Turbo Man's Fitness Blog: Speed and Power

NO LOVE HANDLES ALLOWED!

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.' Theodore Roosevelt 23 April 1910

Monday, 5 July 2010

Speed and Power

I'm now in to Week 3 of my speed and power phase and I've found the change of emphasis mentally stimulating. The specific speed/power sessions themselves are tough, and I did cross the vomit threshold last Thursday (only a very small mouthful but yuk nonetheless!), but the change from long, steady distance into this new phase is somewhat refreshing. I need to mix it up some more but I also need to make sure I don't lose sight of my main aim, that of being fast over 112 miles, not 10 or 25. I was expecting the mileage to drop off as the intensity increased and whilst this has been true, it has not been as marked as I expected, notching up 306km in the 1st week and 284km last week.

We had a minor crisis last weekend, when the swimmer in our Outlaw relay team had to withdraw due to work commitments preventing any worthwhile training. Best of luck Mike with everything. Fortunately, I didn't have to look far for a replacement and Cavegirl Kelda has stepped forward to fill the void, so we're still in The Race.

And of course there is Le Tour. My family will have to get used to me disappearing at 1900 every evening to watch the highlights. Been a lot of broken carbon fibre in the first couple of stages but fingers crossed that Cav can pull it all together and start knocking up some stage victories.

I'm sure I have plenty more I could write but am tired. Train smart folks.

1 comment:

Cavegirl said...: Cav is last year's man! Yep, loads of crashes, ouch.

Today's stage was really exciting but for those poor s*ds who have to work and haven't watched it live I will resist the temptation to give the game away!

You won't lose the endurance but still need a weekly longer ride, speed is what will bring up your overall long distance pace.

Just off to find the wetsuit ...; 6 July 2010 at 18:02