Tuesday 30 April 2013

High Intensity Training (HIT) and race report

Last week was mixed on the training front. The main focus was on high intensity training (HIT), not that was totally by design.

On Tuesday I got in the standard commute with a decent bit of tempo and hill work. Wednesday morning was a short strides set - 10x reps at high intensity. The Club swim that evening also involved quite a lot of speed work using more of the anaerobic engine but decent rest periods in between (a good number of 50m sets all out). Unfortunately I was unable to get the second weekly ride into work so opted for a HIT session on the rollers. After a warm up I completed 10x reps of 30 secs on (all out) / 30 secs off. A 10 min cool down completed the short session.

The Saturday swim despite having 3x 500m sets included in the session also had some speed work to contend with.

One thing not mentioned in my previous blog was the 'Dads vs. Lads' end of the season football game that I foolishly got dragged into. I do have to be careful with these additional exercise sessions as I have a history of over doing it and feeling the consequences the next few days afterwards - I suppose I am so use to going in a straight line any exercise which involves side to side movement and different muscles groups is a little hard for the body to cope with. The game on Saturday wasn't too bad, my first touch of the ball was awful, missed kick for goal, spun run and ended on a heap on the floor - at least it amused the boys. My second attempt was better and after a good run down the wing I managed to find the back of the net with my shot on goal. That evening I did feel the start of some fatigue in my legs and peculiarly an ache in my right foot but not too much damaged caused. My wife and I went round our friends' house for a dinner party and didn't get to bed unto 1am. I limited the alcohol intake to 1-2 glasses but nonetheless not the best preparation for an early race the following morning.

Anyway, Sunday came and it was a very pleasant morning so no excuses not to compete in the Club's long duathalon event (10km run + 40km bike + 5km run). At 7:30am I was at Southwater Country Park ready for the race briefing and scheduled 8am start. There were a good number of Club members, including a few new faces that I had been told were very fast, especially on the run (2 of which could run sub 30min 10Ks).

My pace on the first 10km was good, I felt I could have gone faster however I kept an average pace of around 4:30 min per km, saving something for the bike leg. My 10km split was 44:32, which I was happy with. My lack of preparation cost me time in transition as I had not swapped over my normal laces for the elastic ones and fumbled with my shoes for longer than was necessary. Then I forgot to put my bike helmet on, so had to stop and correct. Once on the bike I built up the pace and settled in to the aero position, I was not monitoring my speed as I wore my Garmin on my wrist rather than connected to the bike so it was more difficult to view. I rode by feel and thought that I was going just about hard enough, although was slightly disappointed with my time of 1:10:35, especially given it is closer to a 38km route rather than 40km. Another slow transition and on to the last 5km run leg - I certainly had some fatigue and it took my legs about 5-10mins to properly get into run mode. However, I was pleased that I had kept going and finished with a reasonable time of 24:16. With the slow transitions (both over a minute) my overall race time was 2:21:37 and I came 10th out of a field of 23, albeit some of these 'DNF'.

Looking back at my previous race results my PB for the long Club duathlon (exact same route) was 2:20:40 back in 2011. At that time my 10km was slower - 46:10, bike a little faster - 1:09:09 and 5km about the same - 24:06. My transitions were much quicker at around 35 secs. So if I exclude the transitions the two times are almost identical. Part of me is disappointed that I am not getting any faster, however taking into consideration my poor race preparation and lack of bike training so far this season, I cannot expect miracles.

I was pretty active for the rest of Sunday and unable to get some needed recovery, so am paying the price now as my legs are still fatigued. Took a recovery day yesterday (Monday). Needed the car today at work so unable to have a gentle ride to work. Decided on an easy run but got 2 mins down the road and had to turn back, legs are not ready yet. I might try a gentle spin tonight. I expect this to be a relatively light training week but certainly need greater focus, especially on the bike and prior my London 2 Paris charity ride.

2 comments:

  1. I dont think my last comment got posted. I was just saying well done for a great time in the Duathlon. Are you heading over to Preston park this week?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Dan - Unfortunately not able to make Preston Park this weekend but keen on doing a 'brick session' there as soon as I can. Will let you know.

    ReplyDelete

March update - not so cheery

This last week has not been so great... Very unlike me, but I have had a really bad cold, which I think I have mostly beaten, although I hav...