Post 123 - A bit more like a "normal" Ironman training week

This week was the first week of properly focused, tough Ironman training, with intensities and durations ramped up compared to training from earlier this year. It’s “no messing about” time now. Less than 3 months left. Throw everything at it from now, get the diet absolutely spot on, get lots of sleep, get the training done. Do what I have to do. Or what I think I have to do, based on years of experience and hard lessons. This week felt a bit more like a “normal” Ironman training week, with tired legs and a tired body by the end of the week, along with a sense of relief that I had got through it.

On Monday I cooked for the week. Wholewheat pasta, sauce, broccoli, carrots, peppers, garlic, onions, ginger, chillis turmeric, salmon/turkey. Monday is an important day. It fuels the whole week. I make a pile of food and it does me through until Friday, so that’s one less thing to worry about when training.

On Tuesday I got on the turbo and did a warm-up, and a tough hour. I worked my way into it, starting off at around 260 watts, and ramping up to 280 by the end. Time distorted as usual. Holding 280 watts for the final 15 minutes seemed like forever. But, I persevered and kept the legs pumping, and got through my hour, having averaged 271 watts and 158bpm. Not bad. Then I did my leg weights, squats, strength work, rubber band work, planks and sit-ups. Then to bed before 10pm, to hopefully get at least 8 hours of sleep before the 6:22am alarm.

I decided I’d do my long run on Wednesday evening instead of on Sunday afternoon. I’d be a bit fresher on Wednesday compared with Sunday, and I want to maximise what I get out of my training sessions while minimising the impact on my body. In previous years I was doing my long runs on Sunday afternoons, absolutely knackered after a tough week of training. Doing them on Wednesday after only one day of training, followed by a day of rest on Thursday, will hopefully benefit me more. This week, my long run was only 90 minutes and didn’t even quite cover 13 miles, but for now that’s OK, and I will gradually build up to 20 miles in my long runs. I’ll build the long runs slowly as I find them tough and they take time to recover from. I got back from my long run and did arm weights and core work.

It was good to have a planned rest day on Thursday rather than destroying myself on the turbo and not giving myself any chance for recovery, as in previous years. I fitted in another osteopath visit. I really don’t enjoy these osteopath visits, having my body manipulated and cracked in such a way. I just shut my eyes, grit my teeth and trust that it is beneficial. Crack, crack, crack. I haven’t felt any benefits yet, but the osteopath has claimed that his treatments have cured constipation, migraines, long-term chronic pain, you name it. But forget all that, if he can loosen me off even just a bit, all the cracking and teeth-gritting will have been worth it.

I also got my re-built Zipp aero front wheel back from the bike shop. I can’t fault Bespoke in London for customer service. They took the wheel, sent to it the UK distributor, from where it went to Zipp’s European HQ in Portugal. The wheel was re-built with a new hub and spokes, and sent back to the UK and to Bespoke. All quite efficient. So hopefully my re-built front wheel will not be falling apart when I’m riding at speed. Bespoke is quite a high-end bike shop and I had a look around. They sell bikes worth £10,000. Below is a photo I took in the shop of one such bike. The new Trek. Electric gears, fully integrated brakes, aero headset, light as a feather, super-aero. Very nice. Bike technology has evolved a lot in the last 10-15 years since I bought my first road bike in 2003, and also since my dad bought his Raleigh Banana road bike 10-15 years before that, probably in the late 1980s. It’s hanging in the garage at home, in need of restoration. A project for me when Ironman is over?

 

They should also sell the road-stone replicas underneath the Trek bike above, denoting the most famous cycling climbs. I’ve done all of these: The Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, the Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez in the Alps, and Mont Ventoux in Provence. I’ve done most of the famous French climbs, the only ones left that I’d like to do are the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Croix de Fer, both in the Alps and on the famous Marmotte route. This route is over 100 miles, looping from Bourg d’Oisans, up over the Glandon and Croix de Fer climbs, down into the Maurienne valley, turning right at St-Michel (I almost sound like a local here), up the Télégraph climb and through Valloire before tackling the mighty Galibier, at 2645m the highest point of the route, then down the Lautaret side before heading back to Bourg d’Oisans, where you’d be pretty tired, and where you could choose to get off the bike, forget about the final climb up Alpe d’Huez, find a pub or restaurant, and go and eat frites and drink beer. Or you could finish the route and haul your ass up Alpe h’Huez… Something to do this summer, after the Ironman?

On Friday after work I went to the pool to do a Critical Swim Speed set of 5 x 400m, each in 6 minutes, with 40 seconds of recovery. These are such tough sessions. I don’t even like to think about how tough they are, so I tried not to think about it beforehand, and didn’t dwell on it when warming up in the pool. “It’s just a few 400s, one at a time, let’s go.” Maybe I am overestimating my swimming ability a little, because I couldn’t hold 6 minutes. I did the first one in 6:03. Then 6:05. I knew I wasn’t going to get any faster. Then it was 6:10. Then 6:15. I was struggling. Swimming through treacle. Going nowhere fast. My last rep was 6:20 and I left the pool thinking I will have to revise my critical swim speed from 1:30/100m to 1:32.5/100m. Maybe then, my rep times will be consistent. I’ll try 10 x 200m next week (even saying it is not nice, swimming it will not be fun), but instead of targeting 3 minutes per 200, I will target 3:05. With 20 seconds of recovery. I won’t think about this any more until I am in the pool and ready to start next Friday…

After this pool session, I went to the shop and spent another £80 on food. I reckon I easily eat £100 per week. Per week! I remember when I was younger, my mum used to be able to do the weekly shop for £70, for four boys, one mother and one father. Madness. Appetite and economic inflation is in full swing. I also spent a small fortune on energy gels, bars and powders this week. It’s “no messing about” time now, and I need to train with the foods and drinks I will be using on race day. Another small fortune was spent on car rentals for the events I have coming up: a 50 mile time trial in Essex, a 100 mile time trial in Cambridgeshire and the Bristol triathlon. And the Ironman of course. I will also have to fuel the cars for these trips. Ouch. I also spent another small fortune on running shoes. I needed two pairs – one pair to train in and get used to between now and Ironman race day, and an identical fresh pair to race in. An expensive week…

But that’s it now, I am beyond the point of no return for this year, so hopefully things will go well and I will have no interruptions, no work travel and no work relocations to deal with. I don’t want to have to resign, I’d prefer to stay in work, but equally I am aware that I have so much invested in Ironman, and this is my last-chance saloon, as I don’t think I will be competing beyond this year and so I want it to go as well as possible… if things change and I have to commute over two hours each way, or relocate, then training and racing will be compromised…

It was early to bed on Friday evening. I have 12 more weeks left of “living the dream” on Friday nights. Instead of getting up at 11am on Saturday, I got up at 9am. I think this will be less disruptive to my sleep routine. I ate breakfast and got straight onto the turbo, for three and a half hours of painful mental and physical tedium. I watched a couple of films as I ratcheted up the pain from 180 watts to 280 watts over the course of 3 hours, and then back down to 230 watts after 3 and a half hours. If anything, this session taught me the importance of not exceeding a power cap. 230 watts was easy early in the session, but 230 watts was very different and very difficult after I’d been up over 260 watts for 30 minutes. I averaged 213W NP and 207W average, at 143bpm. I followed this with a 3.5 mile run. That was the first time I’ve run straight off the bike for ages. It felt OK.

When I got back to the house, a great thing had happened. Steve had made some “panzer juice” – a mix of smoothies, protein powder, yogurt, porridge and fruit, all blended into a drink. He makes this quite often. Occasionally, if I’m lucky, there is a little bit left over which comes my way. I was just coming in the door after over 4 hours of training, and he was heading out. “There’s some panzer juice in the fridge for you…” Music to my ears, and joy to my knackered body. I made short work of it, then did my leg weights, core work, rubber band work, planks and sit-ups, took a shower, and sat around eating/watching snooker/football for the rest of the day.

Should be mass-manufactured, bottled and sold

On Sunday I went to the pool early (10am is early for a Sunday). I brought my toys, which had been neglected for over half a year: my leg float, my hand paddles, my rubber band for tying your legs together when swimming to promote good body position in the water. I swam 3300m, doing various leg and arm drills. A decent workout. Then I went to the shop and spent another £30 on food. I bought a pulled pork wrap as a treat, but told myself it was only to be eaten when my training week was over (i.e. when I had finished my 10 mile run and arm weights). I got back to the house and before I could even allow tiredness to kick in, I suppressed the voice that was saying “sit down and have that pulled pork wrap and a pint of Guinness and forget about running” and I got ready to run and got out the door as quickly as possible.

Ten very hilly miles and 62:49 later, I was done. I hadn’t run flat out, but at more of a moderately tough tempo pace, averaging 6:17/mile and 163bpm. The London marathon had earlier been won in just over 123 minutes. That’s 4:42 per mile, for 26.2 miles. Crazy. I could hold that pace for maybe 2 miles. With my run over, I forced myself through the final bit of training I had to do – some arm weights and core work. Then a shower. Then the week was over. I went downstairs and had that pint of Guinness and pulled pork wrap. And continued eating for the rest of the day while watching cycling, snooker and football on TV.

With the events I have planned for later in the season, I won’t get many full two-week training blocks, so I will have to make the most of the unconstrained time I have now before my first event on 22nd May. Then I’ve another event two weeks after that, then another event two weeks after that again. Then it’ll only be 4 weeks until the Ironman. It’s actually not long to go, but yet it’s still so damn far away and I have no idea what is going to happen between now and then with regards to my work location and employment status. This week at work, those remaining (a handful of people in a massive empty office) have been moved and squeezed into a corner – management are trying to sub-let most of the office. Since Christmas I have had no-one sitting opposite or beside me. Now I have a pair of coughers and snifflers right beside me. Not great. Another stress I could do without. I hope things will work out but it’s pretty stressful not knowing what is going on at work, not knowing how it’s going to impact my training and what I have put so much into, and not being able to do anything about it.

Next week will be more of the same, and then an easier week. I already can’t wait for the easier week…

Training done this week was as follows:

Mon 18 April: Rest
Tue 19 April: 1:15 turbo (271W/158bpm)
Wed 20 April: 90 minute run (7:27/mile, 143bpm)
Thu 21 April: Rest
Fri 22 April: Swim 2.5k (5 x 400m), 30 minute turbo (3 x 3 mins R/L/B)
Sat 23 April: 3:30 turbo (213/207W, 143bpm), 25 minute run
Sun 24 April: Swim 3.3k (13 x 250m drills), 60 min run (6:17/mile, 163bpm)

Totals: Swim 5.8km, Bike 120 miles, Run 26 miles.