Last Sunday I made my annual trip to Canterbury. Not to see the Cathedral, but to run the 10 mile road race. The course is undulating through the Kent countryside and it’s a good way to kick start my running in January. The weather is usually quite temperamental for the race day, but this year it was particularly bad with gale force winds and lashing rain with some deep puddles on the run course.
After a 3 hour hilly bike ride on Saturday my legs felt tired before the start and I wasn’t looking forward to running for an hour in the rain. The first couple of miles were tough, but about 3 miles into the race I’ve managed to get into a steady rhythm and was running at a reasonable pace. A couple of runners went past me in the last 2 miles and I wasn’t able to increase my effort to go with them, so in the end I was content to finish in 22nd place in 1:02:22. It’s only 20 seconds quicker than last time I run this race in 2007, but given the conditions I’m happy to have given it a 100% effort.
In the last blog entry I’ve mentioned that I’ve changed my training approach this year and promised a bit more detail, so here it is:
I’m focusing more on quality of training than before. In practice it means that I’ve cut out most of the “junk mileage” I used to do. Gone are the runs to the pool, easy bike rides with no purpose and the endless coffee stops. Every session has a purpose. It doesn’t mean always going hard, but most sessions have a speed, strength or technique element. I also try to mix longer aerobic efforts with some fast repetitions to target different muscle groups and energy systems. I’ve also cut out most rest days. I think the idea of rest days mostly comes from single sport background and I’ve used them to a good effect when I was only running. I think in triathlon training gives you the opportunity to target different muscle groups in different sports and as long as you’re not always stressing the body aerobically you don’t really need complete rest days and by resting completely you’re not only not recovering as effectively but also wasting an opportunity for some valuable training. I get pretty tired sometimes, but by keeping the overload moderate at the moment I can manage fatigue and it doesn’t seem to be adversely affecting my training levels.
I’m just finalising my race schedule for 2009 and I should be able to post it in the next update.
Mike.
After a 3 hour hilly bike ride on Saturday my legs felt tired before the start and I wasn’t looking forward to running for an hour in the rain. The first couple of miles were tough, but about 3 miles into the race I’ve managed to get into a steady rhythm and was running at a reasonable pace. A couple of runners went past me in the last 2 miles and I wasn’t able to increase my effort to go with them, so in the end I was content to finish in 22nd place in 1:02:22. It’s only 20 seconds quicker than last time I run this race in 2007, but given the conditions I’m happy to have given it a 100% effort.
In the last blog entry I’ve mentioned that I’ve changed my training approach this year and promised a bit more detail, so here it is:
I’m focusing more on quality of training than before. In practice it means that I’ve cut out most of the “junk mileage” I used to do. Gone are the runs to the pool, easy bike rides with no purpose and the endless coffee stops. Every session has a purpose. It doesn’t mean always going hard, but most sessions have a speed, strength or technique element. I also try to mix longer aerobic efforts with some fast repetitions to target different muscle groups and energy systems. I’ve also cut out most rest days. I think the idea of rest days mostly comes from single sport background and I’ve used them to a good effect when I was only running. I think in triathlon training gives you the opportunity to target different muscle groups in different sports and as long as you’re not always stressing the body aerobically you don’t really need complete rest days and by resting completely you’re not only not recovering as effectively but also wasting an opportunity for some valuable training. I get pretty tired sometimes, but by keeping the overload moderate at the moment I can manage fatigue and it doesn’t seem to be adversely affecting my training levels.
I’m just finalising my race schedule for 2009 and I should be able to post it in the next update.
Mike.
