As mentioned in last weeks IRONMAN – SEASON 3 PART 2 post, this week I will be including some speed work into the run plan and increasing the time on the bike. Last week was easy week, this week things get a little more challenging and pushing the pace more.

The good news this week seems to be a slight relaxation of the UK lockdown rules, or at least in England anyway. We can now exercise for an unlimited amount of time each day. Whether that is the right thing to do now remains to be seen, my opinion is, it is too soon to be allowing more people back to work and out exercising multiple times each day. I will continue to go out for 1 run per day and cycle indoors.

Gyms and leisure centres remain closed until July 3rd at the very earliest, so pool swimming is off the cards for at least 2 more months. Maybe the possibility of open water swimming starting back in June which would be good news.

Monday:

The week started off at 6am on Zwift with the Tour for All Stage 2 ride. This was meant to be an easy spin of the peddles but connectivity issues meant I missed the start by 2 mins and my Wahoo TICKR heart rate monitor flat-lining at 0bpm, I know I felt dead getting on the bike that early but not quite that bad! The 2 min late start meant I had to put the hammer down to catch a wheel which then turned into an all-out slogfest pushing up through the pack to finish 29th. An “easy” ride averaging 312w and 0bpm heart rate lol.

Truth be told, I really enjoyed that ride and had fun catching people and pushing on up the road after the next wheel.

Lunchtime was the weekly 7 mile recovery run. Continuing the theme for the day, Technical Issues, my Garmin Chest Strap wouldn’t connect to the watch so I had to pace the run rather than run to heart rate.

A bit pissed off with things not working today. Two chest straps going down on the same day just takes the biscuit. The Garmin one seems to be a flat battery, although it gave no warning. It was fine yesterday and died today.

I spent 30 minutes doing more core strength work in the evening followed by a 20 minute foam roll. I have been foam rolling for 20 minutes every night since mid-Feb when I got lazy and stopped rolling which resulted in tight muscles pulling on my back, throwing the knee out a little. No such issues since I brought in the daily rolling.

Tuesday:

A definite theme going on this week with the technical issues. I was due to get on the bike at 6am again for a “hard turbo” session, but my WiFi doesn’t reach the garage so I have to tether Macbook to my iPhone. The problem I have now is I had to send my phone in for a repair yesterday so I am phoneless and WiFi’less in the garage. This mornings bike will move to tomorrow and I will have to do move the trainer into the kitchen to get the bike sessions done.

Lunchtime was the first of the weekly run speed sessions. The aim of these is to build up the speed and ability to get the legs turning over fast to accompany the slower endurance runs.

Today’s session was:

• 1.5 mile warm up
• 2 x 10 sec strides
• 5 x 2 min @ 6:30/mi, off 90 secs
• 3 min recovery
• 5 x 1 min @ 5:50/mi, off 90 secs
• 3 min recovery
• 5 x 1 min @ 5:45/mi, off 90 secs
• 3 min recovery
• 1.5 mile cool down

10.2 miles in total averaging 7:30/mi for the whole session AND the heart rate monitor is back working, the new battery has done the trick….. for now.

After work it was back on Zwift in the kitchen for stage 3 of the Tour for All, this time I made the start and had no technical issues. Things are improving. This was one of those “I’m just going to take it steady” rides that was anything but steady. I got up into the lead group early on and just stuck with them as more and more got dropped. After a sprint finish I crossed the line in 2nd place averaging 317w, oops! not quite a steady ride but it was good fun.

Wednesday:

6 Mile easy paced run averaging 126bpm to start the day, a shorter easy run today to let the legs recover more from yesterday’s intervals and ahead of a tempo run tomorrow.

The afternoon was a 70.3 pace Interval session on Zwift. Basically, 2 x 20min @ 250w & 5min @ 300w plus warm up and cool down. A good short but sharp session

In the evening, it was back to the strength training with 30 mins upper body and 30 mins legs, hips & glutes.

Thursday:

Another big day starting with 1 hour easy ride on Zwift @ 180w and a second bike in the afternoon, this time a “hard turbo” which is detailed below, a tough session as the name suggests but you feel good once it is behind you:

• 10 Min Warm Up
• 10 Min @ 310w
• 5 Min @ 285w
• 8 Sets of:
  • 90 sec @ 400w
  • 3 Min @ 180w
• 10 Min Cool Down

Back to the endurance based tempo Thursday run, this week was the turn of endurance intervals. 20 Mins @ 7:00/mi, 3 Min recovery, 20 Min @ 6:50/mi plus warm up, strides & cool down. I really enjoy these longer endurance sessions, these are what build a good speed base for the marathon.

Friday:

6 Mile easy paced run, averaging 133bpm. I pushed the pace a little today as I set off late and had to be back in turn for work, still kept within the 135bpm limit I give myself but good to see what pace I can run and keep under that target.

After work was another tough bike session, the third in 3 days. This was a 90 min endurance ride plus some efforts. Pretty similar to yesterday’s ride but longer and harder pace.

Saturday:

Weekly brick session time!!

2 hours on the bike. 5 Min warm up, 110 Min @ 245w, 5 Min cool down then straight out for a 5 mile run @ 7:30/mi pace.

Same as last weeks brick but with a reduced warm up and cool down to give 10 mins longer on the 245w block.

This week was a struggle. I felt tired this morning and was lacking motivation but dragged myself on the bike. I just used two bottles of juice rather than 1 juice and 1 SiS Electrolyte drink that I used last week. The lack of the electrolyte drink didn’t have an impact on the bike but I started to lose energy towards the end of the run.

I am not that concerned by the run today, I know why I struggled compared to last week and I aren’t using any gels for these early short brick runs. When they get longer I will take a gel out with me to give me more energy and more race fueling practice.

Sunday:

Just a long run today. I was planning on riding stage 4 of Zwift’s Tour for All which is a climb of Alpe Du Zwift, but I was still feeling tired and low on energy going into the long run and opted to save the body a little today.

14 miles, same route and same pace as last week. Just a steady and controlled run. I felt stronger as the run went one and the biggest positive to take from this one was the final 10 miles were either 7:52/mi or 7:53/mi showing the controlled pace throughout. The first 4 miles ranged from 7:53/mi – 7:56/mi so not massive out either.

Weekly Stats:

• Swim – 0 yrds, 0hr 0min
• Bike – 137 Miles, 8hr 20min
• Run – 58.2 Miles, 7hr 35min
• Strength – 3hr 30min

A good solid week of running again, banking good miles and two good sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. The bike also went well, four good sessions all building bike strength and endurance.

Next week I am on a 4 day training course at work, the plan should be to increase on this week but I think I am going to be tight for time so week 3 may be slightly less than week 2, but not massively.

Another plus point, the open water swimming place nearby has opened back up with the today being the first trial day. Hopefully, I can book an hour slot next week and bring some swimming back onto the plan.

Let’s hope the wetsuit still fits, I haven’t used it since OUTLAW X last September.

Have a look to see how IRONMAN – SEASON 3 PART 4 went.