Throwing out a few things that might be helpful to your training and racing ….
Lap Function
It can sometimes help, but generally I like the auto-lap fuction off. I prefer the well timed use of the lap button. It gives us specific data for a specific section. A great example would be a set of intervals in a long run. Hit the lap button at the start and finish of every interval and you can look at data for that specific section.
Wetsuits
I love using wetsuits in training. It’s a demand of our sport and doing the occssional session in. it helps you get the feel for the different body position, the reduced kick and the tightness around the shoulders. It also gives you some relatable data for an upcoming race. 2 sessions per month would be good.
Resilience and Discomfort
We train hard in this sport. The trouble is we get caught up in a trap of feeling like physiology is the only thing that matters. I see a lot of races in my job and whilst physiology is important, reslience and managing discomfort is just as critical. Train for it if you want to break through.
HPT had two athletes racing in Kona this year. Darren and Jonah both qualified at Busso last year doing races that weren’t their fastest or best. They had to be resilient mid race when it mattered and it paid off with 2 x Kona Q’S ! Suffering discomfort doesnt get us everything we want straight away but it takes us towards it!
Basic Nutrition
Eat like it matters, because it does. If your body doesnt have the energy it requires to do the work it will find a way to get you to do less work. Injury and illness spring to mind here. But so does reduced performance. Your body will slow you down so you dont give it too much work for the energy it has.
Challenges
If all I had to do was write a program life would be easy. Life isn’t like that. Challenges come at us thick and fast. If we give up, we have lost what we came here for. Growth and development. We have to find our way through those challenges.
Share the challenge. Reduced the mental load. Find a way around it. This year’s Kona qualifier (so far), Nathan, had a great race in Port Mac. Truth behind the scenes looked like 3 years that included 1 x ankle reconstruction, 2 bike crashes and a separated AC joint, and a gastro bug the night before Busso Ironman last year and subsequent DNF. That doesnt include moving house twice and having many peak working weeks delivering a key project at work. Safe to say our work was about getting through physically and re-establishing confidence. Then putting him back on a start line well equipped to do what we all know is possible.