down getting on with one's own training and working schedule allows insufficient attention to each other's daily life frequently leads to diary clashes, periods of barely crossed paths and feelings of neglect and tension within the home. hardly a relaxing environment, and another source of emotional discord and distraction - so it pays to invest more time to shared domestic details and living life as a couple.
getting the level of obsession/control in balance is another key. there are certain lifestyle factors which undoubtedly improve performance - getting enough sleep, eating healthily, avoiding alcohol, caffeine and other toxins, keeping the weight down, regular stretching & massage. and i found all of these things really easy to control whilst working a day job - it fitted with the highly structured and disciplined regime that was necessary to train 25hrs a week around a 35hour role as an engineer. As a lifestyle i doubt that i could have sustained it for another year - however, the 35-45 hours a week that i was NOT a triathlete gave me sufficient reprise from the obsession that i was able to keep my sanity and enjoyment of the sport despite these lifestyle sacrifices. these days though there is no paralell life as an engineer - i am a triathlete in training 24/7. of course this lends powerful potential for absolute control, the ultimate absorbtion of training - but could i handle it?? again, i'm finding that there is a balance which works for me. too much control and concern and life suddenly gets very dull indeed...not enough and i begin to feel chemically imbalanced, which effects my mood and motivation. so there are times when despite questionable need to with all of the training i'm getting in , i feel the need to draw in the reigns and cut the treats.
by the tone of this post you may detect that i am in a somewhat thoughtful mood. to be quite honest i've recently been feeling very depressed...and this post comes out of the process of figuring out the source of this low mood, and enabling me to correct the balance.
this can be applied across all types of work/pursuit but is probably a bit vague, so i'll be less general and speak specifically about my own situation, since i have found the balance is far more crucial since the start of life as a full time triathlete.
now, performance on a day to day basis equates to executing and enjoying good quality training - which, with consistency will improve my overall athletic performance and enable me to achieve my racing and, eventually, career goals.
the most obviously related external factors influencing my performance are energy intake, sleep/recovery, and available time/general stress levels. the first and second of these seem the most straight forward; an imbalance is easy to identify and adress, though it is complicated by the impact on sleep/recovery aspect that getting the third part right may have.
This third part is a far greater challenge, with secondary factors coming into play such as keeping on top of correspondence and various coaching/writing projects, keeping on top of bike/kit maintenance and domestic tasks, giving sufficient attention to steven to keep our relationship healthy, and staying in touch with the other important people in my life. All of which are important to me. They may also be sources of stress in themselves (and I am often criticized for taking too much on and not giving myself enough time to relax) - but necessary in order to create the balanced environment which in my opinion is the MAIN factor which influences my day-to-day performance.
i've learned that emotional discord is detrimental to my training - i find it too distracting, it removes my focus and motivation and it can actually feel physically exhausting. not to mention the impact on sleep, which of course contributes further to the problem. An example is anxiety about finance. Now, i don't consider myself to be especially materialistic, am comfortable living on a tight budget and also lucky enough to be well looked after by steven and my family. However without a regular income of my own i have a tendency to feel a little insecure on this front from time to time. so, whilst to those around me it may seem that i'm expending a disproportionate amount of time/effort on ventures which may (or may not!) provide income, besides the fact that they are things i'm interested in anyway, i feel that in the long-term these efforts are worthwhile for my own sense of security. its all about balance. too much time spent this way and training hours are compromised it becomes a source of stress.
another is harmony within a relationship. obviously i wont go into this too much, but whilst it may be more efficient, too much time head-down getting on with one's own training and working schedule allows insufficient attention to each other's daily life frequently leads to diary clashes, periods of barely crossed paths and feelings of neglect and tension within the home. hardly a relaxing environment, and another source of emotional discord and distraction - so it pays to invest more time to shared domestic details and living life as a couple.
getting the level of obsession/control in balance is another key. there are certain lifestyle factors which undoubtedly improve performance - getting enough sleep, eating healthily, avoiding alcohol, caffeine and other toxins, keeping the weight down, regular stretching & massage. and i found all of these things really easy to control whilst working a day job - it fitted with the highly structured and disciplined regime that was necessary to train 25hrs a week around a 35hour role as an engineer. As a lifestyle i doubt that i could have sustained it for another year - however, the 35-45 hours a week that i was NOT a triathlete gave me sufficient reprise from the obsession that i was able to keep my sanity and enjoyment of the sport despite these lifestyle sacrifices. these days though there is no paralell life as an engineer - i am a triathlete in training 24/7. of course this lends powerful potential for absolute control, the ultimate absorbtion of training - but could i handle it?? again, i'm finding that there is a balance which works for me. too much control and concern and life suddenly gets very dull indeed...not enough and i begin to feel chemically imbalanced, which effects my mood and motivation. so there are times when despite questionable need to with all of the training i'm getting in , i feel the need to draw in the reigns and cut the treats.
by the tone of this post you may detect that i am in a somewhat thoughtful mood. to be quite honest i've recently been feeling very depressed...and this post comes out of the process of figuring out the source of this low mood, and enabling me to correct the balance.
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