I have begun a big phase of focused strength building in my
training. In doing this, I will be looking to increase overall volume while
being smart with how I break down my sessions to get the most out of each key
workout.
This week and next week have an all-round focus on volume
for each discipline. Following these initial two weeks will be 9 days of focus
on bike and run strength endurance. In those final 9 days, swimming will be
backed off to allow for harder work to be completed on the bike and run as well
as trying to fit in some extra recovery work, including, essential chiropractic
sessions with Dr David Riordan at Holistique Health + Spa (http://www.holistiquehealth.com.au/),
in Ballarat.
I have a particular tendency to get very tight hamstrings,
glutes and lower back through lots of hard riding in the aero position, among
other things, and Dr David puts those areas back in working condition very
nicely. Holistique Heath + Spa are tremendous supporters of my triathlon
endeavours and I’m very grateful for their services.
One interesting change to my bike training during this phase
will be reducing my ‘key’ bike workouts to 2 per week, down from 3. I will
perform one long ride up to 5 hours in length with some hill work and race pace
efforts. The other session will be 3 hours of predominantly low cadence
strength work. I will still ride another 2 – 4 times each week but only at low
intensities and mainly for commuting purposes. This will allow me to recover
better and put greater emphasis on those key workouts. Not forgetting my weekly
leg weights session which is, essentially, like a third key bike workout.
My run training will follow a similar tone with greater
emphasis put on key workouts and extra sessions being about active recovery and
technique. My key workouts will now be a long run of 90mins+, a 40 – 60min negative
split tempo run and, new for me, a track session. The track session is going to
focus on 7 – 8 x 800m repeats, above race pace, with a 400m jog recovery in
between. I tried it out for the first time on Wednesday and was hitting
2:40-2:45mins per 800. That is about 3:20-3:30min/km pace but I will be looking
to get my 800m splits down to around 2:30mins over the next few weeks.
One important factor, I will need to keep an eye on during
this phase, is my recovery through nutrition and sleep. Sometimes I get lazy
and don’t take in enough protein, fruit and vegetables or good carbohydrates.
Or, I procrastinate too much meaning I miss out on valuable hours of sleep. As
I draw closer to the race, in September, I must continue to improve each of
these areas.
I know I can be smarter with my recovery nutrition, so I
went and visited my supporters at Evelyn Faye Nutrition (http://www.completehealth.com.au/)
in Bourke St. Melbourne, where I had the opportunity to have a great discussion
with one of the resident Sports Nutritionists. I provided an outline of my
usual diet and mentioned my recent fluctuating energy and periods of extended
lethargy, so, it was suggested to me to increase my protein and complex
carbohydrate intake. Other aspects of my diet, including, fruit and vegetable
intake, meat sources and supplementation all seem good but as my training
increases further, so will the need for protein and energy consumption. I will
now try to use my protein powder at least twice a day and eat a sizeable
portion of rice every day instead of a couple of times per week.
I’m looking forward to putting all of the above training and
nutritional changes into action and anticipate seeing some improvements in
overall strength and endurance at the end of this phase. Having that
improvement in the bank will put me in a great position going into the next
phase where I’ll be training my power and speed.
Please comment below and tell me how your diet changes during different periods of training.
Holistique Health + Spa http://www.holistiquehealth.com.au/
- located at 10 Errard St. North, BALLARAT.
Evelyn Faye Nutrition http://www.completehealth.com.au/
- located at 360 Bourke St. MELBOURNE.
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