Studying the Highs and Lows of a Season

by Russ Cox

The value of a good training diary was brought home to me recently when asked how I'd trained for my first ironman. Digging out an old paper diary I was surprised that my training differed so much from my recollection. It provided insight into what was core to ironman preparation and reshaped the year's schedule as a result.

When four-year-old training changes your outlook it emphasizes the value of analyzing the season just gone. Moving from pen and paper to spreadsheets and WKO made the process much easier; rather than deciphering my illegible scrawl, I have tables and charts to show me what did and didn't work. The principles remain the same, but with the Performance Management Chart (PMC), I have an immediate guide to the highs and lows of my year.

I'm not worried about the details -- that will come -- but I can see fitness growth, hard training camps, plateaus and all their impact on recovery. The trends in CTL, ATL and TSB mean nothing until I tie them to races. Was I recovered from those training camp? Did I allow enough time to taper? Once I consider the graph in terms of performance I see periods needing closer examination.

Here’s a look at my past year. Hopefully you’ll be able to apply my analysis of my own season in your personal season reviews. [You can click the image to expand it.]

Taking my PMC for 2010, I had four races with a mix of training between. The year started strongly with peaks and troughs before it unfortunately petered out on route to Kona. I assure you, Kona was the goal and the path didn't go to plan. The biggest question I have for the season is, “what could have got me there in better shape?”

It’s best to start at the beginning with that spike in ATL, the result of the Epic Camp experience riding the entire length of a country. It set my cycling up for the year, but all that work needed some serious recovery. Two weeks of monumental training followed by the same in recovery -- it was a good thing I had another month until Ironman New Zealand.

I saved my biggest dip in TSB for the middle of the year. A month long training camp in Lanzarote with fellow Epic Campers Steven Lord and Jo Carritt. I spent days chasing Steven's wheel around the island; I hadn’t trained that hard on the bike before. To prove extreme fatigue needs recovery, I raced the ironman at the end of the month. It had its moments, but I'll mostly remember it for how terrible the marathon felt. Lesson learned, a major push in CTL likely requires major recovery (and running on tired legs is no fun at all).

I value consistency and seeing the potential impact over-reaching has certainly makes me more cautious about using camps in the future. My build for the ITU Long Distance Worlds seems to prove the point, I didn't push as far and the result was a superb race day! This time I needed to consider the details because previously balanced training was replaced with a pure run focus.

Where January and May saw 80% of training load from cycling, July turned the tables. It takes a hell of a lot of running to push CTL up like that and in my opinion the PMC underestimates the impact of running. What looks more reasonable on the chart was the most draining training I did. I raced well from the fitness gains, but when I consider the recovery that followed the toll becomes clear.

Returning to the weeks following New Zealand, CTL dropped as I took time off, but what starts as two weeks recovery soon doubled in length. It wasn't long before I wondered if I'd ever return, perhaps I'd finally burnt myself out. In retrospect it was a much needed break; considering 2009 as well, I'd gone a long time without a break.

Once again a lesson in the importance of recovery -- long periods of training take a long time to get over. The final part of the lesson came at the bottom of the fitness dip. I fully expected to struggle back to fitness, but despite a month off the bike my performance hadn't declined. I speculated that while I lost fitness I also lost long held fatigue which had masked my capabilities.

There were clear indications that whilst huge volumes of training gave fitness, the fatigue the volume created undermined my performances. Unfortunately, as I started preparations for Kona, I'd yet to fully appreciate it. With hindsight as I review my season, I can really appreciate what my body was telling me.

Following the ITU race my expectations of a final push towards Kona were met with a complete loss of motivation. At the time I couldn't understand, but it must relate to the fatigue of the previous months. As my key race approached, that long period of hard training had pushed me into another extended recovery. In an odd way a calf injury at this point was my savior!

Without running, my CTL declined while I focused more energy into swimming and cycling. I wasn't peaking for Kona, I'd plateaued. I didn't have the race I wanted; not running for two months left me walking in the Energy Lab. Despite the disappointing end to the season and failure to perform I can still take away the lessons I've learned in the process.

Spreadsheets and performance managements charts can simplify the process, but the important thing is you take the time to assess your training and the results you achieved. Every year presents something new, I'm constantly learning and as I do my training evolves. Looking back over 2010 has told me I may need to do a bit less to achieve a lot more.

Russ is a full-time triathlete and endurance coach who has raced and trained around the world. His Trains, Travels blog focuses on endurance triathlon training from an athlete's perspective, covering topics such as nutrition, training, psychological preparation and what to do during taper and recovery. In his Endurance Corner column, Russ will be sharing some of the insights he's learned along the way.