Secrets to Long Distance Performance

How very true. We can be training our lungs out, but if we don't do it smart, we might as well not be training at all.

I used to approach every run, swim and cycle with the mentality of 'torturing' my body. For most of the time, i did see some improvement but not only was i exposing my body to injuries, i started to loathe putting on my shoes, trunks or getting on my bike knowing that i'm going to be in alot of pain.

My experience with a dietician for my second Olympic triathlon really showed me how helpful some good expert advice can be. Likewise, this article i recieved in my mailbox was pretty enlightening...

The 4 Secrets of Long Distance Performance
If you are doing an event of over three hours in duration, there are 4 key things that are going to enable you to achieve a great result:

Use Lots of Fat - The first step to having a great race is having enough energy to go the distance. Many people break down at the 3/4 mark of a Half or Full Marathon or struggle to run well off the bike. Racers' Toolbox Fuel Efficiency testing can show you exactly why this is happening and show you how to maximize your performance through specific training to improve your utilization of fat. Fat provides twice as much energy as carbohydrate in case you were wondering why we are so into it.

Be Strong - We often here our clients say things like; 'I'm not fast enough, I need to do more speed training' or 'I always train fast but my results don't improve!'. 95% of the time the problem is not in the lack of 'speed', it is the lack of strength to sustain the 'speed'. In any long event your legs will fade long before cardiovascular system so doing the right amount of strength endurance training is crucial.

Matching Zones - To be successful in long distance events, you need to have a body with corresponding Fuel Efficiency and Lactate zones. Without this ability to burn fat and clear lactate acid from you system consecutively, you are going to struggle significantly after the 2 hour point in your event as you will likely run out of energy. Our goal in the lab is to help you sync your Lactate zones with your Fuel Efficiency so that over time you can go faster and faster and know you have enough 'gas in the tank' to finish strong.

Mental Toughness - If you look at any of the best athletes in the world, they are extremely mentally tough (Lance Armstrong is a great example). Mental toughness needs to be developed prior to the event, it is not just something that happens on the day. Specific training sessions that are at race pace over 1/2 or 3/4 of the peak event distance are invaluable.

1 more week to 40km cycle, 2 more weeks to 1.5km swim + 10km run, 3 more weeks to Ironman!