Marathon pacing can account for 14% of your perfomance (marathon time) on the day of the event, so it imporant to get right. But, what is the optimal pacing method? Pacing is about the regulation of your physiological state and the decisions you make (cognative) based off your physiological state, with the aim of maintaining a certain race pace. Pacing ability may vary between person or level ability. For example, women tend to be better pacers than men and more experianced runners tend to have a more optimal pacing stratagy. There are three main type of pacing stratagies, negative split, positive split and even pacing summaried below. A lot of you have probably used a positive split race where you felt lots of excitement at the beginning of the race then go off to fast. Or some of you may have held back for the first while then increased your pace towards the end. Well neither of these strategies are optimal for marathon pacing. To get the most from your performance you should be aiming for even pacing. This means you need to choose (or predict) what you think will be the pace you can sustain for the full duration. You base this pace of your target time and training data. Follow this example to help you. Imagine you are 6 month back from your marathon day last year you achieved a time of 3:10 (hrs: mins) so this year you want to go 2:59 (hrs: mins). Your target pace is 4:15 mins/km or 6:51 mins/mile, therefore your training needs to be build around this number. You should try marathon race pace workouts (or tempo runs) once per week to help this. However, when analysing your training data ensure you check your heart rate for cardiac drift (an increase in HR for a the same pace). If you are noticing a lot of drift (and it’s not due to heat or dehydration) it may be the case your target pace is too hard and needs to be lowered. So part of pacing is having the wisdon on the day to hold your self back and not go looking for the pain but waiting for the pain to come to you. But, its also about how you prepared for your race pace in training and dont forgot to pace evenly. Good luck with your race, if you need help selecting your marathon pace you can veiw the guide linked below. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-race-pace Or if you want BCA to help you find your race pace for you drop us and email and add BCA to your TrainingPeaks account Email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com Add to TrainingPeaks acount link: https://home.trainingpeaks.com/attachtocoach?sharedKey=QTNQSOVO6T5GK See are other marathon articles below: https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-guide

In the lead up to your marathon you should beginning think about how you are going fuel yourself for the race. Most of us will be burning in excess of 2000 Kcal during the race nearly all of which will come from carbohydrates. So how do we ensure you have enough carbohydrates to get us through the race. Many of you will have heard the term carb-loading, but what is it? Carb-loading is when you supply the muscles with an excess amount of carbohydrates by increasing food intake and is typically done between 1-7 days before the race. Part of the aim of carb-loading is to prevent the phenomena termed ‘Hitting the Wall’, where your carbohydrate stores deplete leaving you with acute fatigue. The typical diet for an endurance athlete should be between 7-12 g/kg of body mass of carbohydrates per day. However, when you are carb-loading this should be increased to 10-12 g/kg of body mass of carbohydrates per day. However, the effect of carb-loading can vary from person to person depending on factors such as training status or genetic factors for example. But, with the right regime you can maximum the gains with carb-loading. So what can you do to maximum the benefits? A limitation to endurance performance is the amount of food are gut can hold and digest. We can improve this by completing a high intensity workout in a fastest state (first thing in the morning for example). Conversely, conducting two workouts per day has also been shown to increase are ability to carbohydrate stores. In the months preceding your marathon you should spend a week where you practice your carb-loading strategy. The perfect opportunity would be to do this in the built up to a B race. See an example week long carb-loading strategy below. So, you now have a good idea for how to ensure you won’t run out of energy during the marathon. If you need further help or have follow up questions drop us an email. BCA email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com See are other marathon articles below: https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-guide

The body can only store around 1600Kcal of carbohydrates in the body and you re likely to burn over 2000Kcal during the marathon which means you will need to fuel during the race. But what are the best during race fuelling strategies. Your primary fuel source during the marathon will be carbohydrates. However, we only store a limited amount of carbohydrates even with a good carb-loading strategy. Therefore, you will need to fuel during the race. The current recommendation is any exercise longer than 90 minutes requires 90g of carbohydrates per hour of exercise. To give you perspective that’s roughly a bowl of pasta per hour of running. Which means the average marathon runner (assuming a time of 4.5 hours) would require around 400g of carbohydrates (the equivalent to about 1600Kcal). Consuming 1600Kcal during marathon would be a very difficult task and may not benefit you. So you need to make sure your body can get the most from each gram of carbohydrates you give it, so how do you do this? Training itself at both a low an high intensity overtime will improve your bodies glycogen sensitivity which means you will become better can absorbing and utilising carbohydrates. Which means keep consistent with training and your body will get better a using less carbohydrates for the same intensity. Further, the motion of running does not lend itself to fuelling without feeling discomfort. Which unfortunately means you are going to need to practice in training how to fuel/get used to the feeling. For example, one strategy is going for an immediately after eating a meal, although this should be done with caution, so start with smaller meals. When practicing your fuelling you also need to consider the type of fuel. Although we need to get carbohydrates in the body there are many different forms we can get this (gel, drink solid food etc.). Experiment with different fuel types to see what works for you. However, try and focus on gel or liquid form quick release carbohydrates. A big mistake runners often make is waiting till they feel dehydrated or in need of fuel during race. But by that point it’s too late, you should be feeling little and often throughout the race to prevent this feeling. So definitively how much should you eat? Although it will vary from person to person but roughly aim for 7g/kg of body weight. So for example if you are 63kg you will need 441Kcal of carbohydrates which is a total of 110g of carbohydrates or 28g per 10km of running. Need further help? Drop us an email below. BCA email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com See are other marathon articles below: https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-guide

This is the BCA marathon guide with a collection of all the help centre articles in one place to help you find the information you need. Follow the articles from top to bottom to gain a complete understanding of how you need to prepare for the marathon and what you should do once you have finished the race Find out how to fuel for a marathon both before and during the race. Marathon Pre-Fuelling In the lead up to your marathon you should beginning think about how you are going fuel yourself for the race. Most of us will be burning in excess of 2000 Kcal during the race nearly all of which will come from carbohydrates. So how do we ensure you have enough carbohydrates to get us through the race. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-pre-fuelling Marathon During-Fuelling The body can only store around 1600Kcal of carbohydrates in the body and you re likely to burn over 2000Kcal during the marathon which means you will need to fuel during the race. But what are the best during race fuelling strategies. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-during-fuelling So now you understand how to fuel for your marathon, but what about the pacing, or finding the right pace. How to Pace a Marathon Marathon pacing can account for 14% of your perfomance (marathon time) on the day of theevent, so it imporant to get right. But, what is the optimal pacing method? https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/how-to-pace-a-marathon Marathon Race Pace Your marathon race pace will vary depending on your ability. You will learn your marathon pace over time and get a better feel for what it is like to sustain the effort. During training you should have a marathon pace session once a week to help you with this. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/marathon-race-pace Now you have finished the marathon you are likey feeling fatgiue and wondering what is best (or safe) for you to do exercise/training wise. Post Marathon Recovery The marathon will induce a lot of fatigue that can take time to recover from. So once you have finished the marathon what should you be doing to back to normal again. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/post-marathon-recovery Best of luck at your marathon if you do have any questions, please email BCA. Or you can add us to your TrainingPeaks account so we can see your progress. Email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com Add to TrainingPeaks acount link: https://home.trainingpeaks.com/attachtocoach?sharedKey=QTNQSOVO6T5GK

The marathon will induce a lot of fatigue that can take time to recover from. So once you have finished the marathon what should you be doing to back to normal again. The fatigue you will experience after a marathon is mainly central fatigue. Central fatigue refers to the brain and nervous system so you may feel changes in mood, brain fog or sleep disruption for example. Further, when looking at biomarkers such as creatine kinase (which is released into the muscle when damage occurs during exercise) or blood lactate levels the rate of recovery can vary amongst individuals. Typically you can expect your biomarkers to return to baseline (before the marathon) after 6-8 days. During this period should you do any exercise? Using exercise as a recovery methods is referred to as active recovery and is frequently used. However, after an event such as the marathon it may have the opposite effect and worsen your recovery. Methods such as cold water immersion, massage or passive recovery will help you recovery faster. So put your feet up and rest. However, the recovery time may vary depending on your marathon time. Faster runners should avoid proper training for longer. Whereas slower runners may be able to start running sooner. Once you have recovered you may start thinking about your next goal or next season. Check out the article below to start planning. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/post/planning-for-next-season If you have any questions or need further guidance drop BCA an email. BCA email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com WANT A PERSONALISED TRAINING PLAN? Click the link below. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmNOtHARJJnUDAasr8o6w-EzRmjc6G1J6tMTiCsAZ8jicKgQ/viewform

When making progress with endurance sports you will have periods of ups and downs (but hopefully on average if you have been training properly mainly ups). A part of these down are periods of illness, so what is the best way to return to training and begin making progress again? Key points: Avoid high intensity training when returning for 2-3 days. First workouts back should be short and low intensity. Allow the body to mostly recovery before training. Take training day-by-day till you feel recovered. Physical active in general will improve your immune system, however, there is a small window of immune suppression after training (particularly after high intensity workouts). Often these are the causes of illness resulting in athletes temporally pausing their training. But what about getting back to training. Well the thing you should know is you are unlikely to lose all your fitness. The body is able to store your condition, so the fitter you are the quicker you can get back, meaning you will not need to start from scratch. Of course, it depends on the severity of the illness, but in general you should restart training from the previous couple weeks, and make sure your first couple workouts are short and low intensity. For example if I am on week 5 of a ten week program I and I got ill, I would start again on week 4 or 3 depending on how I was feeling. I would then avoid intervals for the first 2-3 days. However, what if you are mostly recovered but still have some symptoms of illness? This is something that must be judged on a case by case basis, but the best practice is taking your training day by day. For example with BCA athletes, if they were ill by feel mostly recovered we will take the training day by day till they (and myself) feel comfortable we can resume as normal. The biggest mistake you can make however, is restring to early with training that is to hard. Although it may be frustrating, making this mistake can lead you long term health issues. So be patient and remember as frustrating as it is, getting ill is an inevitable part of the process. BCA Training plan: https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/training-plans Contact: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com

Naturally, given the name, a sprint triathlon, these are short events that require a lot of power to get round in the fastest time. So what is the best way to pace one of these efforts without blowing up? Key points: Aim for a positive split race. Predict the right time. Practice your race pace in training. Typically, with any endurance event you want to aim for even pacing (meaning your pace should be consistent throughout the effort). You therefore need your time prediction to be very good (in other words, if you predict too fast a time, you will over pace by default, resulting in a slower time). However, in the case of a sprint triathlon a positive split race is considered optimal. Meaning you are faster at the beginning of the event (or leg e.g. run leg) and gradually slow as you progress. As the sprint triathlon is a short event, you will likely be working above your threshold. Meaning your energy will come from a large percent of anaerobic pathways (carbohydrates). When working at these intensities it is inevitable your pace decline, as you only have a finite amount go energy available. Your training shoould reflect this by working on intervals above your threshold. This will help teach the body to cope with the fatigue that develops at this intensity (fatigue in this instant’s comes from lactic acid, inons and inorganic phosphates) and reduce the amount your pace declines when exercising at these intensities. As a rough guide your race pace is going to be between 95-110% of your threshold depending on your ability. After the transition you may find your quick out the transition zones. Use this initial burst to keep a high pace or power, then (assume the power is not extremely high) try and maintain the pace/power. Remember, you will need to handle a large amount of pain, but only for a short amount of time. BCA Triathlon plans here. https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/triathlon Contact: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com

You may have a lot of questions about getting a training plan so BCA has done its best to answer your questions below. What if the plan does not fit within my schedule/calendar? One size shoes that fits all is not a saying that works a BCA. Everyone is different and has a different schedule. Which is why BCA can make some adjustments to your training plan once you have uploaded to your TrainingPeaks calendar. So if you need a particular day off we can accommodate that. Alternatively, if you would prefer a more personalised approach to your training plan then you can check out the link below, to the personalised pre-built training programme service. BCA - Personalised Pre-Built Plan: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmNOtHARJJnUDAasr8o6w-EzRmjc6G1J6tMTiCsAZ8jicKgQ/viewform What if I have no time for family? This will not be the case with BCA training plans. The aim is to keep you improving while ensuring you have time for family/friends and a good work like balance. You may find yourself in a position were your an advanced athlete, but now don't have the time to keep up with the advanced plan. BCA works around this by offering the elite plan then you can take out some of the workouts so you have time, but still have workouts challenging enough to cause adaption. I am afraid I will get the wrong plan, can I swap? Yes, don't worry about getting the wrong plan, within 14 days off purchasing the plan you can swap your plan for free (assuming same value). To make life easier, you can answer a few questions to give BCA the necessary information for us to choose the right plan for you (this should take about 5 minutes). Click the link below to do this. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScuGin-4FAkMU5sex_RN_ftievhDXg9nYi99B6nFDuwRcYpjg/viewform I don't know anything about training would this still be suitable for me? Yes, BCA plans as designed for everyone from complete beginner to experienced. We provide lots of additional free training guides and information to help you learn more about training and preparing for an event. If you have anymore questions then please let us know. Email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com

Your half marathon race pace will vary depending on your ability. You will learn your half marathon pace over time and get a better feel for what it is like to sustain the effort. During training you will tempo and threshold intervals to help develop your ability to tolerate intensity expected during a half marathon. Your half marathon pace will vary depending on your ability. The below table provides you with a rough guide to help you navigate how to pace the effort. Half Marathon Pace: As you will be running in a group and you may feel nervous you heart rate may be a little higher compared to the corresponding pace. You can use data to help you find which pace is best. For example take a look at your peak pace graph in training peaks under dashboard along the top. You can then see what your best pace is for your target time. If you have any further questions or need any help please let BCA know. Email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bca_endurance/

As the season comes to an end it is time for two things, the first is take your end of season rest and the second is to think about what you want to do next season. This article covers how to plan next year and review your past season. Season Review: When conducting a season review you need to make a comparison between what you set out to achieve and what you did achieve. This is why you need to be as clear as possible when setting your goals as it is then easier to make meaningful comparisons. For example if you aim was to increase your FTP by 20 watts in three months and you only increased your FTP by 10 watts, it is much easier to see whether you achieved what you wanted. Although the harder part if trying to understand why you did or didn't hit your targets. Which is why BCA has laid out a series of questions below to help you analyse your season. - At what point during your training did you feel you were making the most progress? - At what point during your training did you feel you were making the least progress? - Which training workouts did you feel worked most and least? - What were the strength in your ability that helped you hit your goals? - What were the weakness in your ability that prevented you from hitting your goals? - Do you feel you put in enough time into your weakness? - Was there anything that felt lacking in your training (including nutrition etc.)? - Did you feel tired or as if you were not working hard enough and when? Have a go at answering the questions and see if you can find where it was going well and were it went wrong (if at all). It is also very helpful for yourself when reviewing your season to read your post workout comments, this can give you very good insight as to how you were feeling at that present moment. If you don't add post workout comments it is strongly recommended, all you have to do it write a couple of sentences summing up how you felt and the reasons why. Plan Ahead: Now you have a good idea of what happened last season, so you can now make a better plan going forward. There are different types of goals you can plan for yourself which are laid out below to help you think about what to do next. Improve upon last year. - Perhaps you achieve what you wanted last year but now want to progress even further. Try something different altogether. Maybe last season you completed a long duathlon now you want to pursue an IRONMAN. Retry what you couldn't do last year. Possibly you didn't hit your goals last year now you want try again. The most common goal is the first one, for example, maybe your goal last year was to reach Cat 2 now next season you want to hit Cat 1. Cat 1 races can be longer and the intensity can be higher, so you may need to increase your overall training volume and increase the time you can ride above your FTP to reach this goal. To do this you could move from an intermediate BCA race plan to an advanced BCA race plan. Have a go at defining your goals, feel free asking BCA for help and guidance. Email: info@breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com BCA Training Plans https://www.breakawaycoachingandanalytics.com/training-plans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bca_endurance/