Pre-season is winding down

I'm into my last week of winter base training (see earlier post on the program from TriRadar).  Next Monday starts a 4 week plan focusing on speed and sprint format triathlons.

Again, I've picked a race and lined up a training plan to get ready for it.  End of March is the race and this 4 week plan gets me there.  Take a look.

http://mos.triradar.com/Training_Plans/Sharpen_Sprint_Speed.pdf

Author Phil Mosely writes that "during these four weeks of training I want you to separate your sessions into two main intensities: easy or hard. When I say easy, I mean easy, so save your energy for the hard stuff. It’s the hard sessions that’ll make you faster, so you need to be fresh."

This goes well with the periodization and polarization talk I posted about.  Don't train at race pace.
When you're supposed to work at easy efforts stay there.  Same with hard efforts, go all out!  Stop making the easy efforts sessions harder and the hard sessions easier. Avoid that "black hole of training".

With a race on the horizon, it's a good time to focus on those transitions.  Not just the logistics of gear, but the muscles that get engaged at T1 and T2.  Know how you'll feel and be comfortable with it so you know what's normal and what's not on race day.

Hour Of Power Triathlon Brick Workout

Since I partook in my first brick workout on the new bike, I'll post this.

Today was a Zone 2 bike day and good run. I really wanted to see how the legs were going to feel after a high cadence bike today.  Also, with a solid swim session yesterday, I was eager to see how my body was going to do with both sports after 24 hours of recovery.  The short answer to both was "awesome"!

It's never too early to start working in some brick sessions to the training.  You know, to mix things up and see how you'll adapt.

Here's a plan from Jene Shaw over at Triathlete online magazine from April 2013:

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/04/training/hour-of-power-triathlon-brick-workouts_74788