A muddy face with a smile. New Zealand’s Richard Ussher is one of the world’s top adventure and multi-sport athletes who has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments. From competing in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics for men’s moguls to finishing an Ironman distance triathlon in 8 hours and 2 minutes, he is a constant threat to his competitors and a motivation for the rest. From his home in Nelson, Richard has been using Restwise for quite some time now and can be considered one of its largest advocates. With his main focus this year being the Xterra World Championships in Maui, we wanted to see how this man, or machine, trains and seeks out greater fitness.
RW: Starting as a skier, then moving to adventure racing, and now participating in triathlon, how have you grown into the different training styles?
RU: It has been interesting over the years to see how the physiology has changed, I was a mogul skier so the longest race then was around 30 seconds – now I could effectively still be on the start line and not ruin most races so a big change in endurance!
I noticed that for the first few years of endurance training even 15 hours really knocked me around but now it is not unusual to be well over 30 hours of training in a week.
The biggest thing I needed to learn when going to endurance sport was to train at a pace I could recover from to get enough consistency, hence why I could probably only manage so few hours to start as I was probably training a bit fast for too much of it.
The main difference between the Adventure racing / Multisport and the more traditional triathlons is the AR stuff is more strength endurance focused where as the tri stuff is much more speed endurance focused.
They both require similar amounts of training but the requirements for running over a mountain on a rough trail or running a marathon at pace off the bike require quite different training stimulus.
RW: Some would say you live in the mecca for outdoor adventures (NZ) would you say that this environment helps support your success?
RU: For me sport is all about enjoyment and there is no doubt NZ has a lot of fantastic areas to enjoy for training and racing, and that probably reflects in the amount of people participating here at a high level in outdoor sports.
In saying that though I think it is more about the people I have met racing and travelling that have more influenced my drive to succeed.
Initially chasing guys like Nathan Fa’avae and Steve Gurney in the Multisport scene in NZ and later racing with guys like Mike Kloser and Michael Tobin in the USA really pushed my limits. Later on exposure to the Ironman athletes like Cam Brown and others pushed me different levels in different areas.
RW: As a long time user of Restwise, where do you see the value of the product in multisport training?
RU: The things I find really useful with the Restwise system are firstly how simple it is to use. Not having to wake up and remember to count your pulse but just being able to put the pulseoximeter on just makes the process so easy and therefore much more sustainable.
The biggest benefit though is it gives you something tangible to compare how you are feeling with a scale of where your recovery score is. It helps give me the confidence to take proper rest when the score heads down too much or to keep pushing when the going is seeming a bit tough but I’m still within my set parameters.
I can mostly predict what my score will be day to day now but having it on file definitely helps to be more objective about where my body is at recovery wise.
RW: Can you tell us a little about your typical training day?
RU: Typically I train 3 times per day; I guess I’m a little unique as I train 4 sports with Running, Biking, Kayaking and swimming. I also do a little gym work and the biking is split between Road, MTB and Time trialing.
I’ll usually try and doo one session first thing after breakfast before I try and tidy up on the emails and office work. The afternoon is set aside for training and I’ll often do 2 sessions back to back.
I like to change the orders around quite a bit as often the races are in different orders than just swim, bike, run so for me it’s important to be conditioned for these eventualities as well.
I don’t generally schedule days off but take them when the body tells me it needs one. Usually in the base phase I’ll do 3 weeks on 1 week easier and in the quality phase 2 weeks hard, one easy.
courtesy of Hannah Johnston
RW: What would you say Restwise has changed most about your training regimen?
RU: It has definitely just given me more confidence in my intuition about how I’m feeling and it makes it much easier mentally for me to take the proper rest and recovery required to keep the performance improving
RW: Training for triathlons in general is a very time consuming process, how has Restwise helped you make the most of your days?
RU: Being a full time athlete I’ve already been accustomed to scheduling my training days as if it were work as otherwise I just run out of time to fit everything in. Restwise has just meant I can make more definitive calls at the beginning of the day of what I am trying to achieve in training that particular day and if I do need rest to take it and then not worry about missing the training for that day.
RW: What would you say is your largest challenge being a multisport athlete right now? Adventure racing and tri’s are dfferent animals, but all require endurance and strength…
RU: The biggest challenge is probably managing the training between the 4 sports. As far as the different training challenges there is a large amount of cross over and I really enjoy the differences the off road training gives me versus the on road training. I also think the more strength based training in the off road racing and training has good benefits for the triathlon races once it is teamed with more specific speed training and vice versa for the speed when going back to the off road sports.
RW: What advice would you give the aspiring triathlete for help them excel?
RU: I really believe the biggest thing is to maintain the enjoyment. Training super hard is tough but if you can maintain as much of a fun element as possible I have found it is a big factor in maintaining a high level of motivation.
The second thing would be about having a good consistency with the training but changing the types of sessions regularly to keep stimulating the body to react and adapt to the new sessions.
RW: Triathletes often rely on data to help them train, do you train with power or any other devices to help you improve?
RU: I use a power meter on my road and TT bikes and a Garmin 310XT to track my running km’s and speeds. I occasionally use a HR monitor to compare data at certain rates or when I have easy sessions planned to keep a lid on the tempo.
I never race with a HR monitor though as I like to think when you are really going for it your mental focus can help you operate at levels that might not be within the parameters you set prior to the race.
RW: Coach or no coach?
RU: No coach but I always try and seek out advice from as many areas as possible to compare with what I’m doing and I do get some help on the swimming at present
RW: Marmite or Jam?
RU: Peanut butter
Thanks Richard and best of luck in Maui this year!
Tags: "endurance training", "garmin", "heart rate monitor", "ironman", "new zealand", "over training", "overtraining", "powermeter", "recovery training", "richard ussher", "subway", "xterra", restwise
