Post 82 - Good miles

Training done this week was as below:

Mon 1 June: Rest
Tue 2 June: 1:10 turbo (2 x 20mins hard, 4min recovery: 290W/159bpm, 297W/167bpm)
Wed 3 June: 30 minute fartlek run
Thu 4 June: 1:30 turbo (11 x 4mins hard, 4mins easy: 230W building to 340W)
Fri 5 June: Swim 3k (20 x 100m in 1:27-1:28, recovery to 1:40), 1 hour turbo (single legs drills, 10 x 2 mins right/left/both)
Sat 6 June: 5:05 turbo (201W/134bpm), 25 minute run
Sun 7 June: Swim 4km (3.8km in 62:07), 30 minute run

Totals: Swim 7km, Bike 185 miles, Run 13 miles

Things went well this week, and I put in some good miles and big numbers on the bike in particular. I say “good miles”, despite not actually ever doing any miles on the bike out on the road, all my bike time is spent on the indoor trainer. This is a much more time-efficient, productive and safer way to do the training. At the start of this week, I felt I had a sore knee. This was brought on by the hard 70-minute hilly run on the road which I did at the end of last week. Running hard up and down fairly short and steep hills isn’t good for the knees, but I had thought it would be a good training run as the Ironman UK marathon is hilly.

So on Monday this week I was feeling a bit anxious and had no idea how my knee was going to be. I thought I’d just jump on the bike on Tuesday and see how it felt – if it was bad, I’d jump straight back off the bike. As it turned out, I did a really good bike session, and at the end, my knee problem had gone completely. The body is a funny thing – sometimes it just needs a blast of exercise to clear out any problem. Tuesday’s bike was a warm-up followed by 2 sets of 20 minutes of hard effort, with 4 minutes of recovery in between. I pushed 290 watts at 159bpm for the first 20 minutes. The 4-minute recovery went far too quickly – by the time I had recovered a little, stood up on the pedals for a minute, had a drink and an energy gel and another drink, it was time to go again for the second 20 minutes.

The second 20 minutes went so slowly. Time distorts when you’re exercising hard. But I managed to push 297 watts at 167bpm for the second 20. The last time I measured my functional threshold power during a 20-minute test, I pushed 324 watts, so there was a bit of a trade-off in terms of going hard but not so hard that I was really ruined afterwards. I was pleased with the session. In previous seasons I’d have followed my Tuesday night bike with a short run, but this year, I’ve decided it’s more beneficial to have 30 minutes “extra” time to myself, to eat dinner without being in a mad rush, and to get to bed in good time to get at least 8 hours of sleep. The bigger picture is more important, and Ironman training isn’t just swimming ad cycling and running, it’s a holistic lifestyle, every aspect of which affects every other aspect. Wednesday night was the final test for the knee – a fartlek run – a mix of fast and slow running. I got through that too, and felt a lot better. Ups and downs, as usual. Down on Monday, up on Wednesday. But I still have a little bit of a niggle in my right calf, it doesn’t feel 100% but in the past couple of weeks it hasn’t restricted me in terms of having to compromise any training. I also did my weights and stretching on both evenings.

 

Turbo trainer selfie... anything to try to pass the time...
probably taken during an easier interval,
I doubt I could set up a turbo selfie at over 170bpm...

 

Thursday night was bike intervals. I did 11 sets of 4 minutes hard and 4 minutes easy. The turbo trainer is a funny thing. I’ve found I really have to build into my sessions, starting off easy and building to the level I want. If I’m doing a long ride at 210 watts, I’ll spend the first 30 minutes building up from 150 watts. If I want to do 10 intervals at 300 watts, I’ll have to do the first few at something like 230, 250 and 280 before reaching the target. I don’t know if this is because it takes time for the turbo trainer to (literally) warm up, or if the resistance of the turbo decreases slightly as it warms up, or if I go better if I use the first 20% of a session to get myself properly warmed up. Whatever it is, on Thursday I started off at 220-230 watts (not much, way below my threshold), and built to 330-340 watts (beyond my threshold) by the final few repetitions. The final 20 minutes of this session was pure pain, but these painfully intense final few intervals are what makes the difference, and I was pleased that I felt strong. 

 

I always get the legs up as soon as I can after a tough session,

meant to help the lactic to drain away

 Again in previous seasons I’d have followed my Thursday night bike intervals with a run, but it’s more beneficial to get half an hour extra in bed, and also to go to bed after having properly “come down” from such a session, and allowed my dinner a few extra minutes to digest. My intent to do 100m repetitions in the pool last week had been scuppered by the half-term, and a pool full of squealing kids (and parents…), so I had no space to swim fast. This week was different, and I had a lane to myself. So a critical swim speed session of 20 x 100m was nightmarishly on the agenda. These sets are so tough. My critical swim speed is about 1:30/100m without a wetsuit in a 25m pool, without tumble turning. So the idea is to do 20 x 100m in 1:30, with a 10-second recovery. So hard.

This season, I’ve really learned the importance of warming up well – not just cruising easily for 5-10 minutes, but spending a good amount of time, elevating the heart rate, doing some intense effort, and then getting into the main session. If I had more time available, I’d spend even longer warming up and cooling down, but I do the best I can with the time I have. After a good warm-up in the pool, I got going. The first interval was too fast (as usual) at about 1:27. The first one always feels really easy. After a couple more intervals, I had settled into 1:30 pace. After a few more, I had settled into 1:28 times, with a few 1:27s as well. Fast times, for me anyway. I wondered if I’d fade in the second half of the session. It got so tough. 10 seconds to recover is nothing. You don’t even have time to take a drink. You’re gasping for air. 3 gasps and it’s time to go again. But I held the times, and finished 20 sets strongly, all under 1:30. I was very pleased with that. Then it was single leg turbo drills and weights before an early night.

Saturday was an exercise in mental strength rather than physical fitness: 5 hours on the turbo. 5 hours is a long time to batter away in my room, with only YouTube and iPlayer on the laptop for company. I wanted to do a long 5 hour ride, not necessarily at too high an intensity, but more just time in the saddle. I threw in a few tougher 10-minute spells to try to replicate going uphill. The time passed slowly enough, with one major panic in the middle: my fan stopped working…! Without the fan, I can’t turbo train – I would melt or sweat myself to death. Literally. There would be nothing left of me but a puddle on the floor. The thermostat in my room was reading 26 degrees Celsius (i.e. roasting hot), and on the hottest day of the year, my fan had decided to give up. After about 10 seconds, I was starting to drip, thinking I’d have to bail out and try to get the fan working again. Then thankfully it decided to come back to life. Alleluia. I got through a full 5 hours and 5 minutes, at just over 200 watts and an average of 134bpm. I took on over 3 litres of fluid. It was longest turbo session I’ve ever done. I followed this with a 25-minute run. Then I did weights and stretching.

Immediately after this, I weighed myself. I’d say my “normal” weight at the minute is about 68-69kg. I weighed 66.6kg after 5:05 on the turbo, 25 minutes of running, and weights. I then proceeded to eat and drink and eat and drink and eat and drink and eat and drink and eat and drink. And then I weighed myself again. 69.4kg. I’m not a calorie counter by any stretch of the imagination, I focus more on eating good quality food and satisfying my appetite rather than counting calories and trying to hit a “target” weight, but it’s interesting to watch how my weight varies with training.

 On Sunday I went to the pool and decided I’d do an Ironman-length swim. It’s good to do endurance swims, and I wanted to see what sort of time I’d do. Swimming is usually a bit stressful, because usually people go in the fast lane who have no business being in the fast lane. I wanted a clear, uninterrupted swim for my 3.8km, and not be messing about trying to dodge slower swimmers. I just about got a good hour in the water, three breaststrokers got in the fast lane after the first 30 minutes, but I think they soon realised they didn’t belong in the fast lane. When I need to, I can do a few strategically-timed hard kicks which generate big splashes. Generally slow swimmers who don’t even put their face underwater don’t like these splashes and get the hint… I did my 3.8km in 62:07, which I was pleased with. Wearing a wetsuit will make me a good few minutes faster, as will swimming in a group. As will being fresh and rested and tapered rather than totally knackered. So I should be well set for an Ironman swim and first transition in 60 minutes.

Usually on Sunday afternoon I’d do a tougher run – either a long run, an interval session, or a 60-70 minute hard run. But Bradley Wiggins’ hour record attempt on Sunday evening put paid to my Sunday run – I was lucky enough to get tickets for it. The hour record will get a blog post by itself. I did Sunday’s run the following day, but I’ll record it as part of this week’s training block. I didn't even do a tough run, I thought I'd had a good week, plenty of miles in the legs, I was tired and had a lot of tidying and washing and cooking and cleaning to do, so I just settled for an easy 30 minute run. No need to risk wrecking myself at this stage.

So, it was a good week of training. I did a lot of really good quality bike miles, I felt good, although it is very tiring and I am hungry and thirsty all the time. I think things are looking good at the minute, and I said to myself after my Ironman-length swim on Sunday, if that was my final tough training session, and all I had left was 2 weeks to taper before the Ironman, I’d settle for that at this stage. I've thought over the past couple of seasons that a focused build-up from the start of January through to the end of July is maybe one month too long. But I am where I am, and I still have 6 weeks to go, and it’s going to be so tough to keep everything together, to walk the proverbial tightrope and balance training hard but not too hard, to not push myself too far and pick up an injury or an illness, to deal with the stress of work, to get through it all. At least I know I’ve done it before, so I will do it again. Nothing else for it but to get through it…