9 Days in Lanzarote

The English weather has finally cracked me and I’ve decided to head to Lanzarote for 9 days. It will be my first time on the Island so I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s actually like as I’ve heard so many good stories about the Island and it’s been known as a triathlon Mecca for years. I’ll be staying at Tri Sports Lanzarote and I’m told the accommodation is really nice, it’s run by a British couple Daz and Debs.

Since my last update my training has been going really well and I’m now in my 4th week of using the Xhale training software. The software is free to use and the idea behind it is that it’s a simple way of tracking your training, it’s quick to upload, and easy to understand. You get a range of graphs and pie charts which show you everything you need ranging from cumulative time spent in each training zone, distance covered in each sport to more techy information such as average normalized power for each week on the bike. It’s not as high tech as training peaks so if you’re someone that likes to spend hours looking at what you did/ or were supposed to do on your bike rather then actually riding it then this is probably not the programme for you. However if you are someone that wants something simple and easy to use which will allow you to keep tabs on your training, look for trends and progression then this will help greatly.

With regards to my training I’ve been knocking in some good run sessions now with City of Norwich on a Tuesday and Thursday and can really notice the benefits already. On a Tuesday we run around a grass loop and normally cover round 25-30 minutes of hard efforts. On a Thursday it’s on the track and can be anything from 200s in sub 30 to 2k efforts in around 6m.25. If you are not racing on the weekend you normally have to finish off with a 2k effort, sometimes this can be done solo while everyone else is warming down and your trying to drag your sorry ass round the track, though the motivation of knowing I’m going round my girlfriend’s after and there’s always a nice meal waiting for me helps a lot!

Beats stopping in the freezing wind and rain!

I also did some re-testing on the bike which came in at:
1m- 622w
5m- 426w
20m- 348
Since the start of December I’ve found 27w on my 1 minute, 19w on my 5m, and 8w on my 20 minute. I’m really pleased with them gains as it’s only been 6 weeks. As I said in my previous post I’ve been really strict in sticking with my power zones but seem to be reaping the rewards and I feel as though I’m getting better every week. My man cave is built now and it’s sweet, speakers on the ceiling, computer hidden into the wooden walls with connectivity to the server which has all the music on, TV for watching highlights of some epic races to give you motivation, or sufferrfests, or even porn if that floats your boat.

I’ve been in there training every Friday evening for my standard turbo session, it’s becoming a regular thing now. Also as I’m such a nice boyfriend I’ve even been treating Laura to the use of my old racing bike and my sisters cycling shoes so she can do the turbo session as well, forget the cinema or going out for meal on a Friday night, get on the turbo and work out a bit of sweat!

I think it’s actually really improved her running as well as she used to run like 9m 30 miles but is now down to around 8m 30s, I wish I could knock a minute off my cruising pace in 3-4 weeks!
On a more serious note though the whole point of the shed was for me to have somewhere to do the power testing so if you are interested in getting it done send me an email at joeskipper@hotmail.co.uk The testing is all done using heart rate and power so if you are thinking that you would like to get the testing done but don’t have a power meter to train with it doesn’t matter s we set all the training zones using power for heart rate as well so it will greatly help you and allow you to be specific with your training.

If anyone is looking at doing a end of season fast half Ironman check out the Rubicon half in Yorkshire. I’ll be racing there it’s on the 31st August and looks set to be a great race. It would be good to get as many people racing as possible. From a personal point of view it’s going to be my last hard workout before Challenge Weymouth on the 14th September. If anyone else is planning on racing Weymouth or Wales this race would be a good opportunity to get one last hit out, or practice your nutrition strategy before the big day, it’s also a good opportunity if you race with power to practice your ironman power.

I’ll try and do some short blogs on a regular basis while out in Lanzarote with what training I’m getting up to and also what it’s like out there.

Oh and since my last post I’ve picked up an addiction to Meridian foods nut butters and am going through this haul on a weekly basis!