Training Update

February has been busy so far - I've only had 2 complete rest days. Overall, I feel like I am making progress, but sometimes I doubt I will get to where I want to be by race day.

 

2nd Brick
6.3 mile ride coupled with a 1.7 mile run. This is quite close to what my super-sprint will be in 4 weeks. My first brick was miserable, but recently I had heard to spin at a lower gear and higher cadence soon before you finish. I think it helped compared to my first brick, but of course, it isn't the same as running with fresh legs. I felt slow on the run (it felt like it was about 9:40/mile), although I was huffing and puffing like I was going faster. Turns out I was running at 8:30/mile, which is about my max aerobic threshold. I think the higher cadence from biking makes your legs continue to turn over at a higher rate. 

Run
I've been using spare time to bike more rather than run. Two reasons: 1) given I started by only running, overall I've run about 40 more times than I have biked. 2) My run speed over 8:30/mile is reasonably close to the middle of the pack. My average biking speed of 16-ish mph is at best the 90th percentile.

 

Bike
Learned to ride in drops and relatively smoothly transition from hoods to drops. The first time I tried riding in the drops was definitely awkward - it was very difficult to transition without think I would lose control over the bike. However, a gave it another shot a couple weeks later and it was noticeably better. Over the next several rides, I've been practicing that transition and it is getting smoother (but not always smooth). The big thing is that I found I like riding in the drops better!

 

Swim

1. Last week, I did a little experimenting with stroke cadence and time. I definitely tend to be an overglider, so I wanted to collect some data to see how to improve. My easier/endurance effort cadence is around 46 spm, and I average about 30 seconds per 25 yards.  When I first tried to increase the cadence, I really ended up just increasing my arm accelerating through the water. My speed increased to about 0:25/25yds, but it still took about the same number of strokes per length. So my cadence was faster, but only by a small margin. The next time I tried to have a very higher cadence regardless of form. Cadence increased dramatically, but my time per 25 yds didn't improve. Conclusion: I think I should continue to work on force/stroke and be able to repeat that over 500m and then gradually increase my cadence.
2. I also practiced sighting more. I first closed my eyes the entire length to see if I could swim straight. Nope. About halfway, I crashed into a lane line. I repeated it with the same result.
3. Today, I felt like I hit a milestone in swimming. In my triathlon swimming group, we had to do, 2 x 300 sets with a short break in between. I was going at an easier pace (about 2:05/100 yards), but I never felt exhausted.  We did 1,750 yards today and I was still feeling good at my last 100 yard swim (1:58).