Next up, Knockbride.

RonanP77

My next event is another local Duathlon in Knockbride on Fri. 30th. It's another short one, 2.5k run - 20k cycle - 2.5k run.

After a fairly poor performance (although I still count it a small success) in my first event at the weekend I've decided to properly train for this one.

I'll drive the route at the weekend so I know what to expect for a start.

I'm going to concentrate on shorter, harder, faster cycles between now and then with some serious hills, I'll only get doing that 2 or 3 times. I'll run 5.5k maybe 5 times between now and then. I'd do more but I have a 2 day wedding this weekend and don't want to do much the week before the Duathlon.

My target will be similar to yesterday's event, finish it without injury, try not to finish last and because it's a slightly longer event I want to do it in 1:20.

Does this sound like I'm on the right road or am I as clueless as I suspect?

Oryx

Do some bricks, running off the bike.

Shedite27

RonanP77 wrote: »

I'll drive the route at the weekend so I know what to expect for a start.

Why not cycle it? There are always "hills" that you don't feel in a car, similarly it will give you a better idea of what corners you need to completly slow down at and which you can coast around.

RonanP77

Shedite27 wrote: »

Why not cycle it? There are always "hills" that you don't feel in a car, similarly it will give you a better idea of what corners you need to completly slow down at and which you can coast around.

I don't know the roads but that's where my wife is from so I'll drive it with her and she can show me the turns. I could cycle it straight after though once I knew the way.

Green&Red

Realistically you're not going to make a massive improvement over three weeks but that doesnt mean that you cant start training in the right manner to improve for the races to come after that.

I dont know how much running/cycling you've done but if you are coming from a low base you'd probably benefit most from longer runs/cycles.
Its a relatively short race so I wouldnt worry about tapering, train as you normally would up until the tuesday/wednesday.

Where you can make up massive amounts of time is by looking at what you did on race day first time out and improving on that. Did you go out too fast in the excitement of the group? Was ur transition set up correctly and optimally?

RonanP77

I've cycled less than a dozen times in the last 10 years. I've been running a few months now though and have it down to 4:47/km, though the last few short runs were closer to 4:37/km. Slow I know but it's an improvement on where I was. I couldn't even run 0.5k at the start of the year. I can run 6.5km now but haven't tried going any further.

The running won't improve much over the next while so it's the cycling I need to work on. My transitions were both about 30sec at the weekend because I wear the same footwear for running and cycling.

Green&Red

Well then I'd do a couple of 60-80k cycles, they will be of more benefit, you cant build speed until you have stamina

RonanP77

I had been doing a long-ish cycle each weekend lately. 61km - 42km - 70km. I'll keep that up then.

Cheers.

RonanP77

Well today is the main event, I've gone on a few more cycles and a lot more runs in the last few week, I slept well last night and I'm feeling good.

I accidentally met in with a group of cyclists on Sunday and trailed along behind them. Once we hit a hill I fell way back. It showed me that cycling is still my weak point.

I'm still convinced I'll finished last tonight, the football club, the local athletics club and me will be doing it. I've set myself a time of 1:23. 13 mins for the first run, 55 mins for the cycle and 15 mins for the second run. If I beat that I'll be happy enough regardless of where I finish.

Chartsengrafs

To follow up on G&R's point re: long cycles, I'd say the same for runs. Granted, you don't need to be doing huge runs but it'll be hard to develop your aerobic base with 5.5km runs. Try lengthening one of these runs each week, and doing it at an easier pace. This will help stamina etc.

Enjoy your race tonight.

RonanP77

I've done up an actual plan now. Saturdays are for longer runs. I did 12k last Saturday and 10k the Saturday before. I'm concentrating mainly on longer, slower runs now. I have one tempo run on Thursdays and the rest are Easy runs. Then I have a 50k+ cycle every Sunday to finish the week off.

RonanP77

Just home from it a few minutes ago, it was class, loved every minute of it. The cycle was shorter than it was meant to be. It was just over 15k.

I started last, I always do and I was passing people all the way through. 5 people passed me on the cycle, I passed one back and then one or two more further on. On the second run, about 1.5k from the end I passed my last two people. 19 or 20 finished behind me.

I had a fight with a dog half way through, he tried to chew on my ankle. I didn't win the race but I won the fight.