Training peak reached

Well, with merely 33 days until IMWA, my training peak workload has been reached. This week, with my 2 days off, I clocked a huge 25:22 hours. That included 7km of swimming, 564km of riding and 58km of running. By and far my biggest week ever! I feel surprisingly good after all that too!

Yesterday for my 4:30 hr ride, I joined the Runners World crew for some hill repeats. The numbers were down a fair bit, with a few people away and a few 'CBF's'. But Big Greg, Hue, Nick, Greggie and Phab set out and did Ewen St, Hale Rd and Rebold Hill repeats. One trip up Ewen St (I think Phab and Greggie skipped this one!) then 5 x Hale Rd's. These were relatively easy, as we turn around about half way down the steep or Western side and the Eastern side is much more of a gentle slope. I felt pretty strong and stayed in the tri bars for most of the time. Then over to Rebold hill where we were to ride until a bit after 8am. I lost count of these, but after looking at my HRM graph later, it was 8 repeats. That pretty much took the edge off my legs! I managed to lap everyone at least once. Not that says much! After a spin back top the coffee shop, where I topped up my bidons and had a quick pit stop, I was off for another 2 hours.

There was a strong southerly blowing, so I rode RTR via East Perth and Mt Henry bridge, which ensured I had a tail wind to come home with from Port Beach. On the way down the Kwinana Fwy path to Canning bridge I passed Scotty and gave him a wave. From Freo home I had the wind behind me. That was great fun. I love going fast. I think I probably averaged 45 all the way up the coast. Total distance ended up being 132km. By the time I got home, my neck and shoulders had had enough. That 564km of riding had taken its toll there.

Today I had a 3hr ride and 30min brick run. The legs were certainly feeling the effects of all those hill repeats today.

This next week is an easier/race rehearsal week. I will re-test my 5k TT instead of my long run. Then I hope to ride the IMWA course next Sat. Then one more big week before I start the taper...I can't wait! Bring it on!

Using the Polar software, I pulled together a few stats. In comparing my training in 2007 to this year. In the 161 days to 1/11 (23 weeks) here are some key numbers;

Total training time 229 hrs v 288 hrs (26% increase)
Cycling Km's 4096 v 5026 (23% increase)
Running Km's 632 v 963 (52% increase)
Swimming - the same, except avg velocity has increased 9%

For an 'avg' week (km) in 2007 I did 3.4/178/29 and in 2009 it is 4.9/218/42.

What these numbers don't show is the quality of the work. The avg velocity of the avg week of running and cycling is up 7% and swimming 9%, but thats just stats. I have been focusing on doing more intensity each week in all 3 disciplines. So hopefully come race day it will all pay off!