British Duathlon Champs Soon

I finished my last post stating that I couldn’t remember when the next race was. Well I realised that one of my goals for the year was not that far away. The race is on 19 April at Bedford Aerodrome. This realisation was a bit of an eye opener and my motivation has raised significantly. I have completed some decent high intensity turbo sessions and the power numbers are increasing gradually. The key turbo sessions are based on GCN videos: VO2 Max 6 x (2 min max, 3 min easy) and 5 min SS to finish with, Two sets of 40/20 (current best is 249W for each set) and SS efforts of 6 min with tempo 3 min ‘easier’. I have also completed a hard 110k road ride with the local Tri group. Running has picked up too. There have been a couple of decent track sessions and a constant progression run as 6 min, 4 min, 2 min. As further prep I am entered into the Newcastle-under-Lyme 10k. Not quite sure how I’ll go at this race, which is basically 3 miles up a hill and 3 miles down. The majority of turbo sessions are now completed on the TT bike. I’m feeling good in this bike again now. So basically I’m feeling motivated and training well. Avoiding injury is the priority. The plan is to give the British Duathlon Champs a good thrashing. Then regroup and build again for the London Duathlon, which is a longer race. I will have 5 months to build up and I want to incorporate much more strength and conditioning for that period. I’ve let this aspect slip lately. So to rectify that I’ve joined a gym to get access to some old school iron pumping equipment 😎🏃‍♂️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Training Stagnated?

It’s been a strange couple of weeks. I’ve never really felt fresh. The injury niggles are still hanging around but but not turning into serious show stoppers. I feel as though I’ve drifted along without focus. I have completed the last 2 track sessions with Bristol West and actually didn’t run too badly, despite my legs feeling heavy and sore. I could do with starting a track session with fresh legs to see if I can hit a better consistent pace. I have hit a few decent turbo sessions but the bike sessions in between have been hard to fit in with work. All this said, I completed a key Duathlon session and was quite happy with the performance. I should use this session as a measure of future fitness. The session was: GCN warm up 20 min. Then 5 sets of (2 min hard (115% FTP), 3 min SS, 1k run increasing pace each rep. I’ve done similar sessions to this over the years but the 5 min bike efforts are harder than previous versions of this session. The 2 min efforts were all around 280W. I did struggle to maintain the power in the last 2 sets. So today was a good benchmark. The SS for 3 mins were all around 220W. Can’t remember when the next race is. Best get organised.

Long Hilly Ride. . . . Very Hilly. . . .

A week on from the Alsager 5 road race (running of course!) and I have had quite a mellow training week. On the Monday (day after the race) I trotted into the garage for a recover spin on the turbo and hit those good Watts for the GN session. Tuesday was an easy spin and some run drills. Wed was an quick jog and rollers as I was taking a few days off work to spend time with Ceebs. So not much training at all Wed & Thurs. And no training at all thanks to being parked on the M6 for 2 hours going nowhere. But today I ventured out for a long hilly ride with Chris, Si and Ian. I bumped into these guys a few weeks ago when I was riding alone. They are kind of affiliated to NTC - well, a few are! Chris and Si are training for IM Lanzarote. Hence, they are hitting the long hilly rides whenever the weather allows. Today, it was ok - the calm before the storm, I suspect. We completed 90K+ and my climbing hit 1880m for the ride. My legs are pooped, as I am short of any endurance rides over the last 12 months really. Some more rides like today and my form should come on nicely for the longer Duathlons I have planned. We found ourselves in the Peaks National Park today, which, of course is my old stomping ground from my time living in Whiston around 2010 - 2015. This was the route today:

I was struggling for the last hour of this ride but at least I did not totally explode! Not been able to do much apart from sit down since getting home. Recover and get stronger!

Alsager 5 Mile Road Race

Well the Alsager 5 yesterday, with a ride there and back, was a tough session. Not necessarily tougher than any other hard run, but something was just not right. The legs were heavy and just not firing. Mentally, I was all over the place and seriously considered dropping out of the race at 2 miles. I was imploding and feeling like I was getting slower and slower. In reality, I had fallen into consistent (and painful 3:50 per kilo pace. I had a word with myself and tried to get stuck in more. I finished in a time of 31:07. A far cry from my running days PB of 25:25! But I cannot realistically compare that time set in my early 20s when I was a 'pure' runner. In my mind, I wanted close to 30 min. With recent consistent track sessions over the last 3 months, I had hopes of getting close or breaking 30 mins. Maybe my mind's expectations are totally unachievable and my body will never be capable of this speed. So I am over-thinking this; right? Maybe, but this whole dimension of getting older and corresponding ability drop-off is messing with my head. I have to find a way of accepting that I train to limit slowing down! Enough of my chaotic mind! Today my legs hurt and my disappointment from yesterday is fading. I have to remember that although I eased up for his race,I did increase the conditioning rehab/prehab. Maybe this made my legs heavy? Onwards and upwards. I still have some hip stuff going on but the sit bone problem seems to be easing. Today I intended on doing an easy recover spin. I hopped on the Turbo and felt quite strong - it is easy to know when the legs are ok to pedal! So I tried the GCN 40/20 session again. I hit some decent numbers with an average power of the 2 sets combined of 259W (both sets hit the same 259W). Happy with that and maybe backs up that the legs are fatigued from the rehab stuff. Next race sharpener is a short GoTri Duathlon in Wilmslow on 23 Feb 20. Not definite that I will race. Update to follow. . . .

Injury Monster Visits😟

After my last positive post things have taken a turn for the worse. The injury monster has visited. I have 2 issues - though these issues may actually be related. I have a pain that just appeared in my left sit bone region that has made cycling rather painful. I’ve backed off the long rides, for obvious reasons but maintained consistency as best I can on the turbo and rollers. No idea what has caused this or whether it is bone or soft tissue. I’m actually hitting some decent power numbers. Staying in an aero position helps so at least I’m getting a good length of time in the aero position. Linked to this sit bone problem is the return of an old injury niggle - glute/hamstring insert pain. I’m kind of kicking myself for not maintaining the prehab routine. So it’s back to glute hamstring rehabilitation again. I decided not to race the Manchester Duathlon the other week due to these problems 😖. I’ve eased up on the track sessions also and rested more this week. So actually feeling a bit better at the moment. So I’m almost ready to race tomorrow at the Alsager 5! I’m grabbing a bike ride there and a spin back. So a tasty session in total. I’m just not sure how hard to push on the run. I’m feeling old and slow and know I cannot run constant sub-6 min miles anymore. All this has lead me to reflect on previous races. A 25:24 for 5 miles back in the late 80s. How was that possible?! I’d be stoked to run sub-30 min now. More realistically, a 31 min clocking is possible. But I’m struggling to accept this slowing due to age 😢. Oh well. The focus has to be staying healthy, rehab/prehab, strength, and focus on the main goals. I’ve entered the London Duathlon long distance now and I also want to have a shot at the National Duathlon Champs in April. Until next time . Z z z

Training Status - VO2 Max Baseline

Two weeks into 2020 and training has continued. I had completed some decent training over the Christmas period - mainly as I was not at work. So I wanted to maintain the momentum into the New Year. I have had a couple of decent turbo sessions and also a good long road ride that included a big effort up the Cat & Fiddle climb in the Peak District. Last Wednesday was a return to the track in Bristol with Bristol West AC. I am also trying to fit some strength and conditioning into the mix. My problem is that it takes me so long to recover from hard sessions - running, cycling or/and strength stuff - that I struggle to maintain the strength sessions as these would impact the upcoming run or cycle sessions. I guess I just need to crack on and train tired. The track session last Wed was good for me as it was based on shorter reps. I want to get the old legs running at a significantly faster than my goal 5k pace of around 3:37 per kilo. As I found out, the faster pace pretty much wrecked my legs. But I did maintain a faster pace for all reps, despite feeling like I imploded on the last rep. My ambition to run 5k under 18 min seems a bit of a stretch target right now. But then I have to remember that I normally race far better than I train. So i look forward to my next attempt at a Parkrun 5k. Today I hit the turbo with the aim of logging some extended time in an aero position on the tribars. It was a seriously icy morning that suited being off the slippy roads. I had taken a couple of easy days due to the track session wrecking my legs. It seems that 2 days was not sufficient! But I pushed through with a GCN 3-session mash-up of Warm up, The Escalator and the standard VO2 Max set that I have completed a few times over the last year. I was hoping to hit 300+ Watts for the 2 min max efforts. I was constant across the 6 sets around 285 Watts - so no where near really! But I have to remember that I was into the second hour of the session and my legs were fatigued before I had started. I definitely feel that I have 300+ Watts in there somewhere if I start the session fresher. So let's use the VO2 Max figures above as the baseline for a subsequent test session. Next key session is a track session on Wednesday and, if the weather is o, a low key race at the next iteration of the Manchester Duathlon - a Go Tri event - on 26 Jan 20. Onwards and upwards. . . . .

2020 Race Plans

It is nearly the middle of Jan 20 and I would really like to have a decent year of racing, with some specific targets to build the training around. As I blogged previously, the focus is duathlons. I am enjoying the training and have managed to consistently hit running every other day, with regular track sessions to try and boost the run speed. I was not that happy with my 5k test run on 1 Jan 20 but there is time to get the 5k effort below 18 mins - I hope! Originally, I was going to focus on sprint duathlons. However, at my age, I think I need to use my endurance and build the distance through the year to race a longer duathlon in Sep 20. Although I have qualified for the World Sprint Du Champs in Holland, I really object to the huge costs involved with age group representation. So, the plan had developed! Early season goal: National Standard Distance Duathlon Champs at Bedford Aerodrome: Mid-season build event: Pitsford Duathlon, 10k/40k/10k Main Goal: London Duathlon 20k/77k/10k I have a number of shorter local duathlon races to sharpen up the for. Additionally, I intend to enter a good amount of bike TT events to hone the longer distance aero position speed. So that is it. Hopefully, I can keep to this plan. Entering events is a good motivator. i am in decent shape now and if I stay injury free I hope to be competitive. Onwards and upwards.