Wednesday 3 February 2016

Extracts from the training diary

February already!! Time is flying this winter, it will soon be time for the race season to begin, starting with Xterra Malta 1st April and a block of races leading up to Celtman and Oravaman in June/July. Its a good time to look back on the training so far, its easy to forget and get panicky about fitness this time of year but looking back I have been making slow but consistent gains. No reason this should not continue!

Things have been a little different to last year so far, with less long training sessions at low intensity on the roads or in the mountains and more time on the turbo trainer with faster sessions running on the tarmac. Certainly quality over quantity, zero junk miles and a total change from last year. I've been making sacrifices on the things I love to reap the rewards in the Spring when its time to race. Sometimes its hard to stick to the plan and resist a long run in the snow for 15x1min max efforts on the tarmac but I just keep reminding myself of the steps toward my ambitions for the season and dreams long term. The Celtman race splits are pinned to the beam in the garage, next to the little Norseman picture, its much easier to hit and hold those intervals then.

LakeDistrict Images


I thought I would share a few sessions I have been doing over the last few months, kindly or mostly not too kindly set by Blair Davies for my enjoyment :)

Running-

A staple has been, 15x1min max efforts with 1min30 recovery. The first 5 usually feel ok, too much rest even but it soon starts to bite! Its simple but effective for increasing speed, cadence and maintaining form. I now travel further and hold pace over the efforts way better than when we started and my cadence has increased across all runs.


wansfelb47's 1:16 h Running Move #SuuntoRun: 21.1.2016 - 1:16 h 12.27 km, Running Move

Threshold hills, yes, I get to do this one on the fells, sort of...I use a good surface bridal way, about 10% Avg grade that undulates slightly. 3x5min threshold efforts with the jog back to start as recovery (5mins). I have really felt the benefits of increased cadence on these sessions, you can really run hard and fast on this gradient compared to the steep reps or long efforts I used last year.

wansfelb47's 1:04 h Running Move #SuuntoRun: 14.12.2015 - 1:04 h 10.91 km, Running Move

Cycling-

Turbo, turbo, turbo. Oh yes, Power Meter and Rotor Q Rings too! I have been using a Rotor InPower unit, its not skipped a beat, great price, some really interesting features and can be fitted to almost any bike with minimal fuss. If you need any more info give me a shout or better still contact the experts at VeloTech Services.

Lots of tempo work, Z3/4 with alternating cadence and resistance. Bottom line is I have put 22 Watts on my FTP a quite a few BPM on heart rate in about 10 weeks and we are still just getting going. Already ahead of my bests last season too. The turbo and structure works! Using a combo of HR, RPE and Power to guide the efforts.

So, 2x20min at Tempo, 100RPM aim for each block. Feeling way more comfortable at higher cadences now, in turn I feel that higher cadence transferring to brick sessions when I run off the bike.




3x30min tempo, but never sitting at a comfortable cadence, spin or grind, cadence or muscular endurance, this felt like hell this time round but its all getting easier! Slowly :)




Ok, I got to ride outside on this one, my old favorite the struggle (click link for the video:)), but forgot to get the 28 cassette back on. Ouch! 5x6mins at threshold, should have been fully seated but no chance at up to 20% and a 25!



So there we have a brief insight into a few key sessions. Any questions feel free to ask, just use the contact form! Train hard, make a few sacrifices and reap the rewards! :)

With all this training, we also need recovery and fueling, so huge thanks to TrecNutrition, Vitamin ShopCurraNZ Health and Stript Snacks for keeping me going and awesome support! Again, any questions just use the contact form.