First Triathlon of the Season less than a Week Away

Only minor scarring remains on my left hand, but the right hand is taking a lot longer to heal and has kept me out of the pool. With the first Triathlon of the season coming up this weekend, I had intended to increase my swimming to 3 times a week. So going 2 weeks without any swimming is extremely frustrating and will probably cost me up to 30 seconds in the 500m swim leg. Just like a student cramming for their year 12 exams, I'm thinking of swimming up to 4 times this week - tonight (Mon) and Wednesday nights at GESAC, Thursday night in the bay (weather dependant) and Friday morning at GESAC.

Run traing has also been hindered by tight calf muscles. I feel fine when actually running, but afterwards my calfs are getting progressively tighter. Tight calf muscles greatly increases the chances of achilles or plantar fasciia injuries, so I have backed off the run training in the hope my legs will start to recover. Whilst I'm still running 2 or 3 times a week (would prefer to run 5 times a week), it has been over 3 weeks since my long run (15.6km) - all of my recent runs have been under 10km. This lack of run training should not impact this weekend's race much as it is only a Sprint race with a 5km run leg (my big race is not until Feb), I just hope I don't experience a leg injury during the race.

It is not all bad news on the training front, as I had a great session on Saturday morning with the Bayside Triathlon Club - 82km bike and 6km run. The bike leg was was split into roughly 6km easy sections followed by 12km at race pace, repeating this cycle for the full 82km. Most of the Club members added an extra loop to the end of the bike to round it up to 100km, but with it being my first long ride on the new Cobb Saddle I decided 82km was plenty for me. I was extremely happy to not only be able to hold race pace and continue to feel strong, but also achieve it with a low heart rate. In hindsight I should have hit the lap button on my computer for each interval, instead I left it recording automatic 5km laps. Below are some of the instances when the auto 5km laps matched up with my effort intervals:

  251 watts - 150bpm - 38.4kph
  288 watts - 153bpm - 40.3kph
  283 watts - 156bpm - 36.8kph
  270 watts - 152bpm - 39.3kph

As you can see I was able to hold good power whilst keeping my heart rate in the low 150's. The speed varied depending upon the wind direction and how hilly the section was. The training camp at Bright has really helped my cycling. Ironically I was pacing the session more in line for the Half Ironman in Feb, rather than the Sprint Race this coming weekend, but the good form should transfer well to the shorter distance.

Even with all the rest intervals (going slower) and loss of momentum continually stopping at lights, my bike stats were actually better than my bike split at the Geelong Long Distance race in Feb this year (last season). Although it was pouring rain at Geelong and I did crash half way through the race (times shown below are based on moving time).

  Geelong Long Distance: 79.79km - 2h22m20s - 33.6kph - 215 watts - 134 bpm
  Saturday's Session: 81.92km - 2h21m04s - 34.9kph - 219 watts - 137 bpm

The good news from Saturday's session continues with excellent results from the 6km run off the bike. Again I was pacing the session at Half Ironman speed, but was able to hold 4m30s pace very comfortably and my heart rate stayed low for the whole run. Below are the kilometre splits with the first and last kilometre removed (first km was up a long steep hill and the last kilometre was used as a cool down). I believe avoiding the speed work and instead concentrating on doing all training runs at my aerobic threshold (137bpm) has served me very well. I obviously went over 137bpm in this session, but I was treating this as more of a race simulation to judge pacing and nutrition.

  4m18s - 149bpm (downhill)
  4m26s - 153bpm
  4m26s - 154bpm
  4m36s - 155bpm (up hill)

My nutrition for the session was two water bottles - one water and one orange hydralite sports drink (tastes terrible) and 3 gels on the bike - 2 Chocolate Powerbars and 1 Raspberry Endura. The Endura Gel definitely tasted better and went down much easier, I found the Chocolate Powerbar Gels had a huge aftertaste, almost felt like it was burning my mouth which at least ensured I washed it down with water. I didn't bother with anything on the run. Elaine managed the session with water, an apricot flavoured EM's Power bar and 1 coffee flavoured Endura Gel on the bike. Before the session we just had scrambled eggs (7 eggs between us with a bit of added cheese). Minimising carbs before training (or racing) definitely helps in keeping the heart rate down. Any Hi-GI food (typically carbs) before exercise will raise the glycemic index which promotes sourcing energy from glycerine rather than fat. Once you have started exercising, the body is much more receptive to carbs and can quickly absorb Hi-GI products (such as Gels) without the unwanted increase in the glycemic index.

Elaine also did the Saturday session, however she followed the Short Course instructions of a 50km ride followed by a 4km run. I had given her heart rate targets to hit for the easy and hard sections, but unfortunately she accidentally left her bike computer at home so she had to ride on percieved effort. During longer effort intervals (ie. 12km) it is very easy to loose focus and let the effort wane. Having data displayed on a bike computer in front of you can be a huge help in maintaining the intensity. You can even program the bike computer to beep when the data values drop below (or rise above) a certain level. Despite the lack of electronical aides, Elaine did very well. But obviously we don't have any stats for the session.

We received our new XOSIZE/Rocket Science tri-suits last week and I decided to trial it on the Saturday session (Elaine decided to save her first trial for the race). Still suffering lingering saddle sores from the Bright camp and it being my first long ride on the Cobb Saddle, it was probably not the fairest of tests - much better to test one thing at a time and without a pre-existing sore bum. I'll save any reviews for a bit later, but I think both Elaine and I both need further tinkering in the positions of our Cobb Saddles before we can make any solid opinions. My seat was good for the first 40km, but then slowly got worse as the ride continued. Elaine was ready to throw hers in the bay by the end of her ride. But surprisingly despite these current complaints, they are both still better than our previous saddles.