It´s been a great week. I´ve managed to get in 8 hours of training and have done 9 different activities (2 swims, 4 runs and 3 bike sessions) and am feeling rather proud of myself. I am waiting however, for that little voice at the back of my head to start whispering, "you´ll never be able to keep this up until the 31st May," when my big race of the year is on. This always happens when I train for events but has so far kept away. I think this has got something to do with how I am training and also my new mindset.
Being an enthusiastic bloke, I have normally jumped headlong into training when I have a race to prepare for, got tired and then needed extra rest days to recover, lost my training flow and ended up doing the race not being as prepared as I could be. I´ve always been a "get round the course" sort of man. This time it feels different.
The first reason is, I am using a heart rate monitor properly. I´ve had one of these for years and have used it randomly, to see how fast my heart beats up various hills or to see how high I can get my HR etc, but this time I am actually training in a specific zone. This has meant that as I complete my base phase I am just building up my tolerance and not pushing too hard. A good example is the big hill near my house. It´s a good few kilometres long and if I wear my HR monitor it will normally get up to nearly 170 if I am pushing myself to keep up with a group. Now I am spinning at a steady speed in zone 2 (max 152 beats) and it feels effortless. There is no yo yoing of effort. It´s a constant pressure and I´m not actually much slower than before. At the top of the climb there is no gasping of breath just a carry on with the ride. It can be hard if someone overtakes me though. The old ego thing kicks in and I want to race and it´s hard to make yourself stop. At least I´ve got an excuse though. I´m not really slow I´m just training in zone 2!!
I am assuming that if this base phase keeps gradually adding on time, but stays in a steady HR zone my body will be prepared for the next phase when I start to push a bit harder. I have been really surprised that I have not felt tired. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was awake just before 6am for my sessions and didn´t feel the effects I thought I would by the time I got to mid afternoon. Training in a good HR zone for the first phase definitley seems to be working.
I am already looking forward to next week when I have an extra hour of training and will have three before 6am wake up calls instead of this week´s two. I am also going to try to sort out my amazingly weak core section. I have been watching You Tube and have found a great Craig Alexander core workout video which I am going to try and follow. Who knows. By next week I might have a bit more than this week´s one pack.
Hating the man you´ve never met may seem a strange title for this post so let me explain. This was the something that my wife said yesterday, about Don Fink, legendary triathlon coach. She is not one to normally boil up anger and hatred and she´s never even met the poor man. Or even heard of him until last week for that matter, so I think I must take the blame slightly. You see I´m a bit of an enthusiast and when I get a new toy, idea etc I see it as my aim in life to get everyone else to get into it as well. My latest enthuse has been about the my most recent triathlon purchase. Iron Fit by Don Fink.
In the short time of having his book, I have mentioned his name thousands of times and quoted his methodology to everyone I meet, most of whom have no interest in triathlons at all. I hear myself saying, "Don says this" or, "if Don was here now he would say..." Friends just nod their heads and think, there goes Oliver again on one of his little moments. I know I shouldn´t, but I just can´t help myself. I´m a ball of triathlon enthusiasm and want to tell everyone, even if they don´t want to hear. So you can see how the poor wife, after suffering all week, finally snapped and took the Don and his name in vain.
The book though, is very good. I have felt with training in the past that I have been wandering around not really knowing what I am doing. Now I have a plan to follow. Thank you Don. I am following the 30 week full distance plan but only up to week 23 as Don says ( must stop doing that) I should do a half distance triathlon and as my aim this year is to do only a half distance, I´ll stop there. Next year when I want to do the full distance I´ll carry on through.
I´ve started the programme on week 4 (not enough time for the full 23 weeks, bought the book too late) and have completed my first week. Even went out in the pouring rain for my zone 2, hour and half cycle yesterday. That for me shows enormous dedication as I live in southern Spain and normally I don´t go out if there is a cloud in the sky. I hope this sounds impressive, but the ride only happened after I had stood with a friend for 20 minutes waiting for the rain to stop, deciding it was too wet, going back into my block, deciding that Don said (sorry) I had to do a zone 2, hour and half cycle, deciding that I couldn´t face that amount of time in zone two on my rollers and finally deciding to go out in the rain. This it turns out was a good move. Spent the whole ride with water falling down my face, with the biggest smile ever, for the entire route.
One last thing before I go. I said in my last post that I wanted to just get round the course. Don says (oops) that sort of thinking is not the way forward. So my new aim is to race hard and beat as many people as is humanly possible.
Chasing the sun on my bike ride
I have spent quite a while thinking about how to start this blog. Feels like I am going to a confessional session to reveal a sordid character defect. Hello my name is Oliver and I have a problem. My problem you see, is that I want to be a triathlete. Not a professional one. Not even a particularly brilliant one. Just one who can get round a course. I don´t claim to be fat, or have any health problem that I´m fighting against. I have two legs and two arms. In fact I´m rather ordinary.
I did two sprint triathlons last year, so I suppose I could class myself as a triathlete already, but I don´t feel like one. I remember starting the swims section surrounded by real triathletes and feeling a little bit inadequate. I do have a plan though. To feel like a real triathlete, I need to do a big one that will make me feel like I am part of the brotherhood. So I´ve entered a half distance triathlon on the 31st of May and am training away steadily. Next year I want to do a full distance event. That´s the dream I´m working towards so we´ll see what happens!!!
