The Base Period

I started training for IronMan Switzerland 2010 on November 1st 2009. Since then, I’ve been working through the base period.

The sports science concept of periodisation says that each competitive year is broken into different stages, each with different aims, levels and intensities. Each of these periods are themselves broken into progressions and rest weeks. A rest week is generally done at half the volume of the previous weeks at a higher intensity. This formula is used maxamise the body’s adaptation (eg. improvement) to the stress of training.

And so my training program for Switzerland is broken up into a few segments.

1. Base Period 1 (November ‘09 – January ‘10)
2. Base Period 2 (February ‘10 – April)
3. The Build Period (May – June)
4. Peak (June –July)
5. Taper (3rd Week of July)

The last few months – November to the end of January have been Base1. The best way to describe it is the grunt work you do to get you to the start of what you’d imagine training for an IM implies – a lot of swimming, running and cycling.

I’ve been concentrating on two things:

Strength and Conditioning; and Swimming. I attended a sports coaching seminar about 6 months ago and the biggest impression on me was made by the UK Olympic Strength and Conditioning coach. He emphasised the importance of S&C - to get a proper muscular structure in place before pushing it with training. In the elite world, he said it's the difference between retiring at 30 with arthritic knees and retiring at 35 with (almost) perfect health. Other reading has reflected this and so from November, I've been putting in 3-4 sessions in the gym a week. I put together a weights program between this program and information from Going Long - Training for IronMan Distance Triathlons (Joe Friel & Gorden Byrn). It consisted of Leg Press, Leg extensions, Calf Raises, Lat Pull Downs, Hamstring Curls and Core. Lots and lots of core.

The other thing I've been working away at was my swimming. I'm a strong enough cyclist and I didn't think building up significant miles running so early was a good idea so swimming seemed the obvious candidate to work on. I wasn't a particularly strong swimmer for the last two years. Although I didn't have a problem with the distances for shorter triathlons, one or two training sessions with Belpark Triathlon Club showed me how far I was behind. There's nothing quite like the feeling that you're holding up people in the slow lane to let you know you need to work at something. I've worked on two things. In order of importance: efficiency and endurance. Upon reading Going Long, I was surprised to see so much written about technique. Surely, it's assumed you know the basics of swimming if you're thinking about an IronMan, I thought. Not so! I guess it makes sense when you think about it - learn how to do one stroke with perfect efficiency and then repeat about 3400 times for the IM swim. So I went back to the basics: Getting higher in the water. Developing a stronger kick. Eliminating sideways hip movement which creates unnecessary drag. Turning to the side while breathing rather than an exaggerated turn to look backwards.. The advice of a swimming coach (Tony Morris) was invaluable in pointing out all of these mistakes, it's made a huge difference. I'm still in the slow lane with Belpark but with aspirations of moving up in the world. After the winter, I would guess I'm about 30% quicker in the water, by a mix of effeciency gains and strength.

I've been working on running and cycling also, just with less emphesis. This is what the last four months have looked like, time wise:

I've been substituting in a lot of other sports for sessions over the last few months too - to keep things fresh. The snow this winter has provided plenty of winter mountaineering, which couldn't be ignored. There's been climbing, mountain biking, Ju Jitsu, hurling and rafting also. These are good for general conditioning, mental toughness (possibly the biggest requirement for an IM) as well as the craic.

Most of the swim and gym sessions, I’ve done in the morning. I find it a lot easier to squeeze them in in the morning, especially if there’s a run scheduled for the evening. In general also though, it just leaves time for other things.

Over all, two things have been hard about the last 3 months. Getting up in the dark to cycle the 10km to the gym and the fact that some of the weather has, at times, been absolutely horrible. I’m not talking about the snow and ice, that was a joy (although it made cycling impossible on anything but a 2” tire mountain bike). It’s the rain and wind, mixed with cold that have made some cycles rather testing. However, the law of contrast applies. “The Good thing about bad things..” – when better weather comes along, it’ll seem so pleasant, anything will seem possible! Right?

Base1 complete.