April 2018.

As mentioned in all of my previous Ironman training updates, each month up until now has all been about preparing for the Greater Manchester and London Marathons both in this month. As a result, April is purely focused around the tapering and running of these two races.

Week Nineteen was Greater Manchester Marathon week, the rest of the week was just a matter of resting up for the race on Sunday. Just three very steady 5k runs on Mon, Wed & Fri. No bike and no swimming.

Week Twenty was all about recovering from last weeks marathon and sorting my knee out, this had been hurting in the later stages of the Manchester marathon which meant I backed off my pace to give my knee a chance of recovering ready for next weeks London marathon. I ran 10k on Monday followed by 4, 5 and 9.3 mile runs. None of which felt good, not from aching legs or knee pain, just didn’t have the energy. Understandable I guess, hopefully, something I can build back up next week. No swimming again surprise, surprise. I did, however, get in a 15-mile Zwift session in the garage with 2,000ft of climbing.

Week Twenty One, race week again. This time it was the big one. Marathon Major number 3. You can read how my London Marathon. Like with week 19, no cycling or swimming in the lead up to the marathon. Just a 5k run and two 4 milers all very pedestrian like in an attempt to recharge my energy stores. I had a sports massage on Tuesday to sort out the legs post Manchester. The physio was impressed with the amount of flexibility I have in my legs now, which is a far cry from how she reacted 12 months ago when Mr Tin Man rolled in. That really pleased me, all the stretching I have been doing is making a big impact.

Week Twenty-Two, so no swimming this week. The swimming is something I find really hard to get done, the motivation just isn’t there. I have put this down to the fact that you have to actually get into the car, drive to the pool, pay to enter and then get changed and swim for an hour. In comparison bike and run are just a matter of putting your kit on and getting out of the door. A 1hr swim is a 2hr door to door exercise. A 1hr run is exactly that, 1hr. The bike is a little longer as I clean the bike down for 15mins afterwards but still, swimming is a bigger pull on what limited time I have. Running wise this week wasn’t great, I got in three runs and just one ride. I didn’t really have a plan for this week mileage or pace-wise.

Week Nineteen:

• Swim: 0yrds, 0mins
• Bike: 0miles, 0hr 0mins
• Run: 35.6miles, 4hr 52mins

Week Twenty:

• Swim: 0yrds, 0mins
• Bike: 15.1miles, 1hr 4mins
• Run: 24.5miles, 3hr 12mins

Week Twenty One:

• Swim: 0yrds, 0mins
• Bike: 0miles, 0hr 0mins
• Run: 37.6miles, 5hr 26mins

Week Twenty Two:

• Swim: 0yrds, 0mins
• Bike: 15.5miles, 51mins
• Run: 18.9miles, 2hr 21mins