While the cats away the mice will train.........

When Sarah had Ellie she was very fortunate to become friends with some really nice Mum's who had all just had their first babies. Now the first babies are all 4 years old and for some number 2 has come along. Each year Sarah, the Mum's and the kids head down to Sherwood Pines where they hire a couple of log cabins and have a weekend away. The highlight of the weekend is a visit to Adventure Land to drop off their letters to Santa Clause (Ellie delivered my letter.......Cervelo P3, Zipp Wheels, Power Tap) This left me with a very quiet weekend, and whilst I miss my girls the break is much appreciated.

I think sometimes I underestimate the draining effect two young girls can have on ones energy reserves. After work I usually come home (actually I always come home) and as Sarah starts her music teaching I take over bath time and bed time duties. If all goes to plan, reading stories, doing jigsaws, drawing and generally having some fun usually finishes by 7.30pm. I can then start to think about some food and chilling out for the evening. My power pack is usually pretty empty around 10pm, zzzzzzzzzz. However on Friday I came home to an empty house, for a moment I was lost. I got some food and wondered what to do. A nice leisurely evening followed. At 10.30pm expecting to see my energy nearing zero I was most surprised to see it still plenty full!! What to do? I was in no man's land, like a fish out of water, like the Wales Rugby Team leading the mighty All Blacks, I was lost. Out came the hoover, whizzed over the lounge, and then still full of energy I got showered, dressed and went clubbing.......Only joking Sarah, I brushed my teeth and went to bed!!! The point is I had energy to play with. I absolutely love having a family, but boy do they zap your energy.....

I have kept to my promise and thrown in a nice balanced training week, and with a couple of extra training days to play with have put in a few more hours. Being a PE teacher my days are quite active. I don't usually consider Rugby Training session's and refereeing as training however my job certainly adds to my weekly training load. This has definitely been the case this week. I have refereed two rugby matches, played a lively 20 minutes of 6 aside football, the staff gave the Year 11's (16 year old's in old money) a lesson in 'total football' 11 - 2!!!! and a 30 minute Rugby session with the juniors (10 year old's) where I played scrum half (I was awesome!!) So my week looks like this;

Monday: Bike 1 hour

Tuesday: Bike 1 hour (20 mins over geared), Run 30 minutes (8.13 min/mile)

Wednesday: Bike 1 hour, Refereed 1st XV 1 hour

Thursday: Bike 1 hour, Run 1 hour 20 mins 10 miles (7.54 min/mile)

Friday: Bike 1 hour, 20 mins 6 aside Football, 30 mins Rugby

Saturday: Run 45 min Run (technical session), Refereed Rugby 1 hour, Bike 1 hour

Sunday: Bike 3 1/4 hours (55 miles), Upper Body Dumbell Weights Circuit 30 mins

Total: Bike 9 1/4 hours (175 miles), Run 2 1/2 hours (19 miles), Weights 1/2 hour, refereeing etc 3 hours, Total 15 1/4 hours.

I've had some good sessions this week, but I am particularly pleased with Thursdays run. With an hour's cycle in my legs I ran nice and steady, aiming to run a negative split (staying steady not racing the last 5). This I achieved, running the last 5 miles in 7.34, 7.46, 7.43, 7.32 and 7.48 all a little quicker than any of the first 5 miles. Sunday's ride was also very positive. Waking up to a sprinkling of snow and a very grey day it would have been very easy to wimp out. However dressed for the arctic I 'chilled' for the first hour then the sun came out, and I had a good ride, finishing off with 10 minutes over geared in the 55 x 13. To have hit another pretty big week of cycling is also very pleasing, in the last 14 days I have ridden on 13 of them, and logged 345 miles, nice...

I managed to watch most of the Rugby on Saturday, (must have spent 4 hours on the sofa, unheard of) Here is my summary. Ireland vs Argentina, whilst Ireland deserved their win, I was a little staggered at some of the players reaction to some of the referee's decisions. Is respect slipping in Rugby? It will never reach the depths of Football but I was surprised to see the referee taking and accepting so much from both teams, Where has the 10m rule gone for arguing and descent. Ironically as the BBC announced Ronan O'Gara as 'Man of the Match' he was seen running back after a successful penalty attempt giving the Argentine Players a linguistics course in obscenities, great example Ronan, just get on with the game you are on the winning team.

What about Wales starring out the All Blacks, great TV viewing, but maybe a little unnecessary. It reminded me of a boxing weigh in. I was willing the All Blacks to start the game, kicking long (unfortunately it wasn't their kick) As with all actions, gestures and talk it means 'jack shite' if you cannot deliver on the pitch. Wales performed really well for 40 minutes, however where were they in the second half? Jeremy Guscott summed it up nicely when he said, Wales were 'hoping' they could hang on to the lead they did not 'believe' they could win.

I did not see Scotland mash the Canadian's, so finally England. Oh dear, oh dear I wonder whether Martin Johnson wished he had bought a nice warm scarf and joined Mr Dallaglio on the BBC commentary team? Building a new team is not an easy process, but I liken it to starting triathlon training after a long lay off. You wouldn't start your training with brick sessions, transition practise, complicated repetitions on the track and difficult cycling hill repeats, you'd just get out there go for a run, ride your bike and swim in the pool, you'd build your fitness, enjoy the process and feel good about yourself. Last week we witnessed repetition of long complicated line out moves that failed, this week there were times when I lost where the ball was there were so many dummy runners, then when the camera did pick it up it had moved at great speed side ways. The players in the England set up are good players, (except Toby Flood, I'm sorry I think he is out of his depth, he doesn't even look like a Rugby Player) but they need to find some cohesion and confidence. Cohesion and confidence comes when you do things that you can do, ie simple forward running rugby with pace and power, it comes when individuals have belief in their team mates (if I was part of the England Pack, at 75kg's quite unlikely! I'd be pretty worried every time Cipriani steadied himself to kick in open play) I think the coaching staff have got things wrong. What is the point fine tuning an F1 car if the wheels keep coming off? Players need to 'bed in', they need to feel good about themselves, do simple things but be awesome doing those simple things, we can then start fine tuning. Next Saturday should be fun. An All Blacks team out to prove a point vs an England team unsure of what to do, lacking a leader and pretty low on confidence. We will see what happens, sport is rarely predictable.

Next week will be a steady one. We have plans for the weekend, drop the girls off at my Brother and his Wife's house in Liverpool, and with no Saturday rugby Sarah and I are London bound to see a show 'Billy Elliott', and spend some quality time together. I can't wait. Do not hope things will happen this week, believe they will happen and even better, make them happen.....

That's more like it.......

I'm not going to write much this week. I'm gonna keep it short and sweet, with a simple message. After a disappointing last week where I really didn't get close to my training objective, and just seemed to be going up and down, this week has been good. I didn't really set any objectives this week, wanting to confirm I was better, and also to get to Thursday when I planned to ride longer, not feeling smashed. So my week developed and looked like this;

Monday 1 hour bike (1/2 hour to work, 1/2 hour home) (20 miles)

Tuesday 1 hour bike (20 miles)

Wednesday 1 hour bike (20 miles)

Thursday 1/2 hour bike (10 miles), 2 1/2 hours bike (42 miles)

Friday 1/2 hour bike (10 miles)

Saturday 2 3/4 hours bike (48 miles)

Total 9 1/4 hours bike (170 miles)

I know, I know I am supposed to be a triathlete, and you ask where is the weights, swimming and run training? Well my swim story is for another day, and my running? I just haven't managed to squeeze any into a busy week at work, the dark cold nights have mucked up my evening motivation to run, and my Tuesday Lunch Run Club was knocked on the head for a steadier start to the week. I will aim for a little more balance next week, I promise.

I had a typically wet and windy ride on Thursday (keep an eye out for how often its wet and windy on Thursday afternoons!!!!!) I rode really steady and was pleased how I finished the ride. A comfortable 142bpm heart rate for an average speed of 17mph, not gonna break into any Pro Teams at that speed, but a good 2 1/2 hours of pedalling in windy, wet conditions with a few hills thrown in for good measure.

I wouldn't normally ride on the weekend, wanting to spend time with my girls, but Sarah had arranged an afternoon of play for Ellie with her friend, so after the School Rugby Matches I thought I'd make the most of the sunny mild weather and get a few more miles in. I rode nice and steady, a little over geared at times into the wind, 55 x 13..........(only joking, 55 x 19 is more like it) On the biggest hill (It's not very big, only about 5 minutes of climbing) I did 4 hill repeats. I rode these steady rather than as a hard interval session. On the way down the hill I dropped it into the 55 x 13 and pedalled all the way down. I also really concentrated on cornering confidently, and fast. I am also deliberately riding with less food than in past winters, not because of the economic struggle but to hopefully facilitate greater fat utilisation. As expected towards the end of the ride I was running a bit short of energy, but finished off quite strongly.

I managed to watch as much of the Rugby as I could. What should have been an exhilarating afternoon of Rugby was a bit anti-climatic, none of it was particularly impressive. Ireland massively under formed, New Zealand made hard work scoring points, England looked young, and I thought lacked any 'on the pitch' leadership, and Australia did little more than kick penalties and defend with raw power. However one moment defined the afternoon, the New Zealand Haka. I have no doubt that the Haka not only upsets the opposition, but more importantly increases the New Zealand player's focus, arousal, determination, and team cohesion. I also think the simple Black Shirt, Shorts and Socks defines the team. To me New Zealand are the best rugby team in the world. They play a simple rugby game, but whenever they do anything it is done with more power, aggression, speed, desire and intensity than any of the other teams. Next weekend watch their body language, playing as an 'All Black' is clearly HUGE.

My simple message, "whenever you do something this week think of the Haka, and make your performance huge"

p.s my 1st XV won their first game of the season, not a great performance, but we'll take the win, I may keep my coaching job after all!

Up and Down....

I've been lacking inspiration for the last couple of weeks for what to write, this week is no exception. So I'm going to write about 'up and down'.....

On Monday evening I was really 'Up'. I completed my usual ride to work and on the way home extended the route to give me 1 hour return journey, a nice 1 1/2 hours on day 1. I had set myself a 10 hour cycling target for the week, I was on my way.

Tuesday morning up a little earlier and ready to repeat the 1 hour journey to work. Opened the garage to find a puncture to my fixed wheel bike, shite... quickly swapped some lights over to road bike. Went from being 'up', to 'down' to 'up' in the space of a few minutes. If you are like me a little exercise/ training in the morning wakes me up, wakes up my mind and gets me ready for the day (I wish more of my lazy colleges could find the motivation to get going physically, I'm convinced our working environment would be more productive and fun) My lunch time run club has grown again to 6 members. I thought we'd do some slightly longer intervals. 2 laps of a the Rugby pitch was 0.4miles according to Captain Garmin. We decided on a 2 minute recovery, and completed 4 repetitions, running speed was around 6 minute mile pace...nice session. I rode home and logged another 1 1/2 hours on the bike.

On Wednesday my 1st XV were absolutely dreadful. We were really 'up' after Saturday's fixture where we narrowly missed our first win of the season, final score Read 22 - Worksop 3rd's 31 (We had a fantastic 2nd half winning it 17 - 6) Wednesday's match was a bit of a mis-match but not giving 100% and trying your best is inexcusable. Wednesday late afternoon I was pretty 'down' . My mood improved as I logged an hour on the bike, and ran a really steady technical 4 miler in the evening. My training week was looking good, I was really 'up'....

Thursday rode in to work, lucked out with an extra free period as my Badminton Class were away for the day Orienteering...Without further delay I got changed and out on my weekly long ride. I had planned a nice steady 3 1/2 hours. Within the first 10 minutes I realised that was looking unlikely. I wanted to ride steady, which for me is a heart rate of 140 to 145bpm, I couldn't get out of the high 120's even if I made an effort, I added to that a pair of heavy legs. There was only one sensible decision, ride home the shortest route and chill out. However the mind was right 'up' for a big session, "my big bike week will be ruined" "I'll never hit 10 hours" "this is my only opportunity in the week to ride long" etc, etc. But ride home I did, a long hot bath and a few hours on the sofa I was 'down'. Trouble at night controlling my body temperature (excessive sweating, Mmmmmh, really nice for Sarah!!!) and the low heart rate suggested my body was still ridding itself from the infection, virus, small pox, yellow fever type disease I had picked up a week ago.. now I was 'down' A quick call to Tom, reinforced what I was trying to tell myself. "It's only November", "I'm 'up' on this time last year", "If you need to rest take it", "better to be resting now than in April" etc, etc. Most of us know it's the right thing to do, and we all know it won't last for ever, but we all need reassurance from a trusted friend, cheers Tom. Now I was a little more 'up'

On Friday I took the car to work, a day with no training or exercise, should be 'down', but I'd sorted my head out, a surprisingly 'up' day. Watched "The Streets 2" DVD with Sarah, wish I could Dance, (Sarah insisted we practise our 1st Dance before our Wedding Day, so I wouldn't embarrass her with my high tempo bouncing)

Saturday and the 1st XV should have been really 'up'. We were playing a small independent school, very similar to us, no excuses of more players to select from etc, etc. For whatever reason we couldn't get 'up' and were even worse than Wednesday, a heavy 56 - 0 loss. We were very, very poor. If we were a Football Team, as the manager I'd be unemployed. I'm a little lost for things to say to the boys, at the end of the day, only they can run, tackle, pass, kick and make the right decisions at the right times. I feel I have adequately equipped them with the tools, but it's just not coming from them. Not much time to be 'down', as we have friends coming for food and a few fireworks.

Had a really 'up' afternoon and evening with our friends 'Ironman' Martin (Switzerland 2008), Jo, and their boys Jem and Charlie. Ellie loved playing with the boys and it was great to catch up with Martin and Jo. Unfortunately little Evie didn't like the fireworks, her own screaming added to that from the "singing piranha" and "screaming peacock"......

Sunday was a family day, I ended the week on the 'up'. I had taken 3 rest days, was feeling less tired and seemed to have my sweating more under control. We had a sofa afternoon having brought a Family DVD "Flushed Away", Ellie devoured the pop corn, jelly sweets and marshmallows and then after an hour said,

"can I go and do something fun now"

She does say some funny things.....

I finished the week with 4 1/2 hours on the bike, and 2 good runs, from a training perspective I was 'down', I didn't get close to my weeks training objective, so was 'down'. My rugby team were really 'down'. But these are only the little things in my life. The things that really matter, Family and Friends, all lifted me 'up'.

I think its tough to be 'up' all the time. Don't misinterpret this weeks post, when I use the word 'down' it's because its the opposite to 'up' , it isn't really an accurate descriptor of my mood state. In the grand scale of things I was never really 'down', just not as 'up' as I'd planned to be, or hoped to be. I'll leave you with a quote from Gordo's website http://www.gordoworld.com/

"Do not take life so seriously - no one will make it out alive"

Here's to a week of 'ups' for you all....... (If you haven't experienced the 'up' and 'down' of an assisted trampoline you really must, they are fantastic!!!!)

Run Week....

I'm a day late writing this weeks post, why? well yesterday I was tucked up in bed at 8pm, so I didn't get the chance to write. Following a fun (but rather late) Halloween Party on the Saturday night, and a 3.45am interruption from Evie, and an early wake up call from Ellie, Sunday afternoon became a matter of survival! No sooner than the girls had gone to bed me and Sarah followed. We had a fun fancy dress Halloween Dinner Party on Saturday, I went as a Mummy. Try explaining that to your 4 year old, "daddy is dressing up as a Mummy?" Ellie wanted to know if I needed a wheel chair or to go to the hospital after I got all the bandages on, cute! My body clock seems to tick until 10.30pm then it stops, doesn't matter whether it's Friday night, Saturday night or a rather important late night party, doesn't matter if I'm in a club (can't remember the last time that happened!) at a concert, at the cinema or on the sofa watching a film, 10.30pm BODY SHUT DOWN! In the late evening I am officially Rubbish!!!!

This week I had put a run focus on my training. I wanted to complete 4 or 5 runs and make my Thursday afternoon session (I only work 1/2 day) into a run rather than a long bike ride. I still rode my bike to work and home on 6 days so I guess thats 12 x 30 minutes of riding, or 60 minutes each day, or 120 miles over the week. My riding is really my mode of transport and as such I often don't see it as training. However, I have to remind myself that although it is only a 30 minute journey it is time on the bike, at an elevated heart rate, this deffinately has a training effect. So my running for the week is as follows;

Tuesday; 4 miles at 7.30min/mile

Wednesday; 6 miles at 7.37min/mile, but with a faster penultimate mile at 7.08min/mile

Thursday; 10 miles at 8.01min/mile

Saturday; 5 miles at 8.06min/mile, (this is my technical run that I am trying to do weekly, where my focus is on form and cadence)

Total 25 miles; 3 1/4 hours

Now for many runners and 'triathletes that like to run' this is a very normal running week, however for me it is a very good running week. Putting it in perspective, this time last year throughout October and November I managed to run 3 1/2 hours! Last week was a significant step towards my aim of running to my potential in 2009. I am now running with my Garmin 405. I am finding running with the 405 really motivational. At the moment I am getting a feel for my running pace, but even just using it as a training review tool, it makes me focus on each mile. I have it set to 1 mile lap splits. This gives much more focus to the run, every mile it shows your pace, whether are you on target pace, faster than or slower than it doesn't matter, what happens is it makes you adjust and focus on the next mile. In the next couple of weeks I will use it much more as a training tool and set out to run with a specific pace or session in mind.

I welcome my friends Tom and Helen back into the world of training following their month of rest during October. With Tom and Helen back in the training routine I have gained another motivational tool, come on guys bring it on.

Next week is a Bike focus week. My aim is to do 11 hours (200 miles) on the bike. I will see you in 7 days......

A Week of Two Halves

It's been a week of two halves, defined unfortunately by my health. On Monday I got out for 1 1/2 hours on the bike, riding nice and steady, trying to stay below a heart rate of 145bpm. A good session. That evening I ran a nice steady 4 mile's. Tuesday I got out in the sunshine for 3 hours. I rode a route with a few climbs in it, repeated a small circuit a number of times to increase the overall climbing. It was a tough day, very windy. If you haven't ridden in the Vale of York come and give it a go. It is very flat, there are no hedges bordering any of the farmers fields, and any wind always seems like a hurricane. It's tough riding, theres no free-wheeling, and at times you can be doing 11mph (on the flat) in 39 x 19. When I first moved across from Leeds I didn't like the terrain, and found the riding tedious and boring, but now I like it. You finish every ride having turned every pedal revolution, the roads are super quiet and there are just enough rises to keep it interesting. Tuesday evening I put in 1/2 hour in the garage completing an upper body strength session.

Wednesday was a rest day, we had a great time at Robin Hoods Bay, nr Whitby. The weather was just fabulous, bright and clear. Unfortunately the marine life were keeping a low profile, all our best rock pooling efforts were in vain!!!

On Thursday I took Evie to Musical Kids, a music class that Sarah runs for little ones. Sitting in a circle singing songs with 10 mothers to their little ones was a new experience (my musical skills are very limited) Better than this though was seeing Sarah in action. She has put a huge amount of time and effort into her Musical Kid's group, and I can see why it is proving to be popular. She is great with the kids and gets really involved, each and every boy and girl there get her full attention, all the parents seem excited and pleased to be there.

I met my mate Tom for a Nando's, Coffee and a long chat about triathlon and training. Tom is also racing Ironman Lanzarote. We chatted about training principles and methods, our goals, and much more. I always feel excited and motivated after chatting with Tom, and guess when time passes so quickly the conversation must be easy and enjoyable. We were still chatting as we went back to the cars after 2 1/2 hours, I think we would still been chatting now. I completed one of my key training sessions before IM Switzerland this year with Tom, and will definately be riding and running with him over the coming months.

Motivated by chatting with Tom, and fuelled by a HOT Nando's Chicken Wings I went out for a 4 mile run later that evening. I felt rubbish, and as soon as I got home I realised I should have returned much sooner. I had a sore throat, and felt a bit achy. So begins the second half of the week.

I woke up on Friday with a sore throat and feeling like I'd done a monster gym session, my whole body ached. Although I wasn't really that ill, I was ill enough not to be able to train and thus not to be able to complete my usual daily activities. I joked with Sarah about Small Pox and Yellow Fever, she finds my reaction to illness amusing (and probably frustrating) So the back end of the week was spent loading up on Paracetamol, and Ibuprofen trying to rid myself of the life threatening disease that had taken residence in my body. It's tea time Sunday and I think I am pretty much good again.

Sarah has gone on a Muscial Instrument Repair Course in Wales learning how to repair Flutes and Clarinets. So my Mum has come up for the week to look after the girls while I am at work. It will be nice having my Mum around for the week, Ellie and Evie will be thoroughly spoilt and I will get a bit of a rest as well particularly around the bath time, bed time activities. I will miss Sarah, but I think sometimes a bit of time apart strengthens a relationship. I know when she returns on Friday we'll both be really excited to see each other, and will really enjoy each others company.

I have just started reading a book called "Mind Games" (Jeff Grout and Sarah Perrin) It's all about how the Mind has a massive influence over sporting performance. It's really interesting and captured my attention from the first page. In the foreword Sir Clive Woodward say's

"if we can improve 100 things by 1%, the total impact is huge"

This can be applied to everything we do. I straight away thought about my Triathlon Racing. I am in the process of compiling a list of 100 things related to my racing that I hope I will be able to improve by just 1%. I have read that Chris Boardman, Peter Keen and the British Track Cycling Personnel applied a similar thought pattern to their Olympic preparations. They looked at improving EVERYTHING. Even if it the improvement translated to just a few 100th's of a second, added together the impact is, and was devastating. I will hopefully have my '100' list in the next couple of weeks.

The clocks went back last night. So today just after 5pm, pitch black, BOO HOO. My commuter bike is fully loaded with lights and I'm set for riding in the dark. Have a good week, 100 things by 1%, I like that a lot!!

A Day on the Beach

Wednesday 22nd October 2008; Robin Hoods Bay (near Whitby)

Cycling Faster

This time last year I wrote down some thoughts on how to improve my bike speed. Riding fast is a very simple, yet very complex topic. Bottom line, the more power that can be applied through the pedals the faster the bike will go. But.....in order to apply that power a host of variables come into play. The legs are the pistons, but can the carburettor (cardio-respiratory system) supple sufficient oxygen to the legs? What about the fuel supply, are we reliant on high octane F1 type fuel (glucose) that is rapidly depleted, or can we utilise the £97.99p unleaded (5p saving from Tesco) (fat), which might not make us go so fast but won’t leave us phoning the AA for an extra few litres to just get home. What about power to weight ratio? When the road goes up funny things happen to heavy powerful riders. Then there’s the bike position, could you get more aerodynamic? And still be comfortable enough to ride for 5 to 6 hours? (note, I didn’t say comfortable “full stop”, a leather sofa is comfortable, a Fisik Arione saddle is not) So if we are going to spend hours this winter freezing our toes, fingers and ear lobes off, and numbing our knackers (girls replace knackers with your equivalent down below area) then it better make us ride faster when the race season comes back around, (Lanzarote; 213 days) So here are some of my thoughts. Whilst I think I am fairly knowledgeable in Sports Science and Cycling I am not an expert, your comments are most welcome.

Maximal short distance Time Trial speed is not performed in a triathlon, however the greater this speed is the easier it will be to sustain triathlon speed, and the greater the possible triathlon speed will be. If you can ride at 30mph over a 50 mile TT (I wish) then I think it would be a safe bet to say that 23, 24 or 25mph (even over a longer distance) would feel quite comfortable. I think Michael Hutchinson, Kevin Dawson et al would ride a pretty quick IM bike leg!

How to improve bike speed

Increase power. Power increase will result if force or/ and cadence is increased. Unless you are riding at an unusually low cadence, then only small tweeks to your riding cadence/ style will be possible. It is probably unrealistic that we will be comfortable changing from 90rpm to 115rpm. It is also unrealistic that many of us can ride 5 + hours at 115rpm, therefore increased power will only occur if you can increase the force exerted on the pedals, ie push a bigger gear. Lance Armstrong had a high revolution pedalling style, but his gears were not that small. Lance however didn't pedal at this rate for 5+ hours. Pedalling bigger gears requires more leg strength. It is here where the water becomes murky. Chris Hoy has incredible leg strength, but I don’t think I’d pick him to ride in my relay team over IM distance. Chris’s strength is generated through his highly developed fast twitch muscle fibres, powered by his CP and Anaerobic Lactic Acid energy system’s, maximal capacity around 2 minutes. We still need more leg strength but we must be able to supply enough oxygen to the working muscles, and fuel the muscles with a mixture of glucose and fat. Wouldn’t it be great to be comfortable pushing the 53 x 14 all day long (without a tail wind) some people are? How can they? Well they have the muscular strength to push that gear, and they have the carburettor to deliver sufficient oxygen, and a highly tuned fuel supply that can utilise more fat than glucose. Now this is where the various training philosophies come into play. Gordo Byrn and Mark Allen stress the importance of “doing your time” in the low intensity training zones to develop the cardio-respiratory system. Without this in place addressing leg strength will be a little like putting a 4L V12 engine in a car and surrounding it with a Fiat Panda carburettor. Or for a sports specific example, putting Mariusz Pudzianowski on a Cervelo, plenty of leg strength here. So yes things are complicated, but here is why I think improving leg strength is the way forward this winter.

For Myself, and many of my friends aerobic conditioning is already high. We have been completing in triathlon for many years, before that we might have been swimmers, runners or cyclists. Our heart is well developed (how much lower will your Resting Heart Rate go, a good sign of left ventricle adaptation) Capilliarisation of the leg muscles is high, (yes it can be improved, but this also occurs through higher intensity training). In addition our aerobic condition is being further developed through every cycle, swim and run work out. My thoughts are that we can comfortably complete long easy rides, so a winter made up entirely of this type of riding will only consolidate this type of riding. It will make us great at riding at 16, 17 and 18 mph average, (remember its flat on these here Selby roads) but it will not address the 21, 22 and 23mph average that we desire on race day. When we then want to start riding faster in April/May/June we are sort of starting again on a different type of cycling. To use another simple analogy, a 100m sprinter will not spend the whole winter training at 75% his maximum speed and then come March start his 100% speed sessions.

How are we going to increase Leg Strength?

Start on a leg weights programme where the aim is to increase overall leg strength. I would include Squats (numerous variations), Leg Extension, Hamstring Curl (double and single leg), Lunges, Leg Press, Straight leg lifts and Calf raise. Choose 5 exercises, 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, progressing the weight, 1 session per week. Remember we are not trying to complete with Mariusz!! Ride once a week over geared. This is often likened to weight training on a bike, very specific. Ride a gear where cadence drops to 50 to 60rpm. Take it easy, and look after your knees, as you feel more comfortable increase the riding time. On false flats and gradual climbs resist the urge to change up a gear, instead accept a slightly slower cadence and “push the gears over the climb, really feeling the pedal stroke” Once a fortnight, complete an interval session 30 seconds to 5 minutes (vary duration) aiming to go hard/anaerobic, make sure the rest is at least equal (up to double) to the work interval. This is gonna be hard work, do it on the turbo, a short sharp session, now that sounds good. Once every 3 weeks insert a longer interval 10 to 45 minutes, could be during a long ride or you could finish the ride by going hard. The intensity is not ballistic, but should be hard, somewhere around your 50 mile TT pace.

When I re-read this last paragraph the time on the bike sounds pretty intense. However I think the key is to recognise that the higher intensity riding is not during every session, but that it is mixed into the steady state aerobic riding. Riding over geared, whilst tougher on the legs may actually lower your heart rate.

Historically, Winter riding has been about building a base, long, slow steady pedalling. Hang on a minute, isn’t it cold, wet and windy, with not much day light, and we want to ride long and slow? Are we completely mad? My good buddy and very good Triathlon Coach Ben Bigglestone writes a good article on an alternative training emphasis. When spring arrives, we can change the emphasis, making the training “duration specific” to the race distance.

I think there are additional benefits from gaining leg strength. Running up hill requires additional leg strength. Improving the conditioning of the major leg muscles helps to protect your knee and hip joints. Swimming 4000m in a 25m pool will require 120 pushes off the wall (good training in itself). If you plan to run or bike latter that same day a little extra leg strength may just lessen the impact of the swim turns. Finally, having a bit more leg strength may even win you a few more village sign post sprints!!

A few other points that may make you think about your current cycle training style. Riding in the hills is great, but what do you do when you descend. Most cyclists I know go too hard up the hill, heart rate 160bpm + (assuming max is approx 190bpm), then think “glad that’s over” and free wheel down the other side, Heart rate plummets to 120bpm. You may have sat in the saddle for 3 hours, but how many hours did you pedal for? Will you free wheel for as long in your race? On the flat this Yo Yo style riding is not evident; if you are out for 3 hours you’ve probably pedalled for 3 hours. This winter don’t be lazy on the descents, ride over the top of the hill and ride down the other side. Do you ride in a big group? If “Mr Type A” personality sits on the front for the whole ride he will get a great training effect, will you get the same effect 6 wheels back? There’s no group when you are riding your race (theoretically, if there is they are cheating!). Get on the front, or split into smaller groups where you can all do some work.

I am convinced that for many good age group athletes doing the same sort of riding every winter will just reinforce what you can already do. Don’t get me wrong I will not be nuking myself all through the winter, but I am going to make the most of the time on my bike. I don’t want to surface in March having just maintained my current cycling level, I want to feel stronger and thus I hope faster. There’s not much point in being able to run a sub 3 hour marathon, if after the IM bike you’re legs are wasted and you can hardly hold onto 9 minute mile pace.

My friends, the bike is where it’s at, hope to ride with some of you this winter.