Post 179 - Ironman training week 8

Monday was the usual day of rest. It has turned into a physical rest day only – the mental side of things continues to buzz, with lots to think about.

The lists of things to do which I write for myself continue to develop. This blog needs writing. Getting the bike into “Ironman mode”. Will I carry spares? Will I just hope not to get a flat tyre? Will I carry one bottle, or two, and so how many bottle cages to I need bolted and cable tied onto the bike? Will I use my aero tool box? How many gels do I need? Where are the aid stations on the course? Etc? I’m keen to save as much weight as possible on the bike, so I borrowed some kitchen scales and weighed everything.

As a result, I will use a deep-section rear wheel rather than a disc wheel (saving over 200g of rotating mass at the rear). The course is too hilly for a disc to be much benefit anyway. I won’t use my aero tool box, which fits behind the seat tube (saving 250g). I will carry only one CO2 cartridge and one spare tube (saving the weight of a second CO2 cartridge, a second tube and a pump – around 250g). I will have an aerobar mounted bottle and a bottle cage behind the seat, which will hold one bottle, and I will tape my puncture repair stuff to this bottle cage, behind my backside and out of the wind. One less bottle cage compared to previous years saves 150g, plus 750g of liquid weight.

I thought about carrying no spares, but that would leave me a screaming helpless wreck at the roadside if I should get a flat tyre. Carrying spares will mean I will still be a screaming wreck if I get a flat tyre, but at least I will be able to do something about it.

All in all, I will be saving a maximum of 1.5kg. I could go high-risk and carry only one bottle (no contingency if one bottle cage breaks) and no spares, but the extra 500g saved isn’t worth it.

I had the bike fully serviced, in-house (i.e. in my flat, without having to schedule time to make a trip to a bike shop to have it dropped off, to explain everything, to talk through everything, and to go back and pick it up). This was very handy, so the bike is now in full ironman mode, which is good. One less thing to think about.

A mess of work and weighing and stuff, but worth it for the end product

Then it was into the training.

Tuesday 11th June 2019:

A long day at work meant I was home too late to justify the time going out, so I jumped on the turbo and did 8 x 5 minutes hard, with 3 minutes of recovery. I mixed the hard stuff up with some big gear, low cadence strength work. It went reasonably well. Then I did my stretching and core work.

Wednesday:

I need to do a few “brick” sessions (bike sessions followed by runs). So I did an hour of “time trialling” on the turbo at 250 watts (you can definitely hold higher power out on the road than on a turbo), and went straight out for an hour’s run. In the lashing rain. The summer has been terrible so far, and we are right in midsummer – it’s bright when I go to bed, and bright long before I wake up. I ran in the new Asics shoes, they feel decent, but it’s the long runs that will really tell how they go. Then I did my weights and squats and stretching.

Thursday:

Another long day at work meant it was tough to squeeze in an easy 3-hour turbo trainer recovery session, but I managed.

Friday:

Swam 4250 yards, swimming hard for 100 yards and easier for 150 yards. Averaged 1:44/100m. Felt reasonable. Got home, and got onto the turbo, and did single-leg pedalling drills for half an hour. Early to bed for a big bike day tomorrow.

Saturday:

The weather forecast looked just about reasonable enough for a long bike ride. I hoped to do 200km, and had a route planned. I’ve never done a 200km day, in all my days of cycling, ironmans, training and touring, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It was now or never – I have the endurance fitness and I’m still far enough away from the ironman (4 weeks) to get away with it and recover.

So out I went. I headed south, hoping to make it to Lockerbie. I detoured along the Talla reservoir to ride up the ludicrously steep Wall Of Talla climb, to make up some extra kilometres and to ride a tough hill. I could see a guy pushing his bike up in the distance. Ha, I thought, he has overestimated his ability. It is the steepest and toughest hill I have ever ridden up. I was doing 350 watts to just about maintain 5mph and just about stay upright. I passed the pusher. His chain had snapped with the forces. I could do nothing for him. I got over the top, rode down to the far end of the Megget reservoir, did a U-turn and headed back.

It started to drizzle. I hoped it wouldn’t get worse. Riding back down the Wall of Talla was even more horrific and frightening than riding up it. Literally 2 seconds off the brakes and you’d be out of control. I made it down, the drizzle eased, and I headed towards the Devil’s Beef Tub hill, the far side of which lay Moffat, and then Lockerbie. I’d stop for a minute at the filling station in Moffat to buy more water – 2 litres were almost gone by now.

The weather got worse and worse as I climbed the hill and I decided to bail on my planned route. The weather was looking better back towards Edinburgh and there was no point in getting wet, cold and risking getting sick. It proved a good decision as I soon dried out and never saw rain again. One problem now was that I was out of water, with only a couple of small villages within 20 miles. I got lucky finding a tiny tea room who were happy to fill my bottles. Then it was loops and laps and out-and-backs and hilly roads and U-turns around Peebles, Innerleithen, Temple, West Linton, Penicuik etc. Some great roads, some great views, some great cycling.

Blue sky was seen

More of a false flat if you ask me...

Great view of Edinburgh

I hit 100 miles, always a milestone. I hit 112 miles (the ironman distance). I hit 124 miles (200km), and felt good, and thought, why not carry on and make this a long day? I had wondered about heading home after 200km and making it a long day by adding an hour of running, but the running can be very difficult to recover from. So I kept cycling. I passed a small shop at 130 miles and, sick of gels, I went in and feasted on bananas, nuts, mars bars, shortbread, cereal bars, and topped up the water again. The girl in the shop asked how far I'd covered, and almost passed out when I said 130 miles, and almost passed out again when I said I'd do maybe another 30-40 miles. "I hope you make it," she said.

I could literally have continued for hours, but it was starting to move into the evening and the temperatures were dropping. I settled for targeting 100 miles plus 100km, and in the end I did 166 miles (267km). 9 hours and 30 minutes in the saddle.

I felt fine throughout, I paced it well, fed and drank well, and definitely could have carried on. I felt much better on the bike than when I got off, and was really stiff. I’d averaged 190W (NP), 126bpm and 17.4mph over the 166 miles and 8200 feet of climbing.

The first thing I did, was to look up on the internet the distance from Mizen Head to Malin Head (the length of Ireland, the equivalent of Land’s End to John O’Groats), and the record time. It’s something in the region of 380 miles, and the record is bang on 19 hours (20mph average speed). It’s not immediately dismissible as being beyond me – I’m sure Mizen to Malin has far less climbing than what I did on my 166 mile ride, and with a support vehicle, I could save a lot of weight on the bike, I could use good aero wheels, an aero helmet, better aero clothing, aero-bars, maybe even the full TT/triathlon bike), all of which would give me time. But could I keep going for twice the 9 and half hours I did? Well, I felt I had a good few more hours in me when I finished…

After I’d had my recovery drink, shower, dinner and so on, I didn’t have the energy for my core work and stretching, so I settled for a quick stretch of my back and went to bed. It was meant to be a long run day tomorrow, but I’d see how I felt.

Trying to keep warm and trying not to get sick and "enjoying"
my recovery drink after 166 miles in the saddle...

Sunday:

I got up feeling quite tired and fatigued. A 100 mile bike ride is manageable and I’ve recovered well from them, but this was a bit different. I lazed about all day, resting, recovering and eating. Then I decided I would try the long run. With the new shoes. I carried a bottle of liquid nutrition, with a bit of caffeine in it – I’m not a coffee drinker and not used to caffeine, so this would be interesting. 

In the end I ran for 2 hours and 40 minutes, 22 miles, at 7:29 per mile, the longest training run I’ve ever done, and felt reasonable and strong throughout. It was a hilly route, but I never once felt like I was weak or losing power up the climbs. Carrying the bottle worked really well. I had a couple of stabs of knee pain in the final miles, but overall it was positive. The shoes worked well. No foot pain. Whether that was just luck, or the shoes, time will tell.

It’s fair to say I was knackered after this too, and again had no energy for weights or core work. I’ll trade the weights and core and stretching for the two successful long days though. Writing this, and thinking back over what I’ve done in the last week, has made me realise that it’s a hell of a volume of training, so I will need to be very careful in the days that follow, to ensure that I am properly recovered before I start piling on more training.

Hopefully it’ll be another tough(ish) week to follow, then an easy week, then a moderate week, then a taper week and that’ll see me to race day…

Training done was as follows:

Swim 3.9km, Bike 296 miles, Run 31 miles