It's no secret that over the last 18 months, training for me has rarely gone in a straight line. I've mentioned before about how important consistency is, as well as caution, in order to avoid injuries blowing up, and resisting the urge to just add a bit more on too quickly.
My data driven approach is starting to bear fruit though. I'm cautiously balancing training between running, speed walking, and the exercise bike, in order to give my ankle, Achilles, Heel a chance to recover from the impact I'm starting to add onto it.
It's working!
The improvement is slow but it is steady. I've had a pretty intense 4 week block of training averaging 6-8 hours a week and culminating in Training Stress Scores that are increasing. This week is an 'easy week' thankfully. About 40% less running volume and about 30% less Training Stress.
I could feel my ankle hit quite hard after my quickest 16k trail run I've ever done, so the rest comes at a perfect time. I say 'rest' but I mean a rest day, a recovery day, and some easy zone 2 days leading up to a low volume 10-12k long run at the weekend. Volume-wise I put in 35km on my feet and the equivalent to about 50km in effort when I add in the cycling. I am now 'Periodizing' my training. This means I have progressively more intense training weeks for 3 weeks in a row, followed by an easy week. This is to build the fitness and then have a week where my body can recover and make the physiological adaptations needed to get stronger, fitter, more efficient, etc. It feels right in my body (though possibly last week should have really been my easier one), and my weekly volume has been pretty heavy the last couple of weeks. Now it's time to recover a little before going through it all again in Feb.
My Current Annual Training Plan (care of TrainingPeaks, and aptly titled - Beast Mode 2023) looks like this...
At the moment I'm building my specific training workouts about 2 weeks in advance (hence the dotted lines dropping) but the focus is really the bar chart that shows the periodized training efforts for each week. My Fitness (CTL - Chronic Training Load) is ramping up in line with what I'm targeting as a result. If anything, I need to ease back a little as this week I went from 38 to 44. That's a little bit too much of a jump and can feel it, hence why I'm having an easier week so I don't burn out or blow up.
So Here are my weekly stats. Black line is going up consistently (Fitness), Fatigue (ATL) Red Line is going up and staying above the black line and my Form (Training Stress Balance) is in the sweet spot. Yesterday it hit pretty hard so a couple of recovery days should see things ease up and feel less sore. Considering the progress made since December, I'm really happy. with my progress. Presently my Fitness (CTL) is the highest it has ever been (peaking at 41 just before I completed the 100km last year)... and it's only still January!! 15 more weeks until I run the 100Km again and I should be much further forward that I am today. The main thing is staying clear of injury and illness, so I am erring on the side of caution. By the time September comes, and the 300km arrives, the aim is to be in the high 60's - 70's for fitness. There is a f*ck-ton of work to do between now and then, and still a lot of rehab to balance in between. If I can stay injury free and keep the training consistent, though, I might just pull this crazy adventure off!
Thanks for reading.
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