Words of wisdom from Dave…………..

Open water swimming…not long to wait!!

Race season is just around the corner, with Clumber duathlon this weekend.

Strength with some speed will be on some agendas and training plans.

Take care – this is the time of the season where most injuries are caused. Why?

The weathers warmer – we have more daylight hours – suddenly some will think I haven’t done enough training and ramp up the durations and intensities too much and too quickly. Others will introduce much higher intensity sessions with lots of fast reps having done no or very little speed work over the winter.

The tarp is easy to fall into – you could even think its great out I’ll go for a longer bike than usual – that’s fine – just keep a tally of the hours your doing – you could easily go from 2 or 3 hrs biking to suddenly 6 or 8 with the warmer weather and longer daylight hours!

Take care – if you’ve been introducing strength and speed work over the winter – great keep it going and crank it up a notch. If you haven’t and you have some early races think about introducing some speed but only when your fully warmed up and feeling fit and well – start off with short durations, longer recoveries and only do a couple or so then see how you feel. Add some more later in the week or the following week when you’ve had a chance to see how you feel over the next few days post a harder session.

Strength is still high on the agenda for some this month. Spice up a long run or bike ride with some hills and the occasional speed work once your well warmed up.

Also keep doing the long easy bikes and the long easy run – this is key for a good season ahead.

Always keep listening to your body during this change in intensity and duration. Give yourself permission to take it easy during a session if you don’t feel great or even take a day off but if you’re feeling good keep the training going and keep building on that great base endurance.

The key to improved performance is consistency and continuing to building up your endurance and strength. If you miss a session or a couple of days it’s important to go back to where you last were don’t skip onto the next phase or session. If you miss longer then you may have to go back further.

Now is a very good time to add a challenge with a bit of competition like a park run, an aquathalon, duathlon or a cycling sportif to keep the training fun and interesting.

Happy Spring training to all and look ahead for some warm up races in March / April / May