Spring Training

Time is relentless.  In what seems like no time at all, we've now moved on from March and are now in April.  Outseason training is now over and we move into full Ironman training mode now.  March saw the end of Base 1 and the beginning of the Base 2 phase.  Pleasingly, it also brought another consistent training month racking up 43 sessions in 52 hours, and another running PB.

In the five full weeks from March to beginning of April, 54 hours were logged into the training log.

Week	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
28/2/11	1:00	16:00	2:00	19:00
07/03/11	1:50	3:40	4:00	9:30
14/03/11	2:05	2:45	2:05	6:55
21/03/11	1:40	3:10	4:50	9:40
28/03/11	1:50	4:15	3:00	9:05
TOTAL	8:25	29:50	15:55	54:10

Week 1 included the two days spent in the Lake District cycling as part of the LEJOG training with Mersey Tri and week 3 was a cutback week.

Running
I was pleased with my run training during March.  Between 1st and 31st March I logged 15 hours in 15 sessions.  I increased intensity in my running by going to the weekly Mersey Tri run sessions, which included a track session, negative splits, hill running and interval work during the month.  I also finished the month with a Half Marathon race - the Liverpool Half Marathon (PB - see race report).  Once again though long runs were not long enough, and still under two hours.

Cycling

I managed 29 hours in 13 sessions.  Only three major sessions were completed in the month - the LEJOG training weekend in the Lake District accounted for two of them, followed by a 4:30 solo cycle / brick session the weekend after.  Cycling time was affected as I did take a whole weekend off during the month, then had the Liverpool Half Marathon the following Sunday.

Swimming
Swimming has come along really well during the month, clocking up 9 sessions and 8 hours in the water.  Frequency has helped with technique and feel for the water.  1000m TT came in at 13:48 - much quicker than the previous month - averaging 1:23 per 100m.  Speed and endurance sessions are now being added to the mix, as well as more pull and hand paddle work to boost strength.

Summary

As with January and February, I took 6 days of rest during the month.  Running and swimming are both going well in terms of hours logged, technique and endurance.  More work will be done on these during April, particularly with my long runs.  Cycling has dropped off after LEJOG weekend and is lower than I managed in February.  With only 12 weeks to go until Lands End to John O'Groats cycle trip, cycling will be a big priority during April, increasing the mileage and the frequency of sessions.

April will see the end of Base 2 and Base 3 start.  This means more muscular endurance (zone 3) work to increase sustainable longer distance pace.  It will also see the start of open water swimming, with the dock swims starting on 20th April.

Overall, the key focus of the month will be to maintain the consistency of the overall training and increase the mileage of a couple of key sessions.