Can you complete/compete at the 140.6 distance w/ only 10 hrs of training per week?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

400 meters ITU style

Yesterday I mixed things up a bit and executed my 400 m 'track workout' on Pit Stop Court. This stretch of road is a hop, skip, and a jump from my office and is approximately .125 miles in length.

The goal of this session, which followed 40 min on the CompuTrainer (3 x 10 min @ 90% of FTP or 294 watts w/ 5 min of recovery at 100 watts) was to work short intervals w/ adequate recovery (2:30 min rest). 5 x 400 meters was consumed off the bike at slightly faster then threshold pace.

I also wanted to reinforce the neuro end of things by dialing in on leg turnover or stride rate. Enter the Vibram Five Fingers with a Garmin Foot Pod placed on the dorsal side of the 'shoe'. I have found that the foot pod settles perfectly just south of the velcro strap of my KSOs. No friction issues at all and great neuro data gathered.

Switching gears to the title of this post. Per the length of Pit Stop Court I was forced to 'round a cone' or make a complete 'about-face' before regaining top end speed. This break in momentum can really take the air out of your sails if you have not been exposed to this 'changing of gears'. You will notice that many ITU run courses are designed in this manner. For those who have raced Latta you also know that such turns exist. The one most noteable is experienced on the downhill towards the boat ramp.

If you have not dialed in on www.universalsports.com and watched some ITU racing please do so today. To see Gomez, Frodeno, Brownlee, etc go at it is simply inspiring. Incredible talent and mind boggling speed.

Tomorrow I will post my swim workout I executed today that focused on 'front end traction' and no 'back end traction'.

Train smart, think big!
Coach L

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