Three thoughts after reading your newsletter...

• One, the importance of staying healthy. This really hurt me at IM California. Research I've done since says it takes a month to just recover aerobic fitness, which means two months of training lost (the month to recover, plus the month one would have gained).
• Two, I also like rollers for all sorts of bike workouts including speed (cadence), and long sustained efforts at LT. You need to have a very good pedal stroke and balance for obvious reasons. A favourite speed workout is as follows: Warm up 5-10 minutes. Then in one minute intervals go to a moderate gear (eg 53 X 15) and spin at 110 to 120 cadence. You will not only get high cadence but also criss-cross intervals above LT if done right. Then using a HRM recover for probably one minute or whatever it takes to arrive at a Zone 3 HR before starting the next interval.
• Three, I agree that hill work running needs to be balanced with cadence, but both on the bike and running. For IM California I did a lot of hills. My legs were strong, but trained for a slow running cadence.

B. LT Location

I don't know about you but my LT moves around a fair amount. I did a bike LT test yesterday and was surprised to find that it had fallen by about eight bpm since IMNZ. Now there are a lot of factors that could have caused the drop and I won't go into them here. My main point is to stress the importance of regular testing to ensure that you are hitting the right intensity.

I think this is important because many Northern Hemisphere athletes are making the move from indoor to outdoor training. As well, many of us will be stopping or just maintaining our weights. This will leave us fresher for our testing and our sessions. I have always been able to drive a higher HR when fresh and my LTs tend to rise when I ease off the weights.

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C. HR Zones and High LTs

Certain athletes have the ability to drive their HRs very high for the LTs tests. Some of these athletes have commented to me that their Zones 1-3 feel quite hard for them. I have had a similar experience with my own testing at certain times of the season. I think it is important to remember that the HR zones are guidelines and to avoid frying ourselves, particularly on our longer LSD sessions. That said, as your fitness improves, you will find that Zone 2 requires more and more effort to maintain. So there is a balance that you'll need to learn over time.

Related to the above, some athletes have been experiencing jumps of up to 10 bpm in their LT test results. There can be a number of reasons for this. For those of you who are new to testing, you are probably learning how to do the test better and also increasing your "mental" lactate tolerance. In other words, you are gaining the confidence to push yourself harder. If the testing shows a huge jump then I would advise that you ease into the new zones and use perceived effort as well.

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D. A Friend on Ironman

Four thoughts to work into your mental preps...

• At IM, you can't fake it -- you can't step back to it after a layoff and just expect it to be business as usual -- you must pay your dues all over again.
• At IM, race plans very rarely pan out -- this race has no respect for them.
• At IM, there's nowhere to hide -- have a bad day, and you just have to suck it up, smile and deal with it.
• At IM, any finish is a good one -- most people know this and it's the reason for always toughing it out -- to cross that line.

E. Know Your Data

The move to Southern California has given me the ability to work with many different athletes. Those of you who have been training with me might wonder why I am constantly asking you about your zones, SS times, run PRs, splits.... Some of you might think that I should know this data being your coach - you might be right! However, if you don't know your data then it is tough for you to manage quality sessions. I'd love to be with you on every session but that isn't possible. So, you need to learn how to get the most out of every workout.

Those of you who are on tb.com have the benefit of seeing your zones every day when you log on. Regardless, I recommend that you make a card with the following bits of information on it.

• Run LT and HR Zones
• Bike LT and HR Zones
• Swim T-Pace (average per 100m on last 1K TT)
• Sustained Speed Pace

I would post this card where you can see it before every single session. Maybe make more than one.

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F. It's Good To Be Slow (Sometimes)

Most of us are gearing up for our first A race of the year. This means that we are in the Build phase of our training. Aside from your 2-3 key workouts each week, the other sessions "don't matter".

I use quotes because the other sessions are important for maintaining technique and economy. However, it is very important that you take your easy sessions, real easy. Friends who train with me are normally amazed at just how slow I go on my recovery sessions. Best to stay away from your fast pals when recovering.

Every Breakthrough ("BT") workout is precious when you get within seven weeks of your key race. You want to ensure that you have the best possible BT workout. That means a technically strong, evenly paced workout that directly simulates the conditions that you will face on race day.

As soon as that BT workout is completed your #1 priority is recovery. In my Build Periods, I plan ahead for recovery food and sleep. For me, these are the two biggest thinks to speed recovery. Your Build Period will take you close to the edge, give yourself every advantage.

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G. Future Plans

Two fun events on the horizon:

• Off to Florida at the end of April to attend the USA Triathlon, Level One Coaching Clinic.
• Racing Wildflower Long Course at the start of May.