2021 - A new approach

 
Having plodded through lockdown with some gentle trots mixed with some trail and hilly stuff, my running was going fine for health & fitness purposes, but not for keeping any kind of race speed up.

In contrast, my cycling was the polar opposite. Gone was outdoor cycling, initially to comply with Covid restrictions and later just because it suited my schedule and allowed more time for life stuff to get in the way / take over even more time... 

In its place was Zwift, a computer game that mixed exercise with some social interaction by cycling on an interactive home trainer attached to your own bike - you've probably seen the TV ad's by now. Basically, Peloton for actual first claim cyclists... Actually nowt like Peloton, their adverts annoy me terribly, probably because I'm in denial about being anything like those guys!

So, my Zwift experience involves joining an organised race, time trial, long ride or fast group ride, twice or three times a week for a total of around 100k. You (depicted by an avatar that you can choose to look like you or look completely unlike you, depending on your sense of humor) are joined on screen by similar people on screen from all over the world, racing together via the power signals detected by your laptop from your bike trainer, sent through the internet all in a fraction of a second, including your speed, heart rate etc. etc. It works pretty well, not faultlessly as there are glitches galore, especially when you're a newbie, but you soon learn how to get a clean session in. 

Each rider is classified in order to race against similar abilities so as to keep each race as close as possible. I am classed as a B rider, from Aplus to D. It means I'm a squidge above average, and if I'm tactical and only burn my matches (throw some big power down on the pedals) at the exact crucial moments, i can sometimes stick with the A guys or strong B guys when I'm in those situations.

I initially joined a club on Zwift and raced each Tuesday and Thursday, Tuesday being a Team Time Trial, and a road race on Thursday. The TTT was superb, featured live on YouTube by Zwift in which my team were sometimes featured as we often qualified for the 'Premier League' which was the ten fastest teams in each ability category. The premier league was tough, and our best position i think was 2nd or 3rd. We were often in the top 5.
The race involved just your team racing together (max 8 riders) for around an hour or so depending on the course, against up to 200 or so other teams. Your time would be counted on your 4th rider across the line. So that was a good consistent effort each Tuesday. 

Thursday would be a road race league (same organisers). I was placed in a league just below the top league (think Championship in English football). This was slightly out of my comfort zone, especially the super-fast starts which would often see me struggle as i never had time to warm up correctly and would often come good later in the race when it was too late, but it was fun to mop-up the stragglers.

















I felt that after almost a year, it was time to try something new. Thursdays were not enjoyable, simply too hard with what seemed like 4 or 5 ringers every week who would tear the race apart early on. 

Tuesdays were great but my regular team seemed to get disbanded, and riders spread amongst other teams from the same club due probably to a few quiet weeks where we weren't getting enough entrants or a change of team coordinator, who knows. My last race was with a completely new set of people and the fluidity had inevitably gone and so it was an ideal time to go back to one of my first dabbles on Zwift - the DCG! 

The Doncaster Chaingang is widely known in UK cycling circles as the toughest IRL (in real life!) training ride/group in the country. Maybe they play a little on the 'It's grim up North' theme, and make sure that it ain't easy each week, but in terms of a sensible workout from the traditional heartlands or 'cycling clublands', then the DCG is far more like an IRL riding experience for online cycling than anything else I've experienced. 

The ride has a group leader, and a red beacon (last man) who everyone listens to. The ride is live on YouTube and commentary is both fun and informative and so you always know what's going on. 

The format is again based on an hour up to one hour and 20 mins of riding, but crucially starting at a low power output (2.5 watts per kg of bodyweight to get geeky), and gradually ramps to 3.5 w/kg until anywhere between 22 and 10 kilometers to go when a GOGOGO is signaled and it's every man for himself, frantically trying to tag into the fastest group they can in the blink of an eye to take them to the finish line in as high a position as possible. 

All abilities seem to get their money's worth. It may not be ideal to 'just' ride DCG in any given week, but when working full time, it's an easy session to quickly get ready for, jump on and follow the pace, with a guaranteed max effort 20-minute blowout to finish off. Seems to work for me as my power output has seen slight all-time gains in recent months. Not bad for 100km per week! 

My usual DCG ride, depending on the choice of course, will involve me using my short punchy ability to enable me to tag in with the lead guys when the GoGo is signaled - usually a 450-watt effort for around 45 seconds. It then quickly becomes apparent that these guys are strong, and as they begin to fight it out by trying to break away themselves from the group, the weaker guys (i.e., me) begin to struggle with the efforts required to close each gap down as the kilometers pass by towards the finish line. 

On rare occasions, i hang on. It's a terrific training session, in which i should probably forget about the lead group and tag in with the chasers (who i usually end up being caught by further down the road in any case), but the aim is always to win and so I'll always try and last as long as i can with the top guys. Human nature, i guess!

My best ride was high summer, with a limited field due to the gorgeous weather outside, and a flat course. I managed to hold on and contest the sprint, gauged my effort late, with almost everyone else going too early. As they all waned as the line approached, i rolled through to take 3rd place.
Probably my greatest e-sporting achievement LOL!

Onto running and again, a change of focus. I accidentally stumbled across a new group and new coach in the local area whose main area is sprinting and neuro pathway development. Sprinting was probably lowest in my list of running priorities before May 2021. One, it hurts to do. Two, it hurts afterwards (injuries), and three, all the hanging around doing warm-ups seems a huge waste of time..but it was a change.Change is as good as a rest, so they say.

Half of the Vorsprung session is preparing the brain for the task ahead. For short sprinting sessions, this means faster drills, and for more measured efforts, the drills are adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, the neuro pathways are also awakened by challenges during the drills and also by some other challenges. This might be a short game of football and rugby at the same time... 

All athletes stand in a circle and kick one football and throw one rugby ball to each other at random at the same time.
The brain then has to concentrate on two things at once and coordinate arms & legs separately - harder from men than women I'm convinced of ;-)

Despite the obvious slant towards running (actually sprinting in our case), the Vorsprung Project actually lends itself to everyday activities and chores to help improve the brain & body relationship - especially helpful for Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. 

To quote from their website "Vorsprung isn’t about sport, nor exercise, nor even about movement. It is about improving brain-to-body and body-to-brain communication pathways".

Think of that party trick where you pat your head whilst rubbing your stomach with your other hand. That's similar to the drills that we do in prep for running. After a morning of slouching in the office chair with blood like treacle, it certainly seems to do just as good a job of warming the body as would a 2-mile slow jog, if not better, as you feel more attentive.

The brain is taxed to make arm movements go very slowly whilst speeding up leg strides at the same time, and whilst concentrating on breathing. 

The aim is for everything to become second nature - the conscious to become the subconscious - just like clutch control of a car!
In my case, Vranek soon saw that i don't move my shoulders when i run, and i also run very upright with my back arched and chest out. My arms were static like a Thunderbirds puppet.

After a few weeks of vocal reminders and drill work, the conscious effort of moving them and thus creating a bigger range of arm movement with my stride became subconscious. Has it improved my running? My sprinting splits have improved dramatically in three months.  I haven't yet raced long distance so time will tell, but at least I will be more efficient.

Secondly, sprinting, at age 47, with arthritic knees? It does sound mad and to be honest, the first 6 weeks were difficult as the extra load was making my knees hurt. The sessions are on grass, and the aim is to spend as much time in the air as possible, and so on. The end result is that the body adjusts, and the knee pain is now no different, certainly no worse than previous years. I'd actually go as far as to say it is slightly better. 

Once the problem was identified, Vranek introduced a third weekly session of strength work which included medicine ball work and some specific balance work (a bit like Yoga mixed with Ballet) which has made a difference. Apologies to all the passersby to Victoria Fields on a Wednesday lunchtime.

The running element is certainly tough. Interval training at its best. Maybe not in terms of qty of efforts, but maximum effort on the amount we do in the one session, and a more consistent effort across all reps on the other session. The aim is to improve and in time, the best time from week one, is now the worst time as our body adapts. My 300 metre time is now 51 seconds, down from a previous best of 58! 

To sum up Vorsprung, it should be added to your weekly training program. My coordination is improved, and my previous running gait and arm swing issues are being addressed. The strength sessions have improved my core stability in a far gentler way than HIT or Circuits would do, which could cause injury. The drills are improving my horrendous memory retention issues that I've always had, and so the training goes deeper than simply physical improvement, but the mental also.

On November the 7th, I am racing at the World Duathlon Championships in Aviles, Spain! The aim is to arrive injury free, focussed and able to push myself to the next level with a bit of help from the DCG & Vorsprung!