2 of the last 3 weeks saw a welcome increase in volume and training stress.
I managed 20 hours for only the 2nd or 3rd time in a week and loved it. 2 x power turbo sessions and 2 x track runs certainly helped and Coach managed to maintain the right balance it felt. My easy run pace appears finally to be improving recently.
I do easy runs based on rate of perceived exertion, but usually have my garmin and review pace but being disciplined to not let it control my run. Coach and I feel now is appropriate to increase my volume to try stimulate continuous improvements but more importantly now that a solid consistent base has been built. It will be managed every couple of days and coach will adjust as he deems necessary if he sees any signs requiring changes so we will see how it goes.
I have noticed recovery is now getting more important. Both in terms of nutrition and rest so I have to stay on top of both.
This week was a recovery week and has been mainly easy to start, followed by a failed turbo session where the mad scientist was "playing with my numbers to see if I was ready for another test".
2nd rep of 5 in and my head falls to my forearms as I gasp for breath wondering why I couldn't hit the numbers and if I got enough sleep last night...
Coach adjusted the remainder of the set but I was wasted at that stage and wasn't much good thereafter so canned it early. My above threshold work is really lacking which coach is fine with as it my below threshold work has improved so on we go!
I was home to nap and eat and drink well before off for an easy medium run which went very well and left me surprised and happy. Was it the extra sleep? Perhaps but also the turbo session was plainly hard and took a lot out of me as it was too much above FTP levels to sustain repeats.
Outside of training itself I'm looking for further improvements in equipment. I've experienced a couple of hot spots on my foot on runs in new runners lately and brought 3 pairs down to my last track session. 2 showed similar hotspots and then 3rd time lucky no issues at all. Current runner of choice is the Adidas Tempo 5 for pretty much all sessions. This is light enough for speed work but with enough support for long runs also.
I raced Tri an Mhi in Kinvara 2's and developed the hotspot from then. I figured the soles were just too worn and bought a pair of Kinvara 4's to replace. I did my long run in these without issue but afterwards felt the same hotspot and same at start of track session.
Switching to the Tempo's resolved this so my foot probably wants a bit more cushion until the hotspot goes away.
I like the Tempo's a lot so may race Kilkee in them to see how they go.
Bike....
Upgrades....
Yyyyeeeesssss.....I'm not happy with my current bike fit in that I feel I can go lower to improve my aero and minimise drag further.
In addition I still get some saddle sores from my current saddle so changes are being trialled.
I picked up the Specialized Sitero saddle which is a similar fit to the Adamo 2 prong approach to fit sit bones instead of nether regions so I will see how this goes for me.
My Shiv came with a second more aggressive seatpost that I've fitted the saddle to and installed after a recent turbo session.
The Shiv is a high stack bike to cater for the majority of its users.
Most of the pro's have swapped out the aerobars and stem to achieve a lower stack and more aero position.
This is my current decision and I'm on the lowest possible stack with current Shiv aerobars.
I previously raced the Ridley Dean TT (for sale, must put up an ad!) at a stack of 590mm which was very comfortable.
When I bought the Shiv I fully knew the lowest stack on Specialized bars would be 600mm so figured it was close enough, and if I did want to change down the road I could follow suit as the Pro's and change out the bars.
So 9 months later here I am, experimenting and I picked up a second hand set of Pro Missile Evo's.
These are a very nice set of bars that have full Di2 integration to hide almost all cabling as well.
It helps that a couple of Pro's I admire use these (Kienle & Crowie) and I want to see if they suit me. Pro endorsement works people. Support the Pro's!
I've done initial measurements with the Pro Missile's and it appears I can get around 20-25mm lower than current stack - so this would bring me down to around 575/580mm if I'm correct.
This looks promising and I probably won't go this low just yet but the good news is the bars appear to be bang on what I hoped for.
Hopefully fitting them next weekend which will give me a week before Kilkee to adjust to new stack and get ready to unleash all the power hopefully!
I managed 20 hours for only the 2nd or 3rd time in a week and loved it. 2 x power turbo sessions and 2 x track runs certainly helped and Coach managed to maintain the right balance it felt. My easy run pace appears finally to be improving recently.
I do easy runs based on rate of perceived exertion, but usually have my garmin and review pace but being disciplined to not let it control my run. Coach and I feel now is appropriate to increase my volume to try stimulate continuous improvements but more importantly now that a solid consistent base has been built. It will be managed every couple of days and coach will adjust as he deems necessary if he sees any signs requiring changes so we will see how it goes.
I have noticed recovery is now getting more important. Both in terms of nutrition and rest so I have to stay on top of both.
This week was a recovery week and has been mainly easy to start, followed by a failed turbo session where the mad scientist was "playing with my numbers to see if I was ready for another test".
2nd rep of 5 in and my head falls to my forearms as I gasp for breath wondering why I couldn't hit the numbers and if I got enough sleep last night...
Coach adjusted the remainder of the set but I was wasted at that stage and wasn't much good thereafter so canned it early. My above threshold work is really lacking which coach is fine with as it my below threshold work has improved so on we go!
I was home to nap and eat and drink well before off for an easy medium run which went very well and left me surprised and happy. Was it the extra sleep? Perhaps but also the turbo session was plainly hard and took a lot out of me as it was too much above FTP levels to sustain repeats.
Outside of training itself I'm looking for further improvements in equipment. I've experienced a couple of hot spots on my foot on runs in new runners lately and brought 3 pairs down to my last track session. 2 showed similar hotspots and then 3rd time lucky no issues at all. Current runner of choice is the Adidas Tempo 5 for pretty much all sessions. This is light enough for speed work but with enough support for long runs also.
I raced Tri an Mhi in Kinvara 2's and developed the hotspot from then. I figured the soles were just too worn and bought a pair of Kinvara 4's to replace. I did my long run in these without issue but afterwards felt the same hotspot and same at start of track session.
Switching to the Tempo's resolved this so my foot probably wants a bit more cushion until the hotspot goes away.
I like the Tempo's a lot so may race Kilkee in them to see how they go.
Bike....
Upgrades....
Yyyyeeeesssss.....I'm not happy with my current bike fit in that I feel I can go lower to improve my aero and minimise drag further.
In addition I still get some saddle sores from my current saddle so changes are being trialled.
I picked up the Specialized Sitero saddle which is a similar fit to the Adamo 2 prong approach to fit sit bones instead of nether regions so I will see how this goes for me.
My Shiv came with a second more aggressive seatpost that I've fitted the saddle to and installed after a recent turbo session.
The Shiv is a high stack bike to cater for the majority of its users.
Most of the pro's have swapped out the aerobars and stem to achieve a lower stack and more aero position.
This is my current decision and I'm on the lowest possible stack with current Shiv aerobars.
I previously raced the Ridley Dean TT (for sale, must put up an ad!) at a stack of 590mm which was very comfortable.
When I bought the Shiv I fully knew the lowest stack on Specialized bars would be 600mm so figured it was close enough, and if I did want to change down the road I could follow suit as the Pro's and change out the bars.
So 9 months later here I am, experimenting and I picked up a second hand set of Pro Missile Evo's.
These are a very nice set of bars that have full Di2 integration to hide almost all cabling as well.
It helps that a couple of Pro's I admire use these (Kienle & Crowie) and I want to see if they suit me. Pro endorsement works people. Support the Pro's!
I've done initial measurements with the Pro Missile's and it appears I can get around 20-25mm lower than current stack - so this would bring me down to around 575/580mm if I'm correct.
This looks promising and I probably won't go this low just yet but the good news is the bars appear to be bang on what I hoped for.
Hopefully fitting them next weekend which will give me a week before Kilkee to adjust to new stack and get ready to unleash all the power hopefully!
Shiv Fizik Arione Tri2
Shiv Sitero
The Pro Missile Evo bars and Stem.
Pretty damn light and extremely aero so looking forward to fitting them.
Next up for me is Kilkee in 2 weeks time.
What a race that is shaping up to be!
Ireland's Olympian Gavin Noble has been announced and rumour mill also has Owen Cummins in along with Colm Turner, Kevin Thornton, Mark Horan, Trevor Woods, the Go tri gang are surely present in Rory Sexton and David Richardson and many more I'm sure.
Shane Scully is recovering from an op and I wish him a speedy recovery. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the start line either and you can be sure he'll be competitive if he does.
This is strongly looking like the most competitive race of the season so far and should make for an epic 2 hours of racing. I can't wait.
I make no secret that I'm focussed on 70.3, but do want to race Kilkee with everything I've got and put it all on the line.
I don't have a target for a result in mind to be honest and I'm looking forward to that. In such a competitive field 1-2 mins could easily be 5 or so places I think.
I plan on simply racing hard, trying to execute everything as best as I can and see where that gets me. I'm going to have some fun and enjoy Pulse's 10 year anniversary Championship race!
Nothing to lose really, and I relish the chance to race the above names and more and see how it goes.
Olympic is a different animal to 70.3 for me, but hopefully I've enough strength improvements in the bank to put in a good showing.
Clearly, Gavin Noble stands out as the favourite hands down. He's a fish, has been biking at the front of Cat 1 races and no doubt has his running all back in shape and is ready to let fly.
You can be sure a lot of racers will try to give him as hard a time as possible though and hopefully I'm in that mix somewhere too.
Right, I'm off to hit the hay and get some quality recovery time in.
Open water swim and long bike tomorrow with a bit of conditioning so I won't have much change from 6 hours there! Love it. What an enjoyable sport triathlon is.
Train hard people, and recover better.
Pretty damn light and extremely aero so looking forward to fitting them.
Next up for me is Kilkee in 2 weeks time.
What a race that is shaping up to be!
Ireland's Olympian Gavin Noble has been announced and rumour mill also has Owen Cummins in along with Colm Turner, Kevin Thornton, Mark Horan, Trevor Woods, the Go tri gang are surely present in Rory Sexton and David Richardson and many more I'm sure.
Shane Scully is recovering from an op and I wish him a speedy recovery. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the start line either and you can be sure he'll be competitive if he does.
This is strongly looking like the most competitive race of the season so far and should make for an epic 2 hours of racing. I can't wait.
I make no secret that I'm focussed on 70.3, but do want to race Kilkee with everything I've got and put it all on the line.
I don't have a target for a result in mind to be honest and I'm looking forward to that. In such a competitive field 1-2 mins could easily be 5 or so places I think.
I plan on simply racing hard, trying to execute everything as best as I can and see where that gets me. I'm going to have some fun and enjoy Pulse's 10 year anniversary Championship race!
Nothing to lose really, and I relish the chance to race the above names and more and see how it goes.
Olympic is a different animal to 70.3 for me, but hopefully I've enough strength improvements in the bank to put in a good showing.
Clearly, Gavin Noble stands out as the favourite hands down. He's a fish, has been biking at the front of Cat 1 races and no doubt has his running all back in shape and is ready to let fly.
You can be sure a lot of racers will try to give him as hard a time as possible though and hopefully I'm in that mix somewhere too.
Right, I'm off to hit the hay and get some quality recovery time in.
Open water swim and long bike tomorrow with a bit of conditioning so I won't have much change from 6 hours there! Love it. What an enjoyable sport triathlon is.
Train hard people, and recover better.
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