Action stations for athletes

As the global sporting spotlight will fall on Bahrain again later this year, GulfWeekly has teamed up with one of the world’s top trainers to coach the island’s sports-lovers to prepare to take part.

If you have ever fancied trying a triathlon there will never be a better opportunity. Your community newspaper hopes to inspire you to put your best foot forward and have a go.

Don’t be scared … Andy Price will help you every step of the way!

Here’s your WEEK 9 – 92 Days until Bahrain Challenge.

* Training programme for the week starting on Sunday to Saturday, September 12 Week 2 of Block 2 and we now need to get some distance into your legs and arms. Competitions start next week so this will be the last time you can potentially have an uninterrupted block of training.

To remind you the current Bahrain Road Runners competition programme is
• September 18 – Water Run at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa. (See Leisure Guide: Page 8)
• October 2 – Aquathon (wwim followed by a run) at Hamala Beach Resort. You can enter either as an individual or as a team so one does the swim, one the run.
– Children Swim 300m and Run 2000m
– Adults Swim 600m and Run 6000m
• October 16 – Olympic Triathlon (Sofitel). This will be a critical indicator of our training
– Distances - 1500m Swim / 40km Bike / 10km Run
• October 30 – 5km Grand Prix at Muharraq between the two bridges
• November 6 – 10km Grand Prix at Muharraq between the two bridges
• November 13 – 15km Grand Prix at Muharraq between the two bridges
• November 20 – Bahrain Challenge
• November 27 – Bahrain Marathon Relay at the BIC
• December 5 (Saturday) – Ironman Bahrain

For ease I will include a key to explain abbreviations each week:
• F/S – Freestyle or front crawl
• Alt – Alternative stroke. For most this should be backstroke, but for some breastroke
• PULL – F/S with a pull float between your legs
• KICK – F/S kick using a kick board
• R – Rest (normally in seconds)
• Z – Zones (1 – 4)
• RPM – Revs per Minute
• HRM – Heart Rate Monitor

* GENERAL – Applications for the Bahrain Triathlon Club close at the end of this training week so make sure you have contacted the club at bahraintriathlon@gmail.com if you wish to join.

If you want to do the water run apply through the Bahrain Road Runners website at http://www.bahrainroadrunners.com

* SESSION 1 - Pool
• Warm up
200F/S Steady R30
100 KICK R30
100 PULL R30
200 F/S R30 500m
• Main set (all above race pace / Z4)
4 x 200 F/S R45
8x 100 F/S R30
8 x 50 F/S R30 2000m
• Warm down
100m Alt Stroke / 100m F/S / 100m Alt Stroke 300m
Total – 2,800m

* Session 2 - Pool
• Warm up
400m F/S R60
• Main set
6 x 150m R60 900m
• 1 – 3 SWIM
• 4 – PULL
• 5 – 6 PULL + PADDLES
6 x 100m (as above) R45 600m
300M F/S (Race Pace / Z3) R60 300m
• Warm down
100m Alt Stroke
200m F/S
100m Alt Stroke 400m
Total – 2,600m

* Session 3 – Open water
• 5 x 500m at Race pace R60 between – 2,500m

Key lessons from the last few weeks’ training:
Pace yourself – Don’t blast off too fast at the start of training and if this means not keeping pace with the faster members of the group then it is better to be able to complete a long ride than to blow out early on.

Eat properly – That means eat something before you set off for a long ride and then eat LITTLE / OFTEN when on the ride.

As I have said before personal choice plays an important part but by the time you are hungry or have lost your energy it is too late and you won’t recover from it or benefit as much from the ride.

Choose the right gear – Don’t ride in a high gear or try and push it too hard. It’s a long ride and your legs will only get fatigued early on. It’s all about pace and tempo.

* SESSION 1 – Indoors / Turbo trainer – Power Hour by elite cyclist Eamonn Deane.
• Warm up – Fifteen minutes in an easy gear, gradually building your heart rate.
• Main set
3 × 2 minutes hard and controlled riding in a big gear, R90
4mins easy spinning
3 x 1min hard and controlled in a big gear R60
4mins easy spinning
3 x 30secs at maximum effort R30
• Warm down - Fifteen minutes in an easy gear, bringing your heart rate down

* SESSION 2 - Outdoors (remember this is a Bike to Run)
• 90 minute ride followed by a 3-5km run. Both should be as close to race pace as you can manage. Start to practice your Bike to Run transitions.

* SESSION 3 – Outdoors long ride
• 150 minutes ride. Start with 20 minutes in Zone 2 / steady before upping to as close to race pace as you can for the next 100 minutes. Drop back to steady for the last 30 minutes. By now you should be close to or exceeding 90km for this ride.

* Session 1 – Endurance Run (as last week but see if you can go slightly further)
• Warm up (before you start the run. Try to avoid going straight off. Always do some form of warm up) Mobility stretches
200m Jogs
• Main – 60 minutes. 10 minutes at Zone 2 (below race pace) followed by 10 minutes at race pace. Repeat three times. Ensure there is a change in pace.
• Warm down
4 x 200m Strides (just above race pace)
Dynamic stretches. Don’t push the stretches just hold for 20 seconds each. Work from your feet up stretching each major running group muscle.

* Session 2 – Intervals on a track if possible
• Warm up (get into a routine of doing the same warm up before each training session or race) Mobility stretches
400m Easy
Mobility stretches
400m Easy
• Main set (At race pace)
10 x 500m R120. All at above race pace / Zone 4
• Build reps 1-3 then hold for remaining seven
• Warm down
Dynamic stretches. Don’t push the stretches just hold for 20 seconds each. Work from your feet up stretching each major running group muscle.

* Session 3 – Bike to Run
• Following your bike give yourself 3-5 minutes rest as you stow away the bike then go for a 3-5km run at race pace.