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