Last times I posted about the difficulties in planning training and then executing that plan. I think it was all a secret precursor to admitting that this big week was going off track. What looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily work well in practice and 2 heavy races, some travel and a lot of training have taken their toll. I spent a day in denial, but when I couldn’t put out a reasonable power on the bike the signs were there.
What put the final nail in the coffin was a trip to the massage table. I think it was hard work for both of us! It certainly took longer than usual and didn’t clear everything up. I’ll be making another trip shortly I think and it’ll be twice a week in the run up to Busso. As I said the main focus of my taper is to clear fatigue and get myself fresh for my race. Whilst I’m not into that taper yet I think it’s best I go with how I feel and train as best I can. To put that in perspective I’m still putting out at least 4.5 hours a day, but I’m watching the quality and cutting back where I don’t see benefits.
So the big week becomes another basic week, well of sorts I can’t say I’m entirely on the schedule. Just getting in what works from swimming, cycling and running. I’m hoping that with a good nights sleep I’ll be up tomorrow and able to put in one decent long run to finish that side of things off. I’ve been running 1 hour easy and feeling I could go longer so it should be fine, it’d just be nice to have a little zip in the legs. On the cycling side of things, I’ll keep up a fairly solid effort, without too much pressure. The race in Port showed me my legs are ready, if I can’t add much now then so be it.
I already find myself thinking beyond my taper and Busso. Whatever happens I’ll have a roughly 2 week break from serious training, just keep the swimming going as best I can. Then it’s a matter of a good month of putting that basic week into practice, slowly building it up till Epic Camp in February. That’ll be my first big week of the New Year and if my experience in Italy is anything to go by, it’ll be very big. They’ll be a couple more cycles and then it’s back to Port for the Ironman.
Ok, I’m trying to squeeze a post out of not much news. I’d say what this latest cycle has taught me is how difficult it is to put together quality training along with lots of racing. I think I’ve dealt with this for the coming year with the schedule cut backs, but I’m far more aware of the issue. The January to March build up for Ironman Australia will be my biggest chance to develop next year. After that I will be looking at month long cycles between my main races. There’s opportunities to improve there, but not so much. I think I’ll also have to consider the issue of genuinely having training races. That’s to say not completely hammering myself in all 3 disciplines if the cost is to a planned training block.
Let’s not make this all negative, I’m tired because of quality training and racing. I think it’s fair to say I’m probably in the best triathlon shape I’ve achieved so far. I’m learning from my experiences out here and it’s going to make me a better athlete next year. The next stage of the process is the taper, I’m sure I’ve something to learn here, but I’m doing my best to make the learning curve steep.
