My first "A" race of the season will be at the Rockman Half Ironman in June. However, this weekend I'm going up to Rockford to race in the Peanut Butter Duathlon. I had a great race last year and hope to use it again as a springboard to start a great racing season. It is a short race (2 mi./14mi./2mi.), but it is held at the same location as Rockman, so I will again become familar with the course.
I feel like my current fitness at this point in the season is much better than at the same time last year. My training volume has increased compared to last year, and I am definately doing more "quality" within each of my workouts. My weeks have been structure, like many other athletes, around a few key workouts. These are workouts that are race specific and often very challenging. Referred to as "breakthrough" (BT) workouts in my trainingpeaks log, these are done in each discipline once a week. An example of a BT workout for the bike that I did last week was a four hour ride followed by a 20 minute run. The ride starts with 2 ten minute intervals at Functional Threshold Pace, which currently is 335 watts. Following that, I did 3 thirty minute intervals at half ironman watts, about 270-290. Then, it's one hour steady at around 250 watts. Following the ride, I was able to run just over three miles in 20 minutes averaging a pace of about 6:18/mile. This workout is very challenging and over the course of the four hours, I burned 3300 calories. I did this workout really well, and hitting all my goals during the ride really gives me confidence that I can race at the level I want to at Rockman. It also provides excellent motivation, as results commonly equal positive motivation to continue to push myself through tough training.
There are two key workouts I do to prepare for the run. One is a track session, which includes intervals ranging from 200's to 800's at a pace faster than a 5K (about 5:40/mile). The second key workout is a long tempo run. These runs have prepared me to run fast off the bike, and I attribute these hard runs to my success at IMWI last season. My tempo runs are generally between 40 minutes and 1 hour at a goal half ironman pace of 6:05-6:10/mile. These runs definatly make me stronger, both mentally and physically.
So these are just a few examples of the key workouts that I do to prepare for racing season. I also compare my results from these workouts week to week to measure my fitness gains throughout the season. All for now. SJI
I feel like my current fitness at this point in the season is much better than at the same time last year. My training volume has increased compared to last year, and I am definately doing more "quality" within each of my workouts. My weeks have been structure, like many other athletes, around a few key workouts. These are workouts that are race specific and often very challenging. Referred to as "breakthrough" (BT) workouts in my trainingpeaks log, these are done in each discipline once a week. An example of a BT workout for the bike that I did last week was a four hour ride followed by a 20 minute run. The ride starts with 2 ten minute intervals at Functional Threshold Pace, which currently is 335 watts. Following that, I did 3 thirty minute intervals at half ironman watts, about 270-290. Then, it's one hour steady at around 250 watts. Following the ride, I was able to run just over three miles in 20 minutes averaging a pace of about 6:18/mile. This workout is very challenging and over the course of the four hours, I burned 3300 calories. I did this workout really well, and hitting all my goals during the ride really gives me confidence that I can race at the level I want to at Rockman. It also provides excellent motivation, as results commonly equal positive motivation to continue to push myself through tough training.
There are two key workouts I do to prepare for the run. One is a track session, which includes intervals ranging from 200's to 800's at a pace faster than a 5K (about 5:40/mile). The second key workout is a long tempo run. These runs have prepared me to run fast off the bike, and I attribute these hard runs to my success at IMWI last season. My tempo runs are generally between 40 minutes and 1 hour at a goal half ironman pace of 6:05-6:10/mile. These runs definatly make me stronger, both mentally and physically.
So these are just a few examples of the key workouts that I do to prepare for racing season. I also compare my results from these workouts week to week to measure my fitness gains throughout the season. All for now. SJI
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