Greetings.
I know! Two months since my last post. Well, here’s the update some of you have asked for…
I believe the last post mentioned something along the lines of writing about how I will use a power meter and what it would mean to my training. Well, ok I’ll do a little bit on that – but only a little. I don’t want to bore you all. What I would like to do is give you a rounded update of everything that is going on training and fitness wise, but also life in general and of course, the power meter bit. So, let’s get on!
Training
So what’s the fitness like? What am I doing? When do I start the training?
Questions questions questions. After a great summer and a recent trip to Italy, life has been good. I’ve recently celebrated my fortieth birthday and have entered a new age group in triathlon. Although I’m older and supposedly more decrepit as people keeping telling me, my results should automatically improve in my age group as I’m no longer competing against whipper-snappers and the age group is a little smaller! That’s not to say the 40-44 age group isn’t competitive – believe me, it is!
Over the summer and up to now I have just been keeping active. Nothing really structured at all training wise. I have since visited the Doctor to try and sort the shoulder issue I’ve been struggling with all season. This resulted in a referral to a sports clinic and has been a bit of nightmare to be honest. The last race of the season saw me take on the 2 mile Serpentine swim to complete the London Classics. That is the last time I swam – back at the end of September. I do really miss swimming although I had to commit to getting the shoulder sorted, and that meant stopping the swims for a while.
Without going into too much detail, I’ve just had my second ultrasound two days ago after 8 weeks of physio, which has resulted in a guided steroid injection. This is the price you pay for racing over a season on an injured shoulder! So I’m hoping to return to the pool in December. When that will be exactly who knows?
Injuries are annoying and something as I’m getting older I’m noticing more and more. Sometimes it isn’t about how fit you can get, but what fitness you can achieve without getting injured. The more I train, the more I understand my body and what it can cope with. For me it is no more about planning a 12 or 16 week programme and following it to a tee. Yes I try to do that, although I adjust my plan on the fly and no longer worry if it isn’t followed exactly. Triathlon is hard on the body. A strong body that uses everything is one that is difficult to keep tuned. Listening and understanding it is key.
My reading around coaching and methodology continues and this is one thing I love doing. Comparing, evaluating, assessing and reflecting on my own performance and improvement are all possible through reading. It allows me to pass on knowledge also to my budding triathlete friends, especially where I have used and tried methods myself. A lot of my reading has been around the use of a power meter to improve my bike performance next year.
Power Meter Training
I’ll try and keep the geeky and technical stuff simple. You may be thinking ‘what the bleeding hell is a power meter?’ There are different types – pedals, cranks and hubs are a few. Too technical already right? Here’s a picture:
Power meters are a great way to train incredibly accurately and also allow you to measure your performance and pace a race perfectly. All professional cyclists and triathletes use them. It’s how Chris Froome measures his effort so well on a long mountain climb.
You may remember me saying that my performance is lacking on the bike and I want to put some serious effort into improving it over the coming months. So at the back end of August I purchased a power meter – a german brand by Power2max. It’s a crank based system and cost me just over 600 Euros. Power meters are not cheap by any means, but I felt this was a good investment in comparison to hiring a coach. It will also mean I probably run a lot better and not burn too many matches on the bike!
The idea is that I carry out a simple test on the bike and work out my power zones and then train them resulting in improved performance. You can do this with heart rate to a certain degree although it isn’t as accurate and instant. It isn’t hampered by feeling, illness and conditions. It’s also important to regularly test and adjust the zones with increasing fitness. I will also look to practice race like conditions with it in the new year on the road. And this is why I love triathlon – there really are lots of things to think about and you can make it as simple or as complex as you want to.
At some point I certainly want to take my coaching badges. I’m in the teaching profession anyway and know that leading groups and activities is second nature. I’d love to be able to apply this to triathlon and in that arena. Something for the future for sure, although I have no idea when!
Where am I in my training cycle?
Base training has begun for the bike and run. This is the process of building the aerobic endurance system. This will last for around two and half months. I’m not starting from complete scratch, although I do want to have great engine before I tackle the specific power meter workouts on the bike. I have developed my triathlon plan now for the first 6 weeks and will begin proper specific triathlon training at the end of January. This will lead me into the Outlaw Half in decent shape. I’m looking to do exactly the same for swimming (when I eventually get back in the pool) and running. This will be the longest time out I have had from the pool so it will be interesting to see what shape swim wise I will be in. I know in previous breaks (although no longer than about 4 weeks) it hasn’t taken too long to recover the endurance and my race pace. I hope this will be the case again.
Winter always includes some sort of strength training programme that I follow also. This is slightly hampered with the shoulder so I’m having to do what I can and work around that. It means 2 or 3 strength specific sessions every week. It is also important for injury prevention, something I’m really keen on!
Other News:
Oh and our French house purchase completes in December so I shall definitely be looking to do an April training camp out there next year. There’s a few projects to do involving a gym kit out and the separate house renovation. We will take our time with these. I take on Ironman 70.3 Vichy in France next year so will base ourselves here for a few weeks in summer. The journey to Vichy is about 3 hours away and an event I’m really looking forward to taking on.
So that is it. Updates complete. I will try and publish again in December with some analysis of fitness. Tracking workouts and collecting the data is important to reviewing current and improving fitness. The geek in me likes this bit so it’ll be good to share my understanding on it. Until then…enjoy the on-coming winter – my least favourite season, Urgh!
tri.to.be.iron 