Post 117 - Trying to knuckle down

It’s now time to knuckle down to some tougher, more intense, more focused training. The plan is that I’ll do two tougher weeks, then have half a week off, then a good week training in Tenerife, then another half week off, then one tough week, then a taper week, then a 10K race. After that, in mid-April, focus will move completely to Ironman training, and I’ll have 3 full months to get into the best shape I can for the Ironman on 17th July, hopefully without too many work travel interruptions.

Monday this week was the usual rest day. On Tuesday I forced myself onto the turbo, knowing that I had two full weeks of tough training ahead. Two weeks seems a long time… I did 10 x 3 minute intervals on the turbo, cranking up to 330 watts. Tough enough, but the body seemed to adapt and warm into it. I did some core work afterwards, and felt a twinge in my left knee while I was doing my squats. Dammit. I stopped squatting and hoped for the best.

On Wednesday I ran for an hour, and did 45 minutes at a good pace, well inside 6 minutes per mile. I felt a bit battered after this as I haven’t been doing much tough road running. My left knee didn’t feel any better during this run, but it didn’t feel any worse either. After the run, I went up to my room to do my weights and felt a twinge in my back. Dammit. I abandoned the weights. This felt like a much worse twinge than I’d felt in my left knee. I knew that the following day was a rest day, so I hoped for the best.

On Friday I went to the pool. My back still felt tight so I didn’t know how things would go. I hoped to do a 1500m time trial to give me some idea of where my swim fitness is at. My best ever 1500m time trial was in 2014, when I got under 23 minutes. I started to warm up. My back felt OK. I decided to go for it. The pool was almost empty and there were three lanes. I was the only one in the fast lane. I went for it. 60 lengths. Don’t go out too hard. Make sure you count the lengths properly or the whole thing is a waste. Don’t fade. Or try not to anyway.

Then halfway through, some old guy got into the fast lane and started swimming slow breaststroke. Why…?! This is like riding a donkey in the fast lane of the motorway. The whole pool is basically empty, there are two other slower lanes with hardly anyone in them, this guy can see me battering up and down in the fast lane, and he chooses to get into the fast lane with me?! I overtook him and kicked hard, kicking up a bit of a splash in his face. He changed lanes… I did 23:27. Fairly mediocre, and not unexpected. I haven’t really done much hard swimming yet this year, and have only been swimming once a week. Later that weekend, I watched the Abu Dhabi triathlon, and watched the pros do 18 minutes for 1500m… That’s why they are pros…

I need to do a couple of longer bikes before I go to Tenerife. So on Saturday I forced myself onto the turbo, knowing that three hours later I would still be sat on the turbo. Mind-numbing? Mentally tough? “You don’t have to do this…” said a voice in my head. Shut up, yes I do… I decided to do ten-minute intervals for 3 hours and 10 minutes. 10 minutes easier, 10 minutes harder, repeated 10 times, then a 10-minute cool-down. The easier intervals were at around 180-190 watts, and the tougher intervals were at 250-260 watts.

I didn’t feed or hydrate very well during this bike session and after 90 minutes, I’d only had one energy gel and not a great deal of liquid. Between 90 minutes and 2 hours I was debating bailing out at the two-hour mark as I could feel that I was bonking. But one energy gel every 10 minutes for the next 40 minutes lifted me, and I wanted to get 3 hours done. After two-and-a-half hours, I was feeling a bit sick, and my burps were pukey. It was my first “long” bike of the season and I guess everything was just a bit rusty – my mind, my legs, and my guts.

But by this stage, two-and-a-half hours in, I was getting to 3 hours whatever it took. “You don’t have to do this…” Yes I do… I just about had the legs to keep my power output at an acceptable level and got through the three hours. The 10-minute cool-down was almost spinning air, at very low resistance, as I really didn’t have much left at all. It took a good few hours and a good long shower and a good lot of food and drink to feel half-normal again.

On Sunday I did longer running intervals, of around 3:40. These intervals start with a flat run for about 2 minutes, and the rest of it is uphill. It’s a jog downhill back to the start, giving 2:45 of recovery. I did this session almost exactly a month ago, and did the first interval in 3:40, then faded off to over 3:50, averaging 3:46. I knew the first 3:40 was too fast and I paid the price.

This time around, I knew that I had taken a lot out of myself during my bike session the previous day. I tried to run the first one a bit easier, but still ended up doing 3:40. I thought my times would fade away again towards 3:50 and beyond. But it turned out that all the intervals this time were within two seconds of each other, and I averaged 3:41. I was quite pleased with this. In previous years, before doing my tough Sunday run, I’d have already done a tough pool session the same morning and would be going into the run absolutely knackered, but my approach is a bit different this year. I don’t want to be as horribly fatigued as I have been in previous years, and hopefully this will benefit my training, recovering and racing.

Also this week, I got my wheel back from the bike shop. Last week I had taken off the black decals, wanting to replace them with new white and red ones to match my bike. If I’d known what a pain in the ass this would be, I wouldn’t have bothered. It took hours to get the decals off one wheel, and then it was a nightmare to try to get the sticky glue residue off the wheel. I used WD-40 (on the recommendation of the wheel manufacturer) and it turned into a horrible gelatinous sticky mess, all over the carbon rims and brake tracks. Lubricant on brake tracks is not a good idea. I thought my wheel was ruined. I didn’t know what to do. I called into the Bespoke bike shop in central London once lunchtime, and had a chat with one of the guys, who said he could sort it.

So I had to bring my wheel in on the train. It wasn’t fun to carry a wheel worth over £1000 on a packed train. I thought about where best to position myself on the train to minimise the chance of people bumping into the wheel and damaging it. I decided that the far end of the carriage beside the toilet would be a good bet, then no-one would be cramming past me. I even got a seat, and propped the wheel against the toilet door. Then halfway through the journey, manky liquid started leaking out from under the toilet door, and it went all over my wheel and bag before I had realised. Urgh. You just cannot win on the damn trains. They are always packed and full of germs, and if they are not delayed, then they are cancelled, and if they are not cancelled then they are leaking piss all over your stuff. Soon, the trains will be removed completely from my life (hopefully replaced by my own car and a better commute in a new location), and my life will be better for it.

Anyway, the guy in the bike shop got all the gunk off, and got the new decals on. I think it looks really good, although I’m not sure about the small world champion rainbow stripes stickers. I’m not a world champion, so I might replace these with something else. I sent away for a set of Firecrest stickers (my wheels are Zipp Firecrests), so I might change them over later. Now I just need to spend several hours picking the decals off the other wheel and bringing it in on the train to the bike shop…

Will look even better with the bike. A superficial placebo, but who cares...

Firecrest decals on top, world champion rainbow stripes below.

Things seem to be incrementally moving in the right direction. I have dropped a kilogram or two since Christmas. I’m still not yet below 70kg, which is a good thing as I don’t want to be too light too early in the season. My repetitions were reasonably good this week. I upped the mileage a bit and I feel like I am getting a bit fitter. But it doesn’t get any easier. I never used to have to fight with myself to get the training done, I used to rip into it, straining at the leash, but now it’s a mental battle. I still do it and there’s no question of not doing it, but the little voice in my head, or the little devil hanging over my shoulder, is screaming at me that I do not have to do this, why trash yourself, why torture yourself, why give up your whole life for it, are you really enjoying it, why do it? Why bother?

Why do it? Why bother? Because, one last crack at it, and in 19 weeks when Ironman UK is over, hopefully I will have something good to show for all this, then I can move on…

Training done this week:

Mon 29 Feb: Rest
Tue 1 Mar: 1:10 turbo (10 x 3 mins hard/3 mins easy)
Wed 2 Mar: 60 min run (45 mins hard)
Thu 3 Mar: Rest
Fri 4 Mar: Swim 2.1k (1500m in 23:27)
Sat 5 Mar: 3:10 turbo (9 x 10 mins harder)
Sun 6 Mar: 6 x reps: 3:40, 3:41, 3:41, 3:41, 3:42, 3:41 (2:45 recovery)

Totals: Swim 2.1km, Bike 85 miles, Run 17 miles.