This Week's Triathlon Training (March 25th)

After a week of ridiculously wet and cold weather I'm glad to say I got nearly all of my sessions done, the only one that got away was Saturday's brick session which had to cut short due to risk of frost bite! I'm also lucky enough to be off work for two weeks now so I'm ramping up my training, just a little. This week the focus is on building speed and staying not injured at the same time as I have a race on April 06th. That's why there is a big emphasis on Stretching. This is my last week of intense training before I taper off next week for the race. Any thoughts or comments welcome!

Monday: 

Run: 5k medium pace, 5k race pace.

Stretching and foam rolling: 40 minutes.

Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: 

Cycle: WU 2k easy, MS 20k fast pace. WD 2k easy.

Stretching: 20 minutes.

Swim: 30 minutes of drills, working on rotation, kicking and recovery.

Wednesday: 
Run: 5k easy.

Stretching: 15 minutes.

Swim:1000m easy.

Thursday: 

Brick: Bike, WU 7k easy, MS 5 x 2k intervals with 3 minutes rest, 7k easy. Run 2k medium pace, 5x 200m intervals with 1 minute rest, WD 2k easy. 

Stretching and foam rolling. 40 minutes.

Friday: 

Swimming: WU 400m easy focusing on technique. MS, 8 x 200m fast pace with 90 seconds rest. WD, 200m easy.

Sat: 

Brick: Bike, WU 2k easy, MS 3 x 7k fast with 3 minutes active recovery, Run 6k easy. 

Stretching and foam rolling: 40 minutes.

Sun: 

Run: Tri Club session, approx 1 hour of speed work sets.

Swim: 1000m recovery swim.

Stretching and foam rolling: 40 minutes.

Increasing your V02 Max

Your VO2 max (Volume, Oxygen, Maximum) is probably the best indicator of your aerobic fitness and increasing it will almost certainly make you a better athlete. So what is it? In short, it is the exercise intensity at which your body reaches it's maximum volume of oxygen consumption. Usually if you run 1500m to 3000m at race pace (the fastest pace you can sustain for the distance) or the equivalent in cycling or swimming you will be operating at your VO2 max. The greater your VO2 max level, the more oxygen you can get to your muscles, and the faster or longer you can swim, cycle or run. That's my understanding of it anyway.

So, how can we increase it? Consistent steady aerobic training is an effective way to increase your Vo2 max. However, once you have built a strong aerobic base, running long intervals (3- 5 minutes with 2-3 minutes rest) at a pace that forces your body to perform at it's VO2 max can be introduced. These intervals force your body to adapt and improve as a response to the stress of the training. That's the idea anyway.

Here are some workouts that I will be trying in my training. All sessions should take less than or about an hour to complete depending on your ability.

Running: WU, 2000m easy. MS, 6 x 1000m race pace interval with two minutes rest. WD, 1000m easy.

Swimming: WU 400m easy focusing on technique. MS, 8 x 200m fast pace with 90 seconds rest. WD, 100m easy.

Cycling: WU, 7k easy graduating to moderate pace. MS 6 x 2k fast pace with 2 minutes rest. WD 7k moderate graduating to easy pace.

Triathlon Training for This Week (March 18th)

Swim training and brick sessions are priority this week. I have a race coming up on April 06th so I want to put an extra bike and run session together to get the legs more used to running off the bike. I'm keeping the mileage low enough and separating the sessions by a couple of days to reduce the risk of getting injured. Sunday session is optional, based on how the body is after Saturday. Here is what the plan looks like. Any ideas or tips appreciated.

Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: Swim 2100m. WU, 300m easy, focus on nice easy strokes maintaining good technique and breathing. Main Set, 250m pull buoy, 200m kick, 150m pull buoy, 100m kick, 50 m pullbuoy, Repeat Twice. WD, Repeat WU.

Wednesday: Brick Session: WU, 5 minutes spinning easy gear. Main Set, Cycle 30k, Race Pace. Straight into 6 k run, relaxed to medium pace. 30 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Thursday: Swim 1500m Recovery pace.

Friday: Swim 2000 m. WU, 200 m easy. Main Set, 16 x 100 m fast with 30 seconds rest. WD, 200 m easy.

Sat: Repeat Wednesdays Training

Sun: Run 1 hour +. All on hilly trails. WU, 2 k easy. Main Set, 6 x 1000 m fast with 2 mins rest. WD 2 k comfortable. 20 mins stretching.

Ouch, but worth it.

Today is my rest day, After a lot of training some of my muscles are getting tight. This is despite lots of stretching and foam rolling. For me that means it's time to go to my Physical Therapist. No not Physiotherapist. There's a few differences between the Two, but the main one is Physical Therapy really focuses on hands on treatment of the soft tissues - muscles, tendons ligaments and fascia. When I go, I know it's going to be sore, fist clenching stuff, but tissue is sore when it gets rubbed out, especially the IT band, that's just the way it is. It's really just about the result though, afterwards my muscles feel great. I had my legs and back rubbed out because these get a lot of use in triathlon. So, why did I go if I wasn't injured? Simple, I don't want to get injured. Prevention is better than cure in my book and keeping my muscles in good condition helps with that. So yes, it was sore, but if I can stay injury free it'll definitely be worth it.

Triathlon Training for this Week (March 11th)

Great week of training last week to get me back on track. The weather didn't help but I'm glad I did it. I'm just after my Sunday run now and feel great. We did 2 mile warm up and then 6 x 3/4 mile efforts with 2 minute rest, then a 1 mile warm down. The muck on the trails is slippery as hell which makes running slow but its good for strengthening the legs. This is what my training looks like for the coming week. Hopefully the weather holds up so I can get an enjoyable week in.

Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: 5 k Run, Medium pace. 20 mins Stretching and foam Rolling.

Wednesday: Brick Session: Cycle 40 k, Dublin City Tri Course, Medium pace. Straight into 5 k run, relaxed pace. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Swim 2000 m. WU, 200 m easy. Main Set, 16 x 100 m fast with 30 seconds rest. WD, 200 m easy.

Sat: Bike 2.5 hours, 40 k easy pace. Speed Work, 8 x 1 k sprint efforts with 4 minutes rest. WD, 10 mins spinning easy gear. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Sun: Run 1 hour +. All on hilly trails. WU, 2 k easy. Main Set, 6 x 1000 m fast with 2 mins rest. WD 2 k comfortable. 15 mins stretching.

Love Rain

Great day for training, I was soaked through after just 30 k on the bike. You just cant beat the cold, wind and rain for enjoyable training! Really? No, it's actually a pain in the arse.... Thats all!

Triathlon Training for this week, March 04th

After a Weekend that can only be described as a write off, I have to pick myself back up and get some good training in. It's not easy sticking to training over Weekend's when there's a lot going on. I think however, that if your going to miss training for a party or whatever other reason, you might as well enjoy it. Party properly. That way, you'll be more motivated on Monday knowing you blew off some steam. Like I am now. Right, back to work. Here's an easy week's training to recharge the body.

Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: Strength and stretching work, 45 mins.

Wednesday: Brick Session: Race simulation, Cycle 40 k in the phoenix Park race pace straight into 10 k run. 20 mins stretching.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Swim 2000 m easy. Focus on swimming slow with good technique.

Sat: Bike 3 hours. Cycle to Blessington. Relaxed pace.

Sun: Run 1 hour +, Sunday Morning Run session with Activ Multisport, focusing on speed work. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Speed Tips For Running (Part 3)

Three essential run drills.
Running is a case of getting out there and putting in hard miles. Well, not exactly, it may be a big part of it, but there are many drills and exercises that can make you a more efficient, faster and stronger runner. Today I did some research on running drills and found this clip useful. It gives good information on the drill as well as excellent footage showing them clearly. I'm going to use these drills in my run training over the next few months. They will work well with my Speed Tips for Running Part 2 exercises from my last running post. I hope this helps you with you run training.

This Week's Triathlon Training, Feb 25th

Yesterday I missed my Saturday cycle due to some tree's that needed felling. These things happen. I'm not going to try and make it up though, instead I'm going to use it as motivation to do this weeks training as well as I can. I have also included an extra swim in the training plan to improve my feel for the water. Here's what this week's plan looks like.

Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: Run 50 mins, easy base pace. Once warmed up Include 4 x 2 min intervals at middle to fast pace / Z3, running rest between intervals. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.
Swim, WU 100 m front crawl, 750 m TT, WD 200m any.

Wednesday: Brick Session: 1 h 30 mins. Bike 60 mins. WU, 10 mins spinning easy gear. Main Set, 5 x 10 mins, gradually build effort through each 10 mins starting very easy and finishing all out. Straight into Run. 25 mins. 5 mins easy, 20 steady. Make sure to control your form. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Thursday: Swim. WU, 250 easy, Main Set, Catch up drill x 200, High elbow/fingertip drag x 200, Swimming with fists x 200. Repeat twice. WD, 250 easy.

Friday: Swim 1500 m TT. Strength work 20 mins.

Sat: Bike 2 hours. WU 15 mins, small gears, easy, Z1. Main Set 1h 30 mins, Phoenix Park with mixed gradients, medium pace, Z2. WD 15 mins, fast cadence 100 RPM+. 15 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Sun: Run 1 hour +, Sunday Morning Run session with Activ Multisport, focusing on speed work. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.
Swim. 1000 m recovery swim.

Next week is a rest week, Ahhh :-)

Sunday Morning Run with Activ Multisport

Tough run session in the Phoenix Park this morning. Ger put us through our paces focusing on building run speed. The group session is great because you push yourself much harder with others. Ger's also there to make sure you don't cut any corners! See you next week, same bat time, same bat channel. 10 o'clock start at the Magazine Fort car park.

Ski Italia!

I spent last Week in the Dolomite's in Italy enjoying the fresh snow. The locals reckoned half a metre or more fell on the first night, and that meant fun! We arrived Saturday night and were staying in a small hotel that’s literally ski in/ski out. This is the view from our window. The snow didn't bother us. We were here to ski.  And ski we did.

Once I arrived in the hotel I realised large quantities of lubrication would be essential to my activity on the slopes. I hear this stuff is good for joints etc.

Nutrition was also high on my list of priorities. It was essential to fuel my ski time adequately!

Here it appears Laura is playing with her pretend camera in the bottom of the shot. She breaks a lot of stuff!

8 o'clock ski lift, Jack Frost was still at large.

Some Mid-Day Posing.I have an epic face plant on the slope to the left later that day, serves me right.

From the chair lift.

Looking down on our hotel, The snow is deep and rough, apparently the slope is closed. They always put such small signs though :-)

Here's why. haha!

The aftermath!

Good day, Now to the apre's ski!

Speed Tips For Running (Part 2)

In Speed Tips for Running Part 1 I discussed the importance of building a base for running. Here are some exercises that will further benefit your run training. These three exercises are focused on increasing run strength and anaerobic threshold.

HILL TRAINING

Uphill and downhill running strengthens a wider variety of leg muscles than level running. This results in greater power and speed development. The higher knee lift develops increased power in the quads, leading to shorter foot strike time. To help distance runners build up speed you can do hill repeats. Hill repeats involve finding a hill of between 5 and 20 degree incline and doing short 15 - 20 second fast bursts up the hill, walk back down, and then repeat. Start with 5 and build up until you can do 20 to 30. Progress slowly as the IT band and Achilles tendon can be damaged by this training.

FARTLEK

Fartlek is a training method similar to interval training. Fartlek can be performed on any running surface, and distances are determined by what the runner feels like doing. For example, a runner may increase his pace on a road run from a moderate jog to a fast run until he passes the next tree or telephone pole, then slow to a recovery jog. Fartlek raises the anaerobic threshold and helps the runner become more pace conscious

VARIED SURFACES

Various types of running surfaces can be beneficial in speed training. Grass fields add running resistance with less impact than hard surfaces. Dirt trails are beneficial for their gentle surface and variety in inclines and camber. Treadmills offer a Irish-weather option that allows you to set speed and incline. Using different surfaces can also help prevent boredom with your training.

Triathlon Training Plan (18/02/13)

Hi all, I had a great week in Italy skiing but now its back to training. This is what my training plan looks like for the week. It's a full week but Tuesday and Thursday should be easy.  Feel free to follow it or let me know if you have any suggestions.











Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in the N.A.C. Swim Sets 2500 m+

Tuesday: Run 50 mins easy, like light recovery. Include some skipping and bounding once warmed up. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Wednesday: Brick Session: 1 h 30 mins. Bike 50 mins. WU, 10 mins spinning easy gear. Main Set, 40 mins moderate to fast pace, focus on high cadence. Straight into Run. 25 mins. 5 mins easy, 20 steady. Make sure to control your form. 20 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Thursday: Swim. WU, 250 easy, Main Set, Catch up drill x 200, High elbow/fingertip drag x 200, Swimming with fists x 200. Repeat twice. WD, 250 easy.

Friday: Swim 1500m TT. Strength work 30 mins.

Sat: Bike 2 hours. WU 20 mins, small gears, easy, Z1. Main Set 1h 25mins, Phoenix Park with mixed gradients, pushing hard pace, Z3. WD 15 mins, fast cadence 100 RPM+. 15 mins stretching and foam rolling.

Sun: Run 1.15mins. WU 5 mins easy, 5 mins steady. Main Set, 60 mins steady aerobic in Z2, include a 1 min pick up every 10th minute. WD 5 mins easy jog. 15 mins stretching and foam rolling.