So as the season comes to a close, I am looking back at what I and others are referring to as a breakthrough season for me. I got two 4th place finishes in my age group in my last 2 races of the season and consistently finished within the top 15 overall.
I have seen huge improvements in all areas of my triathlons, especially my my bike leg and transitions. I am now up with the fastest in these areas. My run was by far my weakest part last year but I did see encouraging improvements over the season. Finally, my swimming seems to have improved greatly in the pool but for some reason in the open water I am about the same as last year.
So taking a look at where I am, I feel that I have 2 main areas or improvement for next year. I need to be up with the first pack of swimmers from the start so I really need to nail what is slowing me down in the ocean. It could be a comfort thing, or a lack of racing experience in the water. It could require a better warmup structure before the race, or just better technique in my stroke. Lots of areas to look into.
The second area of improvement is in my running. Although I have increased in pace from 8:00 miles last year to 7:00 at the start of the season and then a peak of 6:35 at the end, I need to get under the magic 6:00 by next season to be able to hold off the fastest runners at the end of the race. 6:00 pace for a 5k would be great. 6:00 for a 10k pace would be even better.
As priorities go, I am going to focus on my running first while trying to keep a base level of swimming and cycling going over the winter and we will see how things go from there.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Training with your heart
I have been focusing my training at the moment on my run. I have the Santa Monica Classic 5k coming up soon and I would like to be comfortable with this relatively short distance in a fairly quick time. The thing that I am noticing when I run however, is how high my heart rate is going.
With a bit of a calculation, it seems that I am running at about 90% of my maximum heart rate. This is well into the anaerobic zone, meaning that my body is not able to take in enough oxygen for sustained activity. For short periods this is not a problem, but for endurance events, this is not good.
Also, I am not even running at the pace that I would like to do the race in so things are likely to be worse still. After talking with some friends and doing a little research, I have found out that I need to do mainly training with a much lower heart rate.
This is the process of training at whatever level will keep my heart rate towards the top of the aerobic zone. This zone is between 70% and 80% of my maximum heart rate. This can all be calculated using the following link.
My desired heart rate works out to be about 148bpm. This is about 30bpm lower than my usual intensity which is a lot more than I thought it would be.
I did my first training run this morning using this guide and as expected, I was required to run at a much slower pace than normal. I started out at about 7mph and settled into a constant pace of about 6.5mph. Every so often I needed to adjust the speed by 0.1 in either direction, dropping down to 6mph at times in order to keep my heart rate constant. My average speed over a 20 minute period was about 6.5mph . That's at least 1.5mph lower than my previous running speeds and about 3mph below my desired speed.
My research tells me that if I keep this up for a couple of months, I should slowly see my speed increase with the same intensity. This is good news for me as I would love to be able to run 8mph comfortably within an aerobic zone. I believe it may take several years of this to really get up to speed but I am willing to do that for the improvements that I want.
I'll keep you posted on my developments. Fingers crossed.
With a bit of a calculation, it seems that I am running at about 90% of my maximum heart rate. This is well into the anaerobic zone, meaning that my body is not able to take in enough oxygen for sustained activity. For short periods this is not a problem, but for endurance events, this is not good.
Also, I am not even running at the pace that I would like to do the race in so things are likely to be worse still. After talking with some friends and doing a little research, I have found out that I need to do mainly training with a much lower heart rate.
This is the process of training at whatever level will keep my heart rate towards the top of the aerobic zone. This zone is between 70% and 80% of my maximum heart rate. This can all be calculated using the following link.
My desired heart rate works out to be about 148bpm. This is about 30bpm lower than my usual intensity which is a lot more than I thought it would be.
I did my first training run this morning using this guide and as expected, I was required to run at a much slower pace than normal. I started out at about 7mph and settled into a constant pace of about 6.5mph. Every so often I needed to adjust the speed by 0.1 in either direction, dropping down to 6mph at times in order to keep my heart rate constant. My average speed over a 20 minute period was about 6.5mph . That's at least 1.5mph lower than my previous running speeds and about 3mph below my desired speed.
My research tells me that if I keep this up for a couple of months, I should slowly see my speed increase with the same intensity. This is good news for me as I would love to be able to run 8mph comfortably within an aerobic zone. I believe it may take several years of this to really get up to speed but I am willing to do that for the improvements that I want.
I'll keep you posted on my developments. Fingers crossed.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Spin it out
I have already mentioned in a previous post that I have been playing with my cycling cadence. This week I have done a number or runs and hard rides in high wind and rain that have fatigued my leg muscles so that it hurts to even walk. I also have a cold so this has taken the zip out of my energy levels. For this reason, I have been finding it harder when cycling in to work and back.
To address this, I have been concentrating on trying to keep my speed up. I don't like looking down at my speedo and seeing figures less than 20mph. Even when I am struggling into the wind on my way home, I will put the extra effort to counter this and bring my speed back up as close to this 20mph mark. I see it as similar to attacking a hill climb. My ride is normally very flat so this brings in some variety even on the same route.
With the extra fatigue, I have been finding this hard, but with some minor adjustments to my techniques, I am finding I can still ride above 20mph, even into the wind. Spinning fast and smoothly is the trick.
This proves a good point. In a triathlon, we try to use techniques during each event to leave us as fresh as possible for the following discipline. We heavily favor our upper body while doing the swim which leaves our legs fresh for the bike stage. But when it comes for the run, we are using our legs again.
In my experience this week, I have reversed the order of the bike and run and fatigued my legs during running training. I have then had to try to keep up my speed on the bike, even with this fatigue. Just pounding my legs down on the peddles does no good. I can feel that I am grinding them around and getting very little performance out of trying hard.
When however I raise my cadence to about 90rpm, and use a smooth cyclic motion, I feel that pain and fatigue drop away and the speed rises. I stay in the same gear but am now comfortably traveling at over 20mph. If this is done correctly in a race, this should result in my leg muscles being capable or taking me through the run and onto the finish in a good time.
I love understanding the science behind this. The smooth circular motion introduces different muscles and takes the strain off the main power houses that will be needed for the run. A good lesson learned
To address this, I have been concentrating on trying to keep my speed up. I don't like looking down at my speedo and seeing figures less than 20mph. Even when I am struggling into the wind on my way home, I will put the extra effort to counter this and bring my speed back up as close to this 20mph mark. I see it as similar to attacking a hill climb. My ride is normally very flat so this brings in some variety even on the same route.
With the extra fatigue, I have been finding this hard, but with some minor adjustments to my techniques, I am finding I can still ride above 20mph, even into the wind. Spinning fast and smoothly is the trick.
This proves a good point. In a triathlon, we try to use techniques during each event to leave us as fresh as possible for the following discipline. We heavily favor our upper body while doing the swim which leaves our legs fresh for the bike stage. But when it comes for the run, we are using our legs again.
In my experience this week, I have reversed the order of the bike and run and fatigued my legs during running training. I have then had to try to keep up my speed on the bike, even with this fatigue. Just pounding my legs down on the peddles does no good. I can feel that I am grinding them around and getting very little performance out of trying hard.
When however I raise my cadence to about 90rpm, and use a smooth cyclic motion, I feel that pain and fatigue drop away and the speed rises. I stay in the same gear but am now comfortably traveling at over 20mph. If this is done correctly in a race, this should result in my leg muscles being capable or taking me through the run and onto the finish in a good time.
I love understanding the science behind this. The smooth circular motion introduces different muscles and takes the strain off the main power houses that will be needed for the run. A good lesson learned
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
