Recovery and Racing

My last post focused on the plan to use the Whoop device to track my recovery and sleep qty and quality. My Whoop band arrived yesterday and it is stashed for a grand opening on Christmas day. I am genuinely excited to see how tracking my recovery can enhance performance. For the longest time my focus has been on training volume, intensity, times, power. . . . .The list goes on. The point is, rarely has my focus been on recovery. My Tri buddies would no doubt verify that I tend to over-train. In my mind, I see tangible training activity with all the numbers, speeds, times etc. But my mind struggles when I am resting - it tells me that I am losing fitness, training=progress. Logically, I know the improvements and adaptation of training takes place when the body is in recovery and getting sufficient rest. But I ignore it - Doh!! The upshot is, the Whoop band looks to be a tool that resonates with the way my brain is wired. 

I am further reminded of the benefits of recovery and rest, following my performance in the Zwift WGT race yesterday. I have been racing for WhittleFit during his series. Last week I had to withdraw due to what was essentially exhaustion from lack of sleep and some over-training. The week leading up to the race yesterday was a very different week, compared to the previous exhaustion week. I had 2 rest days of no training (other than some light core work) and no real intense training. The result was really quite significant and I couldn't quite believe how strong I felt.

In previous races I had not done so well in my B Cat; mid-20s was my best result. Yesterday, I finished 6th and was in the mix on the final climb; at one point, I thought I had a chance of the win. I actually broke away on the climb and thought the elastic had broken as I had a 6 second lead.

However, some of those riders in the lead pack must have been keeping their powder dry! 2 guys pulled away near the top of the climb. I was in the mix for 3rd right up to the sprint. My poor sprinting ability showed again but what an improvement. The course did suit me well, with 2 long climbs. 

But the really valuable thing was that my heart rate was able to go high and the perceived effort was not as gasping as it had been. I was controlled with a HR of 170 and hit a max of 181. I cannot remember when I was last n the 180+ range.

So here's to a Whooping Christmas!

Nearly Year End - Whoop!

 Another year end nearly here. Time certainly accelerates - as does aging, seemingly! And what a strange year it has been. The COVID-19 impact has been huge everywhere. As I have said before, from my training and domestic circumstances, the impact has been nothing but positive. My training volume has increased massively, as has the training consistency. My hope is that my race performance at the London Duathlon will be somewhere back to expectation. But what is that expectation? My last true long distance race test was way back in 2015 at the Bahrain IM 70.3!

My feeling (physical sensations) is that the passing of time and the ravages of 'stuff' since leaving the RAF will mean I will never get back to that 2015 performance level. Mentally, I think I have finally accepted this fact and now I can focus on enjoying the racing but maintaining a competitive edge.

Also vitally important - and I have been saying this for at least 10 years - is strength and conditioning. Over the last 2 months I have maintained this training focus and I feel in a better place for it. I do find it difficult to sustain these sessions as my head tells me that I am missing specific training! But this is specific training! To help, I augmented my Kettlebell collection by adding a 12.5kg and a 20kg

So the pain-cave is now a great utility and I really love the value it provides. I have also been very fortunate to get some good deals on Le Col cycling clothing. Whilst this gear is very expensive, the quality and look is fabulous. Here is the latest addition - the Eurosport bespoke kit:

I look forward to some sunny rides next year!

So I have improved training consistency, a great pain-cave with the best smart turbo trainer available (the Tacx Neo 2T, IMHO), but the one thing missing to maximize my training for the best performance possible is my ability to monitor recovery/fatigue. This is something that has always been really difficult for me; I tend to smash everything and rest when I break. This is not good. To remedy this, I have signed up for a Whoop band! Not cheap but the data provided for this wearable tech looks awesome. The Variable Heart Rate monitoring looks great, as does the sleep monitoring capability. In essence, I will receive guidance on my physical and mental stress levels that will indicate how well recovered I am - or not! Then is is up to me to decide on the intensity of my training for any given day. . .  .who knows, I may even rest more and take days off!

Definitely more reports to follow on this aspect!