Time in the seat, Time on your feet
"This is all about he or she who slows down the least, and to that end the key training point is time on feet".
Quoted from the Global Extreme Triathlon 'Training Guide to Extreme Triathlon'
There are 16 weeks to go to Celtman. Or, actually, 16 weeks and 3 days. Every time I open up my Training Peaks app, there it is...
How to deal with it?
Well, this is where the 'time in the seat, time on your feet' comes in. When I was coaching sea kayaking, I used to quite often have to explain to people that to get better took 'time in the seat'. Time out there, doing it, trying things, getting things wrong, then gradually getting them right.
Of course, it's tempting as race day gets gradually closer to have a look at what others are doing. Strava, Facebook, Garmin... all show me the amazing sessions other Celtman entrants are totting up. It's far too easy to get sucked in to feeling a bit inadequate with all of that in mind; Comparison is certainly the 'thief of joy'.
So I need to keep in mind that we're all different. Some folk training for Celtman or another XTri event will be younger, some older, some will live in flat places and struggle to find mountainous terrain or cold water to train in, some will live in snowier places and struggle to train outside.
For me, the challenges come in a few forms: I'm heavy, 48 years old, and lopsided (my right leg is 33mm shorter than my left). I work shifts, both Mark and I had Covid after Christmas, and very sadly we had a death in the family before Christmas.
Phew, that's that bit done. At the end of the day then, I have to get me and all my challenges over that T2A cut-off line on June 15th. The biggest leveller.
So how to deal with them?
Being heavy means I'm slow - so I'm trying to be realistic about my goals. A phrase comes to mind that Ian Stewart of Trail Running Scotland used when I consulted him about my training plans. He said 'You need to work with the body you've got'. He's right: there's no point me trying to train like a bloke, or like a thinner or younger woman. I need to train, and more importantly recover, like Me. I need to work on efficiency over the terrain (or through it, in the case of the swim), and efficiency in moving from one discipline to the next. Being organised and efficient, wasting as little physical and mental energy as possible, either in training or on race day, will be what gets me over that line.
My kit has to work for my body, and to that end I recently asked Alan Cardwell of Triathlonworx for advice on my bike setup, to try and prevent fatigue on long rides when using my Tri bars. He gave me plenty to think about, and I'm in the process of implementing what he suggested. I'll be able to test it later this week. Thanks Alan!
The whole journey to June 15th is becoming a balancing act of 'just enough'. Just enough mileage to get me there, not too much that I'm too fatigued, or not enough so that I don't make it. Just enough recovery to be able to train just enough... Just enough swimming to allow enough time for bike and run, and vice versa with each of the others. Adding in walking, strength training, just enough to complement everything else; enough walking in the run to sustain me to the end, enough running that I'll be fast enough over the ground.
So my focus for the next few weeks will be 'Goldilocks'. Not too much, not too little... just enough. There are a multitude of ways to gauge what 'just enough' means each day: Training Peaks, Strava, Garmin, HRV, Resting Heart rate... but in reality the best way is by asking myself 'How do I feel?'. Not always an easy question to answer!
I have to learn to ignore those feelings that come from looking at other folks' training and remember... this is my finish line, no-one else's.
If I can get plenty of Time in the Seat (on my bike) and time on my feet (run or walk), plus time in the water, I will make it to my number one goal: get to the start line with the belief that I can make it to the end.
Comments
Post a Comment