With winter behind us, spring signifies an important time in a triathletes training plan. While spring weather will still deliver a bit of everything, heat, wind, rain, storms, cold mornings, high pollen days… it is far more conducive to getting out on the bike. So, after a winter of trail running, mountain biking, marathon training and working on swim technique for me spring is all about the bike.
Here we move from just going for a ride and playing with technique and cadence to actually training to improve fitness. Every ride I do now has a purpose – endurance, torque development, anaerobic capacity, Vo2, technique, handling. When I head out the door, I am clear on-what I want to achieve, why I am doing it, how I will measure it and what outcomes I want to see?
Ever since I started training for triathlon’s I have kept individual records of most of the key sessions I complete. In the past it was in a paper diary, but now it has evolved to excel spreadsheets. Sure, you can review a session using training peaks, Garmin or Strava, but for me there is nothing better than coming home from a session, going through my data and logging it against past efforts.
Fortunately, these days we have power meters to measure the work we complete, and while a lot of people have a meter, it staggers me the numbers who don’t keep manual laps and use the numbers to push them harder when they train. I always have average power per lap on my screen and chase that as I ride.
The other mindset I adopt is that I visualise myself putting my foot on the accelerator and then just pressing down harder each week. I do a lot of repeat sessions, such as starting a Saturday ride with a rep of Norton or Lofty to compare progress each week. I always want to feel myself building each week and then using my numbers to track my progress.
The aim on our current block of Saturday rides is to build the meters climbing each week, last week was 1500m this week is 1800m. Progressively we will lift the climbing and also spend more time climbing steeper climbs. It was impressive last week that we actually rode the course as planned- no short cuts, no changing of routes mid-ride, so let’s see if we can do the same this week.
I also expect these rides to hurt. I haven’t ridden enough over winter to be able to comfortably complete these rides, so I pretty much expect to blow up and limp home after every ride. But each week I also expect to see improvements. For me this is about getting fit enough to train. Where I can repeatedly do hard sessions and my body bounces back ready to go again the next time. Alas I have some room to move as last week’s ride left me very tired for 3-4 days post. I also expect it to impact my swimming ability, which struggles when the body is fatigued.
While cyclists can ride a lot, 300, 400, 500+ km per week, we are triathletes who simply don’t have the time to ride the aerobic miles, so we need to make sure that when we train, we train with purpose. We can’t just go out and ride we need to make sure every session counts. If you want to improve be clear on the purpose of every ride you do and focus on building each week. And ultimately focus on being unrelenting. Invest into your planning and preparation to make sure no excuse is big enough to stop you from getting out the door.
Happy training
Nigel