Phil Ellison Triathlon Coach

A MILESTONE … and a slightly strange post to write.

For the first time since I started coaching, and perhaps more importantly since I founded Adapted, my 1-to-1 triathlon coaching roster is absolutely full.

I’ve reached the point where I simply can’t take on another athlete without compromising the time, attention and quality of coaching I want to give to the people I already work with.

It’s obviously a lovely position to be in, and something I’m incredibly grateful for. But it’s also a little frustrating, because I never particularly enjoy telling someone who wants my help that I don’t have space for them.

The good news is that we have a fantastic team of talented coaches available, all of whom share the same values and approach to supporting athletes.

Check out our website and have a read of their bios www.adaptedlife.co.uk

For anyone who specifically wants to work with me on a 1-to-1 basis, I’ll now be starting a waiting list, with places offered as and when they become available.

A genuine thank you to everyone who has trusted me with their training over the years — and particularly to the athletes I’m lucky enough to work with right now.

It feels like a significant little moment.
🧡💜💙

Adapted | We all want to live a long and healthful life WELCOME TO ADAPTED We all want to live a long and healthful life; a life filled with purpose, with meaning, with enjoyment and satisfaction. Modern life is difficult, tricky to navigate, yet for the majority it is more comfortable and indeed safe than ever before. Human ingenuity has outstripped hum...

Anyone else get REACTIVE HYPOGLYCAEMIA - this has affected me for years. Only with running and only after my evening meal.

It goes like this….
Start running - feel fine - 10-15 mins later - begin to feel weak, uncoordinated, balance is a little off, almost can’t focus properly, light headed! Have to walk back home. Or walk for 15-20mins, feel much better and finish the run off.

Here’s the explanation in these 2 YT shorts:

https://youtube.com/shorts/KVPHoTgJiok?is=sJbb8p-tNehNgGQA

https://youtube.com/shorts/6K8BD5VeJMc?is=Md8CGJDsTUJzncLz

fans

How To Avoid the Carb Trap Reactive hypoglycaemia can occur if you get the timing of your carb...

Testing/Iterating/Learning

This week I put myself through a joint lactate ramp test and sweat test on the treadmill.

Conclusion - like many of us I'm a sweaty so and so....

20-21 degrees in the lab (garage 🙂).
60mins of total running inc approx 32 easy, 16 moderate and 12 hard.

Fluid loss 1.3litres containing just under 1000mg of sodium. That's categorised as high!

This wont be my typical protocol but its been a good test.

If you're interested my LT1 pace its currently about 14.4-14.6 kph and LT2 16.1-16.4 kph.

Never stop learning 🤓
Keep adapting 😀

Stay curious! Never stop learning.... and invest in yourself

Now, who's ready to get MASSIVE! 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Hyrox?

In actual fact, I enrolled for this in part for simple self-development and also to allow me to potentially encourage triathlon clients into the gym and provide some 1-1, or small group, instruction, feedback, encouragement.

As I await the certificate I will consider development options... it's always nice to have options 😁

You continually run the risk of OVER-training OR UNDER-recovering and access to healthcare can be costly and/or slow, so it's very useful for you to have an understanding of your body and whats going on beneath the surface.

Here I present - the basics of 🦵🏻Lower Limb Tendons🦵🏻(the most troublesome for triathletes)

If you're reading you are likely to have suffered from achilles or plantar fascia problems before? 🦶🏻 They often prove to be lengthy conditions that fail to respond to rafts of supposed treatments. Read on!

Anatomy & Function:
Tendons are rope like structures attaching muscle to bone. Also, for our purpose, fascia (another form of connective tissue) is viewed as a tendon; examples here would be that found on the sole of the foot (plantar fascia) and that running down the outside of the thigh (I-T band). From the outside, healthy tendons are bright white in colour. Internally they are made up of collagen fibres grouped together (kind of like cheese strings – target audience for that one is hopefully only athletes with kids!) and cells (known as tenocytes).

In the legs, tendons reduce the energy required for locomotion (walking and running) through storing energy and releasing it at no metabolic cost. Think of the Achilles tendon when hopping (or a Kangaroo if you wish!); as you land on the ball of your foot the tendon acts like a stiff spring to absorb energy (elastically) and then release it as you push off. Contrary to popular belief, tendons work better if they are stiff. A more pliable ‘stretchy’ tendon is not able to store as much energy. This energy storage and release is referred to as the stretch-shortening-cycle (SSC) and is most evident in the run discipline of triathlon. This largely explains why the majority of lower limb tendinopathies are related to running and not cycling or swimming, as SSC does not really occur to the same magnitude in the latter 2 sports.
Tendons are largely anaerobic and do not have a large blood supply (I am constantly surprised that patients suffering from a ruptured Achilles tendon exhibit very little bruising whereas those with a calf muscle tear are typically ‘black and blue’). Tenocytes (cells of the tendon) monitor the forces applied to the tendon and produce various chemicals and proteins to rebuild and restructure the tendon. Interestingly, the degradation of collagen peaks inside the 1st 36 hours after a bout of exercise whereas collagen re-synthesis (repair) peaks around 72 hours (a full 3 days after the activity was performed). Particular consideration should be given to the frequency and timing of run sessions based on this finding. Furthermore, these facts explain why tendinopathy is both common and also slow to resolve. There is no quick fix unfortunately; something we will come back to in the treatment blog.

Tendons don’t like change! Hence why tendinitis is often seen as an overuse type injury (unfortunately its not that simple) but they equally don’t like under-use. Common times for a tendinopathy to present itself are after breaks in training, either enforced through other injury or illness or perhaps when returning from the off-season or mid-season break (strategies to prevent this will be discussed in later). Other typical times for symptoms to appear would be shortly after increases in training volume or intensity (or both). Think particularly about the frequency, duration and intensity of run training here. Basically, to keep tendons happy we need to avoid drastic swings in activity levels (often referred to as a boom-bust cycles) and allow them sufficient time between sessions to recover. Luckily for us we have some swim, bike and gym sessions to do in the meantime!

Finally, and this may sound obvious, but tendons are designed to resist tensile forces and not compressive ones; i.e. if you pull at either end, the tendon will resist the tension that you apply but should you grab it in the middle and squash it then it will deform more easily (it is actually the job of cartilage within your body to absorb compression, which is why it lines the end of your bones within the joints). Interestingly (at least for me!) the majority of tendon problems occur in the area that tendons join bone (the enthesis) and so tend to suffer from compressive forces as well as tensile ones. Examples include the hamstrings at their uppermost attachment to the ischial tuberosity (sit bone) and the patellar tendon at the lower pole of the patella (kneecap). These compressive forces need to be considered when rehabilitating athletes with tendinitis as further compression during working, social or sporting activities is likely to exacerbate symptoms and stall recovery.

This diagram (courtesy of Inigo San Milan on IG) neatly shows how LACTATE is both produced and shuttled to be utilised as fuel.


Here’s some key messages that we can take from this:
1. Lactate is produced when we make energy through anaerobic glycolysis. This is predominantly in fast twitch muscle fibres.
* a caveat to this is that the energy required for the first 6-8 secs of hard work come from the creatine phosphate system (anaerobic but not glycolytic - with sugar) so no increase in lactate!
2. When FT fibres are called into action and lactate is produced it can be used by neighbouring ST fibres without entering circulation. At this point very little would appear in the blood (if you were having lactate ramp test for instance).
3. When too much is being produced for the local musculature to use then it will enter the circulation where it could be used by other muscles and internal organs for energy. Now as pyruvate and via the aerobic glycolytic system (Krebs cycle).

Seems like it’s win win doesn’t it! But the associated release of inorganic phosphate and hydrogen molecules is what causes acidosis, pain and fatigue. We just don’t measure these.

How do we utilise this knowledge in training?

Well, firstly, many people probably don’t!

Secondly, we prescribe training that in the main is AEROBIC. Below LT2 for the majority. This facilitates ST fibre development and aerobic pathways.

Thirdly, we prescribe very short bursts or sprints to facilitate neuromuscular development and FT fibre activation without lactate (and associated acidic molecule) aggregation.

Fourthly, we fully train all muscle fibres with occasional blocks of VO2 work and we add a ‘sprinkling’ of over threshold work into training plans frequently.

Fifth(ly)? We train to facilitate lactate clearance and shuttling with a series of workouts above and below LT2 (over unders).

There you have it! What you might like to know and what your coach should know in order to build appropriate and effective training strategies.

Thanks for reading to the end 🙂