Post 68 - Hard training

At the start of this week I was champing at the bit to get back into training. I’d taken two easy weeks after the cross-country to fully recover, and I was feeling fresh and ready to get back at it. This freshness allowed me to push hard on Tuesday evening. Tuesdays are usually 70-75 minutes on the turbo, with an hour going hard. By the end of the hour I had averaged 274 watts with an average heart rate of 158bpm. This was 8 watts better than a few weeks previously, and also at a slightly lower heart rate. I was happy enough with the effort. It started at around 250 watts and kept ramping up ever so slightly and ever so slowly, until I was pushing over 300 watts in the final 10 minutes.

At the end of the effort. Bottom left: 274 watts for the hour

My Wednesday fartlek run passed, and during my Thursday evening turbo intervals I was already feeling a bit tired. I got through it, and then Friday was a big day. I swam at lunchtime in the freezing cold pool near work. I say “near” work, but it’s not really “near” any more, now that we have moved to a new office. I used to be able to do a quick swim at lunchtime from the old office in not much more than an hour, but from the new office it takes closer to two hours. I had to do it though, as I needed Friday afternoon in the office to work on my chartered engineer qualification. I got away from work at about 7:30pm, and it was about 8:50pm before I was starting my single leg drills on the turbo. By 10:10pm I was eating dinner and by 11pm I was fit for nothing except flopping into bed, looking forward to an 11 or 12 hour sleep.

But the damn itchy legs put paid to that. I haven’t had any problems for a couple of weeks, but my left calf got really itchy in the middle of the night and I had a bad sleep. There has to be a solution. Maybe I’ll need to look at getting some anti-chlorine shower gel. On Saturday I did 2 hours 45 minutes on the turbo and my back gradually got tighter and tighter throughout. I followed this with a 25 minute run. Thankfully on Saturday night I had a good, long, uninterrupted sleep. On Sunday I did a tough 3.3km in the pool, mostly with hand paddles on. They provide more resistance to your stroke when swimming, theoretically building strength. This was quite a good session, then it was almost straight out the door for my run, as I wanted to be free by 2:30pm to watch the Ireland v England rugby match.

It was really windy for the run, but also quite warm. We’re moving towards a time when I’m not going to need a hat, gloves, leggings and a jacket to go for a run. We’re not quite there yet, so I had all the gear on, but I was soon sweating lots in the warmer temperatures. I did a 65-minute reasonably hard effort, with 10 hills. Conditions were tough, and my Sunday runs are always tough anyway, as it’s the end of the week, and I’ve usually put in a lot of miles throughout the week. As well as all my stretching, weights, squatting and core work.

My run pace wasn’t brilliant, but talking to my housemate who had done a 20-mile race earlier in the day, we agreed that the windy and warm conditions were far from ideal for fast-paced running. Then I watched the rugby with the housemates and a couple of friends. I’d got through my training reasonably early on Sunday so it was nice to have a few free hours to chill out. I did feel a bit sneezy and sniffly on Sunday afternoon, so I made sure I took on some Vitamin C and kept warm.

I’m going to have to be careful, as I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks. I’m really lean and light: my empty weight is about 66kg, which is pretty low for someone who is 6’1”. I am constantly famished and eating all the time. I think I’m in good shape for so early in the season. If you’d told me at Christmas that I’d be this fit by May, I’d have taken that. But it’s very difficult to maintain a high level for long without breaking down, getting sick or injured or whatever. I don’t want to peak too soon, I want to arrive at race day on 19 July at my peak. That’s still well over 4 months away.

I think that in particular I’ll have to be careful during my Tuesday evening sessions on the turbo, going hard for 60 minutes. I don’t need to chase maximal wattages for an hour, and then be worn out for the week ahead, as seems to have happened this week. The power meter is definitely a really useful tool but I don’t need to be a slave to it. My Tuesday sessions don’t need to be absolutely maximal at the expense of the rest of my training throughout the week.

Plenty of pedalling fuel... boys' breakfast in the house...

So, I plan to tone down slightly next week to avoid getting a full-blown cold. I’ll do some work at higher cadences next week, but at slightly lower overall output. Then after next week I’ll be looking towards the 10k race in Aberdeen and taking some time to taper down, so there will be a couple of easy weeks either side of the race. This Ironman training business is just constant monitoring, reacting and problem-solving. No doubt, it’s very challenging and tough, but it’s an exciting process.

I watched Sarah Storey have a crack at the hour record on Saturday when I was doing my weights and core work, after my bike and run. The hour record in cycling has become really popular in the last few months with the regulations relaxed to allow normal aero bikes. Attempts are made indoors, in a velodrome. Lap after lap after lap. You would think it would be boring to watch, but it was thrilling. The record slipped away from her in the second half – maybe partly because she didn’t quite have the fitness, and maybe partly because the air pressure at the London Olympic Park velodrome was higher than expected. Most records come at altitude, where the thinner air allows a rider slice more easily through the atmosphere. Come down to sea level, as in London, and the air is just a little thicker, and provides just a little more resistance when pushing through it. But then at higher altitudes, there is just a little bit less oxygen for your body to use, and optimising everything becomes something of a black art.

Such small margins determine records. Anyway, it was inspirational stuff, she covered 45.502km, and I have never seen anyone in so much pain at the end of a sporting event. I wonder will she regroup and have another crack…

Ouch...

Training done this week was as follows:

Mon 23 Feb: Rest
Tues 24 Feb: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard: 274 watts, 158bpm)
Wed 25 Feb: 40 minute fartlek run
Thu 26 Feb: 1:10 turbo (15 x 2mins hard, 2 mins easy)
Fri 27 Feb: Swim 3.1km, 1:05 turbo (7 x 3 mins right/left/both)
Sat 28 Feb: 2:45 turbo, 25 minute run
Sun 1 Mar: Swim 3.3km (paddle drills), 65 minute run (10 hills)

Totals: Swim 6.4km, Bike 130 miles, Run 20 miles

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