Week 4 / 10

Another pretty solid week of training safely under the belt: two sessions of series, a long run, a medium cycle ride and some weights and swimming as "fillers". I was quite pleased with the long run which was, as usual, at the end of a fairly tiring week. To be fair, its hard to say where one week starts and another ends because, when I am training for Triathlon, I don't seem to get any days off: the idea is that biking is a rest from running and swimming a rest from biking. We were in Ciudad Real with my in-laws to celebrate "the Kings" who, in spite of the crisis, are still competing fairly aggressively with Santa Claus. The weather was perfect running weather: blue skies, sun (I'm getting asked if I have been skiing these days) and a bracing cold air. I think I went further in this two hour run than I have ever done before, even further than the one I did in London (at sea level) a few weeks ago, covering 26.88 km (pace 4:27, only 12 seconds per kilometer slower than 3 hour Marathon pace). It also felt really easy (actually, I assumed I was running too slowly but decided to stick to my pulse rate of 150 bpm). I really think that the fast running (series) that I am doing is having a trickle down effect and helping me to run faster and bio-mechanically more efficiently at lower intensities.

I'm also trying to ride about half an hour a day on the Triathlon bike (on the turbo trainer) in the aero position, so as to get used to the position. It's still hard to maintain but I notice it getting more and more tolerable. When I ride on the aerobars on my road bike in the less aggressive position that I am able to attain on it, it feels like a doddle. So I'm not sure that the investment in the Triathlon bike will necessarily make holding the aero position any easier but it is certainly a much more aero position unless, of course, I have to keep sitting up to give my arms a rest. The test will be the Half Ironman in April although the profile looks about as "flat" as the roads around here...