Up until March I had been training for the Boston Marathon in April. Once Boston was postponed along with all other races before Ironman Wales, I decided to have 4 – 6 weeks off training with any specific goal in mind.

I spent that time just running and biking on Zwift for fun. I still kept some structure to the fun. Running one speed session and one long run each week, but also ensuring I got out and ran every day, mostly clocking up easy miles but building a base at the same time.

Now we are 18 weeks out from Ironman Wales, I decided that this would be a good time to put that structure and routine I had put in place over the past month and a half to good use.

The race on September 6th may or may not go ahead, personally, I believe there is a 95% – 99% chance of the race being rescheduled to 2021 but it would be crazy not to train for it on the off chance the race did happen.

The fitness gained can either be put to good use on race day or be put to good use and built upon for 2021 should Wales not go ahead.

I shall be planning this training cycle myself with no coach to guide me through it. I am certainly no expert and will make plenty of mistakes along the way so let’s see how it goes.

The plan is to ramp up in four 4 week blocks. Each block will start with an easy week and build to a hard week in week 4 of that block. The following block will then be slightly “harder” than the previous block. After week 4 of block 4 (week 16) I will have 2 weeks to taper back before the race.

Week 1 was an easier week in terms of intensity and time spent training. As the UK lockdown is still in place, we are only allowed to leave the house for 1 form of daily exercise. I will be doing the cycling indoors on Zwift and running outdoors whilst these restrictions are in place.

Currently, there is no option for swim training with pools closed, open water swimming in lakes not allowed.

Monday:

Just a 7 mile easy paced run today @ 132bpm average. For my easy / recovery runs, I pace them off heart rate with the aim of keeping it below 135bpm (zone 0). Building the time on my feet and banking some miles without putting stress on the body.

Tuesday:

A repeat of yesterday’s 7 mile easy paced run, slightly lower heart rate of 131bpm.

Wednesday:

A more typical day today. Starting with 30 minutes of core strength training in the morning and 30 minutes of upper body strength training in the evening.

Today’s run was the first of what will become a weekly tempo session. I will alternate between a longer tempo run and endurance intervals. Today was a 6 mile longer tempo run made up of a 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down with the middle miles (4 miles) @ 6:50/mi pace. Every other week, those middle miles run at 6:50/mi pace will increase. The aim here is to build up the time running at goal marathon pace as fitness increases.

After work was the first bike session of the week. A 55 Minute strength building ride. Something I will do regularly during the early phases of training to build up the bike strength before building more race pace endurance later on.

55 Min Bike Strength Session:

• 5 min Warm-Up
• Repeat 5 times
  • 3 min Hard @ 271w
  • 1 min Harder @ 327w
  • 1 min Easy @ 180w
• 5 min @ 180w
• 10 min @ 310w
• 10 min Cool Down

Thursday:

6am start on Zwift for the Tour for All Stage 1 ride. 23.6 miles in 52:28. I pushed it a little early on to get in with a fast bunch before putting in a sprint finish. A good ride fun ride to start the day.

Lunch was another 7 mile easy paced run, again at 131bpm.

After work, I jumped on Zwift to log a virtual bike commute home. Typically I would commute to work on the bike at least once a week. I use the 30 mile each way rides as a easy/steady spin of the legs plus saving the train fare. As I am working from home now I have been getting on Zwift for a 30 mile steady ride just to get some easy miles in.

Friday:

Bank holiday today so I increased the easy run to 9 miles with an ave HR of 134bpm.

Another 30 minute core strength session in the evening.

Saturday:

The first instalment of the weekly bike endurance and run off the bike sessions. Starting off with 2 hours on the bike. 10 min warm-up, 1 hour 40 min @ 245w and 10 min cool down followed by a 5 mile run averaging 6:47/mi pace.

Over the coming weeks, the bike and run durations will increase. The bike power will remain at 245w but the run pace will be 7:30/mi pace.

Sunday:

The weekly long run. Starting off week 1 with 14 miles. Not pushing the pace, just banking the miles at a steady relaxed pace.

Weekly Stats:

• Swim – 0 yrds, 0hr 0min
• Bike – 114.4 Miles, 5hr 10min
• Run – 55 Miles, 7hr 23min
• Strength – 1hr 30min

A good first week completed. Each session done and on target with pace or heart rate. Next week will bring in more time on the bike and a weekly speed interval session to build the running speed.

Have a look to see how IRONMAN – SEASON 3 PART 3 went.