Tri mutterings
Jun. 29th, 2006 10:11 amA few days on and I've had time to post-mortem Bude. It comes down to the swim being a right 'mare. I can't blame the conditions, which were pretty nice; I can put some blame on stress (which was high) and newbieness, but basically it's just that my crawl wasn't easy. Turns out from my diary that I hadn't had a good long solid crawl-bash for *ten* days beforehand.
St. Friel says, and the biomass and I generally agree, that newbie skills are developed through chronic exposure: in other words, lots of swim sessions. So that's what I need to do - one committed epic a week ain't enough. Time to take out a membership and get a routine.
Which segues conveniently into the idea of a large-scale training plan. Friel (Triathlete's Training Bible) lays out a truly epic scheme which is pretty much High Magick: lots and lots of sensible-sounding theory (tapering, peaking, base, blocks...) and rules which end up with a calendar of doom. Since I want Cotswold (10 September) to be my first "proper" rather than "newbie" race, I'll draw up the rolling monster and see how it goes. Goals for the race are:
1) Complete the swim all-crawl and in good freshness.
* Join Exeter Tri and swim regularly
* In August do OW practice at and over race distance
2) Have a bike split of better than halfway up the field.
* Maintain summer century fitness.
* Do speed drills as if for 10-mile TT.
* Enter a 10-mile TT?
3) A run time of 28:00 or better.
* Work on faster cadence.
* Drop some weight (!)
The nice news so far is that I feel like I've passed some interesting fitness threshold where active recovery is more appropriate than total rest and where I can train twice a day (previously, only bike-commuting fit in that description). So I'm hopeful for more improvement.
Oh, and Skean: Good luck for the weekend! How's the water? Warm yet?
St. Friel says, and the biomass and I generally agree, that newbie skills are developed through chronic exposure: in other words, lots of swim sessions. So that's what I need to do - one committed epic a week ain't enough. Time to take out a membership and get a routine.
Which segues conveniently into the idea of a large-scale training plan. Friel (Triathlete's Training Bible) lays out a truly epic scheme which is pretty much High Magick: lots and lots of sensible-sounding theory (tapering, peaking, base, blocks...) and rules which end up with a calendar of doom. Since I want Cotswold (10 September) to be my first "proper" rather than "newbie" race, I'll draw up the rolling monster and see how it goes. Goals for the race are:
1) Complete the swim all-crawl and in good freshness.
* Join Exeter Tri and swim regularly
* In August do OW practice at and over race distance
2) Have a bike split of better than halfway up the field.
* Maintain summer century fitness.
* Do speed drills as if for 10-mile TT.
* Enter a 10-mile TT?
3) A run time of 28:00 or better.
* Work on faster cadence.
* Drop some weight (!)
The nice news so far is that I feel like I've passed some interesting fitness threshold where active recovery is more appropriate than total rest and where I can train twice a day (previously, only bike-commuting fit in that description). So I'm hopeful for more improvement.
Oh, and Skean: Good luck for the weekend! How's the water? Warm yet?