Week 46 Training Log

The May sunshines continued into week 46. A slow start to the week with regards to volume training but I wanted to concentrate on my sea swimming while the weather was good, and I didn't get my bike back until Thursday. Both Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to sea swims with 45 min and 1 hr sessions. It is certainly becoming easier to cope with the sea. The actual physicalities of swimming are just the same as in a pool, I think the biggest issue to deal with, in calm still water anyway, is confidence, it's that which I feel the most improvement has been made. It is far more interesting than swimming in a pool as you aim for a target, perhaps a bouy or a rock and your mind set is not to stop until you get there. There are no more dizzy spell on exiting the water either. Wednesday morning out for 6 am for 45 minutes of run drills then later in the morning, Yoga. No swim before Yoga this week and I found myself less drowsy during the class. Thursday morning and an 8 mile run was on the agenda, a good chance to take Paddy out for a run, he does about 10 miles to my 8. Then it was to the pool for 1 hr of strength and skills work with pull bouy and hand paddles. Fridays weather was even more lovely than the rest of the week and I had the bike back so it made sence to use both. Took myself on a 67 mile route and as it got hotter it became harder and harder, even had to stop at a cafe to refill my water bottles A real hilly route on the way out and fairly flat on the way back so I was able to work on both strength and muscular endurance. Saturday, with only 30 hrs recovery I was off for my longest run of the week 16 miles in 2.15 hrs. I wasn't due to do this run untill Sunday but cercumstances allowed me to get it over and done with. With the long course weekend now just 2 weeks away it was good preperation. I feel this kind of training can be a double edged sword. Like the brick session I did in week 43 and the back to back ride and run session of this Saturday, They are great indicaters of just how far I've come. It is clear that all the training I have done has lead me to the level that I am now. This is the positive way of looking at things, and indeed the correct way of looking at it, and I might add, the way I see it most of the time. The other side of the sword is this, Ironman and for that matter the Long Course weekend are massive events. The further and longer you push yourself the more apparent it becomes that there is still a very long way to go. Here's an example. Week 43, I pushed myself further than I had ever before with my 2 hour ride to 1.5 hour run. A big brick session by many peoples standards. While completing the session I feel good that I'm able to achieve such a thing, yet after, I realise that on Ironman I will be doing about a 7 hour ride and a 4 to 5 hour run. The truth is that I don't believe you can train for this kind of thing. You can only train for as long and as hard as you can, biting into as much of the required Ironman times as you can. Anything beyond what you physicaly train for comes down to mental strength, and that is a lot harder to train for.

Week 45 Training log

Greetings readers. May is finaly producing the weather that it's meant to so there shouldn't be any reason to hold back on the training. That is unless you've had a particularly busy week in other areas. Unfortunatly life for me can't all be about training for Ironman. This week there were pressing home matters to attend to, work matters to brush up on and family needs to be scheduled in as well. Saying that I still managed to put in a good 12 hours this week. Starting Monday with a trip to the mountains for some running hill work. I would certainly recomend this course in the mountains for anyone looking to improve their leg strength and aerobic capacity, it really is a tough one. This was after a 40 min session in the pool working on upper body strength and skills using a pull bouy. Tuesday It was on the bike for my longest ride of the year so far, 4 hrs, covering about 64 miles. The wind was horrendous in places and worse in others. At home it didn't seem that windy but as you get towards the coast it really pickes up. The ride felt good despite the wind and i felt fairly fresh at the end. That evening I went to a local off road track with Paddy ( the dog ) to do some running drills, butt kicks, strides and of course, skipping. Wednesday, 6am start up the field, more run drills, home for some breakfast, take the kids to school then to the pool for a 1 hr endurance/skills session. This of course as it's Wednesday was followed by Yoga, which I managed to stay awake through, this time. Woke up Thursday not feeling brill so I opted for a rest day rather than make my condition worse. Friday, with the May sun beating down, I thought I would go off plan a little. What a beautiful morning for a sea swim. I packed up my wetsuit, goggle, hats and ear plugs. I also loaded the bike into the car. My plan was to swim for as long as I felt I comfortably could then take to the bike for some hill work. The sea at Broad Haven was lovely, not flat calm but pretty close to it. i went out about 10 feet and could still clearly see the bottom. I then swam for 45 minutes across the beach and back. I later mapped where I had gone on google maps and found that I had swum about 1.5 miles in total, not bad, my longest sea swim to date. Felt a little dizzy when I got out but was basicly able to walk in a straight line, ish. I took about 15 minutes to get dry and ready to go off on the bike,( I'll be hoping for a faster transition 1 on the big day). I got on the bike and set off down the road towards the first clime. Almost straight away my stomach started to react, a strange feeling, not like I felt sick, more like I felt completely empty, starving even. All the advice in books warn you of this feeling and tell you, after the swim just sip gently from an energy drink don't eat anything for the first 20 min to half an hour. To be honest even though I felt as if I were starving, I didn't want to eat anything, I didn't even want to drink anything. I guess you have to force yourself to drink something. I didn't have to put up with this feeling for long because the next thing I new my back wheel was shaking quite violently. I stopped ti inspect, it had almost a cm of play between the break blocks. I carfully headed back to the car after just half an hour and made my way home, still happy with the succsess of the swim, quite a mile stone. Took the back wheel to the bike shop where they diagnosed bearings, A busy weekend with work for me but I was able to fit in a long run on sunday morning of 2.10 hours around 14.5 miles. I set out to do this run at my intended marathon pace of 10 km per hr or approximatly 1 mile every 9 minutes. I returned home to find i was 3 minutes fast, Doh!! The reality is I probably wont even make that pace on Ironman day. It's now only two and a half weeks to the long course weekend, ( Friday 2.4 mile swim - Saturday 112 mile ride - Sunday Marathon). I'll have to taper for the last week so it really only leaves one and a half weeks to make any improvements. I'm quite excited about about the weekend and I'm hoping to enjoy all of it.

Week 44 Training log.

A bit of a taper week this week, a chance to recooperate and prepare myself, firstly for my longest run since December on Friday and Build period 2, which begins next week. Monday I swam 4000 mts in the pool in 1hr.30 min. Not a blistering pace I know but an economical pace. The only way I can keep track of my metreage is to follow distance programs. eg. Swim 50m - 5 sec rest, 100 m - 10 sec rest, 150 m - 15 sec rest, increasing 50 mts each time up to 400, giving me a total of 1800mts. I did this as a full stroke swim warm up, then stuck the pull bouy between my legs and did it again just pulling. finally another 400 mts full stroke to swim down. Sounds a bit dull I know but the longer you swim for the more your mind wonders onto other things. Lined myself up for a 1500 mtr sea swim with Pembrokeshire Trathlon club on June 4th as a warm up for both the long course weekend on June 8th and the Coastal Triathlon in July. A High tempo / intesity ride on Tuesday evening taking myself to some anarobic thresholds, pulling back just as the lactic acid creeps into the legs. Wednesday it was back to the old routine of 1 hr swim then yoga. Nearly fell asleep in yoga, I'm sure I heard myself snore. This can't be training. Rest day Thursday before the big run on Friday. The run was steady and comfortable 13 miles in 1hr 56 min. the same course I did in November in 1hr 46 min but I'm not worried about that. I now have to step up to Build period 2. Similar format to Build 1 but more. More volume and more intensity. I'll see you on the other side of the first week of that, week 45.

Week 43 Training log / my birthday

A fairly normal week in the life an Ironman wannabe this week. Started the ball rolling with a swim, concentrating on technique and a good strong catch/pull. An hour in the gym after working on swim specific upper body exercises and all over leg exercises. Back in the pool on Tuesday for a fairly gentle skills session, again focusing on technique. this was followed by an hour strength training run over some rolling terain. High knees, butt kicks and even skipping. It was pouring with rain as well, just to had to the session. A 3.15 endurance ride on Wednesday followed by a 30 minute strength run session. This involved running in the sea and up the steep hill onto the coast path and back across the beach. A good walk for Paddy as well. Thursday I was back in pool for another strength and skills set, by now my swimming was feeling really good. It does pay to keep your swim training consistant. Another full body workout in the gym followed with extra attention to the core and legs. Friday, A short active recovry bike ride, just to ease back before the storm of Saturday. Saturday May 5th, my birthday. What better way to spend your 41st birthday than to hit the road for a 2 hour ride, dump the bike in the garage, change into running shoes and press on down the road on a 1.30 run. This to date is the hardest single session I have ever, ever done. Still bags of room for improvment in terms of distance. Happy birthday to me. Sunday. It's been a while but it was back in the sea. 25 minutes, and after the initial transition period it felt pretty good. I used a couple of markers in the sea and swam between then. A word of caution about this, One of my markers was a boat that was anchored and the other was a rock outcrop. I swam towards the rock then made a left turn toward the boat. I reached the boat then turned back for the rock. Trouble with this method was the rock. You see as I was swimming the tide was comming in and when I turned from the boat to head back for the rock, you guest it, the rock was gone. I spotted a bouy in the same area as the rock an swam for that.