Hills and the “Build” phase

Now is when the sense of progression really starts. Training so far has been focussed on endurance and general fitness as opposed to speed or strength. It is now time to start the “Build” phase of the season’s training plan. The Build phase is all about building strength and speed off a good aerobic base, with a goal to be able to ride/run faster for longer. This is done by reducing the number of Long Slow Distance (LSD) sessions and replacing them with short high intensity drills. There is also a need to maintain the aerobic base otherwise general fitness declines. My aerobic base is better than this time last year after a good few months of training and considering my key events are later in the season compared to last year then this is good news.

The Build phase for me will be focussed on building strength and “muscular endurance” on the bike; the strength will hopefully enable me to get up a 10% hill whereas muscular endurance will enable me to keep going up that hill for 22Km. The end result being a “finishers certificate” on July 20th!

One way of gaining strength is to repeatedly climb short big hills, muscular endurance is attained by climbing longer less steep hills. This can also be replicated on a gym bike, turbo trainer or treadmill. Even though the sessions are shorter than before, they do hurt a lot more and require a good recovery period. The mental aspect of training is very different at this phase, whereas it is no longer about boredom but more about continuing the exercise when the legs and lungs are burning. My first two weeks have been good and according to my training logs I am around 10% stronger on the bike than this time last year – I wonder what that translates to in real terms?

Training Done: Bike: 6x2’ Intervals; 8x2’ Intervals; 2hrs40 Z3; Run: 6x80” hills; 35’ Z3/4; 30’ Z3; Swim: 2xsDrills