Key Workouts (Pre-Half IM)

Anyone training for Challenge Bahrain on 20 November now is the time to get those key specific sessions completed. Ease back on the volume and be fresh to complete the big key workouts. Then eat sleep recover repeat. For example my workout this morning: Warm up on turbo, including some 2 min 90% efforts to wake the legs up. Then complete 5 sets of 12 min turbo as 3 min at 87%, 1 min spin. 3k run as 1k slightly slower than half IM run pace, 1k slightly faster than half IM pace, 1k at target half IM pace. That is one set of bike/run work. Repeat this 5 times. These key sessions work! Plus they us confidence. Hope this info helps someone! You can scale the session down if your goals are shorter distance races. Train smart!

A Triathlon Race!

Last Friday I completed the latest race in the Riyadh Triathletes series - a triathlon of 1.2k/35k/8k. This was my first triathlon since The Outlaw Ironman in July 2014! It actually felt quite hard, even though it was a short race. It did make me wonder what Challenge Bahrain (half) would feel like! I have done many half IM distance races but this feels different after the year I have had out here in Saudi. The Riyadh Triathletes are a very enthusiastic and friendly bunch and I am grateful for the chance to race. But I am not sure where my form is right now. My biking seems under par but I have no base level to measure. Normally I would have done some TTs by now and know where the speed is coming from. I have a few health problems that will not go away. The arthritis is still there in my knee and I now get hip problems that affect my running more than the knee ever has - not good. Anyway, the race went well, even though I was not happy with the run pace I maintained. I was hovering around 4:10 per k. I wanted around 4:00, which would point to the possibility of my holding 4:20 per k over the half at Challenge Bahrain. When I got home I came down with a sore throat and a yukky feeling. I suspect I may be a bit under par. Add to that some bad blisters on my feet from not wearing socks and I basically feel like very detached from the good form and fitness I had last year. Let's see how things go over the next month. . . . .

Riyadh Triathletes Double Duathlon

Last Friday was the long awaited Riyadh Triathletes double duathlon. This event is billed as the hardest of the season due to the continual switching between bike and run. I have to admit that I did not find this format terribly difficult as this type of session is bread and butter for me. The intense heat could have been the big leveller. Hence I managed to complete all run legs at spot on 4:00 min per k pace. This was a notch down from full race effort but still a hard session. The bike course was much the same as the previous duathlon race. It was hilly and technical and finding a good tempo was impossible. But the effort was sufficient to take the win. I had best not get used to winning as there will be bigger races to focus on where winning will not be an option! But these Riyadh races do serve a purpose to hone the form and train hard. Unfortunately, one of the guys racing collapsed and died after the event. Not sure of the reason but the heat must have had a part to play. Hence reduced effort in these races is a must. A sad sad occurrence.