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
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