After a mixed bag of training during my IRONMAN – SEASON 4 PART 4 update, let’s hope things settle down somewhat during this 4 week spell.

The plan is to bring up the running again whilst not putting too much pressure on the knee and calf. The pools are due to reopen in April so I REALLY need to get back into the swing of things on the swim front.

Cycling has gone very well in 2021. I will be putting that training to the test in April with 2 100 mile sportives, both with lots of big testing climbs. I will link to each of the ride recaps down below, if you fancy a read up on how the day went.

I have another physio visit later in April, the outcome from the first one in part 4 was really positive so hopefully that trend continues.

Week Seventeen – 5 – 11 April

No swimming this week but the pools are due to open next week!!

Having got the all clear to start back running during last weeks physio, I will now be running two 4 mile easy runs along the flat tow path on the canal each week with a longer weekend run to try build some endurance. The long run starting from 8 miles this week will increase by 2 miles and hopefully get up to 22 miles prior to Ironman UK.

No issues with any of these runs, the knee felt ok, still not 100% pain free but the acupuntre from last week has helped.

This week saw the first of four sportives I have signed up for during April and May. First up was the Velo29 Manchester-Sheffield-Manchester sportive, 102 miles with just over 12,000ft of evelation gain. A really good confidence booster knowing I’ve now got at least one century ride in the legs with some really good climbing. Hopefully the weather is a damn sight warmer come July because that ride was by far the coldest I have ever done!

• Swim – 0 yrds, 0hr 0min
• Bike – 155.81 Miles, 9hr 35min
• Run – 16 Miles, 2hr 24min
• Strength & Stretching – 6hr 40min

Week Eighteen – 12 – 18 April

Swimming pools finally reopened this week but I decided to leave it for now, I never feel that motivated to go swimming and wanted to give it some time for the “rush” to die down. I may jump in the pool next week.

After getting back to running last week, I continued with the rebuild of the run clocking 19 miles this week. 1 more 4 mile easy run and increased the long run up to 10 miles, still along the canal which is very uneven and requires a lot more focus than the road but it is flat and a little more on the forgiving side with regards to the impact of the foot strike.

Friday I went out for a 5k time trial to use as my virtual B.A.A. 5K time with a 1.3 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool down. Having not done a single speed session since the end of September, I wasn’t expecting big things from the TT but still went out at PB and pushed as hard as I could. I was pretty pleased to finish up with a 19:38 (5:53/mi, 6:23/mi, 6:40/mi).

I began the week on the bike with an easy hour @ 200w to shake off the previous days 100 miler before using Tues, Wed & Thur for some higher-powered intervals of 4 and 6 minutes to bring the power back up to where it was a month ago. I finished the week off with a 2hr 45min endurance ride made up of 2 hours @ 244w and 20 min at the end @ 270w.

This has been a good week, the knee has been feeling better this week. Better than it has for many many months. I was interested to see how it would feel after last weekends 100 miles on the bike and very very pleased to report it actually feels better for it.

I am now wondering whether I could just make the start line at Ironman UK in 11 weeks. I have full confidence in my ability to do the bike leg. I feel pretty confident in being able to swim 2.4 miles, I won’t be fast but I know I can make the distance. The only question mark right now is the run. As I am currently only running three times a week and only at 10 miles for the long run. Will the knee continue to improve sufficiently to allow me to build these long runs up towards 20 – 22 miles over the next 9 weeks.

• Swim – 0 yrds, 0hr 0min
• Bike – 160.7 Miles, 7hr 7min
• Run – 19.4 Miles, 2hr 30min
• Strength & Stretching – 5hr 0min

Week Nineteen – 19 – 25 April

Back in the pool!!! Over the past 13 months I have only been in the pool 5 times during December so I was expecting my swimming to be impacted. I started this week off with a 1.9km TT to see how far I am off my usual 70.3 pace. Surprisingly I swum a PB of 33:37, faster than my swim at the Mallorca 70.3 which was in a wetsuit and in the sea. Really Really!! pleased with that outcome. I did two more swims this week, a interval set which was 6 x 25m, 8 x 50m and 10 x 100m as well as a distance speed swim. Basically 200m steady pace, 50m max effort five times followed by a 1km block.

Running was another week of doing 2 easy paced 4 mile runs along the canal with a longer run on the Saturday. This week I increased that longer run to 12 miles @ 7:44/mi. It did feel more of a struggle than I would have liked but I did make a few school boy errors with this one. Firstly I didn’t have my usual long run breakfast and paid for that choice with a less than comfortable stomach during the run. I also ran in my heavier easy run shoes, not a big impact but I could have made life easier with the lighter more cushioned shoes.

I used this weeks long run to test out the Maurten gel, all went well, I could stomach it, even with the poor breakfast choice. I do have to say though, it does feel very strange in the mouth, very much like jelly and no taste to it. I will continue trialling this on all my long runs going forward and if I am able to run some of the longer speed sessions later in training, I will try it then as well.

Bike was a pretty steady week of 4 rides starting with an easy hour, sweet spot session and a hard interval set before riding the 104 mile Velo29 Tour of Lancashire with 9,000ft of evelation gain on Sunday.

I stuck to the nutrition plan this time and felt so much better for it throughout the 104 miles, a really good and promising sign for the 112 mile bike route at Ironman UK, which is slightly longer but a little less elevation gain.

Friday was my second visit to the physio. She is pleased with the progress and the fact I ran 10 miles last week without any issues is a good sign. The SI joint was slightly sticky again so she loosened that and a repeat of the acupuntre around the knee to increase blood flow. Back again for a further follow up in 3 weeks. The key thing from this session was being told not to write off racing this summer after I asked about my ability to race Ironman UK in 10 weeks time. Clearly I won’t be in top running shape but I know the bike is good and my swimming is surprisingly looking good too. Worst case, I can jog the run leg or run/walk it, that is pretty much what I did in 2018 so I might even still be able to run a PB.

• Swim – 7,437 yrds, 1hr 59min
• Bike – 177 Miles, 9hr 42min
• Run – 20 Miles, 2hr 43min
• Strength & Stretching – 4hr 40min

Week Twenty – 26 April – 2 May

So the big new this week is ZERO biking! I have a blood test next week and the doctor has told me to do no biking for 10 days prior to the blood test as the cycling is increasing something called PSA levels in my blood (something the prostate produces) so currenlty my blood results are showing a very high reading indicating an issue with my prostate. Happily after a less than pleasant experience with the doctor checking the prostate, that is not an issue but I need to stop cycling for a while to get a more accurate blood reading.

This 10 day break from cycling will be good anyway, having a little recovery time and let the body adapt to the training will be good then we can push on with the bike work for the next 7 weeks before tapering for Ironman UK.

This was another really good week of swimming. Three more pools swims with PB’s at 100m and 400m, again, the bar is pretty low with these PB’s but it is very promising that I am swimming faster after just 2 weeks back in the pool. My thinking is that the core and upper body strength training done over the past 6 months is helping to hold the body in a better position in the water, giving me less drag.

Sunday should have been my first open water swim since July 2020. I had been putting it off as the lakes just look too cold for my liking but I saw my local open water venue was up to 14.8’c last week so I booked on for this week. Then the weather turned cooler again this week and the lake dropped back to 12.5’c by Sunday morning, given how my hands and feet react to the cold I decided to not go swimming this week. I think I will order some

Running was more of the same really. Two 4 mile easy runs on the canal, no issues there. Increased the long run up to 14 miles @ 7:34/mi this week and cut out those school boy mistakes of last week resulting in a much better run. The Maurten gels were fine once again, I can’t say those gels are any better than the SiS Go Electrolyte gels which I have used for the past 4 years but I am not really pushing the pace or distance yet. I just want to get the body used to the Maurten gels as these will be available on the Ironman bike and run courses this year.

• Swim – 7,464yrds, 2hr 0min
• Bike – 0 Miles, 0hr 0min
• Run – 22 Miles, 2hr 56min
• Strength & Stretching – 8hr 0min

The journey continues on my IRONMAN – SEASON 4 PART 6 post.