by Jan Hugo Svendsen

[Editor's note: Jan Hugo Svendsen recently finished second in the inaugural Ultraman UK after putting in some unique focused work throughout the year. Here, he shares an overview of his general approach to training and his build into the event. In keeping with our “What it Takes to Be Fast” theme for the month, remember that Jan is an example of the competition at the pointy end of the field.]

I typically roll a consistent training season with a series of “Colting camps.” This year I also spent a week at Tenerife in the Canary Islands and added a final block in Boulder leading into Ultraman UK. Since I live above the polar circle the winter can be tough with me when it comes to training.

This year I did my normal swim camp in December with Jonas Colting in Sweden. I get a ton of inspiration from the Swede to keep it going when I head back to the darkness in Norway.

The week in Tenerife was focused on getting a tan and lifting my energy level while rolling my normal base week with a touch more volume on the bike. A week like this always gives me more energy to cope with the last part of the winter when back home. I have never had so few zeroes as this winter after spending that time in the sun.

In May I went south to Colting again. I left with five new days of balanced training in my body and a new dose of inspiration. This camp marked my first real “effort” for the year -- long rides, big but balanced training.

Turning Pro for Three Months
In June I left my family and work obligations to head to Boulder, Colorado, for the final block of preparations before Ultraman UK.

I essentially turned professional for three months -- the purpose was to eliminate life stress so I could focus on endless training and recovery. When I was in Boulder, someone asked me, “What are you doing except training?”

My answer: “Nothing, there is no time for anything more.”

This block lifted my fitness to a new level. With more than 300 hour and with days were I slept more than 16 hours to survive I had plenty to fill my time. This would not have been possible to do in my normal life back home.

In addition to putting in consistent big work for months, three key components in this block were:

1. EC Boulder camp in late June
2. A race simulation week side-by-side with Gordo
3. EC Colorado Climbing Camp in August

Gordo started me up pretty easy when I arrived Boulder and I was worried about not doing enough the first few weeks in Boulder. The first time he exposed me to group training was at the June EC summer camp. It was nothing too crazy but was still a solid week.

In my race simulation week I tuned in my pre- and post-race meals and all nutrition in all three sports. I learned more about training over that one week side-by-side with Gordo than I have done over my last three years with EC. I also got a lot of value from the mistakes I did over the week; both blowing up and experiencing real dehydration. I learned a ton about myself during the tough times when things turned epic over the course of the week:

• We tuned in my pace and distribution of power to race an event like Ultraman.
• We created my own nutrition blend with Infinit after the week consulting Michael Folan at Infinit. For first time ever when racing there was no issues with my stomach and my blend worked perfectly for 23 hours of racing.
• We crafted a recovery strategy for daily post-training so that I’d be able to back up the work and back up the racing day-after-day at Ultraman.

After the race simulation week and with only six days to recover I went into EC Colorado Climbing Camp. Every day I “raced” both the other guys and myself. The purpose was to give me an extra card to play in UK during the race through building the confidence about my capacity to bounce back after day 1 and 2. It also lifted my fitness to a new level. I remember Justin Daerr saying to me, “Jan, you have to learn how to win,” when I was second to the top of Loveland pass. There is a lot of value in those words and from my point of view I won a second place in UK with the lesson JD gave me that day.

My base week while in Boulder:
Monday: Long run day, strength and masters swim
Tuesday: Open water swim, short run and bike
Wednesday: Long swim day
Thursday: Open water swim, short run and bike
Friday: Strength, masters swim and short run
Saturday: Masters swim, long bike and transition run
Sunday: Masters swim, medium bike and transition run

Over my last month Gordo had to tune my days since I was very tired. Some days I slept 13 hours straight plus a two to three hour nap on top of that.

The second last week leading up to the race was mellow. Also for the last week we kept the training going but a lot easier with a faster brick 3 days out of the race.

I raced with 82kg and a fat percent of 5%. (Sorry coach, I scaled myself again).

The race was a big success and I am forever thankful for what Gordo and his team have done for me. With EC’s guidance I put in a huge load over the year, especially in the last few months building to the race, but it’s what I needed to do to get on the podium.