Some people have asked about my training: How much I do? What I do? How I do? Why I do? I thought that I could share publicly in blog some of my training principles and thoughts about our methods and systems. I will split the articles into a series of smaller areas, so that the stuff won't be too heavy at once. In this first bit of text I highlight main areas of our training system and then open them up individually one by one by giving examples and explaining our visions.
These are the main categories (not in any kind of order):
- In the gym
- On the bike
- Being versatile
- Recovering
- Playing mind games
Now, I'll pick up some general pointers that are important to me and Paavo when planning. Certain things are just too easily said, but following them might be tough job. Myself, I find the first principle very hard to follow at times, but I'm learning all the time
1. Respect and listen to your body; if I feel that I need to rest - it definetly is better to rest. If physiological fatigue is too high, then rest - like today. If my head is not there, it is better to rest. But I don't make these decisions too easily, especially as my mind plays tricks often after lectures.
2. If there is a plan follow it. For example when I do intervals and have the idea is not to go over certain heart rates - I will not go; I either ease up or stop that particular interval. Also the length and recovery time is there for reason. If feeling good and feeling easy, it still is better to stick to the plan - training is not about individual session, it is more of a continuum.
3. Be flexible. In my case the uni work causes distractions at times, then I have to be ready to adapt the plan. I have a long term plan (mesocycle of roughly 6 months), which quite stable and rarely modified. Then comes the macrocycles (4-6 weeks), which are more often modified due to uni work, illnesses or other things. The shortest ones, microcycles (1 week), are modified sometimes daily and sometimes not at all. It really depends on what else is going on at the time.
4. A target, that is yet challenging but achieveable. I always have a target in my mind. My eyes are on it always when I train. It makes the planning easier and it gives me a focus and a reason to bust my ass off in training. Targets also provide guidelines on how to train as they may vary very much between training cycles. And remember, it can be anything from losing weight to gaining strenght and winning races. I often use power outputs or times as my targets - winning is not necessarily a good target, as my opponents are always uncontrollable.
5. Be honest. If I do well, I want to share it. If I feel good, why would I hide it. Progress is the key towards the targets and once I take a step towards it, I'm happy. If I do badly, I share it aswell. Of course there are days that are nightmares, but afterall I'm often able to take the positive out and laugh at them. I want to say that even the worst days can provide significant data to your training. A practical example for two weeks back: I had felt amazing during last couple days, but then one day after resting the numbers were simply terrible and I was confused, disappointed and angry. However, after analysis that nightmare turned up to a big benefit, as it revealed something very, very important about my performances and it was only one day of training, to be honest it even wasn't bad one - I only had too big expectations.
If any questions come up, please don't hesitate to contact. :)
