Start of a new phase

My "limiter" phase is soon over. Scott and Russell are off to race the Boston marathon 20 April and as a consequence I will switch my attention to biking.

The focus of this first phase of my preparation for IM Louisville has been to improve my running which has been my main limiter in previous triathlons. Looking back there is no doubt that I have experienced substantial improvements since the beginning of the year. Indeed I don't think I have ever been in such good overall running shape as I am now. Further, I think I might finally have cracked the nut wrt. running off the bike. On the second leg of the DHL Duathlon last weekend I was able to run comfortably off a hard bike without the stomach issues that previously have caused me a lot of grief.

For my second phase I will cut back a little on running, continue to do at least one long ride a week and spice it up with a number of indoor trainer sessions. Here are two I am going to try:

Workout#1 (duration 1 hr) - Threshold

• 10 min warm-up
• 20 min Build by 5 min to 90% effort last 5 min.
• 3 min Easy
• 5 min 90% effort - Finish with all out 20 sec effort
• 3 min Easy
• 5 min 90% effort - Finish with all out 20 sec effort
• 3 min Easy
• 5 min 90% effort - Finish with all out 20 sec effort
• 6 min Cool Down

Workout#2 (duration 1hr20m) - Mixed up

• 5 min warm up
• 15 min single leg drill (3 repeats of 2 min left leg, 2 min right leg, 1 min both)
• 15 min steady riding
• 20 min low cadence (5 min 70 rpm, 7.5 min 60 rpm, 7.5 min 50 rpm).
• 20 min ladder effort (1 min easy, 1 min hard, 2 min easy, 2 min hard, 3 min easy, 3 min hard, 4 min easy, 4 min hard)
• 5 minute cool down.

This last one has a bit of everything and is just short enough to fit-in in the morning before work without having to get up crazy early.

On the subject of short work-outs, something else I am going to do a couple of times a week is the Tabata protocol adapted for cycling: 8 x 20-second intervals at maximum intensity with 10-second passive recoveries between intervals. That’s a four minute workout with two minutes and 40 seconds of all-out sprinting. I'll do a bit of warm-up, but the whole thing should be over within 15 minutes.