In previous posts I have discussed how I periodise a training plan and planning a typical training week. In summary here are the key points in relation to those posts.
- When periodising I select an 'A' race and work backwards to give myself an 'official' training start date that will give me a sufficient number of weeks (or other training cycle such as 10 days) to prepare for the event. The number of weeks I give myself to prepare can change and has changed based on experience, current fitness and how demanding the event is.
- I Split my training into phases: Base, Build, Speed and Taper as examples.
- I Develop a 'skeleton' training plan for each week that incorporates the 'must do' key sessions that I will fit in even if life gets really busy. I Plan other sessions around this skeleton.
With this in mind the next step is to consider each session specifically to ensure I am prepared for it physically and mentally so I get the most out of it, personally I like to plan specific sessions for the week ahead in what I call my 'Sunday sort out session' which unsurprisingly is on a Sunday afternoon when typically all training is done for the week and I am relaxing and getting organised for the week ahead.
Remarkably many athletes and especially gym goers do not think about their sessions in advance, certainly not in detail anyhow. I often ask gym goers, triathletes and even trainers the casual question, "what have you got planned for today?" The response, a sigh, and a "not sure really, probably......" The response of a professional or well planned athlete is much more specific, they will identify details such as: "Today I am doing an interval test set of 10x 400m with the goal of swimming each sub 6mins, going on 7mins". Knowing this detail is very important as it will tell you how much time, effort and energy the session will require and what kit you will need, all of which can give you guidance on how best to prepare. The session details themselves should ideally be logged so you can review them along with any regressions or progress you make in future weeks, months and even years. It can be very useful and sometimes interesting if you are a geek like me to look back on training logs. Sometimes it is not possible to execute a session plan due to something unpredictable, in such a situation having a back up session planned is always a good idea, either way a planned session is one you will almost always get more from.
Components and sub components of a session plan
When I plan my own sessions I consider the following components and sub components
Session Type
- What type of session will this be? Endurance, Interval, Recovery etc
Session Objectives
- How will this session improve fitness/performance? Essentially this is the rational for doing the session. Nailing session objectives so you have a clear focus for the session is critical!
Pre session nutrition
- What will I need and will I need to prepare anything? When will I eat it, 1hr, 2 or 3hrs before?
Equipment/kit
- What will I need and will I need to organise anything such as prepare bike?
General Warm Up
- Self Myo-fascial Release (SMR). What are my sore/'sticky'/tight muscles and fascia that I want to foam roll/trigger point?
- Dynamic movement. What joints and movement patterns will I be working? What will be good mobilisers/dynamic stretches and movement for warm up?
Specific Warm Up
- What will I do for warm up? What heart rate zones do I want to get in to?
Main Set
- Details of specific session. How long? No. Intervals? Intensity? Work rest ratio's?
Cool down
- What will I do for cool down?
Post session nutrition
- What will I eat/drink after the session? When will I eat it?
Post session adaptation facilitation
- What will I do post session to promote recovery and adaptation? Foam roll, massage, stretch, compression, ice, nap, sleep 1hr extra?
Once I have planned my session I obviously then have a crack at it, afterwards I will review it, not necessarily a sit down formal review, but rather an informal one where I will take 5-10mins to reflect on the session. I may write some thoughts down on how I felt and performed there and then, but if not I will jot them down in the evening or in the Sunday sort out session. I call the Plan, Execute and Review steps the 'success cycle' as I believe it is doing this consistently and mindfully, challenging a sessions effectiveness that brings about continual improvement and success. The more educated you get yourself through reading, talking to coaches, getting coaching etc the more informed choices you can make and the better you can plan and review sessions, personally I love the whole process!
To help me plan, record and review my sessions I personally use Polar Precision software that came with a previous Polar watch that I owned back in 2006. The Software is still available now with watches like the RS800CX. I rate it and think it is simple and very easy to use, that said I am biased as I have been using it a number of years. I have data going back to 2006 and can see how many hours, km's, metres climbed etc I have swam, biked and run each day, week and year since then. Additionally I have heart rate data logged as well as body fat measurements, hours I have slept along more subjective information such as how I was feeling on any given day, all is useful to reflect on and build on year after year. I appreciate if doing a triathlon or other endurance event is a one time gig that puts a tick in a box then keeping logs may not seem worth while, however if you can see yourself doing the sport for a number of years I would highly recommend keeping accurate logs.
In my next post I will be start to discuss my nutritional approach which in my mind I split into two parts: Foundation nutrition and fuelling.
Report on training to date.
I have just finished week 7 of 18, leaving me 1 week of the base phase left to go! Man I am starting to see some gains now! My quads are starting to develop that 'road map of veins around the VMO area which I have been getting more pronounced each year as I develop as a cyclist. This no doubt has been a result of some quality work on the bike. This week I got my first 200km ride completed, I felt remarkably good and was strong the whole ride. I fuelled and hydrated well and held a solid pace. The ride had just shy of 1700m of climbing which I was pleased with - not quite Lanzarote though that comes in around 2500m! I have also completed some excellent strength sets on the turbo where I grind big gears at low cadences for blocks of up to 15mins, on the days I am performing well and the legs are well recovered the gears are getting harder by a cog, small incremental progress which is nice to see. The swimming has been improving steadily, particularly my endurance and mindset in the pool. Some 4/5km blocks are flying by now, I am enjoying them and can honestly say I am completing with 'gas left in the tank'. My focus now will be to maintain this whilst improving top end speed. In the past I have made the mistake of focusing too much on speed and have lost some endurance, not this time! I have also completed a good number of 20-30km runs although this week I went out on Sunday aiming for a steady 34km but by 20km I was gone and took a short cut home! I guess the 200km cycle which followed a 100km day took a lot out of me! Either way the endurance base is pretty much there although I may need to tag on an extra week of base to get in my second 200km ride and long run of 35km as it won't happen this week due to work commitments and a half marathon on the Sunday. Oh yeah I have also purchased some new run trainers which out of about 10 pairs I tested had the best feel and video feedback from gait analysis. As I log some miles in them and race in them time will tell if I have found a combination that prevents the blisters!
In the build phase which fast approaches I will keep the endurance work up albeit less frequent. I will put in a long ride and run every second or third week at the weekends. On the weekend session in between I will now inject some more high intensity efforts over mid distances. Some example sessions are: 120km cycle with 6-8x 10km race pace efforts and 22km run with 4x 5km race pace efforts. These will sting a bit! I will also introduce frequent brick sessions where I run off the bike. The above two sessions will no doubt be done back to back at some point! For now it is bed time for me!
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Remarkably many athletes and especially gym goers do not think about their sessions in advance, certainly not in detail anyhow. I often ask gym goers, triathletes and even trainers the casual question, "what have you got planned for today?" The response, a sigh, and a "not sure really, probably......" The response of a professional or well planned athlete is much more specific, they will identify details such as: "Today I am doing an interval test set of 10x 400m with the goal of swimming each sub 6mins, going on 7mins". Knowing this detail is very important as it will tell you how much time, effort and energy the session will require and what kit you will need, all of which can give you guidance on how best to prepare. The session details themselves should ideally be logged so you can review them along with any regressions or progress you make in future weeks, months and even years. It can be very useful and sometimes interesting if you are a geek like me to look back on training logs. Sometimes it is not possible to execute a session plan due to something unpredictable, in such a situation having a back up session planned is always a good idea, either way a planned session is one you will almost always get more from.
Components and sub components of a session plan
When I plan my own sessions I consider the following components and sub components
Session Type
- What type of session will this be? Endurance, Interval, Recovery etc
Session Objectives
- How will this session improve fitness/performance? Essentially this is the rational for doing the session. Nailing session objectives so you have a clear focus for the session is critical!
Pre session nutrition
- What will I need and will I need to prepare anything? When will I eat it, 1hr, 2 or 3hrs before?
Equipment/kit
- What will I need and will I need to organise anything such as prepare bike?
General Warm Up
- Self Myo-fascial Release (SMR). What are my sore/'sticky'/tight muscles and fascia that I want to foam roll/trigger point?
- Dynamic movement. What joints and movement patterns will I be working? What will be good mobilisers/dynamic stretches and movement for warm up?
Specific Warm Up
- What will I do for warm up? What heart rate zones do I want to get in to?
Main Set
- Details of specific session. How long? No. Intervals? Intensity? Work rest ratio's?
Cool down
- What will I do for cool down?
Post session nutrition
- What will I eat/drink after the session? When will I eat it?
Post session adaptation facilitation
- What will I do post session to promote recovery and adaptation? Foam roll, massage, stretch, compression, ice, nap, sleep 1hr extra?
Once I have planned my session I obviously then have a crack at it, afterwards I will review it, not necessarily a sit down formal review, but rather an informal one where I will take 5-10mins to reflect on the session. I may write some thoughts down on how I felt and performed there and then, but if not I will jot them down in the evening or in the Sunday sort out session. I call the Plan, Execute and Review steps the 'success cycle' as I believe it is doing this consistently and mindfully, challenging a sessions effectiveness that brings about continual improvement and success. The more educated you get yourself through reading, talking to coaches, getting coaching etc the more informed choices you can make and the better you can plan and review sessions, personally I love the whole process!
To help me plan, record and review my sessions I personally use Polar Precision software that came with a previous Polar watch that I owned back in 2006. The Software is still available now with watches like the RS800CX. I rate it and think it is simple and very easy to use, that said I am biased as I have been using it a number of years. I have data going back to 2006 and can see how many hours, km's, metres climbed etc I have swam, biked and run each day, week and year since then. Additionally I have heart rate data logged as well as body fat measurements, hours I have slept along more subjective information such as how I was feeling on any given day, all is useful to reflect on and build on year after year. I appreciate if doing a triathlon or other endurance event is a one time gig that puts a tick in a box then keeping logs may not seem worth while, however if you can see yourself doing the sport for a number of years I would highly recommend keeping accurate logs.
In my next post I will be start to discuss my nutritional approach which in my mind I split into two parts: Foundation nutrition and fuelling.
Report on training to date.
I have just finished week 7 of 18, leaving me 1 week of the base phase left to go! Man I am starting to see some gains now! My quads are starting to develop that 'road map of veins around the VMO area which I have been getting more pronounced each year as I develop as a cyclist. This no doubt has been a result of some quality work on the bike. This week I got my first 200km ride completed, I felt remarkably good and was strong the whole ride. I fuelled and hydrated well and held a solid pace. The ride had just shy of 1700m of climbing which I was pleased with - not quite Lanzarote though that comes in around 2500m! I have also completed some excellent strength sets on the turbo where I grind big gears at low cadences for blocks of up to 15mins, on the days I am performing well and the legs are well recovered the gears are getting harder by a cog, small incremental progress which is nice to see. The swimming has been improving steadily, particularly my endurance and mindset in the pool. Some 4/5km blocks are flying by now, I am enjoying them and can honestly say I am completing with 'gas left in the tank'. My focus now will be to maintain this whilst improving top end speed. In the past I have made the mistake of focusing too much on speed and have lost some endurance, not this time! I have also completed a good number of 20-30km runs although this week I went out on Sunday aiming for a steady 34km but by 20km I was gone and took a short cut home! I guess the 200km cycle which followed a 100km day took a lot out of me! Either way the endurance base is pretty much there although I may need to tag on an extra week of base to get in my second 200km ride and long run of 35km as it won't happen this week due to work commitments and a half marathon on the Sunday. Oh yeah I have also purchased some new run trainers which out of about 10 pairs I tested had the best feel and video feedback from gait analysis. As I log some miles in them and race in them time will tell if I have found a combination that prevents the blisters!In the build phase which fast approaches I will keep the endurance work up albeit less frequent. I will put in a long ride and run every second or third week at the weekends. On the weekend session in between I will now inject some more high intensity efforts over mid distances. Some example sessions are: 120km cycle with 6-8x 10km race pace efforts and 22km run with 4x 5km race pace efforts. These will sting a bit! I will also introduce frequent brick sessions where I run off the bike. The above two sessions will no doubt be done back to back at some point! For now it is bed time for me!
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