I've just finished a 5 week block of hard training that culminated in a taper week and a race at Dambuster Duathlon.
Lets start with the 5 week block. I won't bore you with a day by day account of each days training, but give you an essence of where I'm up to and some of the key sessions.
Swimming basically consists of a mix of hard 100's, 200's, off 2 minutes or 4 minutes, long intervals e.g. 1000's, 500's, 400's, and paddle, buoy and bands work. The long intervals are swam at varying intensities. I'm not too concerned about the swim, as when I get into my open water rhythm I know I will be fine come race day. I'm one of those sinking triathlete swimmers who swim so much faster in my wetsuit. My times in the pool suggest I have got my swim fitness back and gone on to improve. Sub 30 minutes for my 1900m and just over 1:00 for 3800m are realistic targets.
Runs are usually progressive and can be between 1 hour and 2 hours. There's always a longer run of around 2:30 involving short hill reps, usually done on the trails around the airport. Double run days are becoming a regular weekly session with my longer run a.m. and shorter harder run p.m. Track sessions have been introduced with a mix of hard 400's, half marathon pace 600's and a progressive 10km run being the sessions over the last few weeks. My targets of 1:30 for IM 70.3 and 3:30 for Outlaw remain.
Bike sessions are split between threshold turbo sessions, max efforts of anything between 1 and 5 minutes and road cycling. Got to say I find turbo sessions really tedious, but a necessary evil as you can control intensity, heart rate etc.quite easily. Doing the expected long rides of between 3 and 5 hours, sometimes hilly, either Peak District or Rivington (when the weather allows) or on the flats around Cheshire. Intensity can vary from steady (16-17mph) to flat out TT effort of varying lengths of time. Most long bike rides are followed by a 4 mile run (3 mile at 6:30-6:45 pace and 1 mile at Ironman pace). If I do say so myself, I run well off the bike. I think my legs are just elated at not having to cycle anymore.
My target of sub 6 hours still remains for Outlaw. In fact, I will be disappointed if I'm not comfortably under 6 and dare I say it, somewhere between 5:30-5:45. This of course assumes that Outlaw is reasonably flat, which I believe it is. My target for IM 70.3 will be determined after I recce the course in a few weeks time.
During this 5 week block I hit a bit of a low. Long swim, bike and run sessions, 12 hour (if I'm lucky) shifts on an Emergency Ambulance and family life took it's toll. I also got a mild chest infection just to add into the mix. I never contemplated quitting, but needed some R and R. A few days rest without having to worry about a 5 hour ride or a 2 hour 30 minute run was appreciated. I also needed race day to come sooner rather than later. I find constant training, without a race in the near future, quite difficult.
I'm over my Ironman training wobble now and back into another hard week of training. Next week is my second duathlon at Oulton Park. It's a great race on super smooth tarmac. Just what I like.
Race Report from Dambuster Duathlon
This was my first multi sport event of the year and my second go at this event. It was a World Championship Qualifier and the BTF National Duathlon Championships and had attracted a field of 800 athletes.
Preparation had gone well and I was in pretty good shape. I hadn't run a 10k race for a while, so it was going to be interesting to see if my running had improved. The pressure was on to improve my bike split, as last year I did virtually no bike training at all. My Mrs was also praying for a good bike time, as the journey home could become quite tedious with me whining for over 2 hours about yet another crap bike split.
My usual pre race routine of checking transition in and outs was done. If you have a carbon fetish, this was the place to be. The number of really expensive carbon bikes, disc wheels, aero helmets was quite impressive (I count myself in this collective, minus the disc wheels).
I was due to go off in the second wave, 10 minutes after wave one.
Run 1 is a flat, 10k, out and back course. Slightly different to last year. We had been assured it was actually 10k and not 9.5k, as was the previous course. The bike is 42k and takes you out over Rutland Ripple. The first half is where all the hills are, after that it is flattish and good for TT type riding. Run 2 is a flat, 5k out and back.
My pre race instructions were as follows:
1) First run - race smart and controlled, run solid, but not all out, dont worry
about where your placing at this point.
2) Bike - smash it and go all in. Just
take on a small amount of fluid.
3) Second run - again
solid pace and keep a little in the tank to smash the last 1-2 km.
Have nothing left at the line.
After watching wave one depart I made my way to the start line. I went straight to the front, as I had no intention of getting stuck behind slower runners on the narrow path ahead of us. The horn sounded and off we went. I stayed with the leaders for a few hundred metres and then had a word with myself, "what you doing Wolstencroft? Get a grip lad. You know full well you can't run this fast! See point 1) above" I eased off to a more controlled effort. I was ticking off the kilometre markers at sub 4 minute pace, so was happy. After the turn around point at 5k I picked up the pace a little and made up a few places.
Run 1 was completed in 38:27. It's a 10k PB for me and I hadn't gone all out. So I guess I'm in the sort of form that will allow a 37-38 minute 10k. My run 1 time was placed 154th. This goes to show that some quality athletes turned up. Much to my disappointment.
The bike section was quite uneventful. All the hills are in the first section of the course after that you are free to time trial to your hearts content. Just a short climb at the end before you turn back into the road leading to transition.
It's quite the norm for me to be overtaken by old ladies with shopping baskets on the front of their bikes, so what a pleasant surprise for only a handful of serious bikers to come passed. In fact, I think I was gaining places, which is a new experience. I've got to say I really enjoy overtaking some of the guys on really expensive bikes with the disc wheels to match. Brings a little smile to my face.
There was a much stronger headwind than my previous attempts at this bike course and I was starting to worry about the journey home for my other half. I needed not fret, as I beat my time by over 3 minutes in tougher conditions. Bike time was 1:15:49. Fastest bike split of the day was around 1:05.
The journey home was going to be a joyous occasion.
Run 2 is where I usually make up a few more places. My effort was controlled, but hard. I was waiting for the turn around at 2.5k and was then going for it. I made up a few more places and finished the 5k in 18:58.
Overall time was 2:14:54
I'm not a real contender for qualifying out right and if I'm honest, never will be, unless I'm lucky enough to still be competing when I'm in my 60's and 70's. I have to get a fast enough time to get on the reserve list and then wait for athletes to drop out. As it was a world qualifier you need to be within 15% of the winner of your age group. This is normally within my ability. However, the guy that won my age group finished 2nd overall in a really fast time. By my calculations I am around 16%, so just out of contention for reserve list. He's no right to be so fast when classed as a 'Veteran'. Looks like I'm just going to have to try harder at the next qualifier, Oulton Park.
