Sunday, March 17, 2013

Lisbon Half Ironman Week 2/9

In spite of getting another head cold (probably from being underdressed when I ran with Chema Martínez) to the point of completely losing my voice, I am quite pleased with how this week has gone. Apart from doing a couple of reasonably hard quality sessions (9 x 1,000 running at 17 kph and 2 x 6-5-4 minutes at 150-160-170 bpm on the spinning bike) I managed to ride an hour without breaking the aero position on the turbo trainer as well as swim for an hour without stopping. I also did a couple of sessions in the pool mixing in a bit of Half Ironman pace for example,  4 x 10 minutes easy + 5 minutes at HIM pace or 2 x 15 minutes easy + 15 minutes at HIM pace. It's hard to say whether this would really be my pace but, in the pool, it worked out at the equivalent of about 35 minutes for 1,900m.

Just as in Marathon training the long run is the pinnacle of the week's training, the most important workout for a long distance triathlon (in my opinion) is the "brick" which, this week, consisted of 90 minutes on the bike followed by 50 minutes running, of which the last 20 minutes were run at 3:45 min/km (16 kph) pace. Round here it is fairly hilly so there is no such thing as an "easy ride" and, in any case, I've decided to do my lighter rides at 130-140 bpm (as opposed to the 123 bpm at which I did most of my Ironman training two years ago). I'm not 100% convinced that my thresholds on the bike should be so much lower than for running and I'm also not convinced of the benefits of really low intensity riding, especially when I don't really have enough time to dedicate to it. The reason why the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds should be lower is because less muscle mass is used in cycling compared to running. On the other hand, when you are climbing on the bike it has more to do with running than cycling on the flat as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, most of this week I'll be in London at another conference. I just hope I get my voice back by Friday when I have to give a talk. As far as training goes I guess I won't get much of a chance to cycle or swim but that's OK by me...

Monday: 2 x 15' easy + 15' HIM pace swim + 30' aero position on turbo trainer
Tuesday: 9 x 1,000 @ 3:45 running
Wednesday: 3 x (10' easy + 5' HIM pace) swim + 8 km running
Thursday: commute by bike + 2 x 6'-5'-4' @ 150-160-170 bpm on spin bike
Friday: 60' swim + 60' aero position on turbo trainer
Saturday: 75' running
Sunday: 90' bike + transition to 30' @ 4:30 + 20' @ 3:45 running

Total hours: approximately 11.5

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