Training Moves On!

It's been a while since I detailed my training; so here is an update with the experiment! if you remember, I was attempting to train short and sharp and make small incremental improvements throughout the winter. This approach is different to what I have done in recent years, where I completed a base endurance phase bla bla..... the normal routine! The experiment may work, or it may make me over-trained and stale come race time next May!

Swimming

I attend my 4th Swimshack session on Monday. So far my balance drills are going well. However, I have deliberately reduced my fullstroke swimming to bare minimum; the idea being that I learn a new stroke. I just don't want to fall back into the old habits. So, I will continue to drill 25m, swim 25m until my Swimshack course ends in Jan 09. Then I will slowly build the distance and swim fitness back. The plan sounds logical! However, I worry that I am now unable to swim more than 100m without feeling wiped out! Time will tell whether I will be faster but I sure hope so! When i swim back the 25m I feel much better balanced and my legs are in a better position - get rid of that scissor kick when I turn to breath!

Biking

My biking seems to be going ok. I ride every Sunday with the local bike club, covering a consistent 70 miles. I do need to learn to not get sucked into race mode during these rides though! there have been some very hard rides that have wiped me out. I do one turbo interval sessions per week, alternating long and short efforts. I am up to 2 x 20 mins at 260W for long efforts and 4 x 60 mins at 305W - just completed this session today....ouch! i always run of the bike. If it is a long effort on the turbo then it is long efforts on the road; anything from 1k efforts to 1 mile. Today was short efforts on the turbo, so short efforts on the running of 6 x 400m with 1 min recovery. With a wind in one direction I covered the runs in 1:26, 1:20, 1:24, 1:19, 1:20, 1:15. I include 6 mins worth of turbo tabata intervals in my conditioning session...... 6 mins is enough......very hard!

Running

I am slightly concerned about my running as I am not doing that much. I run up to an hour steady on Monday and include some fast feet work in my conditioning programme. Then there's the run efforts off the turbo session and that is about it. i do plan to squeeze some cross country races in on Wednesdays when the Lincs Services Cross country League starts.

Conditioning

I continue with my conditioning and core work, but only once a week. It is a hard session, particularly the 20 rep squats/tabata turbo/fast feet run combo with zilch rest.

that just about summarizes the training. the key is to make small gains on the strength work in the conditioning, and small gains in power on the turbo efforts. Hopefully the short sharp run efforts will be enough to give me a decent run come race time.

C'mon bloggers, lets see what you have been up to!