My version of the “Epic Week”

One of triathlon’s phenomena is “The Epic Week”. In recent years, athletes, particular Ironman athletes have been keen to have a go at an “Epic Week”.

There is a school of thought out there, where flogging yourself with mega mileages for a whole week, will bring about some miracle of adaption, where the athlete will be lifted to a higher level than ever before. Over the years I have prefered to keep my athletes up close to “the edge” for two weeks, then push them just over it for a week and drop them back to a fair way below for a recovery week. This way we never really stress our immune system so badly that we can’t bounce back in an easy week.

We have often done endurance blocks which I have found to be best done as two big days, one easy day then two more big days. A rest day can then follow that block before starting another block. My goal is to get the best out of the athlete by using the least amount of stress possible. There’s no escaping the fact that we do need to push the limits and then allow sufficient recovery before stressing again.

Every athlete is different in their ability to handle training. Some of my most talented athletes have been the most fragile. (in ability to train hard day after day without breaking down) The secret to getting the best out of them is to train them to their individual limits, not what everyone else can do. You only discover where these “individual limits” are by working with them for an extended time, usually a couple of years.

Having a long and productive career in this sport will only come from understanding what the limits are and knowing when to take a rest. Often with age group athletes, who have jobs, and a life outside of triathlon, training is not the only stress to be considered.

In my own life I do lots of other things between coaching committments. I have been a workaholic in the past and have to fight the urge to get a bit more done. I have a background in landscaping, I do love creating beautiful gardens. It’s good for me to do the odd job here and there to keep my skills alive. It is also helpful in providing the extra income I like to spend travelling.

I am choosy with my jobs, my policy is “I only do what I like doing for people I like”. This weeds out the fools and means that every job is an adventure I look forward to completing. Last week I completed a job for a lady who was getting older and wanted a really low maintenance “desert garden”. She’d seen a job I had done on her morning walks and knew just what she wanted. And what was sweet was, it was just what I liked doing.

I usually use casual labour, I have a few guys who I can call on for a day or two here and there. I often use my seventeen yr old son when he’s on school holidays. But unfortunately he’d gone back to school last Monday.

My “Epic Week”

Friday   11th July – 5.30am – coach running group, run with them (8-9km) – 7.30am bobcat on job – strip grass, shape soil mounds, fill sand bags to shape rocks,3hrs on shovel lunch swim 3000m session 12-1pm – lunch at pool – concrete on job at 2pm to form “artifical rocks” 2.5hrs on shovel – home read and answer e-mails

Saturday 12th July - coach swim squad and stretch session 6am to 8am – take Harley out for a run, keep the dust off it.

Sunday 13th July – Run up O’Reiley’s time trial 26km or uphill (2hrs 37min )

Monday 14th July - 7.30 on job, mix and apply plaster/render to rock shapes, carve and shape rocks (5hrs on shovel) – home to write training programs, answer e-mails etc 4hrs in office – 6pm – 7pm coach swim squad.

Tuesday 15th July - Coach swim squad 5.30 to 7am – swim own session 3000m - breakfast at pool, on job at 9.30 – (5hrs on shovel) – home to write programs up to 6.30pm (missed tour highlights again)

Wednesday 16th July - rain thank God, slept in till 7am – office work all day – coached swim squad 6pm – 7pm (missed tour highlights again)

Thursday 17th July - coached swim and windtrainer workout 5.30 – 7.00 am – own session swim 2,500m and windtrainer strength efforts (legs empty, abandoned after 20min, power down 30%) -breakfast at pool – on job for colouring of rocks 2hrs, then  (shovelled 3 ton of 3″ to 6″ gravel into barrow to spread between large boulders 4hrs) went home absolutely shattered

Friday 18th July - 5.30am coached running group, ran about 11km with group, straight to job another delivery of gravel - (shovelled 3ton of 3″ to 6″ gravel into barrow and spread between boulders 4hrs) Got paid for job – yes it was hard but it looks fantastic – client is so happy

Saturday 19th July – coached swim and stretch session 6am to 8am – took Harley out for a couple of hours) – afternoon sleep

Sunday 20th July – Bike 100km Time trial (still managed just under 3hrs) run 6km – legs empty

Monday 21st July - rest day – office work – write this story

I am sixty years old now. My school teachers warned me that I’d be working hard like this if I didn’t study hard at school. I guess they were right. But I love every bit of it. In my “epic week” I did the equivlant to ten gym workouts, I still swam three times, ran three times and cycled twice.

During my “epic week” I fed myself as though I was doing the Tour de France, I watched my hydration carefully (I always drink from water bottles so I have a measure of how much I drink). Most of all, I exercised my concentration skills focussing on “the job at hand” rather than thinking “how bad it was all by myself”.

Shovelling large river stone is the least attractive job in landscaping, the rocks are three inches up to eight inches. I could have ordered smaller, easier to shovel gravel, but “the look” would have been compromised. The lady I was working for wouldn’t have known, really. But because I do this, because I love it, it had to be “right”. My teachers were right after all, but here I am, getting paid to do gym work and creating something I am truly proud of.

It may not make me a better runner or cyclist, but there’ll be no tougher man in my age group when I next stand on that start line.