That’s 98 days of training done in preparation for the 2012 triathlon season, and so far so good. I’ve been testing again this week, and results were a bit weird on the running track (maybe too much coffee…) but the final 200m was the fastest I’ve ever run in that test, my 1000m swim time is only a handful of seconds off my personal best time of last year, and I pushed up my functional threshold power figure on the bike again this morning to a new all time best value. It’s all looking good, but I’m feeling the strains of all this training and will have to be extra careful in the next blocks, as the intensity starts to go through the roof.
Training sessions for the next couple of months will be a mix of mostly very hard and very easy sessions. The risk here for me is in the running side of things again. I’m hoping to push on with speed work, but I don’t know if my legs can handle it yet. My main aim must be to stay healthy over pushing too hard. Easier said than done!
Take a look at how my training has balanced out as I’ve been able to run regularly again. Here’s the breakdown of time spent in each sport in the whole of my training and racing season for 2011:
And here’s the breakdown of time spent in each sport in the first 3 blocks (roughly 3 months) of training for the 2012 season:
Very different!
Time spent in the gym (strength training) will ease off later this season, and you can see how run volume has pushed back bike volume a little. Let’s hope this continues!
For fun let’s compare this to my off season time:
I was really, really, really (no, really) tired at the beginning of this week and it took a few days to start to clear. I had the same issue at the same stage last year. Yowch, it’s awful, and highlights the need for proper, full recovery weeks. Today and yesterday I’ve been feeling better, and felt pretty good on the bike today.
Next block, bring it on! My first race will be at the end of the next block at the Llanelli half-marathon. That’ll be a test in itself!
