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Bryce Mitchell of Symmetry Cycle Coaching, who assisted Painathlon '07 Champion Brad Hosking in his cycle preparation, has been kind enough to put together some training articles for Painathlon.com. Here is the first one, enjoy! SO I AM DOING THE PAINFUL THING…… IS IT THE RUNNING OR THE RIDING!?
Congratulations on entering the Painathlon. Often when athletes and adventurous people enter such events they have a preconceived idea of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Evidently those who are predominately runners would certainly be looking at the bike component being the hardest to master before the event. Some may even possibly go so far as to have the misconception they can do the event without much cycle training. The commonly heard thoughts by multi discipline athletes is "I can ride that far no worries, I'll just take it easy and recover during the bike ride."
I have heard this from many athletes whether they be duathletes or triathletes.
The realistic truth is that when completing cycling stages in such an event, the run stages are effected by how well your legs have coped with the cycling. Evidently we all know that the easier we find the cycling leg,then the easier it will be on us for each of the run stages. It is for this reason that it is important to focus attention on both disciplines in the coming weeks leading into the Painathlon.
As an elite level cycling coach, I cannot and am not here to provide coaching for running. I gave up my triathlon carreer a number of years ago due to running. However through my knowledge of cycling and experience asa triathlete, I can provide you all with information on how best to attack the event to help save your legs when getting off the bike.
Keeping a log to prevent Overtraining
For some this conjures up ideas of too much work and not enough play. For others and the typical athlete who does over train, this is a term that does not exist in their vocabulary.
Even for the athlete who is not participating at an elite level, it is important to be in tune and listen to your body. By regularly checking your resting heart rate at the same time of the day (get up have pee lie down for 5 minute and then take it) it is possible to determine a number of things. One is whether you are getting a little fitter, as your resting heart rate will come down, and two it is possible to determine if you are beginning to become fatigued as there will often be a rise or change in the heart rate (usually an increase).
Wherever your heart rate is difficult to increase during a training session, this too is a good indicator of fatigue, and likewise overtraining or onset of illness. As an elite level cycling coach, one of my jobs is to bring my cyclists to a point just below fatigue. This is done through close and high level monitoring of heart rate data, and wherever possible power output on the bike. It is my job to ensure that these athletes are brought to a point of fatigue, without putting them over the limit and into the world of illness. Even with athletes who are not at this end of the scale it is easy to monitor your training and health while preparing for an event like the Painathlon. By keeping a training diary with resting heart rate information and also your training sessions it is possible to keep a basic eye on how everything is going.
For those who want to go one step further it is a good idea to also do a training programme.This programme should have a focus on what you can realistically achieve over a 4 week block, taking into account your commitments and also having in mind that you should always be flexible with planned sessions.
Planning Your Week
Because cycling and running use different muscle components in the legs and also different cardiovascular requirements, it is beneficial to ensure that training sessions should be separated in early stages of preparation. A good approach is to complete a run three or four days a week, a ride three days a week and then have one day off for recovery. This can help reduce overload of muscle groups, reduce fatigue and provides for a mix of training.
Ideally a good approach to volume of training for these sessions is to complete two sessions during the week which will total or nearly total the full distance of the cycling component of the event. This could be done with a session at the beginning of the week on the bike which totals 60% of the distance, then a session with a slightly higher intensity which covers about 40% of the total. Following these two sessions at this stage it would be recommended to complete a long ride on the weekend which would ideally cover the distance of the cycle component of the event. It would be beneficial to use the event route which you intend to take, however this may not be practical and a course closer to home, which is similar to the course requirements, will suffice.
Where time does not allow for a long ride, it is as beneficial and often better to participate in a session of shorter distance but higher intensity.This intensity is very important and studies have shown that high intensity training benefits endurance athletes greatly and can in fact be used to increase an endurance athletes performance more than a long slow session. This is due to the effect that different training zones are designed to promote different classes of muscle fibres. In my next tips I will provide you with some information on how to increase your speed and strength on the bike through the use of shorter higher intensity sessions which will then provide increased time on the run compoenent of training. It is important that you do build into this phase of the training cycle before commencing higher intensity efforts which can be susceptible to causing injuries for the unprepaired athlete.
As per all training plans it is important to divide the time up working back from the date of the event, and work your plan around this. By the end of the next two weeks you should be aiming to be able to complete the full number of cycling kilometers in one session without break, if unable to do as many as possible and then build this by about ten km's for the second week.
Next week I will give some ideas on higher intensity sessions and the use of brick sessions to ensure the lactate is removed from the legs when getting on and off the bike before and after each run.
Hydration & Nutrition
This is a component I am always harping on about to my athletes. It is vital that nutrition plays a vital role in your training program from here to the event.
Firstly, it is imperative that you begin hydrating all day and everyday from here to the event. It is also vital that you ensure you are hydrating during all sessions (cycling and running), as a loss in hydration results in a loss of strength and power. Studies have shown in cycling that a 1% loss in fluid results in a 5% loss of power. This is huge especially if considering an endurance event which will cover the day. At a bare minimum it is necessary as a basic guide to consume at least one 750ml bottle of fluid every 45 minutes of exercise. This amount over the period of a day event will still leave the body depleted in fluid and is only a guide as all people expel fluid at different rates
It has also been found that the body will absorb carbohydrates best within the first half an hour of activity. When consuming carb's it is also important to ensure they are healthy carb's and that they are easily digestible. If you do not feel like a meal or food after training this is fine, but it is important that you take on carb's which can be in the form of a high carb sports drink.
Later, leading into the last week of training I will go through how to maximise carb loading effectively and how to get the most out of the carb's you do eat through their absorption into the bodies energy system.
Another really important thing to be doing at this stage in relation to foods is to be using the planned foods for the day NOW. It is no point getting to the day knowing that you like jelly beans, only to find out that after two hours of eating jelly beans you can't stomach the thought of another one. So start using those powerbars, carbo shotz etc now. Play around with the mixtures and different brands. Be aware that the high carb gels etc can cause stomach cramps and discomfort if the volume consumed do not agree with your body. Try the coke option watered down, on the day your body is going to be craving sugar, and if you deplete your glycogen stores during an event like this, believe me it is not a pretty thing to go through speaking from experience. The only saving grace for when it occurred to me I was taken away to the massage tent immediately, given all the required medical treatment to bring my core temperatures back to the right spot and resupply the body with glycogen, and went straight to the front of the line for a massage. The bad thing is almost not completing an event I had trained for over a long period of time and wasting all the hard training I had done.
Also be aware that some sports supplements are never as good as a hearty piece of food. One of my favourite sources of fuel are jam sandwiches, and fruit cake. For those who know of Graham Obree, he used to train and race on sandwiches with orange juice and sugar on them. If he can break the hour record on bike as many times as he did then there must be something beneficial to such a mix.
I hope this information will be of some benefit to you all or at least some. I will be providing more over the next few weeks leading into the Painathlon. Also for those looking for some structured training session son the bike in preparation, I have athletes training on the road every Monday and Tuesday mornings, Wednesday nights I conduct an indoor session which can be tailored to Painathlon entrants needs, and Saturday mornings each week are conducted with the use of the hills area, providing perfect opportunity to get some of the areas which will be in the event.
If you have any questions or would like some more information on preparation please contact me by e-mail on symmetrycc@iprimus.com.au or visit our website at www.symmetrycyclecoaching.com where our contact details can be found.
In the mean time enjoy your training and stay rubber side down.
Bryce Mitchell-D'Raine (B.A.Ed) (NCAS Level 2 Road Track MTB; NCAS Level 2 BMX Coach) Cara Mitchell-D'Raine (B.Psych; Dip.Ed) (NCAS Level 0 Cycle Skills Coach) The Mitchell-D’Raine Trust trading as: 
46 Partlet Rd Duncraig WA 6023 Ph/Fax: 9246 1242 Mb: 0411 250 354 www.symmetrycyclecoaching.com A.B.N: 92843462569
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