Recently in Swimming Category

Base training done, speedy stuff next

That's 98 days of training done in preparation for the 2012 triathlon season, and so far so good. I've been testing again this week, and results were a bit weird on the running track (maybe too much coffee…) but the final 200m was the fastest I've ever run in that test, my 1000m swim time is only a handful of seconds off my personal best time of last year, and I pushed up my functional threshold power figure on the bike again this morning to a new all time best value. It's all looking good, but I'm feeling the strains of all this training and will have to be extra careful in the next blocks, as the intensity starts to go through the roof.

Training sessions for the next couple of months will be a mix of mostly very hard and very easy sessions. The risk here for me is in the running side of things again. I'm hoping to push on with speed work, but I don't know if my legs can handle it yet. My main aim must be to stay healthy over pushing too hard. Easier said than done!

Take a look at how my training has balanced out as I've been able to run regularly again. Here's the breakdown of time spent in each sport in the whole of my training and racing season for 2011:

And here's the breakdown of time spent in each sport in the first 3 blocks (roughly 3 months) of training for the 2012 season:

Very different!

Time spent in the gym (strength training) will ease off later this season, and you can see how run volume has pushed back bike volume a little. Let's hope this continues!

For fun let's compare this to my off season time:

I was really, really, really (no, really) tired at the beginning of this week and it took a few days to start to clear. I had the same issue at the same stage last year. Yowch, it's awful, and highlights the need for proper, full recovery weeks. Today and yesterday I've been feeling better, and felt pretty good on the bike today.

Next block, bring it on! My first race will be at the end of the next block at the Llanelli half-marathon. That'll be a test in itself!

Preppie

I'm into a second week of preparation work before training begins in earnest next week. All this means is that I'm "training" again after a period of 6 weeks of mucking about and doing what I felt like.

What I felt like turned out to be almost no swimming, bugger all cycling other than commuting to work and back, and slowly building up my three-times-a-week running back to 2 hours/week (and hopefully working out what biomechanical faults have been causing my running troubles). I've been in the gym regularly, which after the first week of delayed onset muscle soreness has been very pleasant. Mornings are definitely better in a university gym, as students have never been early starters.

I'm feeling more relaxed on the bike again, and enjoying the view (like the picture above). Getting back in the pool was, surprisingly, fine and my break away from it for the first time in probably 18 months has done me no harm. I'm moving through the water ok, and pace for effort is good.

Next week I begin building my endurance again and developing motor skills in the first of three largely aerobic base training blocks. I hope the cold of winter holds off for a bit.

Tendinopathy

I think my right Achilles (calcaneal) tendon has been sore pretty much since I started running again a few years ago. Well, probably after a while of building up my mileage anyway. It's nothing too nasty, and often only presents as a scratchy sensation a few cm above the tendon's insertion into the calcaneal bone, and stiffness in the morning when I get out of bed and walk downstairs. For most of the year I'm training fairly hard, and most of me is so stiff that this feels normal. Do most runners have these Achilles tendon niggles or is it just me?

Probably the most important thing is that it doesn't get any worse. Secondly, I rarely get any significant pain there. If I do get a sharp pain it feels like I have some adhesion within the tissue, and after the short burst of pain the whole thing softens up and feels great. That's quite different to the type of short, sharp pain that is followed by more debilitating pain and a refusal of the calf muscles to plantarflex the foot.

I stretch my calves and plantar fascia to limit the tension on the tendon, and more recently have used eccentric exercises (stand on your toes on one leg and lower slowly over the edge of a step, raise again using the other leg to assist, repeat for 10-15 reps and 2-3 sets) to good effect. This was recommended to me by orthopaedic colleagues, and the tendons usually feel much better after the first set alone. This is an exercise that actually gets easier, rather than harder.

After running the tendon is a little tender to poke and squeeze, but feels much happier after icing. It doesn't like being rubbed against the back of a shoe, which is common. Supportive running shoes are bad for this.

It is very likely that the cause of my Achilles tendon niggles are in my pelvis, or at the very least, are linked to it. The hip flexors of my right hip are tight, as is my quadratus lumborum muscle on that side. This year my gluteus muscles have been tight after running too. My left hip's abductor muscles are weak, relative to the other side. He-who-looks-after-my-legs has been insightful here, working out where the weak (or tight) links in the (posterior) chain are. So this year I've been stretching the muscles of my left hip, and strengthening them in the gym. With the other calf problems I've had this year it has been difficult to notice whether this has helped or not, but in preparation for next season this is an area I'm focussing on.

After Bala I quit stretching along with everything else. I've only been doing a little running: 3 times a week, 15-25 minutes for fun. Nonetheless my left Achilles tendon started to develop pain low in the posterior heel very near its insertion into the bone. Restarting my stretching and eccentric exercises has helped this tendon return almost to normal. I ran yesterday with no pain or other indicators of soreness on my left side. It's a little tender to prod, and was stiff this morning but it has definitely improved. N=1.

An observation here would be to tread carefully around the recent trend towards avoiding static stretching. There are good studies that show no change in incidence in injury between two groups of people (e.g. soldiers in boot camp) that stretch or don't stretch. There is also evidence that faster runners have tighter muscles. Static stretching will reduce the maximum force generation capability of a muscle for a period of time, so it's probably not a good thing to do before a race or a round of golf (warming up and mild range of movement motions are probably a good idea though). But in many cases stretching of muscles as part of a daily or weekly routine will still help you in preventing and recovering from certain injuries. It may or may not make you run or bike faster. If you are hips were more flexible how would that affect your aero position comfort and power output, and more importantly, your average race velocity?

The trick, as usual is to know yourself. Is your left side tighter than your right, or are you well balanced? You are developing a new pain that may become an injury - why? Is there something you can stretch to help prevent this? Or strengthen? What is the/your normal range of flexibility for that joint? A good physiotherapist or sports therapist can be invaluable in helping you work out what is going on. Stretching is still a useful part of your training regimen.

Links:

A systematic review into the efficacy of static stretching as part of a warm-up for the prevention of exercise-related injury.

Small K, Mc Naughton L, Matthews M.
Res Sports Med. 2008;16(3):213-31.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18785063

Stretching to prevent or reduce muscle soreness after exercise.

Herbert RD, de Noronha M, Kamper SJ.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Jul 6;(7):CD004577.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21735398

Peak Performance Online, Achilles Tendon: muscle structure and injury rehabilitation.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/achilles-tendon-muscle-structure-and-injury-rehabilitation-40869

Peak Performance Online, Running Economy: increased joint flexibility may damage your distance running performance.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/running-economy-increased-joint-flexibility-may-damage-your-distance-running-performance-94

Running Warehouse, Run like a Kenyan.

http://www.runningwarehouse.com/LearningCenter/TrainKenyan.html

A Partnership with Sunwise

I used to run to and from work alongside the river Taff when I was living in Cardiff. When I switched to cycling my optician noticed changes to my eyes and recommended that I start wearing glasses to protect them from dust, insects and drying. Sure, I used to wear glasses all the time when training, but I hadn't bothered just for my daily commute.

I had a look around for suitable glasses that wouldn't fog up (lots of rain in Wales), had different coloured lenses for different light conditions, and that looked pretty good and weren't daftly expensive. I tried a couple of brands but they weren't great. I tripped over a pair of Sunwise Twisters in a sale online, and ended up using them everyday for years.

I use my Twisters for running, cycling, racing (triathlon), driving and anything else. I've replaced the original lenses (reflective dark, brown, and yellow) with new ones, bought others (clear for night riding), and replaced the ear socks and the nose bits. I must be very attached to them. They're great for racing. Before the race you can always pick the right lens colour for the conditions. I've ripped them off my head with my helmet in transition and had to pick the bits up after the race. The bits always go back together, and scratched lenses are cheap to replace (but they're usually fine). There's no stress here.

So Sunwise were in the first group of companies I approached to ask for sponsorship for my 2012 race season. I already wear their glasses (I had 3 pairs) and recommend them to all that ask. Sunwise is a British company, something that I feel is particularly important to support right now. Happily they agreed, and Sunwise will provide me with sunglasses for training and racing for the next season. Good, eh?

So I get to try out lots of new Sunwise sunglasses, which you'll get to see & hear about. I'm loving the light reactive, polarised chromafusion lenses, something I haven't tried before. Cracking contrast. Some glasses make the world look better.

Go and visit the Sunwise website and see what they do.

The year of biking and swimming

This year I wanted to focus on biking and swimming in training, as my running was ok and I could make the greatest gains by improving my bike leg in triathlon. I needed to improve my swimming to give myself a chance of catching the leaders on the bike.

Looking at the year so far it has really been bike focussed, and that shows up again in my race results. Last year my bike split positions were way behind my finishing positions, but this year they're similar. I.e. if I finish 3rd overall, I also have the 2nd, 3rd or 4th fastest bike split of the day. Last year it may have been only the 10th or 12th fastest bike split and a finish of 5th or 6th overall.

Look at the hours spent in the pool though: 105hrs in the water vs only 66hrs of running. The running has really been inconsistent this year because of calf troubles (fingers crossed, touch wood, turn around 3 times & stroke a black cat: my calves seem to be getting stronger now) so that's really kept the volume down. Within those 66hrs there really isn't a lot of speed work either. Less time pounding pavement means more time pulling laps in the pool though.

I've knocked another 30 seconds off my pool 1000m time trial this year, and had a great swim at Windsor so my swimming is improving. It would improve faster if I swam with a club, or with a regular coach, but that's not possible given the scheduling of the rest of my life. I'd still like to get in the pool more often though. 6 swims a week may be a target for a portion of next year. I can still probably improve my triathlon results more by getting faster running than swimming, but my swimming needs to keep improving.

Overall I should have knocked out around 700 hours of training this year by December 31st. Hopefully the run volume will have come up a fair bit by then, but only if I'm healthy.