Sunday, August 12, 2007

A couple solid days of training

Back to some training with the group....we've got a couple additions right now...Terenzo Bozzone is in town to train with the group before Worlds, and we've also got Kieran Doe here training. Terenzo spent some time here after the Vancouver WC, he's a funny guy, and a great guy to train with.

Here's a recap of the past 4 days or so of training.

Thursday:
I headed over to the treadmill early in the morning, to get my hard workout before hitting the road for some 2XU work.

20' warm-up
2 rounds of (3' @ 11 mph (2%), 2' @ 11 mph (4%), 1' @ 11 mph (6%) all with 3' ez in between
A tuner-upper for the weekend Joel called it.
A 10' warm-down to finish off the run. The hardest of those intervals I found were the 2' efforts at 4%, they were long enough and steep enough to start to feel it!

A 60' ez spin finished off the day of training.

Friday:
We had a big group at Thetis Lake in the morning for the swim. A small island warm-up loop, then the main set called for 2 big island loops (1 steady, 1 HARD). Our group is really swimming well right now, and with the addition of Terenzo and Kieran, we were flying today! The steady loop we swam in the wetsuits, and went through in 15:45.

The wetsuits came off for the hard one (Kieran kept his on). Kieran was setting a great pace on the front and we were soon strung out in a line behind him. We ended up losing contact with Kieran somewhere after the turn at the big island, and I was doing all I could to hang on to Terenzo's feet. I kept having to surge to get back on, as were Simon and Colin behind me. I pulled up alongside Terenzo and A Mac by the end of the loop, and we finished in 15:30, which turned out to be 20" faster than the official non-wetsuit loop record held by Colin. Though this one won't count for any of us, as we had the lead-out from Kieran in the wetsuit. All in all, a really solid swim today.

We did a 50' run at Thetis after the swim, it started as a group run with Simon and Terenzo, but after 10' of running uphill on this insane trail (and thinking I was a mountain goat) we (Colin, Kyle, AP and I) branched off and found some flatter terrain to run on.

Saturday:
My legs paid dearly from that mountain goat excursion yesterday! My quads were extremely sore today, as were Colin's, Kyle's and others. Today was a TOUGH couple of workouts back to back.

Leave as a group from Thetis on the bike, for about a 35' warm-up ride out towards East Sooke. Then it was into a tough rolling 27km loop as a group. I was feeling pretty good on the bike, until I went out the back of the group on one of the first climbs. I managed to work my way back to the group, and back into the rotation. I hung in, working really hard, until this massive climb at around 18km. This was a long climb, and my legs were completely shot. I was dropped like a rock. By the time I managed to drag myself over the top, the group was up the road, and AP who was dropped, was getting the moto-pace from Joel. I was left to ride the last 9km solo back to the start.

285 W avg
27km
46:15
35km/hr

We had a quick change, and then onto the Galloping Goose trail for a 10' warm-up jog, before the run workout.

3km tempo - 10:10 (3:23,3:25,3:22)
2km tempo + - 6:50 (3:15, 3:35)
3 X 1km pace - 3:19, 3:11, 3:16
4 X 400 hard

Let's just say my legs were completely trashed after the workout. The group ran really well...Simon setting blistering paces on the front w. Terenzo, Kyle and AP right there, and Kirsten was running like an animal as well.

We rode easy back to Thetis after the run...and my legs were toast.

Sunday:
An easy, easy 30' run this morning. The legs were pretty sore at the beginning, but loosened up as I got into the run. A Mac had the same run, as we're racing next weekend in Kelowna. The rest of the group is still in hard training for World's, so they all backed up yesterday's workout with a 90' long run this morning.

We swam at Thetis this morning for some easy swimming. A small island warm-up loop, and then 2 broken loops around the big island (1 with paddles, 1 alternating 25 strokes fast, 25 ez).
An easy 60' was all that was left for the day....as well as lying around watching the final round of the PGA championship, and the NASCAR race from Watkins Glen.

5 comments:

Jeff Symonds said...

First off I enjoy reading your workout description and other trianing chronicles on this blog.

Secondly I have a 2XU question for you. how do you find racing/swimming in the super elite speedsuit? Is there a much of a difference over a basic lycra speed suit?

Daniel Wells said...

Thanks,
I'm glad you enjoy the blog.

As for the 2XU question, I love swimming in the Super Elite. For a non-wetsuit swim, there are a lot of benefits over a basic lycra suit.

The Super Elite is coated with a hyrdocell technology, which is basically a thin layer of silicone. This allows the water to bead off the suit (hydrophobic), making it faster in the water. The fit is very comfortable as well, with silicone tape on the legs (eliminating seams that can cause friction) and comfortable material that moves with your body.

The lycra material in the suit is also 400% better at chlorine/bateria resistance than regular lycra.

David Lim said...

hey,
I was wondering if you ever focused on one aspect of racing during the off season. I am definitely a weaker runner, and with winter coming up soon...I was wondering if its okay to have a run focus, while maintaining a swim and bike base?

Thanks
David.

David Lim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daniel Wells said...

Thanks for the question Dave.
Yeah, I see lots of benefits to doing a run focus over the fall/winter time. The run is my weakest aspect as well, so I will be running a lot more over the fall and winter. The fall is great for running...nice cooler weather.....

I think you'll see an improvement in your running after a few months.

All the best!