I have been hanging around on this website for the last couple of months in the hopes of improving the training for my 16 year old son who is a decathlete. I’ve got lots of ideas on how to improve his training.
So now I am asking for advice for myself. I am 45 years old and have been training for tri’s for 5 years. My swimming and biking is above average but my run is below ave. Which is funny because as a teen I was quite good as a runner(sprinter) 11.4 100 and 51.3 400 at 16years old. I am around a 47.00 10k runner. Any ideas what could have happened. I train the convential triathlete way, 1 tempo, 1long run and periods of intervals a couple times of year.Strenght training during the winter months.My swim and bike has improved every year, my run has plateaud for the last 3 years. Any ideas.
I cant believe that this is a topic! I too have been doing some triathlons and have a question about the transition from bike to swim. When I come off the bike (from at least a 30 mile ride), when I start running, I have sharp IT Band pains that run up my hip. Have you encountered this? Is it quad overdevelopment?
EMG research into the transition from bike to run has shown the athlete will have increased TFL and vastus Lateralis activation in the stance phase, while no significant increase in VMO activation. Therefore your ITB is tighter and your patella may not track as it would normally (due to the change in VL and VMO ratio) resulting in possible lateral knee pain
Have you run any road races seperatly from a Tri to see where you are? I did triathlons for a/b 4 or 5 years (ending several years ago) and found that doing “bricks” in training (bike/run in same workout) greatly enhanced my running economy and times. And if you are putting in serious miles on the bike, you can greatly reduce run mileage and still run fast(er). If I rode more than 80 miles in a week, I rarely did more than 20 miles running - most of which was quality work (no long run), wether in a brick or not. Tri 5K’s btwn 17:30 and 18:30, straight road races closer to 17 or better.
I did do a 10k last fall and it was only about 2 min faster and that was after 8 weeks of focusing on my run with speed work and no biking. Other then that I put in about the same amount of mileage that you did on the run and a little bit more on the bike. Every thing else is improving but run is stagnant which happens to be slow.
To improve your 10k time, I would try working on improving 1600 and 5k times, thereby enhancing both general speed and running economy. You should also notice improved running around your Lactate Threshold. I find it easiest (and more precise) to stick to the track for the largest volume of work. It’s just easier for me to see the splits the whole way. Even training for 1/2 marathons I did a lot of track work (like 7 x i mile). Plus you may end up with lower total volume, which usually isn’t a bad thing unless you’re doing an Ironman.
Maybe use a pace chart, and find equivalent times for the 1600 and 5k to your goal time for a 10k. The 2 min diff. between road 10k and tri 10k is prob. pretty close.