rom my previous experience in athletics I have a pretty good idea of what I am capable of. I think that with some good training I can reach a peak performance once again. There are several things I am not sure of, being that triathlons are three distance events piled together.
For one thing, I remember that interval training was a key aspect to achieving the desired results. I also remember training very hard, but yet on this site I see reference after reference to maintaining a specific heart rate. To me that does not make much sense, but then I do not have any degrees in sport science either.
Let me explain my confusion so that you are tracking with me. I always thought training intervals was a way to prepare your body to be able to swim long distances at the particular pace you wanted to keep. In cross-country we ran quarters, in swimming it was generally a series of 100 yard laps. Let us say that my target pace for swimming a 500 yard freestyle in a race was 5:30. That means I would have to keep a pace of 1:06 for every 100 to reach that goal. So during my practices I would start doing intervals at 1:10. Do twenty 100's at 1:10. I swim as fast as I can, comfortably as possibly but also trying to swim faster than 1:10. If I swim the first few 100's at 56 seconds, then that means i get 14 seconds to rest before I have to go again. That is my rest period. I don't ever remember worrying about my heart rate during those intervals...I just remember trying to get back to the wall as fast as possible so I could rest longer.
So then if I train as I did before it would be "all out", which is really the only method I know. Of course I must get through the "initiation phase" where my body has to be reminded that it is in fact actually training and that no matter how much it hurts, it will just have to buck up and do it.
My best times from way back were a 5:30 for 500 yards, and 17:59 for a 5k. I am convinced that those times do not represent my peak. I think I could have gone faster in both sports so my goal will be to train up to those times again. Unfortunately I have no biking experience, so the sky is the limit on that one. Luckily I have very strong legs from all the martial arts training which I think will help with the cycling. The aerobic aspect won't be a problem.
On the down side I have a touring bike, which is a steel tube (can you say heavy?) bike. It is a Surly Longhaul Trucker which I am quite proud of. That is my "racing" bike and I think it is going to be my only detriment unless I can convince a friend to lend me their hot-rod for race day. That would be kind of cool, like when you take your drag pants off and swim in your speedos all shaved and tapered (Oh I feeeel so fast!!). I also have to consider my left knee, which has gone through 2 surgeries. The first was in high school, so I didn't run long distance my senior year (and I think I could have gone 17:00 that year). The second being 3 years ago after tearing the ACL playing baseball. I don't know if I should wear a brace, but I have rehabilitated it quite well. The muscles are all very strong and I only feel minor aches every now and again...
So let me recap my goals.
Mile pace - 6:30 minutes (A fast mile for me is 5:05)
100 yard pace - 1:20 minutes (this may be too conservative. A fast 100 for me is 52:00)
Bike Pace - You tell me!
Here is a disclaimer for these figures. I may not reach those metrics this year, but those are conservative estimates of what I think I could do if I were at my peak. I recognize I need time to acclimate myself to training, lose weight, build muscle, re-establish aerobic capacity, to learn about how to do a triathlon, to adjust my schedule, etc. etc.
First: You were much faster in High School than I ever was. :-)
ReplyDeleteSecond: I think a heavy bike may help you get started. It's almost like wearing a drag suit in swimming. When I was getting ready for my first triathlon, I trained on a mountain bike until about a week before, when I buckled down for a road bike. It was a huge adjustment for me, and almost confusing on race day. If you have access to a friend's road bike, I would definitely try to get some training on it well before the race.
Third: While I don't have doubt you'll reach your goal, remember that Triathlon's are an endurance sport. Applying your top times doesn't factor in the fact you'll be running right after biking, or that during the swim you'll be (A) in open water and (B) have to have something for the bike and run. I guess I always err on the side of "hold back" over injury, but that may be why I was much slower than you in high school.