Time For Some Rest

I have been working very hard on all aspects of training in the past two weeks and I feel I have achieved my goal of returning to the fitness level I was had at the time of racing in Shepparton.

I am getting more comfortable with my higher arm turn-over when swimming, I am developing great strength and consistency on the bike and my running is feeling terrific using my altered technique. However, in the past few days, I have noticed the first signs of over-training and being in need of a significant rest.

The past two weeks have seen my training volumes increase significantly but it has come at a time where I have experienced a very busy period at work which has resulted in overtime and an extra shift when I would normally have a day off. All of these factors combined, have left me feeling very sluggish, restless when trying to sleep, constantly wanting to eat and struggling to find the energy I would normally have for training. 

Although, these feelings have only come on in the past 2 – 3 days, they have been quite strong.

The first day (Sunday) I felt this way, I did my medium length fartlek run. I would normally do it first thing in the morning but I decided to have a good breakfast and wait a couple of hours before commencing the session. Once I had warmed up I found my running legs quickly and had a great session. The next day (Monday) I did my strength pool session and found that it took me about half an hour to feel comfortable in the water and that my arms weren’t too heavy. However, for the rest of the day, I felt quite fatigued all over and just wanted to nap but I couldn’t as I was at work.

As I write this, it is Tuesday and I am feeling tired and lethargic. I have felt this way since I woke up despite having a good sleep. I initially thought I would just do a light bike workout but decided not to and, instead, begin a proper rest period. I had originally programmed a rest week starting yesterday but thought I would have one more build week before taking a rest week starting New Year’s Day, as I was feeling really good about my training. However, my body has decided it didn’t like that idea and the rest should start ASAP.

I think I will have an extended rest period because of this situation. I will spend the next 5 – 6 days only training a small amount and then build my training back up gradually for the following 6 – 7 days. This will leave2 and ½ weeks to train at high volumes for my final build phase into the Geelong 70.3 prior to my two week taper. Based on how my body has reacted to the last two weeks of high volume work, it appears that it will benefit from this better than the Training:Rest ratio I have currently programmed.

I am placing a top priority on getting myself feeling fresh again before I push my body into fatigue from hard training again. It needs time to absorb the hard work it has done recently and recover fully so that it can be pushed to its limits again to improve further. It’s a very fine line between general fatigue and over-training and I feel I was very close to crossing that line. When you do cross that line, it can take weeks, months in some cases, to get back to feeling right again and to the point where you can perform to your best. It’s definitely not a line I want to cross, ever!

One other step I will take in the next few days is, get a blood test. I will take the opportunity to get my levels of vitamins and minerals tested to see if I have any current deficiencies and/or excessive amounts of anything in my body. If there is anything considerably out of whack, or an infection is present, it can have various negative effects on energy levels and performance and it is essential to rectify those issues as quickly as possible to restore normal function.

It’s not always easy to do what your body is telling you because your mind wants to do something different. I have made the mistake in the past of not listening closer enough to my body and it has resulted in poor training and/or poor performance, along with illness and a really bad mood. With my strong desire for a massive performance in Geelong in just over 6 weeks, I must do all that I can to avoid major setbacks and I am taking those steps now.

Resting is equally as important as training. Learning how to do it properly can take years but the long term benefits can be outstanding.

Back In Training

I commenced my structured training 10 days ago and, although, various things have meant adjustments were needed for some of the days, I feel I have made a great start to my build-up for the Geelong 70.3 in two months.

During my 2 weeks of light, recovery training following the race in Shepparton, I thought very hard about how I was going to tackle this next phase in order to improve further and I have come up with several items which I will be looking to focus on during training.

Swimming

After being quite disappointed with my swim in Shepparton, I have investigated specific changes I can make to improve my open water swimming and drills and techniques I can use in training to achieve this.

Ø  I need to train myself to be more comfortable and efficient with a higher arm turn-over. A higher turn-over is essential in open water to ensure constant forward momentum. With the environment of an open water race swim being so different to pool swimming, I need to move away from the classic ‘catch-up’ stroke which I have used for a long time and develop a greater arm speed. In just a few sessions using a higher turn-over, I have already noticed how beneficial it is. It’s difficult to maintain good form as I make the change but I am confident in the long term results.

Ø  I will be increasing my strength and power by incorporating the use of an ankle band. Having not used this method before it is a strange feeling but it is amazing when you have to work so hard to try and keep your body as horizontal as possible without any use of the legs whatsoever. If you’re not sure, I literally tie my ankles together while swimming freestyle. I do this while using a leg buoy between my thighs and hand paddles most of the time too. The extra drag of my legs, as they want to fall straight to the bottom of the pool, is significant and I even wear a pair of shorts occasionally to add to the drag. I will use this method in the pool once a week for the whole build-up.

Ø  I will be devoting one whole session each week to drills and technique to assist all aspects of my stroke from strength to speed. Drills like, sculls, swimming with fists and single-arm work all help me to get a better feel for the water. In another session I will incorporate sighting and even ‘polo’ swimming to develop my open water skills.

Ø  I’m hoping to do 4 swim sessions each week, up from 3, for a total of 13 – 14km.

Riding

Not too much to worry about here. I will see improvement by doing things almost exactly the same as my preparation for Shepparton. However, in order to ensure I improve my 90km bike split, I will increase my long ride to develop greater endurance, work harder on high cadence efforts to assist with downhill portions of the Geelong course and generally focus and train harder overall. I will also do a weekly weights session to provide extra strength and power from my glutes and hamstrings.

Running

I was a bit disappointed with my run in Shepparton. I felt I didn’t maintain my technique as well as I could have and my leg turn-over was sluggish. I will address this in training by doing the following:-

Ø  I will slightly alter my technique to focus on a faster turn-over of my legs without lengthening my stride. I will be looking to make contact on the ground with my foot more directly under my body using a forefoot strike and raising my foot up behind me a little higher than I used too. This will aim to produce more forward momentum as opposed to having a ‘braking’ effect with each stride when I was striking the ground slightly in front of my body and leaning back a little.

Ø  Having extra emphasis on my core and body position remaining strong and stable during running at all speeds is essential. I will do drills to assist this as well as strength training a couple of times each week for my core and hips.

Ø  My weight training will also benefit the power and strength I can produce with each stride without using more energy.

Ø  The sessions I do will be similar to what I did prior to Shepparton. I will still do short runs off hard bike sessions, an above race pace interval session and a long run. The difference is my long run will not be as fast as what it was. Instead of breaking up 20km into 4 x 5km sets and going above race pace with a decent break in between, I will perform a below race pace effort up to 2 hours in length on a hilly terrain focussing on consistency and technique. This will build strength and vital endurance.

Putting these methods into practice is showing good signs already. I feel, by Christmas Day, I will be right on track to great improvements. Another 10 days of hard work before resting over Christmas and then a massive block in January to bring in the new year.

Race Photos from Shepparton

Here are some photos from my race in Shepparton.

They are in order but unfortunately the photographers are unable to get photos of the swim.

1st photo is on the first of two 45 km laps of the bike, cruising along one the many flat roads around the Greater Shepparton region.

At the turn-around after 45 kms. I was very happy with my time split at this point and I was feeling good.

Just after the turn-around.

Out on the second lap and I was very comfortable in my aero position the whole way.

My new aero helmet, which I only got just ten days before the race, was put to good use. I really noticed the difference between this and my regular helmet with the way air flows over my head and cuts through the wind.

About 2 km into the run. I started out at a good pace but was a bit too fast to maintain for 21.1 km.

Going past the race site and finish line area at the start of either my second or third lap of 7 km.

The finish line! Don't be fooled by the time clock. I started 28 minutes behind the professionals so the clock indicates the time after they started.

And that was my day. Behind where this camera was sitting was the athletes finish tent with ice cream and fruit salad, which was awesome after a hot run. It came with a side of flat coke, which is equally as good during and after a long race.

Race Recovery

It’s been 7 days since the race in Shepparton and I’m feeling quite good. I have had 3 days without any exercise at all and 4 days with some light, low intensity sessions lasting between 30 and 60 minutes. I haven’t slept very well this week because of my early shifts at work but once I go onto late shifts, in a few days time, this will be the extra little bit necessary to complete my post-race recovery.  After which, I will begin my building phase for the Geelong 70.3.

I will complete two main cycles of training for Geelong. It will officially start on Monday December 2 with a 3 week strength building phase followed by a rest week over Christmas. This phase will include the following:-

Ø  Weight training for all body parts.

Ø  Extensive core training.

Ø  Extended big gear efforts on the bike during a mid-week wind-trainer session.

Ø  Strength swim session will use paddles while wearing board shorts for extra drag, and;

Ø  I will perform my long run mainly up hill.

I will be aiming to be as strong as I was prior to the Shepparton race in order to be able to train greater speed during my second training cycle throughout January. The second cycle will begin on December 30 and go for 3 and ½ weeks before having one week of recovery, one week of sharpening my body back up and a few light days before the race on February 9.

The main differences between the first and second cycles will be:-

Ø  Adding some higher paced efforts to my mid-week wind-trainer strength session.

Ø  Some higher paced efforts on the treadmill during my main interval session.

Ø  No board shorts during my strength swim.

Ø  Power based weight sessions, and;

Ø  Higher volume of training across all disciplines.

As I will be building on top of the base I already developed, by preparing for Shepparton, the first cycle is aimed at getting me back to that condition and the second cycle will be aimed at getting faster and fitter overall. Over the next 11 weeks, I will hopefully see a further reduction in my weight come race day. I was 73.5kg at Shepparton and I am hoping, with this increase in training for Geelong, I will reach about 72kg. With the hillier run course in Geelong, I think this will make a significant difference. However, during my race recovery I have already gone up to 75kg. Admittedly, I have eaten almost the same amounts as I was before the race but, obviously, without the same amounts of exercise. Nevertheless, this won’t hang around long once I’m back in the swing of things.

Before I sign off, I’d like to give a shout out to my mate ‘Rocket’, who competed alongside me in Shepparton. He has been training super hard this year as he, also, builds towards Geelong and then onto the Ironman at Port Macquarie in May, 2014. At Shepparton, he smashed out a 21 minute PB with a 5:07 finish. I’m really stoked for his huge progress and it’s so pleasing to see others enjoy this sport as much as I do.

If anyone out there wants to give it a go, to see what all the hype is about and see for yourself just what your body is capable of, send me an email at lincolnspt@hotmail.com

With my experience as a Personal Trainer and Triathlon coach, as well as 5 years in the sport myself, I would be more than happy to help get you pointed in the right direction.

Learn By Racing

It was a 5 and ½ month preparation for my race in Shepparton. I achieved a great finish but also saw areas where I know I can improve further and have even better performances in the future. I needed this race to gauge how far I had progressed and it showed some great signs, along with areas that need extra work. I will now focus my attention on the Geelong 70.3 and, hopefully, a podium spot.

My 1.9km swim time of 32.37 minutes was several minutes below what I anticipated and it essentially cost me a podium finish with the third place getter in my age group getting home less than 3 minutes ahead of me. 

I know that my technique was flawed throughout most of the swim and I put this down to a few points:-

Ø  I didn’t train enough with sighting and open water swimming. This meant, in the race, lifting my head regularly for the extra sighting needed, caused my legs to drop significantly in the water and not allow me to swim in the streamlined position I was used to from the pool.

Ø  My kick wasn’t strong enough to maintain decent momentum and body position while I was sighting, and;

Ø  Although, my arms and shoulders felt relatively good, they weren’t turning over at the desired pace. I feel my strokes per minute would have been higher than what I am used to in the pool which then resulted in less efficiency through the water and also a contributor to my lagging body position.

Over the next couple of months I will be working to improve each of these areas:-

Ø  I will incorporate tougher strength training in the pool to improve endurance and power.

Ø  Devote one whole session each week to technique, arm turnover and kicking to improve overall efficiency. 

Ø  Work even harder on more core strength.

Ø  Try to raise my overall race pace, and;

Ø  Prepare better for open water swimming prior to the race.

My 90km bike leg was the best part of my day, completing it in a time of 2 hours 21 minutes and 59 seconds at an average speed just over 38km/h. This gives me great confidence in the possibility of getting even faster as it is an 18 minute improvement on last year. I have trained a great deal better than I have in previous years with adequate amounts of over distance rides combined with strength and power efforts. I will continue to build on this and expect I can improve by another 5 – 10 minutes for the February Geelong race. The only changes I will make to my bike training will be adding an extra couple of hours to my weekly total, while pushing harder to build more strength/power and developing my higher cadence capabilities further as there are some extended downhill portions on the Geelong bike course.

My run was, also, a little below expectation. I turned in a 1:27:34 split but was hoping for a 1:25 or better. I started off at my desired pace below 4:00min/km but I couldn’t hold it for more than the first 3kms and had to settle for a first lap average of 4:02min/km which then blew out to a total run average of 4:09min/km. I put this down to a couple of factors:-

Ø  My form wasn’t what it should have been. I sat back too much and didn’t run how I have trained which has better forward momentum.

Ø  My long run in training wasn’t a below race pace, over-distance effort to build endurance. Instead, it was a race pace effort broken up into 4 x 5km segments. I thought this would serve me well but I now think it wasn’t appropriate when combined with other high paced interval sessions throughout the rest of my training week.

Ø  My leg turn-over was slow. I wasn’t able to maintain a high enough turn-over which has a huge effect on my speed under fatigue.

I will look to improve my run with the following methods:-

Ø  Train my leg turn-over with a slightly different technique to promote a greater number of steps per minute.

Ø  I will perform a longer, endurance based weekly long run on a hilly course. It will be a minimum of 90 minutes and extend out to 2 hours closer to the race. As the Geelong run course has many undulations, this will be essential practice and strength training.

Ø  My weights and core training will increase to promote stronger, powerful running muscles. It will, also, benefit my cycling greatly for an undulating course helping me feel fresher coming off the bike.

I’m very motivated to get back into serious training but I won’t be doing that until I have completed 2 weeks of recovery post Shepparton. My recovery is several days with no exercise and other days with short, easy sessions for active recovery.

I know I can go faster in Geelong and I can’t wait to put out a big performance there.

Shepparton Ironman 70.3 - Race Report

Sunday, November 17. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning in Shepparton and this was the most relaxed I had ever been before a triathlon of any kind, even though, there was much more riding on this race for me. I had higher expectations than ever before but, this time, I had trained for it.

I was in the greatest condition of my life and I was pumped to see how I would perform with all that preparation behind me. Although, there was a change on race morning to my start time, it didn’t bother me. I was now starting at 7:31am, instead of 7:02am. It did mean I wasn’t going to be starting just behind the professionals but my overall time compared to everyone else was the important stat to worry about at the end of the day.

The hooter sounded to start my age group swim and I tried to stay ahead of the main pack for the first 100 metres or so. I was hoping to find some clear water ahead of me early but I had to contend with many other athletes for the majority of the 1.9km swim.

Things weren’t going well in the first half of the swim. My technique was all over the place. I could feel my arms not moving through the water properly and my legs were dragging far too low. At about half way, I finally had some more space away from other athletes and got my form in order. I reached the swim finish and checked my watch straight away. It wasn’t pretty. Just over 32 and ½ minutes. I was aiming to go under 30 minutes and believed that was going to be relatively straight forward. I was disappointed but I didn’t let it get me down because I knew my best work was still to come.

I got through transition quickly and mounted my bike really fast. I had practiced mounting my bike and getting into my bike shoes – already attached to the pedals – prior to race day to make sure I would get up to speed ASAP. I started pedaling in a medium gear and allowed my legs a couple of minutes to get some good blood flow before going up a gear and settling into a solid pace.

Conditions were perfect! There was almost no wind to speak of whatsoever. My plan on the bike was to not even look at my watch or speedometer until I reached the turn-around point at 45kms and simply go by how my legs felt. I didn’t want to know if I was going fast enough until that point. I just wanted to go by what I believed to be the right feeling in my legs which I was very used to from all of my training. I was hoping to do 2 hours 25 minutes for the 90km ride and at the half way point I was right on target at 1 hour 11 minutes. My average speed at 38km/h. I was wrapped with that so all I had to focus on from that point was maintaining the same gear I had used for the majority of the first lap, push the same cadence and ensure I took in an adequate amount of food and drink in preparation for the run.

On the flat terrain and having no wind meant I could put my head down, stay on my aero bars comfortably and maintain a constant speed for the entire second 45km lap. It was perfect because I had trained like this so much. I felt amazing and fast! I got to the end of the 90kms and my speedometer showed 2 hours 21 minutes 59 seconds and an average speed of 38km/h. I did the exact same pace for both laps of the 90km ride. I was stoked with that performance.

On to the run and my legs were feeling quite good considering the effort I had put out on the bike. However, after just a couple of kms, my VMO – Vastus Medialis Oblique muscle, part of the quadriceps group – on my left leg began twitching and threatening to cramp. I figured it would work itself out as I got into my running stride but it didn’t turn out that way. Although, it never actually cramped, it was uncomfortable and fatigued for the rest of the run. I don’t feel this had a major effect on my time as the rest of my muscles fatigued just as much eventually.

On the first of 3 laps on the run, I started at my desired pace of around 3:50min/km and held that for the first 3kms before it became clear that this wasn’t possible to maintain for the 21kms. I backed off and went through the end of the first lap at an average pace of 4:02min/km. I now aimed to maintain 4:00min/km but the fatigue was really kicking in and I couldn’t keep this pace as I went through the second lap with a 4:08min/km pace. It was now a huge mental battle to try not let the pace drop too much. I focussed on my technique and stride turn-over and tried to remain as consistent as possible for the remainder of the journey.

I completed the final lap at a 4:15min/km pace for an overall 21km average of 4:09min/km. My total run time of 1 hour 27 minutes 34 seconds was 2 and ½ minutes faster than last year. However, the most important time was my overall race time which came in at 4 hours 25 minutes 23 seconds for a 21 minute improvement on last year. This gave me 5^th place in my age group and 35^th from 1500 total competitors.

5 months ago, at the start of my preparation for this race, I set my goals for the race and each individual leg. They were:-

Ø  4 hours 30 minutes or better total race time.

Ø  Swim 30 minutes or better.

Ø  Ride 2 hours 25 minutes or better.

Ø  Run 1 hour 25 minutes or better.

Ø  Finish in the top 10 of my age group.

Ø  Finish in the top 100 overall from all competitors.

I reckon 4 out of 6 is a good result.

I will hopefully receive my official race photos soon and I will post some.

In my next blog I will explain what I have learned from this race and how I believe I will get faster for my next attempt at a Half-Ironman, which will hopefully be in Geelong on February 9.

7 Days To Go

Just one week until show time. The forecast for Shepparton next Sunday is mostly sunny and 25 degrees, which is practically perfect for me. The wind is not predicted to be too much so it has the makings for a good time. I think I can perform as well as anyone in the heat so if the sun has some kick during the run I’ll be happy.

After having a good end to my rest week by doing another solid long ride and 8km treadmill run today with 7km @ 18km/h, the body is feeling fresh and strong. My best session was a swim on Friday. I just did 2km but I wore my wetsuit in the pool. Although, I was very warm, I performed about 10 x 100m at, what felt to be, slightly below race pace yet I was doing each 100m repetition up to 10 seconds faster than I normally do when pushing hard. This meant a few things, a) the rest had done its job, and, b) the wetsuit makes a massive difference to my speed in the water through creating a more buoyant position and having a sleek outer layer to cut through the water. It gave me a lot of confidence for the race.

The next 6 days will consist of some short, sharp sessions across all 3 disciplines as well as some weights to remind my muscles of the strength and power they possess.

Monday is just a swim. A solid 3km with some efforts performed over 200m with paddles and a few 100s at race pace. I will do a 10 – 15 minute core workout directly after this.

Tuesday will be my last hard run which I will do on the treadmill to reduce the impact on my joints. I will do a long warm-up with about 15 minutes spent on drills and dynamic stretching before jumping on the treadmill for 3 sets of 2km @ 20km/h and 1km @ 15km/h. I will follow this with a weights session consisting of Push-ups, chin ups, swim specific stretch cord exercises, deadlifts, swiss ball hamstring curls and single leg squat jumps.

Wednesday, I’ll start with a ride on the indoor trainer including 30 minutes of alternating single leg pedaling and 45 minutes of higher cadence in a light gear. Afterwards, I will run off the bike for 5km at a steady, below race pace effort.

Thursday will start with a light ride for 60 minutes, then, it is back in the pool for my last quality swim. 3km again with a long warm-up. 10 x 50m above race pace and 12 x 100m at cruising pace, all with approximately 30 – 40 seconds rest in between.

Friday, things will really wind down with another light ride for an hour, followed by a gentle 4 – 5km run.

On Saturday, I am going to ride for 30 minutes before I drive to Shepparton. At the race site I will do a short jog with a few drills to loosen things up before I have a short, practice swim in the lake. And, that’s it. The day after will be race day and all of the hard work will be tested in a big way. Both physical and mental.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Dallas on his stellar performance at Ironman 70.3 Mandurah today. His first half ironman was done in 32 degree heat and he completed it with flying colours. Some terrific signs for the future which I am hoping he will look to take advantage of and continue on in other long course triathlon events. It really helps me to remember how to tough out a race when the going gets tough. A half marathon in 32 degrees after 3 and ½ hours of swimming and cycling. Now that’s mental toughness!

Great work mate!

Last Big Training Week - Review

In a word, successful.

My final big training week before my two week taper into the Shepparton 70.3 Ironman was a good one. However, I didn’t complete each session exactly as specified due to fatigue. I put the fatigue down to working early shifts and this affecting the amount of sleep I was getting which, in turn, affected my recovery from hard training. Yet, I was still happy with the work I did do.

During my swims on Monday and Wednesday, my pace was a little slower than I anticipated and Friday’s swim I cut short by 1km. During my brick session on Tuesday I did just 2 hard sets instead of 3 and my long ride on Saturday I opted for an extra hour sleep and just did 90kms at full race pace instead of 130kms.

My long ride on Saturday with a short run off the bike was my best session of the week. It was my first ride after putting my race wheels on and the difference in speed was outstanding. The fastest average speed I have ever done outside of a race. I didn’t feel that I was missing out on anything by not doing the 130kms as I felt fresh on the bike and ran well afterwards. I then completed another excellent long run on Sunday.

Initially, I had concerns about my body when I was feeling slower in the pool but after increasing my swim workload by 1km per session the previous week I knew that I had a lot of hard work to recover from. I anticipate having my speed back up during race week after a good rest period. The same goes for my cycling and running too. Although, my times during the last week were still where I wanted them, I felt like I was fatiguing a little sooner and finding it harder to get my muscles working at the start of a workout.

I am now on my second consecutive complete rest day and it is not fun. I am being quite cautious with my diet as it would be easy to overeat but, as I’m not burning anywhere near the amount of calories that I have been, I am focussing on fruit, vegetables and salads with adequate protein and some muesli in the mornings. This is essentially the same to most training days but I will reduce the portion sizes slightly and try to avoid further carbs, like rice, which will be incorporated as my carbo-loading period comes in next week.

Tomorrow, I will return to training with an easy 3km swim and some light cycling. I will then train every day up until the race. The longest session, by far, will be on Sunday when I will do an 80km ride followed by a 6 – 8km run. The ride will be below race pace for most of it with a few short time trial efforts thrown in to keep the muscles firing. Most sessions will be with that same mentality, not pushing too hard or for too long and just doing a few bursts to remind the muscles of what they are required to do on race day. The two days before the race will have short sessions so not to produce any real fatigue but provide necessary blood flow to working muscles and keep them feeling fresh.

You can’t help wondering if you’re fit enough during a taper. I know my mate, Dallas, is wondering this at the moment, as he prepares for his first Half Ironman in Mandurah, this Sunday. When you back off the training in a big way after doing so much beforehand you don’t feel quite the same and it can seem like a lack of fitness. However, if you’ve done the training, you have to trust that because if you think you’re going to get any fitter in the last two weeks before a long distance race, you would be wrong. Just doing a small portion of the training you had been doing in the lead up should be enough to freshen up the muscles without sending you completely insane.

Don’t worry Dallas, I know how you feel. Just enjoy it!

Last Big Week

7 big days of training to go. The body is definitely getting tired and ready for a rest. Next Monday and Tuesday will be complete rest days and I’m actually looking forward to them.

Over the weekend, I had a fantastic long ride and run. I did my long ride on Saturday, using the National 

Road Race Championship course at Buninyong for the majority of the 100kms. I intended to do 120kms but started a bit late and ran out of time. However, this was irrelevant as I pushed particular hard on the undulating terrain and tested myself significantly up the King of the Mountain climb on several occasions. I followed this with a 20 minute run off the bike.

On Sunday, I did my long run at Albert Park because it is a gravel track, so it’s slightly softer than an asphalt surface and that little bit easier on my joints. It also has drink fountains in several spots. I wanted to do a session at race pace for 20kms and I did it wearing exactly what I will be wearing on race day. However, I didn’t do 20kms straight as this would add that little extra stress to my body. For this reason, I broke it into 4 sets of 5kms and took 2 – 3 minutes rest between each set to ensure that I could do the exact same pace for each of the 4 sets while maintaining technique. I could also have a drink of water and take an energy gel during these breaks.

The run couldn’t have gone any better! I decided that my first set of 5kms would be the bench mark for the next 3 laps. Whatever pace I was able to hold during the first set, I would be aiming to match that 3 more times. My first 5kms was completed in 18:45 minutes, making it 3:45mins/km. Initially, I thought this was going to be very hard to match, particularly, during my third and fourth sets but I had to get through my second set first.

I was using my Garmin GPS watch to track my pace and exact distance to ensure, if my legs were willing, that I was as close to the desired pace as possible. Well, I couldn’t believe how good my legs felt during the second set as I stuck to the 3:45min/km pace. This was repeated in the third set with only one out of the 5km falling back to a 3:50min/km pace before I picked it back up. On my final 5km effort, my legs were definitely fatiguing but I was able to maintain an average of 3:50min/km pace by being highly focussed on my technique and breathing. Today, I am very sore but there will be no running today.

This brings me to the week ahead. I have 9 sessions to complete over the next 7 days and this is exactly what I will be doing:-

Ø  Monday (today) – Swim 4km

o   Warm up 1km with a mix of freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.

o   Main set will be 7 x 400m freestyle using the leg buoy and hand paddles swimming just below race pace effort.

o   Cool down 200m with backstroke and breaststroke.

Ø  Tuesday – Brick session (indoors using bike trainer and treadmill)

o   Warm-up 10min spin, 5min jog.

o   3 x 30mins ride in a large gear above race pace effort/10min run just above race pace effort.

Ø  Wednesday – Swim 4km

o   Warm up 800m with mix of freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.

o   30 x 100m freestyle at race pace with 10 – 20 seconds in between.

o   Cool down 200m with backstroke and breaststroke.

Ø  Wednesday – Core workout

o   Swiss ball crunches very slow and controlled.

o   Reverse Crunches very slow and controlled.

o   Plank with alternating 5 second arm and leg raises.

o   **Perform 3 or 4 sets to exhaustion on each.

Ø  Thursday – Treadmill Interval Run session

o   10 minute warm up jog.

o   10 minutes of drills and dynamic stretching.

o   5 x 2km @ 20km/h with 500m @ 12km/h in between.

o   Cool down 5 minute walk and stretches.

Ø  Thursday – Ride session on indoor trainer

o   Warm up 10 minutes.

o   30 minutes single-leg work – 1min left leg/1min right leg/1min both legs x 10.

o   60 minutes medium gear at 90 – 100 RPM.

o   Cool down 5 minutes easy spinning.

Ø  Friday – Swim 4km

o   Warm up 800m with mix of freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.

o   30 x 100m – 50m fast off a deep water start/50m cruise back. 30 seconds rest in between.

o   Cool down 200m with backstroke and breaststroke.

Ø  Saturday – Long Ride 130kms

o   Perform the same ride I did the previous Saturday out to Gisborne. Return part way to bottom of the climb and back to Gisborne before coming all the way home. Aim to be done in 4 hours

o   Run 20 minutes off the bike as soon as I get home.

Ø  Sunday – Long Run 20kms

o   Exactly as I explained earlier with 4 sets of 5kms @ race pace.

After all of this, the rest days will be absolute gold!

The Journey So Far

It has been a huge learning curve for me over the past 5 months as I have trained for the race in Shepparton. It started after I returned from an amazing European holiday which began just 4 weeks after I completed the Melbourne Ironman. This meant I started my build off the back of a two month break. I was certainly a long way from the fitness I had a few months earlier but I think that was a blessing in a way. It has allowed me to do a proper preparation for a specific event and let me learn how to build a program for such a long period of time.

I wrote my program for the entire 6 months in advance. This contained the work that I wanted to achieve and what I thought would get me where I wanted to be at the end of it. However, I exercised flexibility within this as I knew things can easily change as I progress or I may have set backs. I made changes along the way as I discovered areas that were lacking and how I felt I should address them.

One of the most significant changes I made was in my swimming. After about 3 months of doing the same old things and thinking I just had to get stronger doing long efforts, it was obvious I wasn’t getting the improvement I needed. So, I got some advice and started scheduling sessions that didn’t exceed 3km in total. I was now devoting one session to strength using paddles for most of the work, one session to race pace using a series of 100 metre efforts and one session for higher speed training with a series of 50 metre efforts. This saw, almost, immediate results. I became stronger in my technique, I was sitting higher in the water, my arm turnover had become faster and my kick was now providing much greater effectiveness. I continued with these sessions until this week where I have now added an extra kilometre to each session by performing extra intervals during each workout. For example, during my Wednesday swim, I performed 30 x 100 metres instead of 20. I even did the first 10 with less rest than previous while maintaining my desired splits in the low 1:30s/100m.

Another major change I have made to my training has been my mental approach. I have developed my psychological strength during training but, also, away from training which has been reflected in my diet and my ability to make more use of my time in order to fit in my training.

The benefits I have seen with my added mental strength have been incredible. In the past, I have never pushed myself properly in the pool but things didn’t start improving until I really tested my body. The process of setting a target for any single session and sticking to it, making sure I kept at it when my arms were about to fall off, has all come from psychological improvements. I now have a better indication of how much further I can take it.

My mental ability to focus on the goals of any particular session and ensure correct form is used throughout has pleased me greatly. This has been put to great effect in bike sessions performed on my indoor trainer, where I have focussed on single-leg work, pedal stroke balance and tough sessions using a big gear. Also, my running has benefited by ensuring consistency in both long runs and hard interval workouts, particularly, on the treadmill while doing very high speed efforts. If I was to lose focus on the treadmill I would fall off.

My mind was tested a lot during the first 3 months as I was finding it difficult to gain fitness as quickly as expected and I was experiencing issues with my hips, knees and ankles mainly when running. It seemed, after being far less active for those two months and spending a lot of time sitting on a bus or plane in transit, my body needed extra time to sort itself out upon returning to training. This meant having many frustrating run sessions, initially, until I figured out what my body could manage while getting in adequate mileage. After 3 months, my knees, ankles and hips were feeling much better and accustomed to more strenuous work. 

Weight training to strengthen all of these areas played a big role in this process but if I didn’t maintain a firm focus on the overall picture and the end goal, I wouldn’t be in such a good position right now.

I got my body strong and settled after the first 3 months and then started to put in some bigger, more specific work across all disciplines. I swam more freestyle with real purpose instead of doing easier breaststroke and backstroke laps of the pool. I did some big gear and hard hill work on the bike and began honing a solid race pace and technique on the run. My volume increased across the board and I designated 3 specific sessions to each discipline that needed to be completed each week. Getting 3 specific sessions done on each discipline now provides me with enough mileage and race preparation work. I then through in one or two strength/weights/core sessions around them and some short, light bike or run sessions, if possible.

I have found the routine which works for me and it feels amazing. Knowing what I am doing each day and feeling appropriately fresh from having the right amount of time between key sessions is allowing me to get into the best condition of my life. 

Last Big Push

There’s just under two weeks of hard work remaining before I taper off into Shepparton. Just 4 weeks until race day and I can’t think of much else right now. It’s constantly on my mind but that’s one of my biggest strengths in order to get the hard work done. I am so determined which helps to ensure I do all that I can to make a statement in Shepparton. I mentioned my goals in my post on August 7 - http://ironmanlincoln.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/my-goals-and-program.html - and, although I can’t guarantee what races I will do after Shepparton, I can definitely say I will be greatly disappointed if I don’t go under 4 hours 30 minutes in this race and hit my desired splits too.

I feel better in all aspects of my ability than I ever have. I swim, ride and run faster and stronger than at any time since taking up the sport and I am the lightest I have been in 9 years. From 2004 – 2007, I put on 10kg of muscle by doing strength training in the gym 5 or 6 times per week for 3 years. When I took up triathlon, I didn’t think about losing weight to improve performance because I didn’t know it would help. At my heaviest, I was a solid 80kg after being about 70kg at the beginning of 2004. I am currently hovering in the 73-74kg range with the hope of being between 72 and 73kg come race day but, providing I don’t gain weight between now and then, it is not a priority in these final weeks.

I dream about becoming a professional athlete. It used to be a dream about playing hockey for Australia but things didn’t pan out that way. In the past couple of years I have grown a dream in my head about turning professional in my current sporting pursuit. Sometimes it seems a bit too far-fetched and other times it seems like I might just be good enough one day. This race in itself will be a big factor in seeing how close I really am to achieving that. Based on last year’s results, I am not even close. Ideally, I will finish this year closer to 4 hours flat, instead of 4 hours 30 minutes. That would indicate for sure that this dream is within reach but it is going to take something special to achieve that. If I have a flat tyre or my stomach plays up on race day it will mean trying to achieve a fast time in another race, later on. Fingers crossed for no mishaps.

Over the weekend, just passed, I saw some great signs of my increasing fitness. On Friday, I had a great swim which consisted of my 20 x 50m fast efforts. However, I altered this to perform 20 x 100m with the first 50m performed fast off a deep water start, then, cruise back the next 50m at just below race pace, concentrating on technique. This was to simulate making a fast start to the race before settling into a more sustainable pace. I felt strong, powerful and consistent.

On Saturday, I did my long ride in good conditions. I used my normal route from home to Gisborne, which is 50km. I filled my drink bottles, then, rode back 15km to the bottom of the climb that I had just been up on the way there. I turned around and went back up the climb and back to Gisborne. The climb is about 4km long with between 5 – 9% gradient which means, for some of it, I can stay on my aero bars and build strength in that position. I filled my bottles again at Gisborne and returned home with a good tail wind. I covered 130kms at a higher average pace than I ever have in a long training ride. At this time last year I wasn’t doing this distance in the weeks before the race and I definitely wasn’t putting out this kind of pace and power on those roads. I feel in the right kind of form to smash my bike PB at Shepparton. I followed my ride with a short run until I felt like I had found my running legs at race pace. It took about 2 – 3km to feel good and then I jogged back home making it about 20 minutes in total.

On Sunday, I did my long run in really tough conditions. It was pushing 30 degrees celsius and the warm, very dry northerly wind kept building its speed. I did a 3km warm-up, including drills and dynamic stretching, to a spot where I placed two 750ml bottles with a half strength electrolyte mix. I then did 4 x 4km race pace efforts with a 2 minute rest in between. The aim was to do 5 x 4km but I was a little short of time and with the tough conditions the work I completed was more than sufficient. I consumed two gels during throughout those efforts and went through 1 and a half bottles of my fluid. After the fourth effort, I walked 500m while taking in another gel and the remainder of my fluid before jogging the last 2.5km home. I was happy with my pace and enjoyed a long ice bath afterwards.

I will perform almost the exact sessions over the next two weekends before my taper and aiming for similar or better results. It is a great feeling to see these progressions and terrific for my confidence as race day nears.

Rest Week

One of the toughest parts of any big build towards a goal race is the rest periods. Why would resting be hard? It is a combination of mental and physical challenges but they are completely different to what you experience most of the time when you are training.

So I have just completed 2 and half weeks of hard training where I only had one day without any training. It would have been 3 weeks if not for the hospital visit. However, it was obvious at the end of those 2 and half weeks that I was in need of this scheduled break.

My break has started mid-week to accommodate the alterations I made to my program and to fit in with my work. As I have started a stretch of early work shifts, it is easier to use it as my rest time because I generally don’t sleep as well when working early and then don’t train as well because of it. This break will end in the middle next week and I will build up again for 2 and a half weeks before tapering off in the 2 weeks before the Shepparton race on November 17.

I began Tuesday with a day of complete rest. Wednesday was a regular training day with a morning swim and an afternoon brick session. Then, Thursday was another day of complete rest. This included many hours on the couch in front of the TV. I felt horrible! Totally lethargic and restless. Many athletes experience this type of feeling when they taper or have a rest period after a hard block of training as it is a shock to the body to not be doing much. It’s definitely one of the strangest mental battles I face as my instinct is to train in some form every day. Also, it is disconcerting to feel so run-down and lacking energy in the same way you do with a head cold. The rest days, despite feeling a bit crap, are necessary for proper recovery and adaptation to the hard work.

Today (Friday), I have ridden to work and will ride home. I’m not pushing myself, just getting from A to B comfortably. I will repeat that process tomorrow, then, on Sunday, I will do a 1 hour run at a leisurely pace with a couple of short efforts thrown in. Monday will be a swim where I will do my 20 x 100m at race pace. Tuesday is another complete rest day and finally, on Wednesday, I will do a light run with some drills and short efforts.

Thursday will begin the build up again with a 2 hour wind trainer session followed by a short weights session. The 2 and a half weeks that come after that will be almost exactly the same as what I have just completed. 3 main sessions in each discipline which includes a tough ride/run brick session. There will be one strength/weights session and a couple of core workouts as well as a short run off my long ride and a short ride before my long run.

I am looking forward to that last big push before the race and seeing how well I can prepare for this major season goal.

Training Alterations

Since my trip to hospital a couple of weeks ago and taking the time to analyse some of the sessions I had performed in the week either side of that, I have made a few alterations to what I had originally scheduled in my program.

I identified some things I wasn’t happy with including; speed across all 3 disciplines, maintaining swim technique during longer efforts and bike endurance. This prompted the following changes:-

I consulted my Chiropractor, David, from Holistique Health and Spa, in Ballarat –http://holistiquehealth.com.au/ OR find them on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/HolistiqueHealthSpa – who is a former elite swimmer, and we determined that I was doing too many long intervals that were not allowing me to develop any real speed and not giving me the opportunity to focus on technique at my desired race pace. I now focus on 3 sessions per week of 3kms, including warm-up and cool-down. My strength session involves 5 sets of 400m using paddles with about one minute rest between sets. A race pace specific session with 20 x 100m at race pace, with 15 – 20 seconds rest and a higher speed session involving 20 x 50m with 30 – 45 seconds rest. Any session might exceed 3kms if I’m feeling really good and have the time.

As I get fitter, I can reduce the rest periods, provided I maintain good technique throughout the main set. Also, I will include backstroke, breaststroke and sculling sets during warm-up and cool-down phases to assist strength. Ultimately, I am looking to dial in my race-pace with good technique. These sessions lead me away from my previous habits of doing everything at about the same pace but just altering the distance of efforts. I am pleased to say that I have already seen improvement, in just a couple of weeks, in both speed and maintaining technique under fatigue.

On a side note, I am a huge advocate for the Non-force Chiropractic techniques that David uses. I try to see him every 2 – 3 weeks to maintain my muscular and skeletal health and during these sessions he relieves my knotted muscles, re-activates any areas that aren’t functioning as well as they should – usually my hips – and leaves my body feeling refreshed, aligned and ready to face the weeks of strenuous training ahead.

It is a common misconception that Chiropractors only deal with the spine directly and just want to crack you all over but, with Non-force techniques, this is far from the truth. David manipulates and activates my muscles and nerves to allow my body to operate at its optimal level. This includes all parts of my body, not just my back or neck. I like to have a treatment 3 or 4 days before a race just to make sure everything is operating as well as possible.

I assessed my bike training closely and decided I didn’t need to change too much, instead, just make sure I do my 3 specific sessions each week. However, I did change the schedule to reflect the following; my strength/over gear session now on Tuesday, high cadence and single-leg session on Thursday and leave my long endurance ride on Saturday. In 2 weeks, the strength/over gear sessions will be changed to a brick session with 3 sets of 30 minutes with a 10-15 minute run off the bike.

The main issue had been getting my long ride done on Saturday. As mentioned in my last post, I hadn’t yet done a ride over 4 hours during this preparation. This is key to my cycling development over the remaining weeks before the race. I made the mistake last year of not doing many over-distance rides and my lack of endurance showed in the second half of the bike leg during last year’s race.

With my running, I have been pleased with my improvements and have increased my volume and frequency. I now aim to cover up to 25km during my long run on Sunday on an undulating course. On Wednesday, instead of doing short run throughs on the footy oval, I am doing up to 10 x 1km intervals on the treadmill at 20km/h with a 2 minute recovery at 12-15km/h, depending on how I’m feeling. On Friday, I like to do a leisurely run, for about 10km, outside with some faster efforts towards the end to stretch things out. Finally, after my bike sessions on Tuesday and Saturday I will do a 15 minute run off the bike, at race-pace, or longer if I am feeling good and have the time to.

As you might be able to tell, I exercise the notion of flexibility in my program quite a bit. It is influenced by factors such as, my progression, any problems or things I’m lacking in, time constraints, unexpected events like going to hospital, etc. I feel I have used flexibility well during the build-up and I am feeling confident that I am progressing well towards my goals. I hope it continues.

Back On Track

After an enforced break from training – 5 days of complete rest – due to my unexpected night in hospital and subsequent cold and flu symptoms, I am glad to say I am back on track with my training.

I started out with some light cycling on my wind trainer and jogging on the treadmill for the first couple of days. I tried a light session in the pool the next day and felt surprisingly good so the following day (Saturday) I did a 3 hour ride at a very leisurely pace and followed up on Sunday with a 20km run with a bit of intensity. Things were feeling good and back to normal.

This meant I would be pushing to complete my scheduled training as I had set in my program for the week ahead. That week began 7 days ago (Monday) with a strength swim session where I performed 4 x 400 metres and 2 x 200 metres with paddles as my main set. That same day I rode my bike to and from work as a little extra bike mileage for the week.

That was the perfect start to the week and things continued on Tuesday with my 2 hour strength bike session on my wind trainer followed by a 15 minute run on the treadmill building to race pace.

Wednesday started with my hard interval treadmill run with 8 x 1km performed at 3:00min/km pace with 2 minutes slow recovery in between. Later on, it was a more race specific session in the pool that included 20 x 100 metre efforts at race pace.

Thursday was another 2 hour bike session on the wind trainer with high cadence efforts and single leg work. Friday looked similar to Wednesday with a morning run but this time a comfortable pace for half an hour before a few sharp efforts and then a big feed. My swim, that day, was a genuine speed session with 20 x 50 metre efforts off a deep water start (no push off the wall). This showed me how ineffective my kick is currently. My legs felt like they were barely assisting and I couldn’t get them in a good rhythm when trying to kick faster. I will be working on this during that same session each week.

Eventually, Saturday came and my long ride awaited. I had been waiting to do my first ride over 4 hours for the first time since beginning this whole process in building towards the Shepparton 70.3 and the weather decided to give me a real test. 50km/h winds, coming from the west, absolutely smashed me! I had decided to head to Mount Macedon as this will be where I climb hard to build my strength significantly. This meant dealing with either a headwind or vicious cross wind all of the way there.

It’s about 60km to get to the start of the Mount Macedon climb and then about 7km of uphill with some 12 and 13% gradient sections. However, by the time I reached the climb my legs were really struggling after battling those winds but I reached the top and then took a break before heading back down. I was extremely cautious on the way down as it is very steep but the winds made it more difficult as I mixed it up in the cross winds.

Back on the flat roads, I enjoyed the tail winds but couldn’t get as much joy from it as I hoped because my legs were spent. Then, I had the cross winds to fight with some more which continued to zap my strength. My anticipated 4 and ½ hour session turned into 5 and ¼. Overall, I was really happy with how I held up under the conditions. I got myself up the climb and kept on top of my nutrition really well. It gave me a lot of confidence for tackling that same ride on another day with better conditions.

Finally, it was Sunday and long run time. I was on location in Port Arlington with family and, as we were going to Point Lonsdale that afternoon to visit some other family, it was the perfect way to run about 21km in order to meet the others there. Well, it couldn’t have gone much better. I warmed up over the first couple of kilometres and then quickly found a solid pace of, I estimate, about 4:10min/km pace on an undulating road. Conditions were excellent with about 20 degrees temperature, a slight tail breeze coming off the bay and sunshine. It was so exciting to feel that good in my strongest discipline.

I am going to be doing almost exactly that same sequence of training over the next week and a half before having 6 days of rest including, 3 days of no exercise at all and 3 days of very light training. After the rest period, I will hopefully feel quite physically refreshed and then it will be 3 more weeks of intense training before I taper into the race.

Good times!

Hospitalisation

A spanner has been thrown in the works. Last Friday (Sept 14) I ended up in hospital for a night. From the morning of that day I felt a bit off and gradually, over the course of the day, developed some abdominal pain and nausea. By 4:30pm, I was throwing up regularly and the abdominal pain grew significantly. My partner took me to emergency and I was admitted with a high fever, also.

I was placed on a drip, they gave me morphine for the pain, some medicine for the nausea, tested my blood and urine, took x-rays of my torso and monitored me all night. None of which seemed to provide any indication of what had caused this combination of symptoms.

In the morning, the doctor came by and said that there was no sign of infection or other abnormalities showing from the tests or x-rays. He didn’t think it was food poisoning either but a possible explanation was inflammation of the glands through the stomach region.

The main thing is, within a few hours after being admitted, I was getting better. My fever was coming down, I eventually had some cordial to drink and I didn’t feel like bringing it back up and I got a few hours sleep. I even stomached some breakfast in the morning.

The whole episode was a little scary. It seemed to come on quite suddenly but it has left me with symptoms of a cold – runny nose, congested sinuses, sneezing, tickle in the throat, phlegm  – which have slowly subsided in the past 6 days to the point where I will now start minimal training again today.

In hindsight, I feel there is a good chance I can put the whole saga down to overtraining and running myself down into a state of vulnerability and stress. Not so much a sign of the amount of training I was doing, instead, the lack of rest I was taking. Not staying in bed that extra hour or two occasionally when it was really hard to get up. Essentially, not listening to my body as closely as what I have stressed to do in my previous Blog posts and masking the fatigue with coffee.

However, there are some other possibilities to what may be causing these symptoms, in-particular, the continued unsettled feeling in my stomach. I believe, in the couple of weeks leading up to my night in hospital, I had become more relaxed with parts of my diet. Notably, eating cakes, crumpets, extra bread, white pasta, etc. in an effort to satisfy my caloric needs but this may be causing me undue stress on my digestive system. I had been consuming a more wheat/gluten free diet prior to those slack couple of weeks. It had resulted in me dropping about 2kg, mainly through lost bodyfat, which has been a goal of mine in the lead up to this season. I had been feeling very strong during training and happy with my gut function. I had, previously, made minor changes to my diet over the past 12 months to help my gut with bloating, gas and constipation but I had lost sight of this improvement and how I reached that point, initially.

I will focus heavily on my diet over the next couple of weeks to see if I can get my gut back on track. It will mainly contain the basics of lean meats, vegetables, salad, fruit and nuts. I will continue with my oats as my main source of carbohydrate and use rice occasionally as a gluten-free, carbo-loading food for long weekend sessions and races, provided it is a successful method for my stomach. I have 2 months to get it right.

This has happened at an interesting time in my build up to the Shepparton 70.3. It is at the beginning of my big build up to race fitness but I will be almost 2 weeks behind with this enforced lay off. It will mean an adjustment in my training, altering build weeks and rest weeks. I will explain all of this in my next post and hopefully I will be well and truly over this illness by then.

I must regain focus across the board to ensure I reach my race goals!

Bike training.

My bike training, out of the 3 disciplines, is the one thing I am not sure about right now. I haven’t tested myself significantly in my build up so far and, as I am looking to take up to 20 minutes off last year’s bike split in Shepparton (2 hours 39 minutes), it is essential that I see considerable gains in this area.

I have a plan to achieve this over the next 2 months. During the next 4-week training cycle, I will do 3 key bike sessions per week, each with a different focus. Here they are:-

Ø  Tuesday – 2 hour session done on my wind trainer. I will warm up for 20 minutes then, in a medium gear, alternate 5 minute intervals. 5 minutes done at a high cadence up to 100+rpm and 5 minutes at a more comfortable 85-90rpm. This is to simulate a burst when needing to pass someone and get a gap ahead of them before settling back into my race pace. I will do the 5 minute intervals for 60 minutes, followed by some single-leg work. I will do one minute intervals as 1 minute left leg, 1 minute right leg and 1 minute both legs recovery and do a total of 30 minutes. Single-leg work is essential for me in order to work on symmetry, as well as developing the ‘dead spots’ of the pedal stroke.  A 10 minute cool down and I’m done.

Ø  Thursday is an over gear session. 90 minutes the first 2 weeks and 2 hours during the third week. I will warm-up and then do a series of 10 minute efforts in a large gear above what I would use in a race, with a 5 minute spin in between. This is to build strength and push my lactate threshold.

Ø  My third session is a long Saturday ride of 4 and ½ hours. This will include a long steep climb up Mount Macedon after about 60km. This climb is approximately 7km long with an average gradient of 9% with parts up to 13%. This ride covers the essential over-distance session, with the added bonus of a hard 20minute+ effort up hill.

The bike course in Shepparton is flat. It is like one large square so there is a few 90 degree turns but most of the time I will need to be down in the aero position. Therefore, most of my training will be done that way.

I will, also, do a 30 minute ride prior to my long Sunday run as a slight simulation to running off the bike and ride to work once or twice a week as active recovery.

The following 4-week training cycle will be slightly different:-

Ø  Tuesday – Big brick session with 3 – 4 x 30 minutes on the wind trainer at race pace followed by 10-12 minutes on the treadmill at above race pace.

Ø  I will have a steady ride of 60 minutes after my Monday and Friday swim and 90 minutes after my Wednesday swim. I will continue my pre-long run 30 minute ride.

Ø  I won’t ride on Thursday but my long ride on Saturday will be 4 hours with four 15km efforts above race pace.

This 4-week training cycle will be more race specific in order to train my body to ride after the swim and run off the bike with some ease and comfort.

Through both training cycles I will be doing a weekly weights session. It will be a power based workout using deadlifts, power cleans, single-leg squat jumps, stiff-leg deadlifts, swiss-ball leg curls, calf raises and skipping.

I am very excited about the next couple of months and the possibility of seeing big gains in my cycling ability. I am confident that, barring injury or illness, I will reach my goal in Shepparton.