Training
Overview
The reason for wanting to become “fit” is a personal and selfish one. I wanted a better body, and I didn’t like how I had become; this led me to joining the local gym. My thinking was to pay for it 1 year in advance and therefore the money is gone and I have to use it or lose it. I needed a goal, something to aim for that was achievable, something to give me a reason to do this and stay accountable to myself. Ironman is where I landed and decided to aim high, not win an ironman, that would be nice, but to just have confidence in myself to compete in one.
For whatever reason I’m blessed with a good set of genes and, what I would soon discover into my journey, an incredible cardio fitness potential. With seeing this develop quickly and finding myself comfortable in the high BPM ranges for a man my age I decided to focus my training on cardio and strength. Stronger not bigger is the motto.
I’m not following any strict plan or guidance; I’m working fitness into my life. Finding time for fitness like long runs can be difficult while maintaining a career and meeting the needs of those close in my life like friends and family. The key is to make this time and have the understanding that this time is for me and my time is just as important as all the other time blocks in my life. It’s so easy to convince myself of not doing a run or gym session but getting past that mental block is key to developing the discipline to push through. The payoff is that I feel great after exercise. I find myself looking for opportunities to incorporate movement into my life by deliberately taking the stairs where I can or going the long way to incorporate some more steps. I live by my smart watch, and I’ve chosen a Garmin to help me track my body metrics. This includes keeping an eye on indirect key indicators like HRV, stress, sleep and a Garmin feature called body battery.
Training Plan
I have a wellbeing strategy that encompasses a whole of life approach, and this training plan feeds into that strategy by maintaining a good physique. The training plan should never override or take away from the wellbeing strategy but compliment it.
The strategy is to try stick to is a week-on-week basis where I follow these guidelines.
Listen to your body, avoid injuries, recover well.
Run at least three times a week.
One run at least 60 minutes or more.
One run at a lower intensity.
Strength training at least once a week.
Run a half marathon distance every month.
At least one bike ride per month.
No more than six higher intensity activities per week.
Running
I love to run and when the weather allows, I like to run outside and increase the distance I run. Doing long runs in my training weeks, helps me run a 5k better and builds my confidence in one day running a marathon. As I increase outdoor fitness, I tend to compensate by reducing the gym visits to at minimum once a week. While at the gym I’ll start the session with a 30-minute sprint on the treadmill to get warmed up and start sweating up a storm. The runners high I experience after a run is a very good motivational tool and having appropriate footwear and clothing is important to reducing the friction to get out there and run. I have some favourite tracks with a variety of terrains and features that I have documented on this website. Check out more about my running adventures here.
Cycling
The side gig that makes up an important part of my training plan. The muscles used for cycling are different to running and the feeling of moving faster with less power is appealing. I have a range of bikes for different applications and conditions. I go into these in more detail on my cycling page. Incorporating at least 1 ride a month or more and aiming for 1 hour of workout time on the bike. Social rides are done a bit slower but when solo and in the right head space, I do enjoy the climbs and challenges the bike brings. It’s a great way to see more of the local community and I live in a great part of the world that has plenty of trails to access. Check out my cycling page for more details on my bikes, routes and kit.
Swimming
Saving the worst for last, or that’s what it seems as I write this. Having not done any swimming apart from flailing around the ocean on bodyboard throughout my teens and twenties, I have little confidence in my ability to swim. This is the last step on my fitness journey and something I look forward to when the time is right. I will have to work with a trainer to build up those fundamentals that will help move my confidence up. I’ll be sure to post about my journey in swimming in my fitness blog.
Fitness Blog
