WEEK ONE

So far, so good. Always in the beginning of a training season I have to slowly build my distance and speed in order to look after this left knee of mine. It tends to pain slightly, but after about six weeks or so it just goes away. Currently my knee is feeling very good and I will look after it while I am building my base. I am building my base until end of May 2010 after which I will plan the next 12 months leading up to Ironman South Africa 2011. I will do a few duathlons and also a few half Ironman distance triathlons.

I will focus a lot on my running and will have to do a marathon or three next year. I will not go out to smash times, but will really focus on my target Ironman marathon speed. If I can easily manage around 4:20 per K I will be happy. I am not too worried about the bike speed as I know it is within what I can achieve. Also the swimming is not too much of a head ache; I will just swim around 2000m per session and then pick the miles up around January 2011. I don’t want to make my swim sessions too long as I will lose motivation to keep going. It is my least favourite discipline by far! I will focus on building up to 1 hour Ironman pace and get my body used to the rhythm. I am a strong believer at ‘target pace training’ and will strive towards that in all three disciplines.

I am currently swimming 3 times a week and will do around 80 laps per session. I like the short swims and that is why I will keep it short for as long as possible.

In the gym I am really putting a lot of effort into strength training and will continue building for the next month or two. There after I will up the reps and keep the weight constant. The weights are killing my legs, but it is improving weekly. My core training is very tough, but it is one of the most important aspects of being a good runner. I will just have to keep the sweat pouring!

I am cycling 3 to 4 times per week, with one power/hill session, one time trial session and obviously a long ride. I am comfortable for about 2h30 to 3h, but then my legs are nearing the limits of my current fitness. I would like to up that to about 5h and then maintain that till October 2010. Then I can start bombing some really long rides.

I am very unfit and it really shows on my runs! I am running 4 – 5 times a week with also one hill/power session and one long run of (currently) about 15 – 20K. I will start doing time trials in about 6 weeks time when I feel my knee is comfortable with the speed increase. I am running very very slow at between 5 – 5:30 per km pace. I first want to get my weekly distance to around 50 – 60km and then I can work on upping the pace.

I am very grateful to have a training partner in my son. I have never had a running partner who is faster than I am and I am looking forward to the TT’s we are going to race in the future! Not that I will be a problem for him, but I will have him as a carrot…hehe! Today we almost had 4 hours in the saddle. I love the mud although it's a pain in the butt to keep the gear clean!!

His track season starts mid January 2010. He is on schedule and I am looking forward to this coming year. It is his last year doing 1200m and I think he targets to peak at around 3:30 -3:40. His base is very good and we are starting with his speed/track sessions next week. Nice burning lungs and muscles…the joys of track racing!!

Have a great week and remember to live HARD!!

Be strong!
TriJackal