Physiological Adaptation for RAAM

I have just finished a fairly intensive week of training for the Race Across America. Thanks to the half-term break, a very considerate and understanding wife who took the kids away for a few days, and a welcome break in the weather, I managed to squeeze in 270miles. I have to say that I felt pretty good too, which may sound surprising, or indeed, it may sound like the sort of comment that a RAAM competitor ought not to be mentioning. Regardless, I am focused on the one thing that counts with my part of the race, which is my performance.

I opted for a couple of days rest, and then I did a TT test on the turbo. A 20-minute turbo session first thing on Monday morning. I might say (and this is not an excuse!!) that I was not as well rested for the test as I could have been, so whilst it was not true textbook test I typically conduct the turbo sessions at the same time of the day, and generally after a night of less than 8 hours sleep. I would love to be in the position that I only had the RAAM to consider. Such are the choices I have made, I have opted to leave my job, finish my MSc, be a RAAM competitor, organise the team for the RAAM, and most importantly be an integral part of the family. Whilst I do admire the talents, the tenacity, the toughness, the resilience and the other qualities that make up an elite athlete, I do take my hat off to the amateur athlete, who has to cope with the interuptions to his/her training that everyday life presents. In many respects the schedule of an amateur athlete is somewhat tougher than the elite athlete. The amateur has a long day at work, with no time for a recovery sleep in the afternoon; they may train in the morning, at lunch and in the evening again. "all in a day's work" you may hear them say. They have the challenges that life outside of work brings too, which distracts them from their training. And whilst they may get the opportunity for a good night's sleep, many have very young families that 'love' to wake up in the middle of the night, thus interrupting the recovery period that is essential for physiological adaptation. Okay, okay, a critic of this may say "well they should have worked harder at school, then they could have been a successful elite athlete etc.."