1 year on Blogger!!!

Like the title says, I've been on blogger for a year now and just started to look over last years posts. I started to laugh a bit seeing how niave I was about the Ironman and the mistakes I made in preparation. Also looking at the speeds I was biking and running are so much lower than this season.



1 year ago today I ran 12 miles in 2 hours and had an average HR of 156, I typically do that today under 1:45 with a lower HR (for base runs). Why is that? Most would say that I'm in much better shape than 1 year ago but it is more than that. Not only am I in better shape but I also train different. Last year I was running by HR only and keeping it low to build endurance. I was also running 3 times a week because I felt that I needed time to recover between the runs I was doing. This year I am running 5 times a week (most of the time) and the runs are shorter. I capped myself at 35 miles a week and fill in the time with runs that have a purpose. Running more frequently has had the opposite effect on my recovery than what I expected, I seem to run better with only a short time off. When I take 2 or 3 days off, my joints don't feel as good and I start losing motivation. Some days I will run to a specific pace I set for myself, I will take note of the HR but not run to it, this has helped me with some mental issues and has given me confidence in my racing abilities.



Another reason I am faster is that I run more efficiently. I've pretty much eliminated bouncing up and down and am getting my cadence up near 185 most of the time. Taking shorter steps with a higher cadence has worked very well for me, having someone video tape me helped me see my issues with running like leaning backwards while running easy. There is still a lot of room for improvement and I expect to drop 30-45 seconds a mile for race pace by next season. That is very encouraging for me since that should drop me into the low 7's. I would expect another improvement for the following year but not to that extent.



With bike training I have taken only a slightly different approach. Since I'm not training for an Ironman my longer rides have been a bit shorter, mostly on the order of 65 miles. My goals for the longer rides have been to average 140bpm for the ride. That normally gives me an average near 20mph and I still feel strong afterwards, not wasted for the rest of the day. Last year I was doing 100 milers just to get the miles in and averaging 130bpm and about 17.5mph. My other 3 rides are normally a fast ride, a brick and a skills day with some speedwork afterwards.



Comparing last year's HIM bike ride to this year's, Eagleman, which is a very flat course, I rode a 2:43:10 HR 156, Muncie (this year) which is fairly flat I rode a 2:29:31 HR 155. So I can conclude that I have had a dramatic increase my biking abilities and I feel that is because I now train with a purpose, not just riding for miles.