Before I bore you all to death rambling on about my training and how that the grass is always greener on the other side I need to tell you about these sweet podcasts for any hard turbo session, actually any session where your just spending time in the pain cave these are what you need. Two of my favorite ones are:
Best of 2012 (features bits of commentary from the classics and big tours)
https://soundcloud.com/velobeats/velobeats-best-of-2012
Oh Trap (if Bradley Wiggins winning the tour and Olympic double motivates you this is the one for you)
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=VeloBeats%2C%20VeloBeats%20OH%20TRAP!
As well as this it was great to see Man Tri out here at Kinetic getting some decent training in and also catching up with the guys who I haven’t seen in a while. The highlights of the week were going up the long Cabrerra climb which is an HC ranked climb that is only 45 minute ride away.
Ride here:
http://app.strava.com/activities/43405690
And although I didn’t do the final ride with Man tri it seemed as though they really enjoyed it and the ride was an absolute corker in gorgeous weather.
Ride here
http://app.strava.com/activities/43611144
On my own training front it’s been going really well. Every time I’ve tested myself on our local Climb I’ve got faster since I started training in November so that’s a massive positive. As well as this I’ve been getting in some great sessions. In the Pool I’ve been swimming with Hollie Lawrence who actually races for Starley as well, and while I say swimming with her I’ve literally been getting chicked every session, thank god I don’t have to race her!
Cycling Wise I’ve been getting some awesome sessions in . Here are a few which I’ve done since the start of March:
Tempo & VO2 intervals
http://app.strava.com/activities/42674679
Threshold 2*20s
http://app.strava.com/activities/43236636
Threshold & VO2
http://app.strava.com/activities/43691697
Long Ride, Quite hilly
http://app.strava.com/activities/43905350
Threshold 2*20
http://app.strava.com/activities/44176018
Run training has also been going really well. I’m doing two good sessions a week, one of which is an interval session which ranges from 6*1K to 5*2.2K reps.
Here are some of the Run sessions I’ve been doing since March:
6*0.95 mile
http://app.strava.com/activities/42769975
Long run, picking pace up as it goes along
http://app.strava.com/activities/43107817
6*1k
http://app.strava.com/activities/43691484
Long Run, again picking the pace up as it goes along
http://app.strava.com/activities/44233717
So that’s pretty much the meat if you want the Veg just follow me on strava as I post the run and biking on there. I also wanted to mention as well that if there are any people who read this that wanted to come on a training camp but feel as if they are unable to as they are by themselves. Don’t worry about that, get yourself out to Kinetic and train with us as there are 3 of us out here at the moment that are staying until May. Myself, John Baker, and Rob Brundish, It works really well as we all take it in turns cooking so you could come out and join in with us. And were not that bad at cooking, to be honest I’ve heard some describe us as house trained domestic goddesses! J
On Sunday I competed in the Pulpi Duathlon which was part of a league in Andalucía, the Pulpi one was the last one of the league. Unfortunately I didn’t know about the other ones otherwise I would have given them a go as well. Any way I’ll cut to the chase, it was a 5k first run 20k bike and a 2.5k second run so pretty short and it was draft legal.
Being a draft legal race meant it was essential to run at what ever pace the group went at as you can’t afford to let them go. The race started off fast and was a 2 lap run, I have to admit it was quite physical with a lot of pushing and shoving but it didn’t really bother me as I felt comfortable and gave as good as I got. In fact one chopper was trying to push me out of the way and I stood my ground which messed him up and I think ruined his rhythm as he got dropped after that! J
Anyway the group pretty much stayed together with 1 guy about 40-50 meters ahead coming into T1. I picked up the pace for the down hill run into transition as I’ve got really good at downhill running since being out here and I though that if anyone was on the limit this would be a good way to really put them into the red and drop them at the start of the bike, plus my transitions are probably slower then a teenage girl getting ready for a night out.
First run is here:
http://app.strava.com/activities/44777203
Starting the bike I came out just at the back of the pack as like I said my transitions aren’t the best, something which I am really going to have to practice. The bike course was 4 laps which pretty much went up a long drag to a roundabout and then back down to the town with a little technical bit and then back up the hill again. As we started the bike a few people tried to get away, which I have to admit were pretty tame attacks. It was like, Actually I really don’t know what it was like but it certainly wasn’t going to get away so I waited until a few of them had tired themselves out which took all of about 2-3 minutes then put my head down and went full gas taking one other guy with me. We carried on working together until the last lap where I attempted to drop him. I waited until he was on the front coming into the technical part then took a risk around two of the corners going full gas between them and up the hill, unfortunately he was pretty switched on and closed me down so for the rest of the bike we took turns but no one really putting any effort in now as the run was approaching and when you attack the other guy like that there’s no way if he’s got any sense he’s going to co- operate any more. Especially when the chasers were more then a minute behind with only a 2.5k run to go.
Bike Leg
http://app.strava.com/activities/44778385
Last run. I somehow managed to have a quick T2. Literally just ran really hard for the first mile and then by that point I knew I had it in the bag. I carried on pushing the pace to the line though. I was really pleased with how my running was through this race and I managed to win by 40 seconds which was great but the big positive is I’m running a lot quicker at the moment then I was in the middle of last season and I can tell there’s plenty more to come.
Last run here
http://app.strava.com/activities/44777202
Just before I go I’ve managed to get an entry into the ICAN Malaga triathlon on the 7th April http://www.icantriathlon.com/eventos-ican/ican-malaga-2013/ it will be my first triathlon and I definitely feel as though the form is coming along nicely so am looking forward to having a good race. It will be good to see some more brits there so if you fancy an early season half get yourself signed up.
Good luck racing this year Joe and great to hear training is going so well.
I’ve published your news on Beyond Going Long here: http://beyondgoinglong.co.uk/?p=2903