I wanted to share some more thoughts and real world experiences from the athletes that I coach.
Previously I touched on workout execution and motivation, this is obviously a critical component. Getting the work done and to the correct intensity is vital and without this you’re not providing the necessary stimulus needed for future adaptations and enhancement.
With the assumption that you are getting through the sessions and maintaining that consistency the other side of this coin is recovery.
Recovery means different things to different people, the most obvious response I hear is that you take a day off from doing anything strenuous and rest, and that to some extent is accurate. However recovery goes much further than that, I would go as far as saying that recovery is actually more important than the sessions themselves and that it starts from the time you go to bed to the time you wake up. This is the mindset you want to try and get into.
During your waking hours you can control most aspects of your recovery, you also control to a large degree how much sleep you are able to get and the quality, although I appreciate that’s often not always the case. I’m not going to delve into sleep specifically even though I think it’s the most important of all things you can do to enhance your recovery. At least 8 hours is what I would be aiming for, if you can.
Sleep aside what I wanted to shine a light on is food and how important it is to maintain quality nutrition. I know this might sound blindingly obvious but we are all guilty (even me, the coach) of letting things slip from time to time.
I’ve got a great example of how being complacent with your nutrition even for just a few days can mean the difference between nailing your sessions and then all of sudden the tank is empty and the body says nope.
Recently one of the guys I coach has experienced the effects of poor diet on his training which has meant missed sessions and therefore losing some of that all-important momentum.
He was showing great signs of progression over the past 45 days, with all his power durations from 5 – 60 mins showing good upward trends – See below.
All the trend lines pointing nicely upwards, hitting good numbers in training a smashing his last ramp test the previous weekend.
However a lack of quality nutrition quickly caught up with him resulting in cutting short what would usually be a relatively easy session, and then similarly the following day again only getting part way into the session and having to step off.
I want to say this person rarely misses a session and always generally hits his numbers well, so for him to step off and miss sessions says a lot.
What’s helpful for me as a coach is that he identified the issue himself straight away, he knew that his lack of quality nutrition, in this case low levels of protein led to his body basically going into limp mode. Endurance training by its nature is very catabolic, in essence the body breaks down various substances namely fat and glycogen and in some cases muscle protein for energy. If there is a restriction to the supply of key nutrients in your diet then the central governor (Brain) will automatically dial back your metabolism, you won’t realise until attempting to do your session.
Eating well is critical and balance is key here. I’m not going to go into what you should and shouldn’t be eating, that’s not what this post is about. I wanted it to act as a reminder that what you do outside of your training is just as important, you need to look at it holistically. No point spending thousands on the new bike or wheelset if you’re not nourishing your body sufficiently.
I think it’s particularly important this time of year, not just because of the lack of day light and all the viruses doing the rounds. But over the festive periods we often let the less than desirable food stuffs creep in. I’m not saying don’t have that mince pie or piece of Christmas cake, I’m partial to all that stuff myself but you also need to be prioritizing wholesome and real food, stuff that’s not highly processed and has a good balance of protein and fats, your body and progression will thank you for it.
With that in mind here are a few things to think about regarding your nutrition and in particular timing of intake to help support your training.
· Variety – Try and keep your diet as varied as possible try not to eat the same things day in day out.
· Macros – this follows on from variety but make sure you are getting a good balance of protein and healthy fats.
· Wholefoods – Use the 80/20 rule, try and make sure at least 80% of your food intake isn’t highly processed. Obviously if you can go higher than that then great. Look at the number ingredients if it’s packaged, if it’s more than 4/5 then it’s probably worth steering clear off or
· Timing – getting the this right is quite important. As a general rule you want to be fueling your intense sessions and not going into these with anything less than a full tank. Lower intensity sessions you can start fasted but make sure you start eating something during the ride and then have something substantial post ride.
· Don’t ignore cravings, your body has a good way of telling you what it needs. Obviously if you want something sweet then maybe opt for healthier options rather than going straight to the biscuit tin.
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