Catch up

It’s been a while since we had no open races on the weekend but that didn’t hold us back from a strong weekend of training - despite the less than ideal Saturday morning weather. I was happy with everyone’s ability to adapt via the trainer or the long ride / run swap.

Race Blocks

The weather is still chilly but the races are rushing at us now. I wrote about having a Race Preparation Plan in the Friday Newsletter last week. We have Race Plans but I love to also have a preparation. plan where you identify the key elements that should be part of the race prep. Things like getting into the wetsuit pre-race, doing some race pace and nutrition testing on the weekend sessions. Focusing on the actual race and not just allowing the physical training to be the only thing we rely on. I encourage you all to write your own plan and share it with me. The newsletter has a sample plan to work off. This is the stuff that we cant rely on Training Peaks to manage. We have to take control of that ourselves by one of the most important things we can do - linking our training to our racing

Race Planning

This year has had quite a bit of change to the schedule with Port Mac going to October and Western Sydney going back to May. That changes the choices. Busso and Cairns will be the target of those looking at a 2026 Kona Q and Port might be a very smart early raid at a 2027 spot. We also have the change at Husky going from February to March. That makes Husky really well timed as your lead in race for Cairns.

Nutrition

We have had some great steps forward lately on the nutrition side. Some great awareness on daily nutrition is pleasing to see. The Energy Availability Model and the concept of eating to fuel each day’s work by checking in on calories burnt and planning to replace them is going to have a huge effect on your recovery and training.

Training Peaks

The use of Training Peaks is an evolving space. The way we use it now is quite removed from when I first started using it around 10 years ago. I’ve started doing a weekly comment lately that is working well. I am also using differenet ways of analysing files these days using scatter graphs to look at the numbers on a more granular level. On the target is how we can close in on the race model and link closer to getting you more aware of targetting numbers and seeing what your training response is.

Race Schedule

Here is the latest schedule up until Christmas. It’s getting additions week by week so if you know of a race hat isn’t on there please let me know.