18th Sept 2013
Well as promised here is what my plan involves with regards running and cycling: It's rather like a winters day: short, dark and dirty..very straight forward and in the first 3 months I have already hit my targets and knocked off time in both disciplines:
Today I will talk about the cycle:
Firstly the cycle, I aim for 3 rides a week: One fairly long and steady making sure my average heart rate is around 130bpm, my max heart rate is 173. This at the moment is around a 2 hour ride, but of course it will increase as I train through the winter months with the goal of building up a good endurance base in readiness for Ironman next year.
My second ride is a short hilly ride. I have a 12 mile loop with 4 nasty hills I like to do this or cycle to one of the hills and do hill repeats with the recovery being the spin back down to the bottom. I find this is great to build leg strength, and beats doing weights. Speaking of weights, I have been going to the gym for a few years but my new plan has reduced weight training significantly. The reason why is it simply does not marry well with my endurance goals. However, I also believe strength, in particular core strength, is important, so I tend to do body weight exercises like pull ups, press ups and various sit ups, I will talk about this in a later post!
My third ride is a tempo ride of 30km, my average heart rate for this ride will be around 155bpm. In some of these rides I will over gear for a few kilometres and really get my heart rate up and then recover and repeat. I intend to build on this training in the next few months. I have a 30km loop which is the local sprint tri route. I set a target of sub 55.30 by end of September 30th I have already got my time down to 54.39. Its a very hilly technical course and the fastest cyclists in this years triathlon completed the course in 50 minutes. So I have about 4 minutes to make up, I think that's achievable.
I have 2 bikes; a sturdy old road bike which is a Cannondale which I use during the winter months and for general getting around on. I did Ironman UK 2008 on this so we go back a few years and I am rather affectionate of the old girl. My other bike is a Felt B2 TT 2008 model. I don't have any time saving upgrades like Zipp wheels or an aero helmet etc but I have decided to look into getting some new wheels, new bike shoes and an aero helmet in preparation for my assault on Ironman and my sprint triathlons next year. Obviously this could cost me, but I think I may have a cunning plan. I am going to hire the wheels and aero helmet from a bike store I found just outside London. I don't see the point of having expensive wheels which you only use for a few months in the summer. Also I honestly don't know if it will make me much faster. If it does then at least then I can look into investing in some in the future.
I will try and get around to putting some photos of me and the bikes and also some shots of my local area for you to muse over...
I enjoy cycling and will not make the mistake I made in 2008 where I simply didn't do the training for the bike leg on Ironman. Ironman then was set around Sherborne Castle in Dorset. I can honestly say I totally got my bottom spanked..By mile 80 I was in bloody agony with over 30 miles cycling to go and a marathon waiting for me as well, to this day I don't know how I managed to complete the course. If you are reading this and are planning to do an Ironman please take one bit of advice from someone who suffered, get the miles in on the bike. I started well enough, if I recall it was a 3 lap route. On lap 1 I felt great and smugly thought how easy this all was as I spinned my way through England's fine green pastures and quaint villages. By lap 3 I was in serious trouble and was desparate to get my feet firmly on the floor. Out of the 3 disciplines the bike was by far the hardest. In 2009 Ironman moved upto the the North of England to Bolton where it still is today, maybe one day I will try the course out.
Just on a final note the course I am doing next year is set in the New Forest, hence the name 'Forestman'. I have looked it up on You Tube and it looks to me that the course is fairly challenging, with the run looking like possibly the hardest, with lots of hills and off road elements. I will try and recce the cycle route and try a loop out in the Spring, will let you know what its like..
Will talk next time about my run training, bet you cant wait!
Thats all for now folks..David Ed Smith
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