Posted on February 22, 2017 by Jenny Cromack
You may have read my blog before Christmas about being selected to represent Great Britain for my age group (F35-39) in the European Standard Distance Duathlon Soria, Spain on 30th April. Eeeeek, this means that it’s not very away…..around 9 weeks at the time of writing this! All I can say is duathlon training is tough!
For those of you who are unsure of the distance it means I have to run 10k, cycle 40k and then run another 5k , all back to back! (Bless my lovely Dad thought I did the run on one day, and the bike on another day, if only!)
The pressure is on! To be honest, there is no pressure from anyone other than myself. My husband, colleagues, coach and family, just tell me to go out there and enjoy it. And whilst I will enjoy it, well I will after I’ve finished, I’m not the type of person to just ‘turn up’ and enjoy it, unfortunately my competitive nature won’t let me! I’m competitive against others but I’m more competitive against myself. I want to know I’ve done everything I can to do my best on the day.
I’ve never raced at this level before so I don’t know what to expect, so all I can do at the moment is work as hard as I can in training and make these next 9 weeks count! I thought I’d share my training schedule with you, for a business owner it’s pretty demanding and I can only thank my amazing team at motive8 who support me with this so I can get my training sessions in.
So, how does my duathlon training look on a weekly basis?
| Monday | Session 1 – Bike
5 mile commute to work This is pretty easy to be honest…all down hill! Takes about 20 minutes. |
Session 2 – Run
Interval training. Normally done on the canal where no one can hear me swearing! |
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| Tuesday | Session 1 – Bike
5 mile commute in |
Session 2 – Gym
I do a 40 min. strength session focusing on lifts such as squats, deadlifts. |
Session 3 – Run
Steady run with running club at work. Approx 4 miles. |
| Wednesday | Session 1 – Run
Tempo Run This hurts ….a lot!!! |
Session 2 – Turbo Trainer
I do a 1 hour session on the turbo, working at a HR of around 160bpm. It’s tough! |
I may also commute into work on this day. |
| Thursday | Session 1 – Run
I normally run into work before by 7am client. If I can’t run in then I will cycle in |
Session 2 – Turbo Trainer
Another 1 ¼ hour gruelling session on the turbo |
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| Friday | Session 1 – Swim
As I have some triathlons later in the year, I do a 60 minute swim session |
Session 2 – Gym
Another 45 min gym session, including plyometrics |
I may also commute into work on this day. |
| Saturday | Session 1 – Bike
At the moment I get out on my bike for about 3 hours, but may look to increase this. |
I may also commute into work on this day. | |
| Sunday | REST DAY!! |
So there you have it, it’s tough, and I don’t mind confessing it’s taking it’s toll a bit. I look forward to Friday’s when I can get in the pool and not be pounding the pavements. I look forwards to Sundays even more!
I’ll keep you updated about my journey closer to the time!