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Fluro's Ironman Training (FIT)

Face your fears live your dreams

Sunday, August 28, 2005

week ending 28/08/05

I think things may finally be on the improve. My first good week of training in a while.

Zone 1: 9:50
Zone 2: 1:58
Zone 3: 0:27
Zone 4: 0:08
Zone 5a: 0:11

Total training time: 12:38

Apart from a 20min run, all my hours were spent on the bike. I did 5 rides with my longest ride being 3:40. My endurance on the bike has really improved lately and I’m especially feeling strong towards the end of the rides. I’ve been purposely trying to train with a low hr and low calorie intake. It has being paying off as I’m not feeling big lows of energy towards the end of my LSD ride like I used to. This tells me now that I’m actually starting to really utilize fat as a fuel source, a good thing for IM racing. It takes time and heaps of patience, but persistence is the key, especially having the urge to test out your fitness and increase your intensity, during a training session.
I recently booked myself into another Physio to get a fourth opinion on my latest running injury. My massage therapist and foot podiatrist have been doing a great job, but I felt I needed someone to look at my biomechanics while running. The guy was awesome. I’ve now discovered that I’m a supinator and not a pronator as once thought. So over the years I’ve been buying the top of the range Ascis shoes which control pronation not supination. No wonder I’ve had every running injury known to man. I guess because I’ve been injured now for the last 8 months with chronic problems that I finally decided to really do something about it. It has costed me a lot of money but I hope it will finally rid me of running injuries so I can run, for the first time, for at least for 6 months without issues. That is my next goal; consistent running injury free. My physio is getting me back on Wednesday to video me running and cycling to really sort out my biomechanics. I’ll keep you posted on how I do.
My next assault on the Mt Keira TT record will be in 1-2 weeks. I’ve only just started doing a very small amount of anaerobic work on the hills to improve my power. This week, I’ll be doing a few repeats up Mt keira with some sort hard efforts and some big gear work. 10 seconds more is all I need.
Tip of the week
If you suffer from injuries, spend the time and money doing your research. In the long run you will increase your longevity in the sport of your choice and also increase the time you need to train consistently to see big performance improvements.

fluro

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

week ending 21/08/05

My calf injury is still heeling and will need another 2 weeks off running. All my time this week was spent on the bike as a lighter recovery week.

Zone 1: 4:56
Zone 2: 3:22
Zone 3: 1:08
Zone 4: 0:45
Zone 5a: 0:05
Zone 5b: 0:05

total training time 10:25 (recovery week)

Rode well this week. I did two quality 4hr rides, which were quite tough. Was meant to do a third 4hr ride on Saturday but my tire shredded 2hrs into the ride and had to be picked up. Not to worry. I can’t believe how unlucky I have been with my training lately. I still don’t have my bike back yet and I’m left riding with a borrowed road bike. It’s frustrating as I’m keen to start doing my regular dose of TTing but I don’t have any tri-bars to use on the road bike.
The injury in my calf (compartment syndrome) is still bothering me and I’m left with no choice really but to stop running completely for another 2 more weeks.
My stretching routines are coming along well and I started some core strength work this week.
I was thinking about doing Gold Coast half, but now I just focus on Port Macquarie and hopefully get rid of this overuse injury.
Next week I’ll start focusing on increasing the volume of my LSD ride up to around the 5 hr mark, and I’ll increase the intensity of one of my mid week rides to improve my muscular endurance and Top end speed.
Tip of the week

Consistency is the key to success. Back up your weekend LSD ride with a midweek medium to long ride and you’ll experience some big gains on the bike in no time at all.

Cheers
fluro

Sunday, August 14, 2005

week ending 14/08/05

Well I have what is known as anterior compartment syndrome. It looks like I’ll need to take 4weeks off running completely in order to reduce the swelling. Like I said in a previous post, I’m disappointed but I guess I just have to roll with it and refocus my training. I definitely will start concentrating on improving my bike endurance and strength now and I may even think about getting back into the pool.
The week training was as follows
Zone 1: 8:49
Zone 2: 1:53
Zone 3: 0:27
Zone 4: 0:15
Zone 5a: 0:08

I’m still riding on a borrowed bike at the moment, as Giant haven’t sent the replacement front forks. It’s a good bike but no tri-bars, which means most of my efforts this week were in the hills. It’s paying off. I feel like I’m climbing better each week and I can’t wait to have another shot at the Mt Keira TT record.
I’ve been really focusing on riding as much as I can in zone 1 now and it is starting to show through. My energy levels are much more consistent on my long rides. I’m feeling less fatigued towards the end of rides because. I think this is due to the fact that my body is now processing fats much more efficiently. I’m even starting to crave fat my now in my diet. This is a good indication that my body is really starting to utilize fat as a fuel source. I will definitely keep this protocol continuing over the next few months.
My next planned race was to be the Gold Coast 1/2 ironman then Port ½ ironman. I think I may have to can Gold coast and just focus on Port ½. I hate more then anything being injured and competing at Gold Coast could be interfering with the recovery process.
Tip of the week
I wrote this over at slowtwitch and thought I would share it here.
The hardest part about an IM is the run. The majority of people on this forum would agree with that. To over come this dilemma you need to train for that run. How do we do that;

1. Run hard but not long enough to break down the body in training. It is so sure that if you train slow you will race slow. If you want to run fast then you need to train fast. Fast running is completely relative to you (4, 3.30 or a 3hr IM run). There is no need to run long in training. it is, and always will be counterproductive. Once you start running 2+ hrs, you are greatly increasing the need for recovery. You will need much more then 48hrs to recover from a 2hr run. As IM athletes, the more FREQUENTLY we can train the more we will grow stronger and DURABLE. That’s the key. You need durability to run well in an IM, and durability doesn't come from running long it comes from running frequently. Running long prevents you from running frequently. If you are willing to can your 2hr run each week, this will leave you more time to run more at a faster pace and therefore increase you durability. If you can make your all day everyday running pace faster and faster then you are going to run a faster IM. For example, if you are comfortable running 8min miles all day everyday without worries 5-6 days a week, then over time that pace decreases to 7.50 min miles, what do you think is going to happen to your IM run, as apposed to running a slow 2+ hr run that greatly increases the risk of injury and does not allow you to run fast??? Don't run long but run a lot and you will greatly improve you IM run time and minimize the risk of an overuse injury.

2. Bike volume. I know guys that can easily run a sub 1.20 fresh 1/2 marathon but have never broken a 3.30 IM run. It is because of the bike. No matter how well these guys can run they will never break a 3:30 unless they focus on their bike. They think they can pull off a good IM bike on a 20 week IM training program. That’s crap. If you aren't prepared to put the time in on the bike for at least a 1-2yrs of consistent riding you can forget about running well. it won't happen. People will claim that they can, but can you imagine how they would of done with a full year of cycling consistently for at least 10hr a week minimum?? Unfortunately on the bike the adaptation process is slower then the swim or run and does require much more volume. This volume needs to be built up over a long period of time. As an example, in my first year I rode for 12-15 hrs pw for 10 months straight. I pulled off a 5.11 bike spilt, which appears to be reasonable until you look at my run split of 3.58 (crap). I still lack strength and endurance on the bike to run well. That’s even with a 10month bike focus, never missed a workout and rode through winter when no-one else did. This year (2nd year) I'm going to still focus on my bike and I am training currently training around 15hrs pw. The goal is to do the same time but then run well off the bike. It's always been a 2year plan. In my personal opinion there is no need to ride easy in an IM. If you have put in the time on the bike through a 1-2 yr bike focus you can ride strong and still run well.

cheers

fluro

Monday, August 08, 2005

Bike setup for Time Trialling

Found a good article today on setting yourself up for Time trialling. If your looking to maximise your aerodynamics and power output on the bike then this is the article for you.

Enjoy
fluro

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Week ending 7/08/05

Week ending 7/08/05
Base 3 (week 2/4)
Its been a crap week of training this week. Injuries, broken front folk and a couple of late nights due to drunken neighbours have left me feeling out of sorts.
I managed to do 8.42min of training. Very disappointing considering I was planning on around 16-18 hrs. The breakdown of my week was as follows

• Zone 1: 6:58
• Zone 2: 0:56
• Zone 3: 0:11
• Zone 4: 0:25
• Zone 5a: 0:04

My calf injury is still preventing me from running. I lost about 6 hrs of training there. I managed 3 good rides this week. My LSD ride on Saturday was a good quality 3hr ride. I rode a solid tempo up Mt keira with Scotty H (keep it up Scott. Your riding stronger and stronger every week), and then we reformed with the group and did 5minuts turns off the front at around steady (just below IMpace).
My focus for next week is to basically regroup and get back on track. I seem to have lost my routine somewhat. Partly due to my own fault and things that were also out of my own hands.
For the next few weeks I’ll now focus heavily on improving my cycling. I’ll probably take another full week off running and really up my cycling volume to around 12-15hrs. I might even look at getting back into the pool soon to start getting back my swimming fitness. I don’t know, I’ll see how I feel. I would love to start swimming off North Beach with the wetsuit. I know that there is a small group that does this each weekend. I’ll look into this and see if I can hook up with these guys. If anyone is interested in doing some open water swimming on the weekend let me know. I’m keen to go.
Training tip of the week.
When you’re riding in the pack, to increase you’re effort, try riding a fixed gear until you reach the front. This will teach you to push a bigger gear through some of the some rollers and give you bit of extra strength work.

The Capricorn half is on in two weeks. Goodluck to Scotty D who has been training the house down of late.
Fluro

Friday, August 05, 2005

The highs and lows of training



Photo
Scotty Harrison and myself at the top of MT Keira. It was freezing this morning with frost that made some areas look like it had just snowed. We continued this ride over the three dippers onto the old highway up to Helensbourgh and back.

Well it’s been a crazy couple of weeks of training for me. I think the worst part of this week was the realization that I’ve picked up an overuse injury. I’m pretty disappointed in myself actually. Even with all the research I’ve been doing, and applying all the correct training principles to my training program, I still manage to get injured. I know now I’ll never be one of those gifted and talented types of athletes who can just go out there train hard and do well. For me, I’ve now realized I need to be very careful in the way I train. The minute I slacked off with my stretching, nutrition and recovery I got injured. In this case I know I’m injured because I just don’t stretch enough. I think now that I’m 35 years old and just an average guy wanting to do well I need to pay close attention to not just the way I train but also how much I need to stretch each day, what I eat and how I recover, because I just can’t afford to get injured like this again.
What makes this injury I have even worse is that it is not common. In fact, I can’t even find any information on this type of injury. The wonderful lady who gives me a massage once a week at the moment has been able to tell me I have an injury on my peroneus longus muscle which runs down the left side of my leg below the knee. I never even new what this muscle was until she found the injury. Basically what happens is when I run, during the recovery phase I’m experiencing a lot of pain similar to ITB pain, which prevents me from running at all. The minute I stop running it feels fine to walk on. My massage therapist has been doing a great job in treating it and hopefully I’ll be back running injury free again next week. Sometimes though I wonder. It feels like I’m constantly battling with my body to just keep the injuries away and I don’t even feel as though I’m training that hard yet. I guess now I need to start training to recover not just train to get fit.
The plan this week was to focus more on cycling then running but things fell apart somewhat here too. A worn out rear tyre gave me 4 flats in 2 days. I basically had to can 2 rides because I had no tubes left to keep riding. Yes I was left walking home on 2 occasions where I planned to ride 2hrs where instead I managed 30 minutes. By Thursday I had some limited success. I got up at 5am hoped on the bike and headed out into the rain. Apart from the rain I got to ride 1:45 without any troubles. I even managed a couple of good hill repeats. The only thing that I noticed that was that my bike was getting some death wobbles at low speeds (ie 40kph). I thought this was odd so I took my bike straight to the bike shop and as it turns out I’ve cracked the front fork. It’s under warranty so the new one should be here within the week. By the afternoon my morning rain soaked ride caught up with me. I developed a boil on my arse. After the week I had I decided to pull out the swiss army knife and fix the problem myself. I wouldn’t recommend this as it does hurt somewhat and checking out your own arse in the mirror is not something I like to do on a regular basis. Problem fixed, Enough said on that matter.
What I learned this week.
Recovery and stretching are as important as training itself. If you neglect to stretch or recover between training sessions, more then likely your body will breakdown and get injured. On top of this, I think to do well you need a lot of core strength. Why? Because I think your trunk is responsible for keeping everything together and in place. If you have a strong core you are better able to handle the fatigue associated with training, and as a consequence minimize the risk of injuries through training with imbalances. To train well you need to be well balanced for an entire session. The minute you lose stability in training the rest of your body will quickly fatigue. In a fatigued stated you are stressing out parts of your body that don’t like to be overused or over stressed. For example, you’re small stabilizing muscles that stop you from overpronating. The minute your core stabilizers fatigue then the more you will pronate, if you are a pronator, the more stress you will place on the smaller muscles groups that are responsible for keeping you stable. After a while these muscles which probably don’t cope well with a lot of stress give up and the injury soon surfaces. Even though I have an injury in my lower leg at the moment, the injury is probably a direct result of having very week core muscles. Time to address this new No1 limiter. I hope next week turns out better then this week. I’m still keen as mustard to train despite the few setbacks. My goal is to get back into a normal routine as soon as possible and remain as consistent and as injury free as I possibly can.
Here is a good link to some excellent core strength exercises
http://magthree.com/Thoughts/Core_Work.html
My next assault on the MT Keira climb will be in about 4-5 weeks time. Does anybody out there have any good training tips for climbing. I need to find another 10 seconds over an all out 19minute Time trial?? I’m not going to give up on this record, even if only get to hold it for a day or so, I’ll be very happy.

Happy training everyone and goodluck to those doing the City to surf this year.

fluro

Monday, August 01, 2005

Mt Keira TT. 30th July 2005

Well Saturday came around and I met up with the group at 6.00am. As expected we decided to head up Mt Keira and make our way towards Waterfall and then back. This was my chance to have a shot at the current MT Keira record as registered on cycle2max.com. The current record is 19min 5sec. My current PB is 19min 43sec. At the start of the climb things were moving pretty slow for the first 500m so I went around to the front and started to up the tempo. Looking down at my speedo, on the hardest part of the climb up to the school I noticed I was sitting on around 14kph in my 39/21. That was good because I knew I needed to keep it above 12kph. By the time I reached the archery range I was left with only one other rider, Scott (He was riding very well and we managed to finish together). At this point my hr was into the higher 160’s but I still felt pretty good. We hit the only flat section in 11minutes. I knew now I needed to sit around 18-20kph for the rest of the climb to break this long standing record of 2 years. I went for it. My heart was peaking at around 172bpm. I was now starting to really hurt. I reached the Mt Keira Lookout turnoff in approximately 17.50, and I thought shit this is going to be close. I got out the saddle for the first time, dropped it into my 39/17 and hammered myself to the line. I looked down at my watch and it said 19.15. Damm I missed out by 10 secs. Oh well, I gave it my best and in about 6-8 weeks I’ll have another go at the record. I was pleased with my time as I PB’d it by 38 sec with an average heart 2 bpm lower. That’s the one thing that disappointed about todays TT, I thought I would have had a higher heart rate average. I thought overall I was a bit erratic in some sections. Something I’ll have to correct next time.
Having something like this to aim over winter has been a real motivator for me and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve their cycling strength. If you go to www.cylce2max.com I’m sure there will be a climb in an area near you. If not, just register one yourself and get the ball rolling. So if there is anyone out there doing climbs on cycle2max and registering them, let me know who you are. I’m always keen to speak with others out there and follow your progress.

Cheers
fluro