Citius, Altius, Fortius

'Faster, Higher, Stronger' the Olympic moto and the name of my Blog, what's that got to do with this weeks thoughts? Well it sort of links in to how I am looking at my training this year. The picture for the last 3 years has been racing Ironman. During the preparation for each Ironman it has all been about preparing my body to endure a long day of racing. This is vital and must be number 1 priority for an athlete like myself, by that I mean an athlete who has just a finite training window each week due to work and family commitments. Each session is aimed at maximising success on race day. It is either a very brave athlete, very confident athlete or very experienced Ironman athlete that is prepared to play around with their training. For me most swimming sessions were long, steady sets, riding was mostly as long as possible, steady state/ submaximal and running was focused on steady 8min/mile or slower with great form. With the hours I had available to train I felt this was the most sensible approach and would give me the best possible chance of finishing my Ironman race as well as I possibly could, it's not the only way but it is where I found myself. I think it worked, I finished each Ironman, went faster at Switzerland than UK and then had a strong race throughout the day on the challenging Lanzarote course. This year however things are getting a bit more spicy.......

I am aiming to race predominantly Middle Distance Triathlons. I know I can complete the distance so it's all about doing so with as much speed as I can muster from my 8.5% body fat frame :) (I am sure it's shot up to 15% thanks to the Guys Fawkes goody bag and my lack of will power and over indulgence!!) This year as many sessions as possible will have an aim, and I will look to vary the aim of sessions from day to day or week to week. Now this sounds straight forward. I have many years of training experience, I have a Sports Science Degree, I teach training principles and I am surrounded by very knowledgeable people......but I reality of change and is quite tough. I am quite motivated by miles in my training diary, comparisons between years for training hours and such like volume related goals. See my keenness to complete the 1000mile May challenge, great for an Ironman athlete, but a direction I have to move away from this year. It is a new direction I am looking forward to moving in and so far I have resisted the invitation from Tom to join him in early August for the 'Outlaw Ironman Triathlon'

So what sort of stuff will I be looking to do. Let me start with swimming. "Hey Ben it's 6 months before your first race, surely it's way too soon to start swimming"? No not this year, I am going to swim through the winter, and I am going to swim properly through the winter. I am going to focus on my technique, I am going to try and bring my continuous swim 100m time down from 1.45's to 1.30's. I am going to swim shorter sets, and I am going to test myself with the added motivation found in the form of the Winter Swim Challenge.

As always my bike training will be consistent courtesy of my daily commute to work. However I am looking at a different approach to my cycling for at least the next few months. I have lowered the gearing on my fixed wheel, I have challenged myself to stay out of the BIG ring on my road bike and I am looking to train at a much higher cadence and improve my pedalling efficiency. I have also realised that my long ride on a Thursday is not all about spending as long as possible out on the bike, aka last few years Ironman training mode. I intend to mix up my Thursday rides. Riding between 1 1/2 and 3 hrs but throwing in some higher tempo intervals mid ride, hard hill repeats, shorter max efforts etc etc. My rides to and from work will also vary, some days 1 min on 1 min off or timed efforts between set points. I might not record many really long rides in the next few months, and I may find I don't tot up as many miles of riding next year, but more riding variety and quality is the song I am dancing to this season.

Running is all about gaining my long lost friend 'Mr Speed'. In 2000 I ran a 17.51 5k on the track, a 37.30 10k and 62.30 10 miler. OK I am 10 years older and may have lost a few fast twitch muscle fibres, but I should be capable of running faster. I am slowly distancing myself from the slow plodding style (great for Ironman racing) and have realised that to do so I need to hurt more when I run. Intervals, short hill repeats, more racing and generally more frequency of running will I am sure bring my fast twitch fibres out of retirement and allow me to see low 7's and 6min/mile splits frequently on my Garmin. I am no longer fearful of running 26.2 miles, and hence have changed my perspective on my run training. So far so good, as I am really pleased with my performances at The Harewood Off Road 10 miler, Sherwood Pines Off Road 10k and the Guy Fawkes 10 miler. I have more races planned and some tough training sessions to do.

I think realistically I can fit in between 8 and 12 hours a week training. This is of course dependent on my work load at school and my energy levels. This sort of time, spent training like I did last year would see me maintain my fitness and consolidate my present bike and run speed, however this amount of time spent at a variety of running speeds, biking speeds and heart rate intensities will I have no doubt see me come out of the winter with more power and speed. As for my swimming watch this space, I can already feel a strange like skin growing between my toes!!!!

Finally motivation, without it the winter is hard. I am surrounded by very motivated people and love the fact that through Twitter and various other means I can influence others and be exposed to their positive influences. I know I have been a great source of motivation for an ex-pupil of mine in the past, now he is also adding to my motivation armoury. Dane Mitchell is a black belt in Judo and this year has delayed his University application to pursue his goal of completing in the 2012 Olympics. I have been training with Dane helping him pack on some muscle to take him towards his 81kg weight limit. (Oh to be 18 again and overflowing with Testosterone and HGH he just looks at the weights and develops) A few weeks back he took bronze in the National Championships and is now firmly in the GB squad. On Sunday he was put through his paces at a GB squad fitness testing session at the EIS at Sheffield. In his group he won every test. He reached level 13.8 in the bleep test (bare footed on a Judo mat) sick on completion due to the level he pushed himself to, he completed level 17 on the press-up test. Start with 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 all way up to 17 (total 153 press-ups) as well as topping the group in a power test, flexibility and various other tests. He is well on his way, and whilst I cannot bench press as much as him anymore I am still doing a regular training session with him, taking inspiration and motivation from his attitude, performance and drive.

This time next week I will be reflecting on a solid training week including variety and a further move away from Ironman training and a move towards training for Middle Distance Speed Performance.......'Citius, Altius, Fortius'

p.s. this weeks picture my DS Racers, built for Speed :)