Torn between specific and generic training.

This article was originally posted on http://johntherower.com/.

I don’t think I have any “real” competitions until the indoor season kicks off again in October/November. Sadly I can’t make the Devon Indoor champs on 16th September, so the next race I think I have is the WelshIndoor  Champs in November (if I can work out how to get there and back without it costing a fortune).

Yes there are challenges like the CTC, monthly Facebook challenges and the odd extra online challenge – but nothing to aim for, and more importantly, nothing to focus my training.

It would, however be daft to not continue to build on the sprint training I’d been doing for Coetq. The last few intervals were down at 1:22 (on 115Df) – and if I can keep that kind of speed up, hopefully my 1k and 2k times will benefit.

When I eventually got back on the machine this week, it was at DF 130 – and it felt awesome. I felt strong, controlled, and powerful.  This soon waned when my energy stores ran out, but it felt as though all that sprint training had bedded in somewhere and I was stronger for it.

But I can’t keep training at the pace for the next 5 months! And I certainly won’t do another 5 hour interval session for the hell of it. But st the same time, I don’t want to just go back to low rate slower/longer stuff. There’s no doubt that it helps, and maybe I need to be more confident in trying some full effort 2ks at 26 or 28 instead of 32.

Take for example this week’s RowSeries test. 3k total row for time, but the last 1k was also scored for tims. So dialling in 1:42 for the entire thing wasn’t going to work (as my final 1k wouldn’t score too well)

Not that my result will blow the competition out of the water. It was ok – but I’m sure I could have done better. After spending most of the week recovering from Coetq, Friday was the only chance I have had for this. Maybe if I had had a chance to do it on Monday first, then set a better time on Friday it would be a different result. Not that I’m too unhappy with this. The first 2k could have been quicker I think, but I don’t think I could have gone much quicker in the last 1k.

The reason I’m brining this up here though is because of the rates. The first 2k was at a rate lower than my usual (32) rate. And I wasn’t pushing hard on he’d (as I knew I still had the final 1k to hit hard.

So maybe if I start training for power at 26/28 instead of letting a higher rate give me speed. Then I should be able to combine the low rate power with the high rate – and be even faster!

We’ll see about that!!

Either way, I need to build on my sprint training if I ever hope to break the 1k record. Even if I just make sure to throw in some high speed intervals at the end of other sessions… But then, I’m always knackered at the end of other sessions!


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