I had a 3-week training block before Kona. I didn't know if I should do a full three weeks, or do one week hard, one week easier, and the final week hard. I wanted to do three hard weeks because I didn't think two weeks was enough after Lausanne to properly get back into the long-course endurance swing of things. I'd been doing a lot of heat training during the three weeks. The actual heat training seemed fine. The depletion and recovery afterwards was tough.
With hindsight, I wouldn't have trained so intensely and so often with heat for the full three weeks. Towards the end of the final week, I felt like I was coming down with a cold. And sure enough, now it's a full-on, sore head, snotty nose, sore throat, can't-sleep, horrible, messy cold. I also have a bit of a sore Achilles. I fly out to Kona in 3 days... I hope they will both be OK...
On Monday I felt fine. I went for the usual massage. All good. On Tuesday I got on the turbo. 2 x 20 minutes of effort. Top effort would see both sets over 300 watts. I was happy enough to tone it down to around 290 watts. No point in risking damage or injury or illness. Little did I know...
On Wednesday I went out for a tempo run. 45 minutes would be enough. Usually I'd do at least an hour. 45 minutes would do. No point in risking damage or injury or illness... Little did I know... I got into a hot bath straight away for 30 minutes. Went to bed. No problem. I woke up in the night feeling my Achilles was a little bit sore. Not bad, but definitely not right.
On Thursday I limped around work telling myself it was fine, that I wouldn't be running again until Sunday, that would be enough time for it to recover. I got on the turbo trainer that night with the heat on full blast, and no fan on. It was sweaty. I got through 2 hours. The fitness is good. The heat adaption is working. The Achilles still felt a bit iffy.
On Friday I swam 4000m and then sat in the sauna for 30 minutes. The first 15 minutes are fine, the second 15 are agony. So uncomfortable. Time drags so slowly. You could just step out of the sauna. But you can't. You endure it. For Kona.
You hope at mile 20 of the marathon when it's 34 degrees, all the heat adaption will have been of some use. I got a haircut. It was raining. Then I went for another massage, was told there isn't much wrong my Achilles (I don't believe that, it's definitely not right), and picked up a bike box for Kona. I went to bed that night feeling like I had a cold coming on.
I got up. I didn't feel like I had a full-on cold. I had two more days of Ironman training to do. Just two more days. 5 and a half hours on the turbo, in heat. It got up to 33 degrees in the flat with the heat from the radiators being rivalled by the heat I was generating, pedalling away. Thank goodness for Peaky Blinders - I've watched every single episode - good turbo fodder. I played around with my new camera while on the go, getting it all working and linked to my new phone.
Before I took my top off...!
I felt like I had decent fitness on the turbo. A good session. I was going well in the high temperatures. I wondered would I follow it with a run. Should I? I decided I would. Only 20 minutes. If the Achilles was bad, I would stop. I got through 20 minutes, at a much faster pace than I intend to run the Ironman marathon. The fitness is not bad at all, I have to admit. The Achilles isn't too bad. The big test for it would be the long Sunday run.
Hot and sweaty
Turbo nutrition
I preceded this Sunday run with the single-leg drills I hadn't had time to do on Friday. Then I ran for 2 hours and 10 minutes. It was cold. I had loads of layers on. "Heat training." There was nothing enjoyable about this. I was soaking in sweat, worried about my Achilles, had a cold coming on. One of my least enjoyable runs. Afterwards I got straight into a hot bath for half an hour.
The Achilles had been OK. I assume if it was going to go wrong, it would have gone wrong during this long run. It's uncomfortable, but I hope it will be OK. No more tough tests for it until the Ironman marathon anyway. And if it happens to be so bad afterwards that I can't walk, well, who cares? As long as it gets me through 26.2 miles on Hawaii...
I didn't sleep that night. The cold got worse. So many things combined: the changing seasons, lower temperatures, a depleted, dehydrated body, heat training adding to the stress, the haircut meant my head was cold. I got sick at pretty much exactly the same time last year. I probably asked too much of myself over the last 3 weeks.
So over the past few days I have been drinking lemsips, necking neat alcohol to try to kill any germs, increasing my intake of chillis and tumeric and ginger and garlic. But I don't think anything I can do will make a difference. It will run its course. Better this week than next week. I hope it'll be better before Friday, when I fly out. I hope the Achilles will be OK.
For now, I'll train very lightly until I travel. I've still got quite a bit to get ready. I've seem some photos and reports from people who are already out there in Kona. It looks good. I can't wait. I just wish I was in top condition. I'm sure I will be by the time it comes around.
Kona start and finish
Training done was as follows:
Swim 4km, Bike 185 miles, Run 28 miles
(The "2 x 2 mins" below should read "2 x 20mins".)
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