Post 176 - Ironman training week 5

After an easier week, I was (perversely) itching to get back at the hard training. There's not a great deal of time left before the Ironman, as I'm doing a much shorter build-up this year, so I want to get on with it, but at the same time I need to be mindful that I don't do too much too soon...

Monday 20th May 2019:
Rest day. Can't remember what I did but I'm sure I did very little.

Tuesday:
Turbo tempo. The weather wasn't great so I was on the turbo. I've done quite a few intervals but not many out-and-out continuous efforts. I read that the hour-long time-trial efforts are of benefit when training for and racing Ironman triathlons, so I did a good 15-minute warm-up, 70 minutes hard, and then 15 minutes to cool down. 265 watts for 158bpm. Not bad, probably could have pushed harder but it's a balance between pushing hard and being able to recover, and pushing too hard which means the entire rest of the week suffers. Decent session. Stretching and core work and squatting afterwards.

The weight is starting to fall off...

Wednesday:
Hilly tempo run. 10 miles in 63 minutes. I could run 10 miles in 53 or maybe 52 minutes with a couple of months of specific training, but that's not what the target is. My legs felt a bit knackered after this, I don't ever remember racing 10 miles flat out and being this tired. But then again, I taper for my races, rather than doing a hard 70 minute bike the day before... weights and squatting afterwards.

Thursday:
Had an early finish at work, threw together a plan with Kev to do an easy cycle in East Lothian and get the train home. Cycling eastbound with a tailwind was great, it meant it was indeed an easy 3-hour cycle, very scenic, very enjoyable.

Cyclists always look cool

East Lothian roads

Tantallon castle

The North Berwick Law ("Law" is what they call "hill")

Train home

Was hungry afterwards, went to the shop, got the evening discounts - two tubs of fruit and a meal deal tub of chicken, broccoli and couscous, got the train back, cycled 2-3 miles back to the flat, by then it was freezing. Ate dinner and went to bed.

Friday:
Went to the podiatrist. Not sure how much benefit I am getting for my £34-for-15-minute-sessions, but I get the callouses on my feet hacked off and get told to buy various creams and files and plasters and covers. Hopefully doing some good and hopefully will prevent horrendous pain in the ironman marathon. Finished work. Work has been tough and very busy recently. Really needed a rest and a switch-off. But that's not really an option. Straight to the pool and did 3500 yards, doing all sorts of tortuous drills with tortuous-looking rubber bands and hand paddles and other swim "toys..." Didn't bother with the sauna as this would take an extra 20 minutes which would be better spent sleeping...

Saturday:
Poor weather again meant a long turbo. 5 hours and 40 minutes. I had bought some "turbo fodder" in the charity shop recently - a pile of DVDs, so I got through a couple. Did strength and speed work. Every hour I was doing 2 x 3 minutes at low cadence and high power for strength, and 2 x 3 minutes at high cadence and high power for speed. Fine for three hours, legs getting tired after four, goosed after five... also tried a very concentrated mix of Tailwind nutrition mixed with water. It didn't work too well, it was too concentrated and I felt pukey at the end and a bit sick the rest of the day. Will try less a concentrated mix the next time. Stretched and did core work and squatting.

Sunday:
Long run day. The face says it all. I hate long runs.

Waited for the worst of the rain to pass. Was overdressed, especially when it warmed up. Sweated a lot, got a sore head. Did 4 hills to mimic the Ironman UK run course. 18 miles in 2:13 at 7:23 per mile and around 140bpm. I don't know how people can run marathons in 2:30. People I would beat at 5k and 10k races can run such 2:30 marathons. It's incredible. I was extremely tired after this run. Flopped on the sofa and spaced out and ate and ate and drank and drank and had to force myself to finish the week with weights and squatting. Another week done. I was quite dehydrated and had a sore head for the rest of the day, but if that's the worst of the week, I'll take it,

I had a look at my bike position. I'm happy with the more upright position now when I'm on the base bars, it allows me to stretch out a bit, but I need to lower the aero bars a little to make myself a bit more aerodynamic when I'm in the aero position.

Agressive aero

Moderately aero

Upright

More upright

Extremely upright when your back is absolutely ruined

My very sore right foot, which was really concerning me, seems to have eased, so that's a big plus. My left hip still hurts, but it's not an immediate concern. In the long run it could turn into a concern but it's not so acute as to make me think it'll give problems in the next couple of months - I hope not anyway...

Training done was as follows:

Swim 3.2km, Cycle 190 miles, Run 29 miles

Post 175 - Ironman training week 4

An easy week this week.

Monday:
Trip to the physio to iron out the legs after a few tough weeks. He's an old boy and an old school boy. I squirm and grunt and huff and puff on the massage table. Really not enjoying it. Some of his comments, quoted directly, were:

"You're the worst person I have ever seen..."
"I categorise my patients and you're the only one I'd put into the "mess" category..."
"You can't take it..."
"You should retire immediately boy..."
"I don't know how you can even pedal a bike, never mind do an Ironman..."

Great. Well, at least it wasn't anything I didn't know - I've long known that my body is a mess, my back is a mess, my muscles are a mess, my biomechnics are a mess. I put a lot of effort into my stretching and core work and weights to try to enable me to do what I do, but I wish I wasn't such a physical mess...

My foot still hurts and I've been creaming it with expensive Arnica cream and various other supposed "miracle creams", none of which are having the magic bullet effect. Only time will tell, but I hope it clears quickly.

Tuesday:
Already the easy week is not going to plan - I'd have liked 2 days off in a row, but work commitments meant an overnighter in England in mid-week, which meant I had to cycle tonight, and run when in England, and have the second day off later in the week. It was a nice evening and I headed out to Gladhouse reservoir with Kev, a nice easy 2 and a half hour spin out. Enjoyed it.

Wednesday:
Ran first thing in the morning, managed an easy 30 minutes. Foot felt better running that it does walking. Headed for England. I knew there'd be a lot of walking and carrying bags and time on my feet. None of which were needed, but I had to get through it. The hotel didn't even have a bath - I had planned a long hot bath. Had to go to a conference dinner. Dinner was nice but so inadequate. I was hungry 5 minutes later. Didn't touch any drink. Got back to the hotel at midnight. Ravenous. Pleaded with receptionists for food. Pleading efforts were rewarded with an apple. Better than nothing.

Thursday:
Terrible sleep. Hotel room was boiling. All day on my feet or sitting in a cramped uncomfortable train seat. Got home. Stretched back. Went straight to bed. Not the rest day you would want.

Friday:
Easy swim. Did 2300 yards at 1:44.5/100m pace. Fairly unremarkable.

Saturday:
Again juggling the plans - usually I'd cycle, but went to the Peebles Parkrun with Deirdre. I did an easy hour of running along the river Tweed cycleway - all off-road and really nice - river, trees, forest,hills, quiet. Enjoyed it, even though I am spending every minute of my runs waiting for my foot to go big-style. It hasn't happened yet and I've no idea how I am getting away with my running, given that I can't walk properly.

They build tunnels under roads so you don't have to cross them. My kind of thinking.

I'd heard about the Peebles Pies ages ago, you get them from a butcher's/baker's called Forsyth's. Last time I was in Peebles was for the duathlon in September. It was on a Sunday. The pie place was closed and I was gutted. Got a steak pie and a lasagne pie. Tremendous.

Sunday:
Easy bike day. Took the hybrids out for a spin over the Forth bridge. 2 and a half hours in total in the saddle, with a few stops/scones/sandwiches, meant it was an all-afternoon jaunt. The bridges really are very impressive. There's the 19th century rail bridge, the 20th century road bridge (now closed to all traffic except bikes, pedestrians and the odd bus/taxi), and the 21st century new motorway bridge, all lined up. Nowhere else in the world do you get 3 centuries spanning one waterway in such close proximity.

It's a bit weird crossing the old road bridge, I remember crossing it years ago when heading to Edinburgh or the central belt from Aberdeen for running races. Or even when I first moved to Edinburgh, the new bridge wasn't finished. Now the old bridge is like a ghost bridge - no cars, no noise, just a few bikes, a few walkers and when the occasional bus rumbles across, the whole bridge vibrates and you think it's no wonder they had to close it and build a new one, and hopefully it won't fall apart before we get across to the other side...

Training was as follows:

Swim 2.1km, Cycle 70 miles, Run 12 miles

Post 174 - Ironman training week 3

Monday:

Day of rest, much needed. This was a bank holiday, the weather was good, but my right foot was very sore. I could barely walk. So I didn't leave the flat, except to go and buy food, and because I was in a bad mood with the sore foot, I bought some junk. Which made me feel worse. I don't know what's wrong with my foot. The top of my right foot is sore and I can't plant it properly. So I'll be icing it and doing whatever I can to try and let it recover. But I hate this feeling - will it be OK? Won't it? Will all the effort and training and money be for nothing? If it will be for nothing, I'd rather know about it now...

Tuesday:

Well, got to try. Tuesday is hard bike day. Poor weather meant I fired up the turbo and did a pyramid session. 10 minutes to warm up and cool down, with 1 minute hard/1 minute easy, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8 and then a decision on whether to go for 10/10 or just to come back down off 8/8. I decided 8/8 would be enough and started back down on the 6/6, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2 and 1/1. Not doing the 10/10 was a good call because my legs were cooked after the 8/8 and I really had to push hard to maintain power for the 6 and 4 and 3. When I got to 2 and 1 I knew I'd get through the session strong. Not bad. Then stretching and core work.

Wednesday:

Usually would be a run day but decided to switch the run to Thursday to allow the foot a bit more time to recover. So did 2 hours and 40 minutes on the turbo, moderately easy riding, averaging 163W NP for 109bpm (compared with 2:30 last week at 150W NP at 106bpm). Just getting bike miles in the legs. Then some weights and squatting.

Thursday:

Parents and brother arriving today for a few days in Edinburgh, so plenty of advance planning was needed to fit in the training around them. Ran at lunchtime from work. In a bad mood - work has been busy and stressful and the foot is still sore. Only a couple of weeks into Ironman training and I'm already on the back foot. For me, things are quite black and white. Everything is either perfect, or it's nothing. I was pretty apprehensive about the lunch time run, given that my walking is so compromised. But, bizarrely, I ran fairly hard on a hilly route for 60 minutes and it felt fine. Running seems OK, walking is not. What's that all about...? Let's see how the foot copes in the aftermath of that...

Friday: 

Off work, swam first thing. Wanted to do a harder swim session, 12 or 13 sets of 10 lengths hard. Such inconsiderate slow swimmers in the fast lane, what a complete pain. Did what I could and by halfway through the lane had emptied out. Kept reminding myself that my swimming is already acceptably good enough and anything I do is a bonus. Went to the museum of flight in the afternoon and spent 3 hours limping round. Not good. Stretched and did core and weights. Went out for dinner - very good, apart from the heavy rain... tomorrow's 100 mile cycle might end up being a turbo...

Pretty cool, you could go aboard and see the cockpit and everything

Saturday:

Yes, turbo - roads were too wet. 5 hours and 20 minutes on the turbo. My longest ever turbo. I've heard it said that I have an incredible capacity for boredom. I'll do what I have to do. 

Nourishment during turbo

Watched a couple of films and documentaries. Ironman UK will be hilly so tried to mimic hills by ramping up the resistance periodically - a 5 minute "hill" and a 10 minute "hill" every hour, legs slowing drowning in lactic, a caffeine gel getting me through the last hill. 191W NP for 120 bpm. Not bad. 

After-turbo recovery drink... just what you want...?

The new raised base bar position seems to be good, much easier on the body. The raised aero bars actually seem OK too, must get some photos to illustrate how much my back has been raised up now compared with before, and decide whether to lower the aero bars or not. Knackered afterwards, had to cycle into town to meet the parents and brother for dinner. Couldn't be bothered and was probably terrible company initially but a feast of food revived me a bit.

Sunday:

Played pitch and putt. Limped round. It's so strange. I am walking with all the weight on the outside of my right foot, I can't plant it properly. 

What retirement may hold, if I can still walk when I retire...

Wondered if I should bother with the long run at all, especially knowing it would be 6pm before I'd get it started after the folks all flew off. Thought I'd try a run out along the canal, at least it would be flat, and if it was bad I would just turn around and go home. It's spring time, it's bug season (not winter bugs that make you sick but actual bugs that fly about and go in your eye - 5 of the feckers, it was terrible - need to wear sunglasses or eye protection in future...) I honestly have no idea how I managed 17.6 miles at 7:06/mile. I can run but can't walk... got a bit of a shock when taking off my shorts for the shower. Standard male running shorts will have a y-front type lining in them to hold everything in place. This lining was a light grey colour when I started. It was red when I finished, in the perfect outline of two balls. Major chafing. Major squealing in the shower. Major need to use vaseline or BodyGlide when doing long runs in future 

Also took delivery of a pile of "products" - almost £100 worth of Tailwind nutrition products for training and racing and recovery, some gels and bars, SuitJuice and BodyGlide for the wetsuit (and crotch!), padded gel cycling gloves to minimise road vibration impacts and hopefully reduce fatigue for long training rides and the ironman, and a few other bits and pieces. 

Expensive boxfuls

Tailwind is great, hopefully Kona will come

I've been continuing to file and moisturise my foot callouses and will need to book in another appointment to have another "hacking callouses off" session with the podiatrist. But with not running super fast in Ironman training, the horrible callous pain associated with fast running and racing isn't as evident. The main worry is the injured foot...

Next week is an easier week of training to allow the body to rest and recover and absorb the training I've thrown at it. Hopefully that will help the foot. I've booked in a sports massage as well, which will ease off the legs, and I'll ask about the injured foot. Still need to enter the damn race but want to see how things go with the foot...

Training done was as follows:

Swim 3km, Bike 190 miles, Run 27 miles

Post 173 - Ironman training week 2

Monday: Usually a rest day, but I didn't get a run the day before due to watching the London marathon. Ideally I'd have done a long run but had to compromise - I like to have a rest day after a long run to recover, as I find long runs tough. With it being Monday and a full week of training ahead, I settled for an easy 40 minute run around Canary Wharf, Island Gardens, the Thames Walkway, Mudchute City Farm and park. Worried about my back flaring up after so long on my feet the day before, supporting at the London marathon. 

Enjoyed the run, no pressure, warm, t-shirt and shorts, scenic, the city farm was brilliant – just like the countryside. Pigs, cows, sheep, animal noises, greenery, trails, trees, not many people, quiet. I emerged from all of this into a massive Asda car park with Canary Wharf’s skyscrapers behind. What a terrible contrast (I’m not a city boy…) Flew back to Edinburgh. Every time I take the Edinburgh airport bus I feel sick. I almost vomited and was breaking out in shivers and hot and cold sweats. Glad to flop into bed.

Tuesday: Weather was poor so I did a tempo ride on the turbo instead. It was OK. Key is to ramp up slowly. 266 watts normalised power at 146bpm. Usually it's tougher to hold wattage on the turbo compared with the road, so the fact that the power was higher than my Scottish duathlon effort a couple of weeks ago indicates that the duathlon was a poor showing. My base bars are far too low, so when I sit up to get a break from the aero position, I am still far too bent over and my back never gets a break. Need to raise the base bars. Followed by stretching and core work.

Wednesday: A tempo run. A mile to warm up and then 7.5 miles at 6:10/mile pace and then a mile to cool down. Probably didn’t need to run that fast, which would have meant the legs stayed fresher… Remember to build up to Ironman fitness by July, don't chase it immediately. Followed by weights and stretching and squatting.

Thursday: An easy ride. Planned to go out to Gladhouse reservoir. Weather was poor, so did two and a half easy hours on the turbo. Had to be done…

Friday: Swimming. Did sets of 10 lengths, various combinations of free swimming, drills, hand paddles, leg floats and leg band for tying legs together. Swimming feels fine. Slow swimmers in the fast lane doing breaststroke and backstroke were not fine. Early to bed for first proper long cycle tomorrow. Originally planned to be a day trip to Bolton to ride the new Ironman UK bike course (said to be dangerous and appalling and with terrible roads). Thought it through, and decided 9 hours (at best) of driving and 7-8 hours of cycling wasn’t a recipe for a good day out. Will go and make a weekend of it in future.

Saturday: Trip to Bolton was scrapped so planned 100 miles on the roads in the Borders. Poor weather, a biting north wind, a lack of confidence in my legs (no century rides done for literally years) and an “inviting” turbo trainer with no end of DVDs, iplayer stuff and TV and snooker was more appealing. Also needed to try out riding the triathlon bike with raised base bars. So, raised up the entire handlebar system. Will need to decide which bike to ride at Ironman UK (the light, nimble road bike or the heavier, aerodynamic triathlon bike – it’s not clear-cut with over 8000 feet of climbing, plenty of tight turns and a poor road surface to consider).

Did 5 hours and 10 minutes. Yes, 5 hours and 10 minutes. Ramping up one gear every 20 minutes for 100 minutes, all repeated three times. Going from around 140 watts to 170 to 190 to 210 to 240ish. First 2 x 100 minutes were fine. First 3 x 20 minutes of final 100 were fine. Then the legs started to get goosed, cooked, flooded with lactic, whatever. Took a disgusting caffeine gel (never usually do this), gave myself a talking-to, and got through it. Final 20 minutes weren’t as bad as I thought – was this the caffeine gel that helped? Raised base bars were a great success and “sitting up” was much more comfortable than previously, as it was much more upright and much better for my back to have a good change in position from the aero position and the previously-very-bent-over position on the base bars. Raising the base bars has also raised the aero bars, I’ll need to drop them now which is a pain and which takes ages.

Then knocked back a tremendous recovery drink. Then lamented that all my bike training anf recovery nutrition and hydration (gels, powders, bars etc) were now all consumed and a big replenishment spend was now necessary. Forced myself to do my weights and stretching and squatting. Felt fairly good about things. This would change tomorrow…

Sunday: Long run day. I hate long runs. Mentally and physically I hate them. I have terrible biomechanics and after 90 minutes of running, my body lets me know all about it. I realistically need to run 3:20 or better at Ironman UK to have a chance of qualifying. 7:30/mile pace. I thought that a two-hour training run at this pace would be fine for today. That sets the scene. Now for the good news - fast forward to after the run. I went to the shop, saw some trout on offer, bought it and had it for dinner. Was very excited about this. It's been said I have a boring diet (I prefer to think of it as functional, cost-effective, quick and clean). In the absence of any other photos for this blog post, I photographed my dinners for a few days. Decide for yourself if they look boring...

Just missing blue, indigo and violet dinners...

Now onto the bad - I made it a hilly run (Ironman UK is a hilly run so I have to train on the hills). I got through it. The legs weren’t superbly conditioned for such a run, but it seemed OK. With time and more training, it will get better. Weighed 61.5kg immediately after (very light). Ate non-stop for the rest of the day.

Forced myself to do my stretching and core work. Realised that the top of my right foot was in agony. Oh dear. I had been all ready to actually stump up the money and enter Ironman UK – I had been waiting to see if I would get through some proper “long” ironman training before parting with the ridiculous entry fee. So I put that all on hold and hope it won’t sell out before I have the confidence that the body can cope. Maybe a 2-hour run was too much at this stage, I have the fitness for it but not the conditioning. Was in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. Ironman really is mental torture, not much more than a week in... Adjusting my hybrid commuter bike’s brakes also turned into a pain in the backside, oil and dirt went everywhere, they wouldn’t centralise, and this didn’t help the mood…

Training done was as follows:

Swim 3km, Bike 180 miles, Run 25 miles

Post 172 - Ironman training week 1

I probably didn't allow myself enough recovery time after the Stirling duathlon. That had been a tough race, following just after a fast 10K race, both had taken a lot out of me. With hindsight, I would have spent longer recovering. I had one day off afterwards, then was straight back out. Onto the bike, over to Arthur's Seat, hammering out hill repeats.

I felt awful (unsurprisingly), with my times and power both down on where they'd usually be. There was just nothing in the legs. I couldn't get my heart rate much over 160bpm. Also, it was cold and I was cold. I didn't enjoy it but I grinded it out and had a long, hot shower when I got home.

Not a happy (or pretty) cyclist, and this was taken after only 1km.

Not up for it at all, legs not  ready after a tough 10K and tough duathlon in succession

The following evening myself and Kev headed up to the Pentlands for a run. I've been in Edinburgh 2 and a half years and it's terrible how little tie I've spent in the Pentland hills, overlooking the city to the south. A giant playground - trails, running, lochs, reservoirs, open water swimming, views. Ideal really, and I've only been up there literally two or three times.

I was a bit disappointed that this evening was misty, but it added to the atmosphere. It was silent, no-one else around. Kev said he wouldn't come up by himself in case he twisted an ankle and couldn't get phone signal to call for help. So I was really careful with my footing on the trails, concentrating on where I was putting my feet.

My legs were still tired and so I decided to forget about times and pace and all the rest of it. The last time I'd been at Thriepmuir reservoir last summer, and the level was really low. This time, it was like a different reservoir, with the water level really high. As we ran past two swimmers in wetsuits, I wondered what temperature the water was.

We ran through a valley where a small burn (stream) developed, and then led down the far side to another couple of reservoirs, then we took a left to double back, up a steep trail, to around 1100 feet, and back down to the car. A super run.

I did an easy turbo on Thursday - 2 and a half hours, around 160 watts at 110bpm, then battered out a 4000m swim on Friday, which felt good, averaging 1:43 per 100m, pushing hard for 2 lengths every 10. My heart rate was reasonably low at the end which was good. Then straight to bed. I needed to be up early on Saturday as I wanted to do a long bike, and then had to catch a train to go and support at the London marathon.

So I was on the turbo by 8am, got through 3 and a half hours (197 watts normalised, 177 average, 126bpm). Not bad for a first "long" ride, but they will have to get longer... 2 hours longer, and more... I was tired after this, but got some food down me, some liquid, and headed off for the train. I was more dehydrated than I thought as I didn't need the toilet for pretty much the entire 4 and half hour train ride (usually if I am properly hydrating I need to go every hour or so...)

Anyway I made it to London. That whole weekend has a blog post by itself, and so I won't go into detail here. I had a sacrifice the Sunday long run, but I managed 40 minutes on the Monday morning, which I will put down as part of this week's training. And that was the first week of Ironman training. Pretty moderate, no super-long or super-tough sessions. I haven't entered the Ironman yet, I want to see how the tougher, longer sessions will go.

Training done was as follows:

Monday 22nd April: Rest
Tuesday 23rd April: Bike 6 x Arthur's seat hill reps
Wednesday 24th April: 75 minute run
Thursday 25th April: 2:30 turbo
Friday 26th April: Swim 4km
Saturday 27th April: 3:30 turbo
Sunday 28th April: 40 minute run (done on the Monday but part of this week's training block)

Totals: Swim 4km, Bike 140 miles, Run 16 miles.

Post 171 - Back in London... marathon supporting

TBC