Richard Allen’s Comeback Training Blog- August
Well I have seriously been struggling during this 2nd month of training! I am still doing 3 swims, 3 bikes and 3 runs each week but the sessions have now become longer at high intensity. As I mentioned in my last post I was focusing more on harder interval sessions rather than long, easy aerobic sessions. This was because I seemed to keep my base fitness over my year and a half break. I seriously lacked strength and speed and am working hard to get this back. Of the 3 sessions in any one discipline I have been doing 2 as high intensity interval sessions. One of these hard sessions has been top end speed and power with the 2nd at a longer tempo interval pace. When I started in July these sessions were quite short as this was all I could cope with. However with the strength and speed returning quite fast I have been able to increase the length of intensity to what I used to do at full fitness several years ago. The result is a pretty hard training schedule for someone who has largely rested for nearly 2 years. I am training well but am left totally smashed after each session. I seem to recover well but need more sleep.
I am now getting strong enough and fit enough to push myself hard during the interval sessions. I think because I am very motivated for a strong comeback I am pushing myself harder. Also with the Olympics being on 24/7 and with so many medals being won I am finding this very motivating! The downside of pushing ones self so hard is that I am getting a bit run down at times. These last few days I feel like I have flu symptoms and whilst it seems to be passing I have to be careful. It’s a feeling I had forgotten all about these last few years.
So where do I go from here? Now I seem to be able to do some very good quality sessions I will hold this level of fitness, strength and speed for a while. I will just carry on training as normal with the 9 sessions through September but will also add in a little more technique work. I feel my swim stroke has improved a lot now and I am getting a better catch giving me more distance per stroke. I will work on this further over the coming months. I am also working hard on my core training as this benefits swim and run technique a great deal. I am not exactly sure when the number of training sessions will step up again or when I will start building mileage again. I guess I will just know when I am ready. Coming back from 2 years of rest is a new experience for me!
As with the last post I will give you another bike turbo session I have just done. This is a very important focus for me as when I started the comeback I felt very weak on the bike. Here is a tempo bike session from last week building strength endurance-
Warm up- 5mins@100heart rate/ 5mins@120hr.
Main set- 10mins@140hr/ 2mins@120hr/ 8mins@145hr/ 2mins@120hr/ 6mins@150hr/ 2mins@120hr/ 4mins@155hr/ 1min@120hr/ 2mins@160hr/ 1min@120hr/ 1min@165hr.
Cool down- 10mins@100hr.
Total- 59mins.
