Train, train, train......the good news is that over the past month things have been progressing well and I can begin to feel the fitness increasing. This is especially true for the swim where a few solid weeks of consistency (not volume just consistency) makes such a big difference.
Showing posts with label triathlon training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon training. Show all posts
Monday, August 7, 2017
You're Not Racing?.....
That's the question I have been asked the last few weekends since Iron Hill....perhaps I have a raced a lot so far this year but it only works out to be 17 races. Anyways the answer has been no I am not, it's all about getting in the training now as a couple of big events are in the Fall and they are the goal races. First up is the Shenandoah 100 MTB race on Labor Day weekend and then it's the big Kahuna in Maui at the Xterra World's.
Train, train, train......the good news is that over the past month things have been progressing well and I can begin to feel the fitness increasing. This is especially true for the swim where a few solid weeks of consistency (not volume just consistency) makes such a big difference.
Train, train, train......the good news is that over the past month things have been progressing well and I can begin to feel the fitness increasing. This is especially true for the swim where a few solid weeks of consistency (not volume just consistency) makes such a big difference.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
February 2015: Training Ramblings........Motivation
With a gradual build in the run miles from December through January, February was finally the time to start laying down some serious miles and incorporating specific workouts into the schedule. Aside from the occasional outside weekend run the vast majority of my running is on the treadmill at work, which I have certainly come to embrace again this winter. The treadmill really enables you to do some fantastic workouts without the obstructions, breaks and at this time of year snow, ice and cold. My staple treadmill workouts this month have been:
1 - Speed Workout: 10 minute warm-up followed by 12 x 2mins at 5km pace with 2mins rest interval.
2 - Hill Intervals: 10 minute warm-up followed by 7 x 6mins (2mins at 2%, 2mins at 4%, 2mins at 0%).
3 - Tempo: 10 minute warm-up with 35mins at 10km pace
Throw in a longer weekend run and a recovery run and it's a solid week of running. Feeling the gains this month has been great and has certainly fueled the motivation for the 2015 season.
Speaking of motivation, I also got wet a few more times this month and will continue to build the pool time in March. The thing I find about swimming is really that my pace doesn't really drop off with the lack of pool time but the endurance really does. Over the past month the endurance has come back and now it's time to work actually improving the pace. I have been the same pace for way too long....time to make some gains!
Biking this month was pretty much maintenance, the Winter finally hit so there was a couple of weeks without the longer weekend rides due to snow/ice and therefore lower volume. The power numbers have still been there though and with the next power test coming shortly, it will be good to see some marginal gains.
The 2015 schedule is beginning to fill up a little bit more and here are the confirmed or anticipated triathlons so far:
April 26th: Xterra Jersey Devil
May 9th: Kinetic Half-Ironman
June 14th: Xterra East Championships
July 12th: Xterra Ex2 Rocky Gap
Aug 2nd: Fort Ritchie Olympic/Xterra Appalachia
Aug 16th: Challenge Pocono Mountains
Sept 20th: Xterra Nationals Utah (Pending Qualification)
A good mix of off-road and regular triathlons and I'm still looking for a couple of races in June and July.
Overall a good solid month of training with motivation still high as the Spring begins to poke it's head out from under the covers.
What I am drinking this month:
Intelligentsia Coffee: Zirikana, Rwanda - A testament to the skill and commitment by the team at the Nyarusiza washing station, this year's release is remarkably lush, and brims with flavors of lime zest, black tea and crisp grape in the finish
February Total: 485miles/39hrs 31mins/2778 TSS
Swim: 10.73m/5hrs 51mins/ 422 TSS
Bike: 354m/18hrs 51mins/ 1184 TSS
Run: 121m/14hrs 50mins/ 1172 TSS
1 - Speed Workout: 10 minute warm-up followed by 12 x 2mins at 5km pace with 2mins rest interval.
2 - Hill Intervals: 10 minute warm-up followed by 7 x 6mins (2mins at 2%, 2mins at 4%, 2mins at 0%).
3 - Tempo: 10 minute warm-up with 35mins at 10km pace
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| The glamorous view of the work gym treadmill |
Throw in a longer weekend run and a recovery run and it's a solid week of running. Feeling the gains this month has been great and has certainly fueled the motivation for the 2015 season.
Speaking of motivation, I also got wet a few more times this month and will continue to build the pool time in March. The thing I find about swimming is really that my pace doesn't really drop off with the lack of pool time but the endurance really does. Over the past month the endurance has come back and now it's time to work actually improving the pace. I have been the same pace for way too long....time to make some gains!
Biking this month was pretty much maintenance, the Winter finally hit so there was a couple of weeks without the longer weekend rides due to snow/ice and therefore lower volume. The power numbers have still been there though and with the next power test coming shortly, it will be good to see some marginal gains.
 |
| One of the few outdoor rides this month with a stop at Sweet Sues! |
The 2015 schedule is beginning to fill up a little bit more and here are the confirmed or anticipated triathlons so far:
April 26th: Xterra Jersey Devil
May 9th: Kinetic Half-Ironman
June 14th: Xterra East Championships
July 12th: Xterra Ex2 Rocky Gap
Aug 2nd: Fort Ritchie Olympic/Xterra Appalachia
Aug 16th: Challenge Pocono Mountains
Sept 20th: Xterra Nationals Utah (Pending Qualification)
A good mix of off-road and regular triathlons and I'm still looking for a couple of races in June and July.
Overall a good solid month of training with motivation still high as the Spring begins to poke it's head out from under the covers.
What I am drinking this month:
Intelligentsia Coffee: Zirikana, Rwanda - A testament to the skill and commitment by the team at the Nyarusiza washing station, this year's release is remarkably lush, and brims with flavors of lime zest, black tea and crisp grape in the finish
February Total: 485miles/39hrs 31mins/2778 TSS
Swim: 10.73m/5hrs 51mins/ 422 TSS
Bike: 354m/18hrs 51mins/ 1184 TSS
Run: 121m/14hrs 50mins/ 1172 TSS
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
What makes a good triathlon training City? My take on Bowie.
You hear this a lot and not just on the Slowtwitch Forums! "I might be moving to XXX town, what's it like for triathlon training" and just recently I got thinking about how this applies to where we live. It's probably one of the first things I would think about if ever we were to move from Bowie, MD but 10 years ago when we came to the USA, it was really all about "how close to the office was it?" and "what is there nearby?".
Fortunately we really lucked out with where we chose after a fleeting four day trip from the UK in 2004 and Bowie, MD has turned out to be awesome in more ways than one but especially good for training. Ironman listed their top ten locations in 2014 here....Bowie didn't make it (unsurprisingly when you look at the list) but here's my take. What do you like about your training town?
Bowie, MD
Training
Year round you can train outside, sure it gets cold and a little snowy/icy at times in the winter but sustained periods of indoor training are few and far between. Riding out from Bowie to the better cycling routes in the South Counties are easy and relatively light in traffic. Over the years I have built a good library of routes depending upon on the desired length ranging from a simple 10mile loop to a 120mile loop. Running around town again is pretty good with some flat paved trails away from traffic (WB&A trail) as well as some off-road trails. The majority of the Bowie roads have wide enough shoulders that running on the road is fine (such as this past week when the sidewalks are a little icy).
I guess the only major downside, but this goes for the majority of the eastern side of the State is the lack of decent climbs in the area. We have rolling hills and the flats but nothing that can count as major climbs with the nearest being an hour or so away in Frederick or beyond at Skyline Drive.
Training partners in the local area are plentiful - a ton of cycling teams and clubs (personally I am biased towards the Annapolis Bicycle Racing Team and the team sponsor Parvilla Cycles) that range all abilities and goals. There are bunch of different triathlon clubs although none actually located in Bowie itself (check here for USAT registered clubs).
Possibly the only training aspect in Bowie that is lacking is a public swimming pool both indoors and outdoors. I swim at Sportfit Bowie, a private health club, which is fine for a 25yd lap pool but it lacks a masters program and has competing demands for its use (swim lessons, aerobics etc). The closest public pools are either at PG Community College or at the Arundel Swim Center just outside of Annapolis. A year-round outdoor 25m pool would be awesome!
Racing
With not having a body of open water of good enough quality, a local race is asking a bit much but the central location of Bowie in the Mid-Atlantic region means that you can pretty much race every weekend in the season with only a 2-hour drive or less. The stand out races are the Eagleman Ironman 70.3m and Ironman Maryland, both of which take place in Cambridge, MD an 80min drive from Bowie. If an M-Dot race isn't your cup of tea there are some quality races put on by Set-Up Events, Piranha Sports and Racine Multisports.
For some distractions you can also race on the road from Spring to Fall with the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association or any numbers of running events year round!
After 10 years in Bowie I am no doubt bias when it comes to liking the City as training town....It's all I have ever known from a triathlon training perspective as I was purely a cyclist back in the UK (and living towards the end of an Estuary gets old when you cycle the sames routes to get in and out!) but it fits the bill for me.....now should I get an offer to live in Boulder, San Diego or St. George then I might be packing my training gear!
Fortunately we really lucked out with where we chose after a fleeting four day trip from the UK in 2004 and Bowie, MD has turned out to be awesome in more ways than one but especially good for training. Ironman listed their top ten locations in 2014 here....Bowie didn't make it (unsurprisingly when you look at the list) but here's my take. What do you like about your training town?
Bowie, MD
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| Bowie Location |
Training
Year round you can train outside, sure it gets cold and a little snowy/icy at times in the winter but sustained periods of indoor training are few and far between. Riding out from Bowie to the better cycling routes in the South Counties are easy and relatively light in traffic. Over the years I have built a good library of routes depending upon on the desired length ranging from a simple 10mile loop to a 120mile loop. Running around town again is pretty good with some flat paved trails away from traffic (WB&A trail) as well as some off-road trails. The majority of the Bowie roads have wide enough shoulders that running on the road is fine (such as this past week when the sidewalks are a little icy).
I guess the only major downside, but this goes for the majority of the eastern side of the State is the lack of decent climbs in the area. We have rolling hills and the flats but nothing that can count as major climbs with the nearest being an hour or so away in Frederick or beyond at Skyline Drive.
Training partners in the local area are plentiful - a ton of cycling teams and clubs (personally I am biased towards the Annapolis Bicycle Racing Team and the team sponsor Parvilla Cycles) that range all abilities and goals. There are bunch of different triathlon clubs although none actually located in Bowie itself (check here for USAT registered clubs).
Possibly the only training aspect in Bowie that is lacking is a public swimming pool both indoors and outdoors. I swim at Sportfit Bowie, a private health club, which is fine for a 25yd lap pool but it lacks a masters program and has competing demands for its use (swim lessons, aerobics etc). The closest public pools are either at PG Community College or at the Arundel Swim Center just outside of Annapolis. A year-round outdoor 25m pool would be awesome!
 |
| Now if only Sportfit converted the summer fun pool into a year-round lap pool! |
Racing
With not having a body of open water of good enough quality, a local race is asking a bit much but the central location of Bowie in the Mid-Atlantic region means that you can pretty much race every weekend in the season with only a 2-hour drive or less. The stand out races are the Eagleman Ironman 70.3m and Ironman Maryland, both of which take place in Cambridge, MD an 80min drive from Bowie. If an M-Dot race isn't your cup of tea there are some quality races put on by Set-Up Events, Piranha Sports and Racine Multisports.
For some distractions you can also race on the road from Spring to Fall with the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association or any numbers of running events year round!
After 10 years in Bowie I am no doubt bias when it comes to liking the City as training town....It's all I have ever known from a triathlon training perspective as I was purely a cyclist back in the UK (and living towards the end of an Estuary gets old when you cycle the sames routes to get in and out!) but it fits the bill for me.....now should I get an offer to live in Boulder, San Diego or St. George then I might be packing my training gear!
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
January 2015: Training Ramblings.....Consistency is the Key
With the cross season over and Winter settling in, there isn't a lot to report from the month of January. For me it is really about getting some consistent training logged especially building the run and swim up again after a hiatus during the Fall. My biking fitness was high coming off the cross season so the plan was to maintain on the bike and build the rest so that come the early Spring I am in some kind of shape to race triathlons.
In late January Sarah and I got away for some Sun, Sea and Sand in Aruba for a week...as always it was great to relax and get away from everything, it's a plus that you can run in shorts and t-shirt in 85 degree weather and swim in the outside pool!
Building on December I logged a steady 10hrs running and all at a steady pace, no intervals or anything as of yet just plain old base building to get ready for some harder stuff in February and beyond. The swim grew a little...it's easy to grow from nothing, so even the 2.5hrs in January is a start. February needs to be better!
Good news on the bike was that my January FTP test came out at 308w (95% of 324w) and my Vo2 tested at 355w (for 5mins). These are both all-time highs which goes to prove that cyclocross and quality hours rather than just volume can work.....now is the time to maintain that and build as the Spring approaches.
I have also been looking at the racing calendar for 2015 and trying to figure out some races that would be fun to do. It is all still up in the air right now but I have signed up for two races: Cranky Monkey 6hr MTB race on March 28th, which is local at Rosaryville State Park and then the Xterra East Championship in Richmond in mid-June.
There will definitely be a mix of road and off-road triathlon's this season, riding the MTB will be great skills work for cyclocross in the Fall and it's just plain fun to run and ride off-road.
What I am Drinking This Month:
1562 Roastery: Nicaragua Jose Francisco (peach, almond, creamy, cantaloupe)
January Total: 540.24mile/40hrs 18mins/ 2620 TSS
Swim: 4.84m/ 2hrs 33mins/ 176 TSS
Bike: 456m/ 26hrs 10mins/ 1599.2 TSS
Run: 79.4m/ 9hrs 55mins/ 724.8 TSS
Strength: 1hr 40mins/ 120 TSS
In late January Sarah and I got away for some Sun, Sea and Sand in Aruba for a week...as always it was great to relax and get away from everything, it's a plus that you can run in shorts and t-shirt in 85 degree weather and swim in the outside pool!
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| One Happy Island.....Aruba 2015! |
Building on December I logged a steady 10hrs running and all at a steady pace, no intervals or anything as of yet just plain old base building to get ready for some harder stuff in February and beyond. The swim grew a little...it's easy to grow from nothing, so even the 2.5hrs in January is a start. February needs to be better!
Good news on the bike was that my January FTP test came out at 308w (95% of 324w) and my Vo2 tested at 355w (for 5mins). These are both all-time highs which goes to prove that cyclocross and quality hours rather than just volume can work.....now is the time to maintain that and build as the Spring approaches.
I have also been looking at the racing calendar for 2015 and trying to figure out some races that would be fun to do. It is all still up in the air right now but I have signed up for two races: Cranky Monkey 6hr MTB race on March 28th, which is local at Rosaryville State Park and then the Xterra East Championship in Richmond in mid-June.
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| Not quite as warm as Aruba.....MTBing at Rosaryville State Park |
There will definitely be a mix of road and off-road triathlon's this season, riding the MTB will be great skills work for cyclocross in the Fall and it's just plain fun to run and ride off-road.
What I am Drinking This Month:
1562 Roastery: Nicaragua Jose Francisco (peach, almond, creamy, cantaloupe)
January Total: 540.24mile/40hrs 18mins/ 2620 TSS
Swim: 4.84m/ 2hrs 33mins/ 176 TSS
Bike: 456m/ 26hrs 10mins/ 1599.2 TSS
Run: 79.4m/ 9hrs 55mins/ 724.8 TSS
Strength: 1hr 40mins/ 120 TSS
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
August 2014: Training Ramblings......Is that a pool I see?
August ended up being a pretty damn good month, we were still enjoying a unseasonably cool summer which made for great riding and running weather. Somehow I got some motivation back to get into the pool again. Perhaps it was some late cramming for the General Smallwood Sprint Tri at the end of the month or just a little more focus but it was actually good to be back in the pool (still not as much as I should be though).
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| Ah....back in the pool and no water aerobics going on! |
So the goal for the month was the General Smallwood Sprint Tri, a great local triathlon that I have raced a few times before. I love the course and it's always good to get after it in a Sprint race and just go full gas for an hour or so. I really didn't know what to expect after only having done the Duathlon in July and Eagleman way back in June. What's the worst that can happen in a Sprint?
I managed to get a solid month of training done, nothing race specific but just steady miles, almost base building for 2015! I didn't expect anything in the swim and I didn't get much - 13th out the water including some local swim team kids :-) Onto the bike and some serious time to pull back, which is tough in a sprint race of only a 16mile bike! Fortunately I felt great on the bike and bashed out the fastest bike of the day at about 24mph (which was my 2nd race on the new Guru Cycles CR.901 with Di2 courtesy of Parvilla Cycles)
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| Heading into T2 |
This allowed me to catch everyone bar the leader as we headed into T2. He was already running as I came in and had a 2 minute gap on me (yes he swam that much quicker than me as I had pulled back a minute on the bike). I thought I had two hope's - Bob Hope and No Hope
I managed to bust out a 17:49 5km and take the win! It actually ended up being the win by just over 90secs as the guy I passed was awarded a 2min penalty for littering the course. A good race but jeez do Sprint tri's really hurt....Results are here
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| Onto the top step.....the 3rd place guy must have still be annoyed about his penalty! |
After the race we headed home and later in the afternoon went over to the final road race of the year and warmed down by racing the Cat 3/4 field at Dawg Days on the Bowie Melford course. A good day of racing!
The rest of the month was really about steady miles of all three sports. We did manage a small getaway to the Pocono Pines and got some great running and riding done. Definitely a place to go back for a training camp one day!
It's now about gearing up for the start of cross season in early September and looking ahead to the 2015 season. So far I have nothing on the calendar and it will be good motivation to have an early season target of some kind.
August Total: 510.27 Miles / 45 hours 25 minutes
Swim: 17,500 yards / ~9.93 miles / 5 hours 45 minutes
Bike: 374.30 miles / 21 hours 04 minutes
Run: 126.04 miles / 17 hours 18 minutes (includes 6hr race - from late July)
Friday, January 3, 2014
Dec 21st - Dec 27th: Training Ramblings.......Back in Blighty
With just one day in Spain this week we left for the Christmas week in England and true to form it was a nice English week of winter weather....so what does that mean? Well, on-off rain, wind, clouds and grey pretty much sums it up! I don't think I have gotten as wet or as muddy by simply running on the roads, most of the time I came back as though I had run a cross country race!
I did get some solid runs in during the week even with the Christmas festivities. The highlight was the Christmas Eve run of 14.5miles, the longest since IM Louisville in August. It was over the roads that I grew up riding on, that's when 15miles on the bike was a long way....how times have changed :-) It's just a shame that I don't ride while in England, perhaps next time when the bags aren't weighed down by parcels, I'll take my cycling stuff to ride my Dad's bike.
The key now will be to continue on with the strong running as I felt that the past two weeks have been a great kick-start to running better in 2014. I had periods of good running in 2013, but nothing as consistent as it needs to be. Next week will be a rest week in terms of running, get back on the bike after a two week hiatus and generally get back into the work/life/training swing of things.
Total: 41 Miles / 4 hours 58 minutes
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| Wouldn't be right to post about Christmas without a Christmas kitten photo would it? |
I did get some solid runs in during the week even with the Christmas festivities. The highlight was the Christmas Eve run of 14.5miles, the longest since IM Louisville in August. It was over the roads that I grew up riding on, that's when 15miles on the bike was a long way....how times have changed :-) It's just a shame that I don't ride while in England, perhaps next time when the bags aren't weighed down by parcels, I'll take my cycling stuff to ride my Dad's bike.
The key now will be to continue on with the strong running as I felt that the past two weeks have been a great kick-start to running better in 2014. I had periods of good running in 2013, but nothing as consistent as it needs to be. Next week will be a rest week in terms of running, get back on the bike after a two week hiatus and generally get back into the work/life/training swing of things.
Total: 41 Miles / 4 hours 58 minutes
Swim: 0 yards / ~0 miles / 0 hours 0 minutes
Bike: 0 miles / 0 hours 0 minutes
Run: 41 miles /4 hours 58 minutes
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