Ironman Wales - Training - Weeks 5 to 9 Toughen Up

-

Week 5 - 9 - Toughen Up

 Week 9 has arrived and gone when I write this review of my training, time is flying and I'm starting to get nervous about race day.

The past 4 weeks have been all about building that lactate threshold and I must say there has been some killer sessions in the plan already. I'm still enjoying it so something must be going right... well when I say enjoying it, one thing I haven't enjoyed was the sea swimming. My wife raced ISOMAN so she has been in the sea plenty of times and seems to smash it every time she goes in, I find myself retching with the taste of the water which is really hard to get a good rhythm on my stroke. I really need to work on this as its given my confidence a real bashing!

In this chunk of training we went on holiday to Centerparks for a week, which mean no pool swims, I did ask if I could swim in the lake and I was told no, so I packed extra run kit and bike kit do sneak an extra session in. On an early morning bike ride I managed to hit a pot hole and get a puncture, I got my tool bag only to find out my darling wife had no replace the tools she tool out, so that ride ended prematurely. You can imaging my mood, broken bike and no swims that week.

On the plus side this block, I took on Wisemans bridge and Heartbreak Hill (Saundersfoot) a few times which was satisfying, I also visited Freshwater West on a number of occasions too and took on those hills and won! All good for the confidence of race day I suppose.

The longest session on the bike was 4 hours which I forgot how much you can hate your bike!

I've made the transition to a new saddle (well back to my old one) I wasn't getting on with the wider Adamo saddle and 11 weeks out I'm not to worries,

In this chunk of training we now are hitting double day sessions, with 1 day off a week, I've noticed my metabolism is sky high and I cant eat enough some days, early morning swimming is the norm and I'm really enjoy them too, I can see some days my stroke is lazy as shoulders are tired, but my Ironmates tell me train hard, race easy! I like that idea!

I've also switched to a new trainer (Asics) which I'm unsure about, there is a little rubbing on the heel, but my last pair of Newtons didn't last and the material inside the shoe just tore and then cut my feet to bits. I'm contemplating if this Asics ones are any good, should I buy another pair and training in them too so I have a tougher, more stable pair come race day?

I did my first tri race in 2 years in this chunk on training too, only a Go tri series (sprint Triathlon / pool Swim) It was great to be back racing and really enjoyed getting back to it. I raced this race 3 years ago and back then I was 2 minutes quicker but this time it was a different run route, but I felt lets felt strong off the bike which is a great feeling as they can only get fitter.

Out of the 68 session I missed 15 from the plan, and that included 5 from holiday due to mechanicals and no pool to swim in. Then being away with my wife for ISOMAN (which she smashed!Super proud of her!) 4 missed sessions. The stats below are quite depressing after it feel like a good training block.



Next up is is endurance.. Sounds fun!

I've also got Ocean Lava Half Ironman to take on...

Totals
Sessions Hit - 53
Sessions Missed - 15

Swim Distance - 24140 Meters
Bike Distance - 290 Miles
Run Distance - 54 Miles

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 31 - The End Of Janothon, The Start Of Something Else...

-
Image
Well we have been all looking forward to this day, and here it is! Congrats to all people who have completed Janothon. Mondays are the elite group session, while I was driving down the car phone went off, the bloke that arranges the training cant make it plus another 2 of the group aren't attending tonight as they are stuck in work so the suggested session was 7 x 1km, I was not looking forward to that as the 2 young lads where probably going to be there and leave me behind. When I got there my assumption was correct it was just me and the 2 fastest lads of the group. When I suggested the 7 x 1km session they looked at me and said "I'm not doing that!" lets just go for a run. I was over the moon they said no to the speed work! Its been 30 days hard training and I didn't want that on my last day of Janothon. We did a run what is called around Europe, Its a route that takes us up hill to the top of the mumbles in Swansea when we get to the half way...
Read more

Lovely Lake Laps.. Hippo Like...

-
Image
I missed out last week on the lake swim and I understand it was a good one to miss, it was cold, dark and the lake even had waves. Todays session couldn't be more different, the lake was really flat, mill pond like and idea swimming conditions. The set was kept simple, 2 laps of the lake and as the lake was nice and flat I was happy with that, I thought that this set was going to be easy. Well how wrong was I.. The first lap went fine, I went off with the faster group and kept on there feet all the way around, which I was really happy with. I'm getting better with my swimming and im already looking to up the distance in my events, and 1500 meters doesn't look that daunting any more. We swam a wider lap in the session, so the spotters could follow us if we came into trouble, but I kept seeing the bottom which gave me the spooks so I kept going into the deeper part of the lake so I wasn't too scared... I sound like a right softy... But I have visions of someone or ...
Read more

Day 23 - 1st Race Day

-
The morning came far to early this morning and before I knew it I was up, dressed and ready for my 1st race for my new triathlon club. It was the final meet of the cross country season, 5 mile track around the reservoir and back home. This is my first competitive event since I played rugby to a high standard about 10 years ago. I do have a competitive streak in me so I was going to give it my all. I had to register when I arrived at the event it felt funny, going to a table in the corner, saying my name and running for a club.. me... running for a club. It was only £4 (it could have been £2 if I was registered with Wales Athletics) but I didn't mind paying it for my first turn out for Celtic Tri. There was a good turn out from the club but I was the only one without a team vest :( 11am on the dot the starter got the race off and away I went. I went out pretty quick but I was coping with it, I knew I could go out quick as it was only 5 miles. I averaged a 7.11 minute mile and I fe...
Read more