leading the swim
Last week was a recovery week, but I raced a small sprint race in Jard-Sur-Mer for some grocery money on the weekend. I absoutely hammered start of the swim and won the swim prime. First time leading out of the water in a while! The bike was the bike (draft-legal), and I had a run like I had just taken a recovery week: sluggish. I finished 4th, but our team took the team title. A solid day.
This week was my first weekend off racing in 7 weekends. Originally I planned in racing an Olympic Distance race, but decided to take the weekend off to recharge the mind. There is a race every weekend here, they always have a little money, and are always within a few hours drive. Thus, it's very hard to skip races. Then after a while, you realize you are killing yourself for 100-200 euro and your results have stagnated. Plus, even with this week off, I am still racing the next 5 out of 7 weekends, so I am not too worried about a lack of races.
Since I have some bigger fish to fry in 3 weeks (World University Games in Turkey), I decided to put in a massive 3 week run-focused training block. So far this season my swimming has been spot on and I have made the front bunch at every race I have done: 7 races and 7 front packs. I have never been this consistent in the water. I have only been biking 4-7 hours a week for the last 6 week because of racing, but it seems the hard efforts on the bike each weekend have maintained my fitness, so my biking has been good too.
now about the run......This has been a different story. My run has been solid, but just off the mark. I have had trouble running off the bike this year. I had some great workouts this spring, but havent converted those into stellar runs in a race. I think the lack of miles in my legs and the constant travel have hurt my run most of all. I think I am strong, but not fast. Every race I can run steady, but can never pick up the pace. So back to the drawing board: Big, Hard Miles!
This week was the first of my 3-week "run camp" leading into World Uni's on June 28th. I logged 65 miles on the run (biggest week so far this year), 11 hours on the bike, and just over 16k in the pool. I had three quality sessions on the run and they felt good. The plan is to continue the run build over the next two weeks in both quality and quantity with holding the biking at 10 hours or so and the swim at 20k. Next week should come in at 70 miles or a little more. I am racing a sprint again this weekend. It will be a good training race, and hopefully I can land on top of the podium.
Cheers,
B
1 comment:
You need to get some 100's and 200's in the running program. Ignite the fast twitch muscle fibers alittle. Up-tempo runs will help but, will not be the absolute solution. Your shear volume of training, overall, will dictate this. Sprints (races) will help but, again the level of recruitment of fast twitch muscle fiber required to promote a quicker, more relaxed and compfortable turnover come race day will still not be their. Track work my friend. The base is their now sculpture it into something sharper! Out of curosity check and see if your Max. VO2 has stagnated some. I have some great track workouts for 100's and 200's that my buddy Smartax and I used to do.
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