Well here we are, one full month of Ironman training left before I take on my first full distance Ironman in July. This month I make my debut at Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire which is the first middle distance triathlon I I have done. So far I have done one GoTri and one Sprint triathlon so I am using Ironman Staffs to bridge the gap between the sprint distance and full Ironman, plus it will be a good experience and help with setting up for transition etc.

Training wise, June is pretty similar to my IRONMAN SEASON 1 PART 6, in that I am concentrating on all three disciplines. The first week will be tapering and racing Ironman Staffs, then week 29 back at it from the get go, I am not planning on taking any recovery time off from Staffs given it is a training event. Week 30 we are on holiday in Menocra so wont be doing any cycling and very little running that week, I do hope to get a morning ocean swim in each day as a free open water session and then week 31 will be my final week of hard training before tapering for Ironman UK.

June 2018.

Week Twenty Eight:

Swim: 3,046 yrds, 57mins
Bike: 110 miles, 6hrs 25mins
Run: 27.7 miles, 3hrs 45mins

Race week. After tapering during week 27, this week was more of the same. A steady 5 mile run on Monday followed by another steady 4 miles Tuesday, I did run mile 5 as fast as I could as my New York Road Runners 1 Mile Global Running Day virtual “Race”, pleasingly running it in 5:48 and it was another easy 5 miles on Friday, giving me 15 very steady miles for the week. I had one pool swim on the Wed, just 750m but actually at my quickest pool pace to date. I spent 3 hours on the bike riding indoors on Zwift. Frustratingly, my puncher from last week has been causing issues still, not so much the puncher but the tyre is losing pressure despite the puncher being repairs and sealant replaced. Even when submerged in the bath, there are no air bubbles coming out, yet 6 hours later the tyre has gone from 100psi to 40psi. I think it is the tubeless valve which is slowly losing air. On Thursday I swapped out the tubeless solution and put a tube in, after a 5 mile install lap all seems good again for Sunday.

Sunday was Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire. 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike and 13.1 Mile Run. You can read how my race went in my IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE 2018 RACE RECAP

Week Twenty Nine:

Swim: 2,953 yrds, 1hr 16mins
Bike: 17 miles, 1hr
Run: 27.2 miles, 3hr 28mins

So a the week after my first Ironman 70.3. I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling after Sunday but all things considered, I felt pretty good. The only issue I had was a saw achilles after someone hit my achilles during the swim. I don’t think it will be an issue, just an impact injury that should clear up over the week. We are going on holiday on Saturday so the plan was to get in two decent middle distance runs on the Thursday and Friday and a progressive 4 miles on the Monday to test the achilles out. It didn’t feel 100% during these three runs but certainly not stopping me from running. On the Sunday I went out for a easy paced 4 mile run in Cala n Bosch, I could certainly get used to this warm weather training and this should put me in a better place for any warm weather races we may get during the summer months.

Swim wise, I was back in the pool on the Monday, swimming the same distance as the Ironman 70.3 swim the day before and this time going a few seconds quicker. My swimming is starting to show signs of improving now. Bike wise I only managed to get in 17 miles travelling to and from the station on Wednesday.

Week Thirty:

Swim: 8,975yrds, 3hr 18mins
Bike: 0 miles
Run: 29.5 miles, 3hr 52mins

This week is mostly going to be resting and recovering with some good open water / ocean swimming whilst I am in Menorca. I don’t have the back with me out here so I shall not be getting any bike training in but I don’t think I can make much difference at this stage anyway. I did get four swims in which was amazing!! swimming in the warm crystal clear water was great, although I did encounter some sting rays on the first swim and decided to cut the third swim short (still swam over 1.5 miles) due to a lot of jelly fish floating in. I did however swim up to 2 miles on two occasions so great practise for Ironman UK and all without the wetsuit. The pace was slower than with the wetsuit which goes without saying, I was drifting a lot due to wind and waves pushing me around so I am happy with the slower pace.

Running out here has been great, it is so nice waking up and running at 6am in 28c warmth. I have ran a 7 mile trail run along the coast with stunning views over some of the coves and then a fasted 10k on the Thursday, fasted due to waking up too early for the restaurant to open. The achilles has been feeling better by the day and I am running pain free again by the Thursday run.

Sunday I was back in the UK and lining up for the Wilmslow Half Marathon. This wasn’t a race I had planned for this stage of my training, but it was rescheduled from March when the Beast from the East had its grip. I was in two minds whether to run it or not but I thought I had felt good on the last few runs so why not. After running a sub 90 half last month I decided to push myself and see whether I could take a further 4 minutes off my PB and run a 1:25. The first five miles went well, I was right on the pace for a 1:25, I ran my third fastest 5k ever and second fastest 10k at the start of the half. Around 5.5 miles in my calf started to ache a little (opposite side to the earlier achilles pain). I slowed my pace down by 1 min per mile but the pain got worse as the miles went by. After 10 miles I decided to stop and try to stretch it out, thinking it was cramp kicking in. This did help for about a mile before it hit again. So the last 3 miles with run stretch run repeat until I finished. Probably would have been more sensible to stop and either walk to the finish or DNF but stupidity took hold.

Week Thirty One:

Swim: 2,734 yrds, 54mins
Bike: 46.6 miles, 2hr 56mins
Run: 20.3 miles, 2hr 37mins

The final big week of training before beginning the two week taper into Ironman UK. Back in the UK again now and the weather is warming up nicely, after the calf pains during the Wilmslow half I took Monday & Tuesday off to give it some time to recover, things have calmed down a little so I set out for a 4 mile easy run but there was still some pain there when running so I called that one off at 3 miles. Thursday and Friday I opted for cycling and swimming, covering 45 miles on the bike all at an easy pace and swam 2.5km in the pool, this was the quickest I have ever swam that distance so my swimming is continuing to get better and better.

Saturday I had 18 mile run on the plan but given the calf pains during the week I was just going to run and see how far it goes. I still had some pain just walking around before the run but far less than I did on Sunday. I managed to run 11 miles, the calf is definitely on the mend but still some discomfort there when running at a slow pace. Sunday was the Alderley Edge 10k, the race where I ran my 10k PB in 2017 and one I had hoped to attempt a sub 40 10k, given the calf issues still niggling away the plan changed. I thought I would run the first 5k flat out and test the calf at pace, then take it easy on the second 5k. The first 5k went really well, I ran without any pain and ran quickly, then the second 5k I had calf pain again, typical, just when I thought things were getting better. I am not sure whether it was the running at a slow pace that brought the pain on or whether it was just a combo of the 3 miles already clocked up. Time to take things even easier than planned during taper now, I can’t risk it with Ironman just two weeks away.