Consistancy is no doubt the most important part of an Ironman training program. It often involves a lot of rather boring work, which simply “has to be done”.

One of the greatest challenges for an Ironman coach is to present a program which delivers consistancy over a long term without becoming boring. It’s mentally very difficult to hold a goal for a whole year, or for several years. The long term goal has to be split up into several intermediate goals so the athlete can see the “goal posts” within striking distance. Our time trial series can be good for this purpose.

Training through winter can deliver the athlete to the start of the next season at a higher level than he/she was at the end of the previous season. But this strategy has pitfalls. I’ve found athletes cannot do the same number of training hours in winter that they could in the warmer months. It seems humans have a “hirbernation program” built into them which switches on during winter when the days are shorter.

We’ve all seen how flower farms manipulate the “length of day” with lights or blackout curtains to fool the plants into flowering “out of season”. By shortening the length of day, for a couple of weeks, then lengthening the day by opening the curtains earlier each day, spring flowering plants will burst into life and produce. That’s why poinsettias are available as “Christmas Flowers” in the northern winter when they naturally flower in mid summer, as they do in Australia. They’ve been fooled. The nurserymen make a fortune from them by supplying colour in drab old cities like Chicago, Boston and New York.

Us highly sofisticated modern humans in our climate controlled homes and cars are still affected by the length of day. Just watch how much easier it is to train when spring starts to show in longer days. You are an animal and you have remained relatively unchanged for 50,000years. The seasons do affect you.

Because winter does affect us we have to train carefully at this time of year. We have to reduce training hours to stay healthy. We’re all different and have different tolerances to work load. It’s our job to work closely with our coaches to find just what we can handle and stay well.

Noticing the signs of overtraining is a very valuable skill to develop. A little tickle in the back of the throat can be the first sign. Increasing the vitC dose to double the present rate can fix this immediatly. Taking colloidal silver, at the manufacturers directions can also be very helpful. (available from health food stores)

But the one thing most of us need more of in winter is sleep. Man is designed to sleep more in winter. Crops are harvested in fall, winter is a time of resting and maintenance. Spring is the time for planting and harder work.

So if we “go with the flow” of energy, we’ll do the sort of training which will set us up for greater gains in spring. We’ll work on technique, we’ll keep the work low intensity for most of the workload. We’ll work on improving core strength and flexibility.  We’ll sleep in when we need it so we don’t slip over the edge and become sick, losing a week or two, when it might be saved by having a day off.

In a couple of weeks we’ll pass the winter soltice, or shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. Once that has passed we’ll be able to slightly more training as our body reacts to “nature’s clock”. Until it’s really noticable and the mornings are sunny again, we have to be careful to “do what we can”. 

Doing a little bit often over a long time is more productive then doing a lot for a short time then losing a few weeks through illness. Go with the flow.