Back to Basics

With my first full triathlon season behind me, it is now time to go back to basic and focus on my weaknesses. At the same time it is a period of some unstructured workouts, cross training, indoor workouts, and most importantly having fun!! After taking 3 weeks of almost no training, I am building back into some higher running miles and working on my strength on the bike (this is my biggest weakness!). Swimming is put on hold right now due to a case of costochondritis-also known as inflammation of the chest cartilage. This came about from my allergies and coughing. So no swimming for 2-4 week. I have mixed feelings about this.

One of my goals for the off season is building and developing more strength on on the bike. My strength has gotten better this year, but it is still not where it needs to be in order to complete at the level I want to compete at. Now is the time to begin building my strength base by keeping my bum in the saddle during the off season. One of the key workouts I will do at least once a week will be some big gear or muscle endurance work. Starting out I begin with a broken 15min worth of work, then work up to 30min total of broken big gear work on the trainer, ie- 6x 5min BG with 5min easy between each. I will with something like 5x 3 minutes with equal rest between sets. The target RPM will be 50-60. As I progress, the sets will become longer and the rest shorter.

Here is an article by Wes Hobson that explains it in greater detail.

My trainer is calling! (I am going to rewatch Twilight in prep for New Moon!)

Rock On

JK2