Ironman Wales - Training - Weeks 5 to 9 Toughen Up

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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

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