Outside Venture

I ventured out on to the road to cycle today. That is not a fantastic episode really. However, with the cold snap earlier in December and then heaps of rain and then the Christmas break, I have been banished to the TURBO dungeon. Not that I mind this sentence; I relish a good turbo session and the addition of a tacx flow turbo has opened up a another dimension of training options. But today there were a few rays of sunshine so I warmed up on the turbo (can`t stay off it!) and then set off to do some hill reps in the local area - no shortage of hills near me. I had selected Whiston bank as my torture climb. This is about 1k long and very steep. However, when I arrived, there had obviously been an accident as there was diesel all over the climb. I had to walk up most of it to get back to the top - OH the shame! There was no traction whatsoever. Anyway, plan B was hatched and I rode to a longer, less steep, climb. I only did 3 reps but but it ended up as a decent workout. All in all, a good week of training, considering it was Christmas week. Talking of Christmas, I now have a Kindle Fire HD. This is a great gadget and is perfect for using whilst on the TURBO! Happy training folks. Race season is coming!

Intensity

It`s nearly 2013. In my book that means I need to up the intensity of training to stand a chance of getting into any kind of decent shape for the early season duathlons. I managed to get a few good sessions in whilst at work, before the Christmas break. Now that I am on holiday it feels harder to get training sessions completed. The last 2 nights I have trained at beyond midnight! What I really need are races. I may get a cross country race in on 9 Jan but after that I am on a course with work for 3 weeks. Getting decent training completed could be difficult during this period - not great timing. Training has been going ok really; at least I am not feeling like an injured freak any more! I am really enjoying the tacx flow turbo trainer and it feels like I am getting some great bike/run sessions done. The latest creation seems very useful: Warm up on the turbo. Then continue on the turbo with a gradual increase of power at 2 min intervals - 180W, 200W, 180W, 220W, 200W, 240W, 220W, 260W, 240W, 280W. Then go run 4 x 1k on 4:30. Then get back on the turbo and start at the power that you finished at previously but work in reverse (harder to easier). Build as many of these bike/run bricks as you like. It works great for running off the bike and for riding off the run! Enjoy.

Running Again

Can’t believe how quickly time is ticking by lately. It’s nearly Christmas! When January arrives it normally means that race season arrives almost stealth-like and we always seem to be behind getting some speed work in for the early season races – well, I normally feel like that. So, as I am looking to focus on Duathlon racing, I have started to introduce some speedy-er sessions into my training. Firstly, I should clarify that I am training ok at the moment. My injury problems have improved – not disappeared – and I am able to run properly. This is good and I am enjoying my running. Recently I have been doing 400m and 800m intervals, mostly as part of a brick session on the turbo. Talking of the turbo, I have a new one! My Cateye is still going but the computer read out has broken and I cannot get spares. So I use the Cateye turbo for training at work and have a Tacx Flow in the garage. I like the Flow as it has plenty of options to keep your sessions interesting.

I really wanted to get some cross country races done in January but I have a training course to complete at work, which will take all month. With the first Duathlon race being the first weekend of March, that does not leave much time to get some race speed in the legs. That said, I have been surprised at my running as it is not that bad. Not sure where the bike speed is right now? Weather permitting, I am still periodically riding to work – a round trip of 38 miles. I got totally fed up of coping with supposedly good bike lights that were actually rubbish. So, I did some research and splashed out on some lights that can enable me to see where I am going. I went for this Gemini Duo. It is fantastic! Very small but incredibly bright. There is also a helmet mount.

Immediate goal? Stay healthy!