My Ironman Training Load – The Only Way is UP?

My training so far has been quite intriguing. Firstly it hasn’t felt hard at all. A bit boring at times, perhaps, but generally fairly enjoyable with few aches & pains and no injuries. Nice.

I’m still at the base and early build stage so that’s not surprising, I suppose. I’m doing the same total duration of training as I have done for years, pretty much. It’s just easier Z1/Z2 work.

Or so I thought.

I was going through my bloated Sporttracks [3.1] database and decided to cull the data from 2012 and before. That’s it. Done. all the glory years have now officially gone. There is no proof that I once thought I was at least vaguely good at something. Obviously I have a backup just in case anyone doubts my embellished ‘glory days’ stories.

I could have been a contender you know? 😉

Anyway as part of the data cull I looked a bit closely at my TRAINING LOAD. Mine is based entirely on 3x different sport HR Zones with differing LTHRs; I record ‘nearly every sporting beat’ and I think it is pretty accurate. In the past it CERTAINLY has felt accurate and LTHRs are mostly based on lab tests not me-tests.

Here we go with a slightly simplified version of what I normally use for illustrative purposes:

I was surprised that my ‘Fitness’ (Blue=CTL) and ‘Fatigue’ (Red=ATL) are both at near all-time highs. Well. They ARE at all time highs. BUT I don’t feel that tired really! At times in the past I have been REALLY, REALLY tired. Nor do I feel that fit either! At times in the past I have been quite speedy (notice I avoided saying REAL REALY speedy 🙂 ).

So here’s my worry. My training load is going to increase by AT LEAST 50% and maybe double. Those red and blue lines are going to go up in a big way – at least 50% higher, funnily enough! Definitely uncharted physical territory for me. So I’m more than a little worried that my body won’t be able to handle it. To make matters worse I just know I’m going to deviate from the plan to add in bits of unplanned speedwork for an odd HM, 5k and shorter-distance triathlon or 2 and that’s when I’ve historically got tired BUT NOT with the same overall level of load.

Then again a fundamental part of the training is to be able to handle the increased durations.

As per the title: the only way is up. I should write a song about that if no-one else has penned that catchy title 😉

Academic-ish reference: Cardiac Parasympathetic Reactivation Following Exercise: Implications for Training Prescription. Jamie Stanley, Jonathan M. Peake & Martin Buchheit. Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013 – Summary available here. IE Zone1/2 training does not produce much stress…that’s why I might be able to do the 50% increase.

My Ironman Secret. If you’ve read the earlier posts in this series then you will know I end with a ‘secret’ of some sorts. I normally do this blog fairly anonymously and I tend not to divulge my personal information in order to keep focussed on whatever I am talking (waffling) about.  However the chart above is my entire training for the last 4 years…what more secret stuff do you want !!!! 🙂