Base 2 Phase (Second week of four)
Theme of the week is run. Base 2 Phase weeks have a theme of the week. One of the sports is focused on and the number of sessions increased for that discipline. This week was tough on the legs following long bike week last week.
Monday; Long slow bike. 88km. Very cold morning, freezing feet. Nice when the sun came out. RPE = 3/4.
Tuesday; Rest day.
Wednesday; Perfect winter day. Very clear and sunny. Extremely cold. With a strong blustery wind. Brick session. Bike 70 mins, RPE=3-4. Steady with 60 second sprints every 10 minutes. 35 km. Run session. Tempo run. 60 mins. 10 mins to warm up, then 6 sets of 6 minutes at tempo pace and 2 mins recovery. Sets 4 and 5 were particularly long and tough. Left ankle became stiff again about half way through the run session. Final 10 minutes to cool down. 10 km+. RPE = 2-5. Chemical heat patch worked well to keep feet warm.
Thursday; Gorgeous day in Shanghai. Great run. Sunny, crisp and not as cold as yesterday. RPE=3/4, 60 mins, approx 10km+
Friday; Tempo bike ride. Extremely cold and strong headwind on stretches. My new Craft neoprene overshoes held up for the first hour [didn't use the chemical heat patch today]. 80mins session. 10 mins warm up, then four sets at tempo: 12 minutes at RPE =5 and 3 mins at RPE=3. Did the first tempo way too fast and had to slow down to catch breathe in the cold weather. 10 mins cool down. Good session on empty stomach, one gel at the start, felt strong throughout the four sets. 40km. Good to get ready for windy weather as Wanaka can be windy.
Saturday; Easy run, around 30mins. Cold with a little bit of sun.
Sunday;
Total: 6 sessions.
Triathlon Training Lingo
*RPE means Rate of Perceived Exertion and relates to the intensity of each session. I have stopped using a heart rate monitor [although I used one for a couple of years] because I want to exercise more by ‘how it feels’. RPE = 10 is full-out effort, while RPE = 1 is just enough intensity for the session to be called exercise. Endurance sports requires a good base of low intensity effort and over time building up intense efforts with longer sessions.
A brick session is a bike ride followed immediately by a run. It’s purpose is to simulate the conditions of a duathlon or triathlon race where the bike transitions into the run without stopping. It trains your leg muscles to run while tired.
Upcoming races - signed up.
5km swim in Lake Taupo, New Zealand on 14 January 2012
Half Ironman at Lake Wanaka, New Zealand on 21 January 2012 [race bib:1197, total 284 competitors]
3.3km Ocean swim in Wellington, New Zealand on 29 January 2012
Half Ironman in Singapore on 18 March 2012
Full Ironman in Busselton, West Australia on 9 Dec 2012
Results
Half Marathon in Changhsu, China on 27 November 2011: 1hr 56mins for 22km course. Personal Best time.