Notes : Peaking, Pushing, Pressure
Bringing Yourself to a Peak
Periodisation works on the basic concept that you can’t be “on” all the time. You need seasons. Coming into triathlon season it’s time to bring yourself to a peak. Physically and mentally. You have to dedicate yourself to the task. Physiological gains are not enough to be a true competitor. ….Eat well. Don’t miss sessions. Train with intent and focus. Show up ! Show yourself you mean business. Show others. Get to the race knowing you’re ready. Knowing you are truly fit. That’s going to take effort. Effort you’ll be glad you put in. We push now and get fitter and fitter. We stay on. We build each day towards something. Then we have a little reset and recovery season at Christmas and go again.
When Pushing Becomes Pressure
You push yourself every day. I see it. That’s what got you here. That’s what brought you to this sport. That’s what gave you this good life. These results. This career. But sooner or later it becomes a pressure to live up to your own standards. What if you’re not what you thought you were. You start to either dread the thought of a missed session or you go off the rails and lose many. Push or pressure …. what is that nagging feeling of unease inside you? Make sure it’s push and let the pressure subside. You are in control of the push. Pressure you are not.
Learn the Language
I want to encourage you to start learning the language of sports science. Learn what Vo2max actually means. Understand the concept of anaerobic threshold. Learn what LT1 and LT2 are and understand what’s actually happening at those turn points on your metabolic profile. Get a handle on the concept of FTP. What is a training zone and why do we use them? Once you start to understand these ingredients you can understand how they are used in the recipe of a training program. I will give a super quick primer below and we can take it from there.
Vo2max - the amount of oxygen your body can uptake and deliver to the muscles for the important process of energy production. Carbohydrate and fat are the fuel. Oxygen helps us burn that fuel in the mitochondria to produce the energy that powers your muscles.
Anaerobic Threshold - the point at which lactate production is equal with lactate combsution. This is the pace you can go for around 1 hour.
LT1 - the first upkick of lactate where your body starts to demand more carbohydrate for fuel as it moves away from fat use.
LT2 - the second uptick where lactate accumulation goes away from the combustion and production balance.
FTP - Functional Threshold Power - This is a training and racing tool developed to identify the power you can sustain for 1 hour (it’s actually more like 40min). A lot of the current training and racing models have come from this marker but it should be remembered it’s a number we can control according to the phase of our training.