There has been a sportive ride (whilst recovering from flu), numerous century rides with transition runs and a trip to Luxembourg filled with hills, hills and hills.
My infrequent and easy running sessions on the treadmill have been replaced with some sunny and harder runs around the neighbourhood and Richmond Park. I have been able to slowly increase the mileage without aggravating my ankle as it still swells up when I do really long rides followed by a run.
In the last week of March I did my first long ride on the aero bars, and although it felt good from a power/aerobic perspective I experienced some serious discomfort after about 2.5 hours in the aerodynamic position. I am very happy with how the bike is set-up, I just need to toughen up, as going aero for longer than an hour requires conditioning. That means that I will have to do a lot more rides with my TT setup as opposed to my road configuration. A good sign was that after my first long ride staying aero I managed to hop off the bike and do a very brisk 7km, without feeling it in the upper legs. That means my position is good and my hip angle is not too constricting for a powerful run after a 90km or 180km bike for the middle and longer distance races coming up.
With 7 weeks to go to my second triathlon I am planning to do a lot more running combined with more intensity on the bike and in the pool. Swimming has taken somewhat of a back-seat in the last couple of weeks, and my training hours have mostly consisted of cycling, running and gym work. Heron lake, a popular open water swimming venue for multi sport athletes opened for some post winter wetsuit action. I looked forward to see what it felt like going back there as I did three open water swim last season, and managed to swim 41 minutes for two loops of around 2km.
This morning I took things easy and it took about 3 minutes to really be able to get my head in the water as it was coooold! The two laps took 39 minutes, so considering it took me the better part of a lap and a half to start feeling efficient and that I was swimming very easy I must say things are looking up in the swimming department. I have only been to one master swimming class in the last 6 weeks, but I managed to keep up with the fast group in a very tough session, although I have to add it was still nothing on the faster sessions on Thursday mornings. It will take a couple of months before I will brave that again ;-)
To sum up my totals for the last 6 weeks
- 1 week of skiing and overindulging
- Biking: 52 hours on the bike covering more than 1400km
- Over 10 hours of running with most of it done in the last 2.5 weeks
- Just under 5 hours of swimming (this is bad)
- Two hours of core and strengthening work (need more as I can feel how it helps my running posture)
The biking volume has given me a breakthrough in terms of fitness, and my running has also benefited as I am able to stay aerobic on most of my runs, whilst being able to push the pace. Runs longer than 15km are still not that easy, but only a weekly long run of 20km will solve that.
The trip to Luxembourg included quite a long day of climbing hills sandwiched between two easier days with the latter also including a 12km very hilly transition run. Luxembourg is a great place for long bike rides, the weather was good and the tarmac is ultra smooth. Throw in almost no flat sections and you have a cycling masochist's paradise. I love the Luxembourgian countryside so much that I would seriously not mind moving there, it really is beautiful. The motorists are also very friendly, and do not mind slowing down to ensure safe passing between the rolling hills. I suffered with some mechanical problems, and ended up snapping my chain twice, once going up an 18% gradient hill. This happened in Germany and it must have been the lunch of rump steak and beer that we enjoyed before heading back to Luxembourg. I was very lucky to have a couple of spare chain links and a chain tool with me. The same thing happened to me on the last day, and I was not so lucky to get away with only greasy hands. This time the chain wrapped around my front mech and bent it around the bigger chain ring to bring things to a grinding halt. After removing the front deraileur we were off and I was stuck in the smaller chain ring for the remainder of the ride. No problems though as we were taking things relatively easy when not climbing.
I am still without a structured training plan (wish I could afford a coach!), but have been building up the running and biking to a level where I can now execute a plan to get me as fast as possible for my half Ironman distance race on the 26th of June. I would love to go under 5 hours, and that would mean a fast bike followed by a half marathon between 1:40 and 1:35. Provided I stay healthy this should be possible, so I am quite excited to really get stuck in and see how I can mix in some intensity and more running in the next 4-5 weeks before a brief taper.
I have just completed a recovery week with only 8 hours of training, and 3 days off. Today included the open water swim, a steady hour on the trainer (with a brand new front mech and chain!) followed by a steady aerobic 16km session in my running paradise aka Richmond Park.
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| German pork neck steaks + beer for lunch on day 3 |
