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.