This weeks Stats:
- Swim: 12,000m
- Bike: 455km
- Run: 30km
- Training Time: 27.5 hours
This week was all about taking advantage of holidays to get some big KMs in. I didn’t really have a target for the week, I just added some extra KM’s to my usual sessions. Before getting to the bike though, the week started with two oceans swim, the morning in Coogee and the afternoon in Bondi. It was also my first opportunity to get out and test my new 2XU ProjectX X:3 wetsuit. Despite the choppy conditions it could instantly notice the difference going from a sleeveless to a sleeved wetsuit. Another ocean swim at Bondi on Wednesday morning, with calmer conditions, really highlighted the benefits that this wetsuit offers. It is like free speed! I now need to do more ocean swim training to do it justice on race day in 5 short weeks.
As mentioned, time off work this week afforded me the opportunity to get a few more bike KMs in the legs. This weeks tally of 455kms is around 50% more volume than I am used too which meant most big mornings were followed by some timely midday naps. I racked up over 100kms on Tuesday and Thursday just cruising around the beaches, mostly in the east before taking on a long north shore ride to finish
the week. Sunday’s ride had a bit of everything. At 170+ KM’s it was a little longer than I would usually do on a long ride. It had over 200m of elevation so the climbing legs got a good workout. There was a fair amount of rain and a nice stiff headwind that took its toll over the final 45kms. The extra time in the saddle this week will hopefully give me a good endurance base as I head into the final four weeks of preparation ahead of Geelong. The aim now will be to add some speed work back into the program over the weeks ahead in the lead up to the race. While I really enjoy the long days on the roady, nothing beats going fast and I can’t wait to get back on the TT this week, especially after it has just had a once over from Steve and the guys at AvantiPlus Narrabeen.
Even with the long rides, I still managed to get in 30km of run, building back up from last weeks 22km. I helped out fellow BondiFitter Brad Martens, by pacing him through some 2km efforts, as he looks to build speed. It was a great session for me as I could stretch out my legs and see where they at without placing them under too much duress. This was a good lead in for Saturday’s coastal run which took us from Bondi to Coogee and back. The aim was to run out slow for 40 mins then cover the return leg in 30 mins for a 10 min negative slip. Obviously the 
slower you run out the easier the run home is. I went out relatively slow, aiming to give myself enough of a margin to get back in 30 mins, with the additional holiday foot traffic making the challenge a little harder. I got back in 31:20, a little slower than I would have liked but still managed to really wind the legs up at times. So far managing the impingements in my ankles isn’t proving too much of a drama with the extra stretching/rolling and the anti-inflammatories doing the trick. I have a habit of overcooking my run in the lead up to event, doing it three times now, so I will be treading extra carefully over the weeks ahead with the aim of getting to the start line in one piece!
As every aspiring athlete would know, progress when training in never linear and I was reminded of that this week. Last Sunday on my long run I rolled my left ankle 20 mins in to the 90 minute session. It felt innocuous at the time as I was able to continue running after a brief stretch, I did not pull up well the following day. With my training plan only having one run until boxing day, due to the holidays throwing things out a little, I took the first 5 days of the week off running to give things time to settle. I also had it looked at by my physio as I have also had some minor discomfort in my right ankle for a couple of weeks. Good news is no major damage however I have impingements on both my ankles which will require constant stretching and rolling along with anti-inflammatories as required.
My love of track was tested as my program had me turn up early and run 15x400m on 2 min (5min pace) before the main set got underway. The main set was then suppose to be 3km, 2km then 1km building pace. My 3km quickly became 5km as punishment for running the first 3km too fast. I managed to hold the quicker speed finishing in 22:30. I then did the 2km un under 9 mins before running another 2km alternating between 200m easy and 200m hard. When all was said and done I clocked up 19km for the session.
some extra KM’s in. Despite the boredom of 12 x 10km sets (2 flat laps & 1 hill lap) it was a great session to get some quality KM’s. I working on holding solid pace throughout the duration with middle 10 sets all around th
session Tuesday night. After our post Wednesday morning swim session I knew it was going to be a big weekend. Rather than hitting Bondi for the regular surf swim after the mornings bike/run brick, I had to run a further 90 mins on top of the run intervals that were part of the brick session. On top of that, rather than being saved from the swim session, I hit the pool in the afternoon for a 2000m test set and a further 1000m of swim down. Add in a cheeky 30m run after Sunday’s 4 hour bike ride and it made for my biggest week of training EVER.
davidjflanagan 