Tuesday 8 June 2010

26 days to Ironman Germany
54 days to Ironman UK

4 weeks until Ironman Germany and I’m now starting to switch my focus from training programming, to training and racing equipment.  Not a lot more I can do now from a training point of view.  This weekend I will be racing the VO2 Cerney Lake Triathlon (1500m lake swim, 40km bike, 10km run) to try the gear out one more time and make some more changes.  There were a few minor issues at Merchant Taylors that needed sorting out.  Another early (3:30am) start, but we actually quite enjoyed opening up the day last time around.

So, to the equipment!  Working backwards with the Running discipline – I was quite surprised when I emptied out the basement today to find quite a collection of shoes!

I’m sure there are people out there with much larger collections, and the crazy thing is they all serve a purpose!

I always ensure I have a couple of trainers available for IM racing, with at least one broken in 1-2months beforehand – enough time to break them in, and yet get the most from the cushioning.  I have a pair of Newton Gravity (top second left) that I’ve been using for races up to Half Marathon this year.  They encourage mid-forefoot running which suits my gait and improves running efficiency.  If I had the money I’d invest in a pair of Newton Isaacs which have cushioning in the rear/heel of the shoe, which comes in useful towards the end of a marathon when you sit-back a little more from fatigue.  I currently have the next two shoes along – Asics DS Trainer and and two old pairs of Mizuno Wave Elizir 3.  The DS Trainer is a narrow fit and feels quick but lacks the cushioning of the Mizuno WE, which I used last year and felt very comfortable during the worst of the achilles tendonitis.  I have yet to decide which of three shoes to use in Ironman Germany and UK, but there is still a little more time to get some long runs in.  I’m half-tempted to wear one trainer on each foot over ~6-8miles.  Not a clever idea but it’s a short-cut!

The other shoes are a collection of racing shoes/flats (light weight and limited cushioning – useful up to 10km), off-road shoes (less flexibility and soft studs for extra grip), track and off-road shoes with spikes for the track (& field) sprints and some x-country races. 

I mix up my (and clients) training programmes with all sorts of development and maintenance sessions depending on the mesocycle.  Ideally I’d have a double-run (2 x 1hr-1hr30), a track session (45mins of 400-1600 intervals), a medium intensity race-spec run (45mins-1hr15 @ mara race pace) and a couple of short brick sessions (run-off bike).  But it never turns out that way!

Based on my races and training output I’m on a par with the short distances last year, but a little better on long-distance, partic the run-off.  I did 3:08 at Roth last year, so would like to have a go at <3:00 at Ironman Germany.  My strength in triathlon is the run and the IM mara split is never too far away from a straight split, although I have yet to complete a Marathon @ 100%).

Looking forward to Saturday.  I have made a few changes to the bike which should speed me up a little albeit at the expense of comfort as I now have a very narrow set-up on the Ceepo.  I did 4hrs around Richmond Park the other day and took a couple of hrs for the shoulders to settle-in.  But then that’s the trade-off – comfort vs speed.  Comfort can wait until I’m a little older and start slowing down!!