April Training Goals

When I first suggested this triathlon, it was suggested that I start a training blog to generate some interest and that's what this is all about. So this post is to explain some of the goals and strategies for the next month.

To recap, I will be cycling a 43 mile race that includes the longest climb in Britain (with 22% gradient at points), running the highest hill in Britain (Ben Nevis), and then swimming 3 miles in St Andrews, all for Project Zambia, which will take students from St Andrews to work with youth and community sports projects in Zambia and engage in various kinds of education. It's an innovative and exciting project that will change lives from both sides of the link. For more information, and to donate, see the links above.

The main challenge for me is to improve my climbing fitness for the cycle and the run. My baseline fitness is pretty good, and I have a high aerobic capacity. I'm not sure what my VO2 max is, but I have a resting heart rate of 47, a top heart rate of 197, and a lactate threshold of 189. At 36 years old, those figures are pretty decent. The issue, though, is whether I can generate high enough levels of power in the climbs and how my power output relates to my weight.

For cycling, the challenge is to increase the power that I can output without allowing my pedalling cadence to drop too much. During the winter (and also now whenever the weather is too bad to go out on the road), that meant using the spin bike on the gym and deliberately sticking within the 100-110 pedal rate (the number of times each foot goes round in a minute), while trying to increase the resistance. I've now got to the point where I can maintain 355 watts for an hour, with a pedal cadence of 101. That helps for the basic power, but I still have to build in climbing simulation, where I am out of the saddle and trying to maintain the wattage in that zone against a much higher resistance. Generally, then, I do my hour of base training, followed by half an hour of hard climbing intervals. With roads getting less icy now, I have been getting out on the open road more often; my main target here has just been targetting hilly routes and climbing hard, without giving myself too much recovery time before pushin the wattage up again. The hills in Fife are all pretty small, but some of them are reasonably steep. With a standard 39-27 gearing set-up as my easiest option, and on my heavy winter bike, this requires me to drop the cadence and really work at the force, which can take its toll even over a short 40 mile route. Interestingly, when I have returned to the spin bike after this kind of work, I have noticed the power gains.

For running, the power challenge is combined with the impact factor: muscles have to generate the power to carry me uphill on a steep gradient, while also dealing with the impact of each footstrike. If you think about it, that means the muscle contracting while also resisting the forced lengthening that goes with each footstrike. I've not done much running in the last five years, for reasons I'll explain in a later post, so I need to be very careful about my preparation. To train for this, I am doing two things. First, gradually lengthening my running sessions and integrating inclines (always with an eye to the heart rate monitor to keep my pace from pushing me over the dreaded 189 lactate threshold). I am generally pushing up to an incline of 15% and allowing my pace to drop from my usual 8mph endurance pace to a rather more humbling 5 mph. Hopefully I will be able to pick that pace up a bit as the month progresses. The second thing I am doing to train for the run is integrating a plyometrics or eccentric session once or twice a week. Basically, this involves bouncing, using a step or bench or some other prop to ensure that my muscles are getting used to contracting hard against an impact. I need to be careful not to overdo it (just a few minutes at the end of a base training session or the muscles and joints can get damaged).

As for the swim: to be honest, that's just about keeping going. I have a pretty efficient stroke, so I just need to make sure I take on enough water as I am going and don't get too aggressive in my turns, which is what can do the damage.

Well, apologies for a long and technical post. I'll keep it short from here on.