the run up to the main event
Triathlon Training Blog, Thursday, September 24th, 2015Left the canal boat in the morning and drove home. Missed the velo 15 mtt but was never going to make that . So got home eventually and jumped on the turbo woo hooo. 3 Hours on the fucking thing. During this 3 hour period of my life i was lucky enough to experience 5 times 20 minute sets of endurance intervals over and unders. what this involves for the lucky participant is 5 mins at 240 watts(uncomfortable) followed by 5 mins at 270(more uncomfortable) watts then u get to do it all over again with no rest. Then when u r done with that u get to step it down, not all the way to easy !!!By fuck no!!! Just back to 180 watts endurance pace. Times 5 five. thats what i said after 4 four before 6 six.Bit of a toughy that.Did i mention that the sweat was running, not meandering ,running a veritable sprint out the door.Heart rate data was all over the shop and who would be surprised by that? Lock yourself in a hermatically sealed room in still air and go like hell on a stationary bike. Not surprising at all the old ticker wonders ‘whats this all about?’
Tuesday 3k in the pool in the morning. Not to be out done i climbed back on the turbo tuesday night and really had a pretty good go at killing myself.Only an hour.2 times 5 minutes followed by 3 times 10 mins at sweet spot 280 watts . What joy this one was .5 mins rest inbetween except the last one where u dropped the power to tempo 220 watts.
All these workouts are available to you too .
Which leads us nicely onto a quick 45min pool session on wednesday morning. I had wednesday night off and this almost feels like a rest day and i feel quilty about it. tragic
Thursday pool again in the morning with the tri lot and another 3 k set. I try to keep up with spanner but i dont.
I bet u will never guess what went on Thursday night. Well a change is as good as a rest so they say. so i threw caution to the wind tonight and jumped on the turbo for 2 and a half hours. Never saw that coming did you? This was a tempo session. with 20 minute , 10 and 5 min periods of various power outputs all over 220 watts. I dont bother cleaning up the sick and sweat anymore just walk around it . reminds me of the sands discotheque deluxe which i hear is closing.
Friday 40 mins in the pool and 2k done. Then in the evening ……… a run. The achilles saga didnt end here i’m afraid.On the treadmill which i reckon has fucked me up so i thought i’d try my first run back on there just to make sure, underline,in capitals,bold,italic. did 10k in 49mins. warm up then 12 k building to 16kmph. i knew i shouldve just left it at 12kmph but couldnt help it. MUG!it actually was only grumbling a bit.
Its the weekend and i celebrated the blue ski and perfect cycling conditions by promptly jumping on the turbo as soon as i got up. Not any run of the mill turbo session .fuck me dead NO!! But a 5 hours yes five , 5 hours on it. during this 5 hours i did over(just) a hundred miles. ( fuck all wrong with my endurance base)what a test that was .Main target power was all aerobic endurance but with 3 sets of 30 mins at a nice little jump up to 240 watts. The one that started at 82 miles was particularly unwelcome.Suitably Fucked i crawled off the turbo and swam back to bed for a few hours i’ve a big race tomorrow. I’m not kidding.People ask what u think of during those 5 hours. all i think about is the end. the end of the session or the end of me. whichever comes sooner,equally welcome.
Sunday morning not bright eyed and not bushy tailed. Got a bit of chaffing from the sweat yesterday which is…..nice. i drag myself up to the bank for the last 25m tt of the season. Its a full field of 240 riders.on reflection the 100 turbo i did yesterday really didnt seem like a good idea. Still fuck it. here now. On the tt bike lets rock and roll.Remember this one
‘Get ready 5,4,3,2,1 fall asleep. oh no GO. Off we jolly well trot. Theres fuck all point starting too fast this morning even if it were an option. This ride is not quite a shot for nothing as there’s a bit of pride at stake. Chris Holman is here and has been breathing down my neck all season. John Reagan who skinned me last time out is a no show with a recurring back problem.So up we go to 290 watts and just sit there. I , perhaps for the first time, concentrate on my breathing. I get that into its rhythm. When i go 10 watts harder i notice it in my breathing recognize that it is unsustainable and bring my breathing back, power follows. This is an ‘A’ race field . Slowest time for the 120 of us in the second half of the race is 55 mins .I get to the turn in 29 mins thats 15 miles that s faster than 30 mph. At this point (wishful thinking) i wonder if sub 50 is on? 10 miles to go and i have to do it in 19 mins and 59 seconds. Ha, not a bloody chance. The wind ,what there was of it was behind you but i romped home doing the last ten in 21 mins 34 seconds. A pb for a 25 of 51 mins 34 seconds. A perfect day on the bank. I had a quick look at the results board. the first 60 of us were in and there were already 4 or 5 who had gone under 50 mins. keiron won it in a 46 i think mental.The only problem with this ride is that it makes sub 50 a possibility next year. But to take those 90 seconds off would mean probably double the work.Average power was 295 watts . which is probably about right with an ftp of 289.
Had lunch in the rock and fountain on the old glyn neath road on the way back.its where my dad used to go on his sunday morning rides when he was a young man. His ashes were scattered here In a rose garden opposite the pub. We put up a bench there with his name on it. The bench was promptly nicked and the roses all died, probably due to the alkalinity or acidity of the ashes someone had just chucked all over them. Thats life !What can you do?
5 five hours on a fucking turbo!!thats 5 five times 60 sixty minutes
