2015 Race Preview
2015 Race Report
Time for my first proper race of the season. I can't complain too much about my preparation. It would have been nice to have done more on the bike and to have spent some real time out on my TT bike, and it would have been nice not have had a problem with my calf last week, and less stress from work but those are small issues and they won't really hurt my race.
Ignore the swim time from the official results, it is skewed by the long Turriff transition. By my own timing I clocked 13:02 last year.
I want to get inside 13 minutes for the swim. The pool is a strange size with handrails at the end and that does affect my swim time every year. Also the funny pool means it is 760m instead of 750m. That doesn't seem like a lot but it is about 10 seconds extra. Even given those factors I would like to go somewhere closer to 12:40. And I would like to make more out of the transition. It is a bit of a run to the bike racks and in previous years I have lost time on the run down and on the transition itself.
My bike time on this course was 40 minutes exactly last year for 13.1 miles. That was already close to a 20mph average so I don't really expect to go any faster this year. It is a bit weather dependent though. A calm and warm day and there is time to be made up here. A bit of a wind, a chill and some rain and I could easily throw away 5 minutes.
My second transition is normally pretty slick so nothing to gain there.
So to this point I have only aimed to nibble seconds, maybe a minute in total from last year's time. I should be here in 55 minutes-ish. Now the run is definitely a place where I can make some decent time. The course is short so I should run under 20 minutes despite it going up and down a fairly significant hill. I would really like to see that somewhere under the 19 minute mark if possible.
Anything under 1 hour 15 mins I will be happy with, under 1 hr 14 and I will be ecstatic. A bit of give and take for weather on the bike and I could go a couple of minutes over those and still come out happy.
As targets for Strathclyde I will have to get within 120% of the winner of my age-group and be in the top-4 to get an automatic place. If I don't get in the top-4 (likely) I still have to be within 120% to have any chance of a roll-down place. I should be aiming at that as a minimum standard in this lower quality race. I really want to be within 120% of the overall winner and be in a podium place for Vets. Those are both a bit dependent on who turns up but are both in the realms of possibility.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Monday, 11 April 2016
Training Plan - Week 16 - April 11 to 17
Triathlon race season has finally arrived with Turriff on Sunday.
I only get two chances to race before my trip to Strathclyde so I need to make the most of them and to treat them in the same way as my main race. So Saturday and Friday are both geared to prepare me for the race, and even earlier in the week there are some slight changes to try and deliver me to the weekend in the best condition possible.
Monday - Yoga session.
Easy run.
TPT Swim session.
Tuesday - Easy ride.
Light weights session.
Wednesday - TPT Fartlek.
Swim at Bucksburn.
Yoga session.
Thursday - Core session.
Easy run or ride.
Friday - Easy run.
Saturday - Yoga session.
Stretching session.
Sunday - Yoga session.
Turriff Triathlon.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
I only get two chances to race before my trip to Strathclyde so I need to make the most of them and to treat them in the same way as my main race. So Saturday and Friday are both geared to prepare me for the race, and even earlier in the week there are some slight changes to try and deliver me to the weekend in the best condition possible.
Monday - Yoga session.
Easy run.
TPT Swim session.
Tuesday - Easy ride.
Light weights session.
Wednesday - TPT Fartlek.
Swim at Bucksburn.
Yoga session.
Thursday - Core session.
Easy run or ride.
Friday - Easy run.
Saturday - Yoga session.
Stretching session.
Sunday - Yoga session.
Turriff Triathlon.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Training Review - Week 15 - April 4 to 10
Monday I decided to play safe and skip my run to protect the calf injury that I had been limping around on all day. I did go to swimming though. That went fairly well. A couple of calf twinges coming out of turns but other than that I actually came out of the water less pained than before.
Tuesday I was in two minds about resting my calf injury for another day but I decided to take an easy jog round the block to see how it was. It is a bit tight and achey but no longer the stabbing pain from the weekend. Probably still isn't ready for a serious test but I should be ok to get back onto gentle training already and hopefully be back up to speed early next week.
Wednesday I had an attack of common sense and decided not to run on my calf injury, but I did manage a trip to the pool. When I arrived and got changed I realised I hadn't started my GymPact and I didn't have any phone or wifi signal to start it. The fall back option is to do 30 minutes at 2miles per hour. That sounds easy if you are walking but is a decent pace in the pool. I decided I would just do a flat out 30 minutes and make sure I did at least a mile in that time.
I had a quick check of garmin to see my progress at 6 minutes and found it hadn't been counting laps. I stopped and fiddled with it a bit, and did another couple of lengths and it still wasn't working. So I turned it off and turned it on again. That worked but now I had to start from scratch with 400m of tired arms and the watch now said 1min and I hadn't started yet. I set off without resetting it (dumb in hindsight). I was trying to do the calls in my head from then on and fighting bouts of cramp as my calf strain tried to protect itself. I eventually clocked a further 2,100m in just over 39 mins. Total session of 2,500m in 45 mins. Not a great day, but not bad considering the cramp problems.
My longest swim session of the year, giving me my longest swim week of the year.
Thursday I decided on another easy loop to test out my calf strain. A bit quicker than Tuesday but still not particularly good.
Friday I didn't have time to fit anything in before we went to the cinema to see the Huntsman. When we got back in the evening I did a bit of a service on my winter bike so that I could take it out on the Saturday in what promised to be fairly terrible conditions.
Saturday was a planned club ride and some technical lessons on bike fitting. I had planned to just do the ride and then go home but I ended up staying for the rest of the day as well. The ride was a bit broken up as we stopped for some technique discussions at regular intervals. Even allowing for the breaks I actually rode quite well. Certainly better than I had expected to given all my missing bike miles and the conditions on the day.
Sunday's weather meant that I wasn't taking any bike outside so I decided to go for a long run instead. My calf strain is almost fixed but I wanted to build a bit of confidence on it so I decided to do everything I really shouldn't. I went for a long run, on an uneven surface, in the wet, with interspersed efforts trying to evade the zombies my 'Zombies, Run' app. All the possible things that might aggravate the existing injury. In hindsight that combination was probably a bit too high risk, but it seems to have worked out as I had no problems, even when I got a random zombie chase at the 9 miles mark and had to do a 100m effort.
In the afternoon I got the house to myself while the triathlon was on, so in between tracking athletes at Ironman South Africa and watching the Gold Coast Men's race I set up the turbo and spun away for 10 easy miles. Then I did a new rollering session and my first core session of the year. It seems the rollering I have been doing has been working, and that becomes abundantly clear when I try and roll an area that I haven't been doing in my previous routine.
While I am continuing to fall further behind my target bike miles for the year and well behind previous years I am actually not riding too badly for short sections. Time Trial season starts in the first week of May so I should get a better idea then, if not at Turriff next weekend.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Monday - Swim with TPT 2,050m (1.3 miles) in 55mins.
Tuesday - Easy Dyce loop 3.6 miles in 34 mins
Wednesday - Swim at Bucksburn 2,500m (1.6 miles) in 46 mins.
Thursday - Jog Dyce 3.9 miles in 35 mins.
Friday - Rest day.
Saturday - TPT Training day ride 21.9 miles in 2 hrs 18 mins.
Sunday - Long steady run 9.2 miles in 1 hour 20mins.
Turbo 10 miles in 38 mins.
Core session.
Rollering session.
Actuals - Swim 2.9 miles (4,550 m). Bike 31.9 miles. Run 16.7 miles. 1 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching/rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 28.8 (26.8) [30.9],
B 523.0 (637.7) [797.1],
R 243.1 (220.7) [249.4].
Tuesday I was in two minds about resting my calf injury for another day but I decided to take an easy jog round the block to see how it was. It is a bit tight and achey but no longer the stabbing pain from the weekend. Probably still isn't ready for a serious test but I should be ok to get back onto gentle training already and hopefully be back up to speed early next week.
Wednesday I had an attack of common sense and decided not to run on my calf injury, but I did manage a trip to the pool. When I arrived and got changed I realised I hadn't started my GymPact and I didn't have any phone or wifi signal to start it. The fall back option is to do 30 minutes at 2miles per hour. That sounds easy if you are walking but is a decent pace in the pool. I decided I would just do a flat out 30 minutes and make sure I did at least a mile in that time.
I had a quick check of garmin to see my progress at 6 minutes and found it hadn't been counting laps. I stopped and fiddled with it a bit, and did another couple of lengths and it still wasn't working. So I turned it off and turned it on again. That worked but now I had to start from scratch with 400m of tired arms and the watch now said 1min and I hadn't started yet. I set off without resetting it (dumb in hindsight). I was trying to do the calls in my head from then on and fighting bouts of cramp as my calf strain tried to protect itself. I eventually clocked a further 2,100m in just over 39 mins. Total session of 2,500m in 45 mins. Not a great day, but not bad considering the cramp problems.
My longest swim session of the year, giving me my longest swim week of the year.
Thursday I decided on another easy loop to test out my calf strain. A bit quicker than Tuesday but still not particularly good.
Friday I didn't have time to fit anything in before we went to the cinema to see the Huntsman. When we got back in the evening I did a bit of a service on my winter bike so that I could take it out on the Saturday in what promised to be fairly terrible conditions.
Saturday was a planned club ride and some technical lessons on bike fitting. I had planned to just do the ride and then go home but I ended up staying for the rest of the day as well. The ride was a bit broken up as we stopped for some technique discussions at regular intervals. Even allowing for the breaks I actually rode quite well. Certainly better than I had expected to given all my missing bike miles and the conditions on the day.
Sunday's weather meant that I wasn't taking any bike outside so I decided to go for a long run instead. My calf strain is almost fixed but I wanted to build a bit of confidence on it so I decided to do everything I really shouldn't. I went for a long run, on an uneven surface, in the wet, with interspersed efforts trying to evade the zombies my 'Zombies, Run' app. All the possible things that might aggravate the existing injury. In hindsight that combination was probably a bit too high risk, but it seems to have worked out as I had no problems, even when I got a random zombie chase at the 9 miles mark and had to do a 100m effort.
In the afternoon I got the house to myself while the triathlon was on, so in between tracking athletes at Ironman South Africa and watching the Gold Coast Men's race I set up the turbo and spun away for 10 easy miles. Then I did a new rollering session and my first core session of the year. It seems the rollering I have been doing has been working, and that becomes abundantly clear when I try and roll an area that I haven't been doing in my previous routine.
While I am continuing to fall further behind my target bike miles for the year and well behind previous years I am actually not riding too badly for short sections. Time Trial season starts in the first week of May so I should get a better idea then, if not at Turriff next weekend.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Monday - Swim with TPT 2,050m (1.3 miles) in 55mins.
Tuesday - Easy Dyce loop 3.6 miles in 34 mins
Wednesday - Swim at Bucksburn 2,500m (1.6 miles) in 46 mins.
Thursday - Jog Dyce 3.9 miles in 35 mins.
Friday - Rest day.
Saturday - TPT Training day ride 21.9 miles in 2 hrs 18 mins.
Sunday - Long steady run 9.2 miles in 1 hour 20mins.
Turbo 10 miles in 38 mins.
Core session.
Rollering session.
Actuals - Swim 2.9 miles (4,550 m). Bike 31.9 miles. Run 16.7 miles. 1 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching/rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 28.8 (26.8) [30.9],
B 523.0 (637.7) [797.1],
R 243.1 (220.7) [249.4].
Monday, 4 April 2016
Training Plan - Week 15 - April 4 to 10
Monday I hope to get out for an easy run to make sure that the damage to my calf isn't anything serious. That could be dropped in favour of just a 'safe' trip to swimming instead.
Thursday if the weather has improved enough I may try a commute to and from work on the bike.
This is my last full week of training (calf injury excepted) before I have an actual triathlon race to think about. So next week will be a streamlined plan focussed on racing.
Monday - Yoga session.
Easy run?
TPT Swim session.
Tuesday - Easy ride.
Light weights session.
Wednesday - TPT Fartlek.
Swim at Bucksburn.
Yoga session.
Thursday - Core session
Easy run or ride.
Friday - Rest day.
Saturday - Long run.
Stretching session.
Sunday - Yoga session.
Long ride.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Thursday if the weather has improved enough I may try a commute to and from work on the bike.
This is my last full week of training (calf injury excepted) before I have an actual triathlon race to think about. So next week will be a streamlined plan focussed on racing.
Monday - Yoga session.
Easy run?
TPT Swim session.
Tuesday - Easy ride.
Light weights session.
Wednesday - TPT Fartlek.
Swim at Bucksburn.
Yoga session.
Thursday - Core session
Easy run or ride.
Friday - Rest day.
Saturday - Long run.
Stretching session.
Sunday - Yoga session.
Long ride.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Training Review - Week 14 - March 28 to April 3
Annoyingly the post that I had written for this week has disappeared.
Basically, Monday I had a holiday so I did a decent bike ride in the morning and then swam at night, I then ticked through the week struggling to recover from Sunday's race. That culminated in a long slow run on Saturday and somehow I managed to pull my right calf muscle.
That then cost me a ride on Sunday so despite getting Monday's ride in I still didn't make any inroads on my bike miles.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Monday - Ride 30 miles in 2 hours.
Swim with TPT 1.3 miles (2,100m) in 56 mins.
Tuesday - Run 3.9 miles in 32mins.
Wednesday - Run to bucksburn 4.5 miles in 42 mins.
Swim at Bucksburn 0.9 miles (1400m) in 31mins.
Thursday - Ride 7.2 miles in 40 mins.
Friday - Rest day
Saturday - Jog 7.1 miles in 1hr 6 mins.
Stretching / rollering / massage
Sunday - Injured day.
Actuals - Swim 2.2 miles ( m). Bike 37.2 miles. Run 15.5 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching/rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 25.9 (24.9) [28.7],
B 491.1 (592.1) [740.2],
R 219.3 (205.4) [232.1].
Basically, Monday I had a holiday so I did a decent bike ride in the morning and then swam at night, I then ticked through the week struggling to recover from Sunday's race. That culminated in a long slow run on Saturday and somehow I managed to pull my right calf muscle.
That then cost me a ride on Sunday so despite getting Monday's ride in I still didn't make any inroads on my bike miles.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 45.5 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Monday - Ride 30 miles in 2 hours.
Swim with TPT 1.3 miles (2,100m) in 56 mins.
Tuesday - Run 3.9 miles in 32mins.
Wednesday - Run to bucksburn 4.5 miles in 42 mins.
Swim at Bucksburn 0.9 miles (1400m) in 31mins.
Thursday - Ride 7.2 miles in 40 mins.
Friday - Rest day
Saturday - Jog 7.1 miles in 1hr 6 mins.
Stretching / rollering / massage
Sunday - Injured day.
Actuals - Swim 2.2 miles ( m). Bike 37.2 miles. Run 15.5 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching/rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 25.9 (24.9) [28.7],
B 491.1 (592.1) [740.2],
R 219.3 (205.4) [232.1].
Saturday, 2 April 2016
Race Review - Moray Roadrunners 10k
I have always worked in min/mile pace for running times, mostly out of habit. But for a 40 minute 10k that means trying to keep track of 6:26.22 per mile and just gets messy. But 4:00 per km is simple. So for the first time ever I switched my garmin over to pace reading in kilometres. And that also extends this review as I now have 10 sections to cover instead of 6 and a bit.
I started the morning with a rollering session and then 30 minutes of running yoga. Then I headed out to the course nice and early so that I could get registered and warmed-up in time.
I collected my number and then tried to do a bit of a jog to warm up before heading back to the hall for the race briefing.
The course was described as gently undulating. I suppose that is a fair assessment in hindsight, although I might not have fully agreed with that description while staring up gradients at a few points around the course. The description also didn't allow for the headwind for the first 2 miles, or the sunburn. I knew I was in good form so I planned to aim at 4 min/km and see how far I could hold that pace. If I could get to 7 or 8 k before paying the price for that I should still be finished in a respectable 42-ish and I would have an idea of my chances of a fast time later in the year.
The first couple of miles were into a headwind but I decided I would still go with the time targets and if that meant working a bit too hard into the early wind I would be able to ease off slightly later on during the wind-assisted return leg. I did a last bit of a jog off the front so that I could walk back to the start at the last minute and be nice and close to the front of the race. Seems some habits from back in my more serious days just won't go away.
I started off pretty fast. Primarily to get into a space away from the pack, but also to give me a few seconds of leeway later on if I slipped behind my planned 4 min/km pace later on. That turned into being 7 seconds too fast through the first kilometer and as I settled off that pace to something more sensible quite a few people went past. I just ignored them, checked the watch now said I was close to the 4:00 mark and settled in for the next couple of k's. Through 3,000m in 11:57 and doing the maths in my head and I was still happy enough, a few seconds lost whilst still going into the early headwind was nothing to worry about.
Then came the hill that I wasn't expecting and 'undulating' turned into a short sharp climb. I pushed on here, ignoring the fact that I was passing a few people and having to work a lot harder, despite that I still lost a chunk of time on the climb. 4:19 for that kilometre and I am suddenly 16 seconds off the pace, and out on my own with no-one to work off.
Fortunately a Forres Harrier had taken the same approach to the hill and pulled up alongside me. He was wheezing badly, which was a bit distracting, but he had a good pace going and had obviously gauged his effort to get to the top of the hill better than I had as he started to ease past. I tucked in nicely behind him and tried to follow as closely as I could. That took us nicely though the next kilometer slightly under plan and put me at 20:13 through the 5k mark.
I knew there had to be a downhill at some point and the course and I was feeling quite comfortable so I started to try and work out if I could actually go inside 40 minutes and I got back on the maths in my head. Where can I make back 13 seconds? I thought about trying to even it out for the whole second half of the race and run 3:57s but I decided instead to try and just stay with my original plan of 4:00s for as long as I could and then if I had anything left in the last mile I could try and chase those few seconds.
Apparently I still looked quite comfortable at this point. It certainly felt that I was working harder than that picture suggests.
Through another couple of bumps and steady kilometres and I wondered if the course was ever going to give back elevation during the second half. The guy from Forres was making the most of the rolling sections as he started to get away from me. He managed to pass a young girl ahead of us and she became my new target. Annoyingly she had her coach / dad / friend on a mountain bike pedalling along beside her for a big chunk of the race.
And then at the 30 minute mark suddenly we were onto a downhill. And at this point you can see across to the finish, and that is still nearly 3k away but it doesn't look that far, and it is definitely downhill from here. Then the course seems to curve away from the finish line. It doesn't really, it just heads on a parallel so it feels like you aren't getting any closer even though the downhill means the speed is definitely going up.
With about a mile to go there is a left turn towards the finish and after that turn I knew it was possible to go sub-40, I was taking back chunks of time and gaining on the runners ahead of me. I finally caught the young girl and her mountain biking supporter and I could see the crowd and the finish flags now.
With a single kilometre to go the clock says 36:00! All I have to do is find another 4:00, but the course designer has added another 'undulation' up to the finish. I know I made back nearly 10 seconds in the previous downhill kilometre and if I can keep the same effort level that I did for 9 that should be enough.
I had to dig quite deep for that last kilometer, as can be seen from the look on my face as I cross the line. And I was over the line before I felt the watch buzz and remembered to press stop. It then took me another couple of steps to get my breath back, take a couple of steps and check the watch.
39:49!!
My first ever sub-40 10km. Finally breaking my 21 year old PB of 40:24.
The official results even rounded down from my hand timing to give me a 39:47!
Way inside my main target for the year to run under 42 minutes!
Inside my stretch target for the year to run under 40 minutes!
Yes all of those exclamation marks are warranted.
The only thing I didn't quite get was my stretch target to 'run my age'. On race day I was 39.75 years old, and my time was 39.78 minutes. Two seconds faster or a week later and I would have been able to cross that off the list as well. With the wind conditions and the bumpy course I think I can run a bit quicker yet.
I then scoffed a couple of the awesome cakes at the finish hut and took the bike out for a lap of the course as a warm down.
Here is the full breakdown for the statisticians among you.
| Splits | Time | Cumulative |
| 1 | 03:53 | 03:53 |
| 2 | 04:02 | 07:55 |
| 3 | 04:02 | 11:57 |
| 4 | 04:19 | 16:16 |
| 5 | 03:57 | 20:13 |
| 6 | 04:00 | 24:13 |
| 7 | 03:59 | 28:12 |
| 8 | 03:58 | 32:10 |
| 9 | 03:50 | 36:00 |
| 10 | 03:49 | 39:49 |
| Summary | 39:49 | 39:49 |
Full results here
Official time 39:47
End of Q1 Review
So my targets for the year can be found here but they are not easily translatable to here so I am just going to cover them on a 'by exception' basis.
Here are some pretty pictures of my progress.
So the swimming mile numbers are pretty good. Well above target for the year and close to my stretch target, despite a couple of weeks of no swimming at the start of Feb. This has been by far my biggest swim year. Doing two sessions every week is definitely making a difference to the miles counts but I am not sure it is actually helping with the speed. My T20 time trial was faster and I have odd bursts of fast reps during sessions but I am not really sustaining that. It will be interesting to see what happens in a race, or even what happens when I take a proper rest into a swim session.
Still another month until Knockburn opens and I get to try out my new race wetsuit.
Nowhere near any of the swim speed targets yet, but that isn't a surprise since I haven't been in a swim race yet.
Biking is almost the opposite story. Quite far behind on miles (nearly 100 miles / 20%) but and the pace for long rides is absolutely shocking. On the other side of this one I did put in some pretty good turbo sessions and the new road bike feels pretty comfortable. I still really need a change of weather conditions if I am going to catch up on the miles on my own.
Hopefully once I get into TT and triathlon seasons I will get a better idea of how I am actually biking.
Nowhere near a bike race target yet as I haven't even been on the TT bike yet.
Running is just a huge success story. Ignoring the 2011 line this is again the biggest year I have done in terms of running miles. Way over targets, and over my stretch targets as well for a lot of Q1. And this isn't just a case of putting in lots of 'junk' miles. The club fartlek sessions and the 'Zombies, Run' efforts in the middle of my runs are definitely upping my pace in sections of all those runs. And that is all paying off.
The 40-minute 10k crosses one of my race targets off the list but also gives me huge confidence in my running.
Overall, it is difficult to measure until race season starts and I can see what actually happens on the bike. Swimming and running are inconsistent but I think I can prepare for those with a couple of days before races and when I have prepped well they are going better than ever.
I have entered an age-group championship race, so June 4th will cross another target off the list during Q2.
Here are some pretty pictures of my progress.
So the swimming mile numbers are pretty good. Well above target for the year and close to my stretch target, despite a couple of weeks of no swimming at the start of Feb. This has been by far my biggest swim year. Doing two sessions every week is definitely making a difference to the miles counts but I am not sure it is actually helping with the speed. My T20 time trial was faster and I have odd bursts of fast reps during sessions but I am not really sustaining that. It will be interesting to see what happens in a race, or even what happens when I take a proper rest into a swim session.
Still another month until Knockburn opens and I get to try out my new race wetsuit.
Nowhere near any of the swim speed targets yet, but that isn't a surprise since I haven't been in a swim race yet.
Biking is almost the opposite story. Quite far behind on miles (nearly 100 miles / 20%) but and the pace for long rides is absolutely shocking. On the other side of this one I did put in some pretty good turbo sessions and the new road bike feels pretty comfortable. I still really need a change of weather conditions if I am going to catch up on the miles on my own.
Hopefully once I get into TT and triathlon seasons I will get a better idea of how I am actually biking.
Nowhere near a bike race target yet as I haven't even been on the TT bike yet.
Running is just a huge success story. Ignoring the 2011 line this is again the biggest year I have done in terms of running miles. Way over targets, and over my stretch targets as well for a lot of Q1. And this isn't just a case of putting in lots of 'junk' miles. The club fartlek sessions and the 'Zombies, Run' efforts in the middle of my runs are definitely upping my pace in sections of all those runs. And that is all paying off.
The 40-minute 10k crosses one of my race targets off the list but also gives me huge confidence in my running.
Overall, it is difficult to measure until race season starts and I can see what actually happens on the bike. Swimming and running are inconsistent but I think I can prepare for those with a couple of days before races and when I have prepped well they are going better than ever.
I have entered an age-group championship race, so June 4th will cross another target off the list during Q2.
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