Do you ever get the feeling you have turned a corner in your training? For a while things seem so-so, then all of a sudden things get serious? For me that turning point was last Sunday’s Honolulu Metric Century Ride.
So far this year I have done most of my bike training on my TT bike. My trusty, not-so-new Cervelo P3. I spruced it up with a new Garmin head until, new Garmin Rally power meter pedals, a new Selle Italia saddle, and a new Xlab saddle mounted bottle holder. No faster, but great looking! Honestly, my original Garmin 530 died, and my original Garmin Vector pedals were near death. I grabbed the Rally pedals on Black Friday at REI and saved so much I bought my wife an Apple watch for Christmas. True story!
The last time I did a mass start Metric Century was in 2019, and I rode my Cervello in preparation for Honu. The roads were rough then, and have not improved. I rode the Cervello up on the North Shore as recently as February and my shoulders really took a beating. I decided I would be better off on my Merlin road bike with its wide HED wheels and 25mm tires.
I was right. Those bigger tires at reduced pressure work wonders on rough roads. My limiter turned out to be insufficient training time in the road position. My hands and wrists were not accustomed to supporting me. That’s OK, I had a great time and my legs felt fine. Tons of endurance.
It is one thing to be able to ride for four hours and not feel trashed, quite another to be able to do that and go steady and fast. What cyclists call turning a big gear. How do we get there? Workouts that focus on muscular endurance. That starts now.
My year began with an emphasis on running, and dealing with my goofy heart. After the Hapalua earlier this month I concluded that my heart arrhythmias were not dangerous but were limiting my performance, particularly the run, so I adopted a strategy of power walking.
Since January I have been doing base training. Long Sunday bike rides at low intensity, just enough high intensity during the week to stay fresh. From now until June, the emphasis will shift from running to the bike, with more time spent at or above race intensity. That does not mean tossing out the long and slow stuff.
Earlier this week I was honored to participate in a live coaching Q & A with Joe Friel, hosted by Fast Talk Labs. For those who don’t know, Joe is the author of several top tier books on training, most notably The Triathlete’s Training Bible and Fast After 50. Much of Joe’s current coaching philosophy is based on the research done by Dr. Stephen Seiler, another Fast Talk contributor. What Joe does so well is to take the scientific research and boil it down to a few simple, easy to understand concepts.
Seiler brought us the 80/20 concept. Friel puts it this way: Do five workouts a week, two high intensity, three low intensity. Never compromise rest and sleep time.
I think this rule works well for single sport athletes, but triathlon training requires the available training time to be spread across three activities. Four if you count strength training. The thing to remember is to keep the additional workouts easy. That is, instead of two and three, you might have two and four or two and five. Only one low intensity workout should be long, which on the bike means 2-4 hours. As for strength training, keep it low reps at high loads to avoid adding any more aerobic efforts.
My favorite place by far to train for Honu is Pineapple Hill. After I get to the top I go past the Dole Plantation and the coffee place, then turn right and head down Kaukonahua Road to the intersection with Farrington Highway, where I turn around and retrace my route. The long downhill is exciting! Being comfortable on Pineapple Hill makes the long climb to Hawi feel less overwhelming.
As you train towards whatever goal you have set for yourself, I hope you will have an experience like mine. The fresh excitement feels good. Just don’t let it spin out of control and become a problem that needs to be dealt with.