Into the final two big weeks of training before tapering slightly into a tune-up race on 20th June at Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon then two weeks proper taper into Ironman UK on July 4th.

As mentioned in my IRONMAN – SEASON 4 PART 6 post, I will split these last two weeks out into one blog then the taper weeks on another. In week twenty one I finally got into my first proper week of training with swim, bike and run sessions. Up until that point it had been very much bike training, then adding in run recovery from the knee tendonitis, then swimming came back in April and in May the knee was “ok” enough to run speed and endurance sessions.

Going into Ironman UK with 6 weeks of proper training and 3 weeks taper is far far FAR from ideal but it is the hand I have been dealt and I will just have to handle it.

As mentioned, in May, I began the running sessions back at City of Stoke AC and increased the long run to 18 miles, I got out for a lap of the Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire bike course and swam some PB’s at 100m, 400m, 750m and 1,000m. In June, the plan is to do some laps of the Ironman UK bike course, take the long run out further to 22 miles and see whether I can fit in a 2.4 mile swim time trial.

Week Twenty-Five – 31 May – 6 June

Monday:

I took Monday off completely, this is the first full rest day since the 15th December. I felt tired from two early alarms over the weekend, the 70 mile bike in Stafford, the 18 mile long run followed by a 4km open water swim. It was a big weekend and I have a big week ahead so the focus was on recovery and hit this week hard.

Tuesday:

After a day off and good sleep I felt a lot better today.

The day began with 20 minutes of stretching (10 min upper, 10 min lower body) and 20 minute core strength using the Peloton app.

Lunch was spent on the bike for a “90 Min Hard Race Pace Effort” as follows:

• 5 min @ 210w
• 5 min @ 260w
• 5 min @ 315w
• 30 min @ 280w (goal 70.3 power)
• 10 min @ 330w
• 30 min @ 280w
• 5 min cool down

After work I headed out for a 4 mile easy run averaging 8:35/mi pace and 132bpm heart rate, this wasn’t on the initial plan but summer has finally started to show up and I felt it was too nice not to go out and run.

After dinner, I was back on the Peloton strength classes for a 30 minute upper body strength class and another 10 minute lower body stretch.

Wednesday:

Started at 6am in the garage on Zwift for a 1 hour easy ride @ 190w, 105bpm heart rate then back in the house for 20 minutes of stretching, again, 10 minutes of upper and 10 minutes lower body followed by 20 minute core strength. This stretching and core strength training combo has been my daily routine all year and has massively helped my flexibility and core strength which can only have a positive impact on all three disciplines.

After that, the rest of the day was spent relaxing and staying hydrated. Wednesday was the hottest day of the year so far and I am now off work for the next 3 days with my daughter who is on half term.

In the evening I went to Tatton Park for the Chase the Sun Tatton 10k, my first race since August and my first 10k since August 2019. Really pleased to have come away from that with an 18 second PB on an undulating course and just 5 weeks into the speed work training.

Thursday:

Started the day as usual with 20 minutes of stretching (10 upper, 10 lower) and 20 minute core strength class, all using Peloton.

In the afternoon, I brought the bike into the kitchen so I could jump on Zwift whilst my daughter was playing in the lounge. Today’s session was a 82 minute Intervals and Race Pace session, my legs felt a little tired from last nights race and it was warm in the kitchen despite having all of the windows and bi-fold doors open, the fan just blew hot air on me. The full session is below but I got off at 50 minutes to save the legs for later in the week.

• 5 min @ 190w
• 10 min @ 330w
• 5 min recovery @ 190w
• Four times:
  • 3 min @ 365w
  • 3 min @ 190w
• 25 min @ 245w
• 3 min @ 365w
• 3 min @ 330w
• 3 min @ 315w
• 3 min @ 295w
• 5 min cool down

Finished the day off at 9pm with a 30min upper body strength class.

Friday:

Friday was the start of three big days of training.

Heading out at 5:45am for one of my favourite marathon training runs, Blend Session 2. This is a repeat of the Blend session I did a few weeks back but with slightly longer blocks at the same pace. Building out that endurance.

• 1.2 mile warm up
• 15 min @ 6:45/mi
• 3 min recovery @ 8:45/mi
• Five times:
  • 3 min @ 6:20/mi
  • 90 sec recovery @ 8:45/mi
• 3 min recovery @ 8:45/mi
• 15 min @ 6:30/mi
• 1.5 mile cool down

Heading out so early to ensure I got the session done before my wife went to work meant that the session was tougher than had I gone at my usual lunchtime run. The body struggled to warm up early on and I couldn’t get the pace down to 6:45/mi for that first 15 minute block, I averaged 6:48/mi so it is not a big deal, just one of those things you have to balance when trying to fit training for a triathlon around family life.

In total the run was 11.3 miles @ an average pace of 7:07/mi.

Once back home, I was back on the usual daily routine of 20 minutes stretching followed by 20 minutes core strength training.

Lunch was once again spent on Zwift, this time out on the patio to get a little breeze but it was only a 1 hour easy ride @ 190w and an average heart rate of 105bpm.

After dinner, I went down to the pool for my first and only swim of the week. With Monday being a bank holiday I was not able to swim then I couldn’t do the morning swim on Wednesday or Friday as my wife would have already left for work by then and Wednesday evening was the 10k race. Again, it’s just one of those things and you have to be flexible and adapt the training plan to fit life.

I did book onto back to back slots at the pool which meant I could do a longer swim than the typical 55 minute swims I have been doing since the pools reopened in April. The plan was to get in and swim 3,800m, the 2.4 mile full distance triathlon swim to give a decent baseline to base my estimated Ironman UK swim off. In my only other 3,800m swim at Ironman UK 2018 I swam a 1:26, today I swam 1:06.58, almost a 20 minute PB and without the aid of a wetsuit or race conditions. That being said, I have found this year that I am not swimming in open water as fast as the pool which I think is down to my breathing.

Saturday:

I was up at 5:30am to head to Bolton ready for 2 laps of the Ironman UK bike course at 7am and then a 4 mile run off the bike around part of the run course. I wanted to run through the park and put to bed the ghost of that Ironman UK 2018 run which was such a struggle.

Before setting off I did a 10 minute lower body stretch to get the legs ready for the ride.

Two laps of the bike course came in at 61.2 miles and 5,512ft of climbing. This took me 3:51.34 but the actual moving time was around 3:43 when taking out the time waiting at traffic lights and junctions.

The Ironman UK Facebook group had been full of horror stories telling how bad the pot holes are and how tough the hills are. To be honest, my opinion was that yes there are pot holes and the road was a little bumpy in places but it wasn’t that bad, the majority of the holes are at the edge of the road so riding out from the edge avoided the vast majority of these. I did catch one on a downhill in the first 10 miles which dislodged a water bottle. I went back to pick that up, it was a sunny day and I know all to well about dropping a water bottle on the Ironman UK bike course after dropping 2 towards the end of the bike leg in 2018.

Hill wise, it wasn’t that bad at all. Nothing too steep nor long, a few clocked 10 – 12% for a short period but mostly just gradual climbs and most of the climbing was done in the first half of that 30 mile lap, the second half had some good long downhills and flat drags back into town.

I figure if I can ride around 3:45 moving time today over two laps, a third lap would be an extra, say 1:50 to allow for fatigue then factor in the first 19 miles from T1 to the bike loop. I think I could do the bike around 6hrs 30min, maybe a little slower to save the legs for the run.

The run off the bike went well. 4 miles @ 7:29/mi and 145 heart rate. What I really wanted from this was to prove to myself that I can run up that hill in the park and up the steady climb on the main road. Back in 2018 that hill in the park broke me 2 miles into the run, I had to walk up that four times and most of the way up the next mile as well. Today was warm and sunny and I had 61 miles in the legs but I was able to comfortably run up both the park and road hills, yes the breathing got heavy and heart rate picked up but I didn’t need to stop.

Running on race day will be a different ball game and I won’t be running at 7:29/mi pace on the day but now I have got that monkey off my back, I know I can run up those hills and can focus on pacing my run at 8:00/mi for the first 3 laps and see what I have left for lap 4.

At lunch I was back at home and did a 10 minute post ride stretch with a 20 minute core strength session in the evening.

Sunday:

Long run day always starts early. I was once again up at 5:10am to get breakfast an hour before heading out on my run. I did a 10 minute lower body stretch to warm the legs up for the run.

This morning it was 20 miles with a planned pace of 7:30/mi, roughly 2hrs 30 mins. It was 14’c at 6:15am but raining. I opted to just run in my vest and let the rain keep me cool.

My legs felt tired pretty much from mile 2 onwards but for the first 17 miles I averaged 7:22/mi. Mile 18 includes a hill of 65ft, mile 19 adds a further 79ft of gain so these two miles, the pace slipped to 7:28/mi and 7:31/mi. The effort it took to maintain that pace whilst running up those hills late on in the run coupled with the tired legs from a big week of running meant that I felt exhausted going into mile 20 and decided to take that final mile as a cool down mile.

Overall, 20 miles @ 7:26/mi with 140bpm heart rate.

I am happy with that pace and very happy with that low heart rate. This week I pushed the run mileage up into the 40’s for the first time since October and have come out of it feeling good.

As I felt so tired at the end of the run I missed my open water swim for this week. I am only able to make the 11-12 slot which with finishing the long run at 8:45 only gives 90 minutes rest before driving to the lake. Next week I have moved things around so I can make the 12-1 swim which will hopefully give me more time to recover from next weeks 22 mile long run.

Instead of the swim I did a 10 minute post run stretch to help with recovery and in the evening a 30 minute upper body strength class.

• Swim – 4,374 yrds, 1hr 10min
• Bike – 159 Miles, 8hr 13min
• Run – 48.2 Miles, 5hr 53min
• Strength & Stretching – 5hr 40min

Week Twenty-Six – 7 – 13 June

Into week 26 and currently, the race is still on so we keep training for 4th July. I do have my doubts that it is going to happen given the travel restrictions in place in Bolton and Lancashire/Great Manchester as a whole. It seems very unlikely that 2,000 athletes will be able to race around the area in 3 weeks time. I suspect the government announcement on 14th June regarding the planning lifting of lockdown restrictions a week later will shed some light and I think Ironman are waiting for this announcement too.

Anyway, we train on until told otherwise.

This week should be the last big week of training ahead of a steady wind down next week with a half distance triathlon next Sunday as a tune up race, then the proper 2 week taper into Ironman UK.

Monday:

Still feeling the after effects of a big weekend of training and two early mornings. Today was a pretty chilled day really.

Started off with 20 minutes of stretching followed by 20 minute core strength training. Then down to the pool for 8am and a distance speed swim as below: The pool was busy, I felt tired and lacking motivation so I got out after the fifth rep of the 250m block.

• 100m warm up
• Five Times:
  • 200m steady
  • 50m hard
• 100m kick on front with float
• 1000m
• 100m cool down

Lunchtime was just a nice easy 1 hour ride on Zwift @ 190w

Tuesday:

A better night of sleep last night and a new plan of doing just 10 minutes of lower body stretching rather than 20 minutes. This gave me an extra 10 minutes in bed, not loads but it all adds up. Usual 20 minutes of core strength training via the Peloton app once again.

Back in the garage at lunchtime for another Zwift session. Now the weather has warmed up, it is getting pretty toasty in the garage resulting in a nice big puddle of sweat around the bike. Today’s bike session was a “Short but High Cadence Turbo”:

• 5 Min warm up
• Eight Times:
  • 2 Min @ 255w
  • 1:30 Min @ 350w
  • 1 Min @ 190w
• 5 Min @ 190w
• 10 Min @ 350w
• 5 Min cool down

After dinner I joined the Stoke AC club session, this week we were down for 5 x 8 min reps with 2 mile warm up and cool down. It was hot and sunny tonight and I wasn’t really feeling up for the session but got myself there and once we got going it went really well. I did the full set of five reps and averaged 5:48/mi across the session.

Really pleased with that session in the end, more time running at a higher pace and feeling more comfortable with the high pace and heart rate. A good step forward.

Wednesday:

An easier day after the run session last night and another big run tomorrow.

Back on with the 20 minutes of stretching (10 upper, 10 lower) followed by 20 minutes of core strength.

8am I was down in the pool again, on the menu for today was a speed session where I set a new 100m PB, edging closer and closer to a sub 1:30 100m.

• 150m warm up
• 6 x 25m max effort
• 50m kick on side
• 8 x 50m max effort
• 100m kick on side
• 10 x 100m max effort
• 400m with paddles
• 200m cool down

The rest of the day was about recovering and hydrating well ready for Thursday, with a 30 minute upper body strength class once my duaghter had gone to bed.

Thursday:

Started today with 10 minutes of lower body stretching, same idea as Tuesday with skipping the upper body stretching to give an extra 10 minutes of sleep. Usual daily 20 minute core strength training with Peloton.

I got my start time and pre-race breifing through today ready for next Sunday’s half distance triathlon at Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon. I am in wave 1 for an 8am swim start along with another 80 athletes. I looks like the middle distance has been split out into three waves of roughly 80 athletes. I am using this race as a tune up and chance to get myself back into the triathlon race day routine, it has been 21 months since my last triatlon so I am a little rusty.

No swim today so I was in the garage sweating it out on Zwift before work. I planned in a half distance power development session which is one of the Zwift Tri Acadamy 2019 workouts, this probably tells you everything you need to know on my thoughts around whether next months full distance triathlon at Ironman UK will go ahead…

Lunchtime I was out for my latest big marathon training run session. Although I am not confident Ironman UK will go ahead, I am still building my run training towards a marathon in July, it would be foolish not to and if the race did get cancelled, I have at least banked a good marathon base to build on for autumn marathons.

Today’s run sounds simple on paper but it was a good solid workout, 4 x 15mins.

• 1.2 mile warm up
• 15 min @ 6:50/mi, 3 min jog recovery
• 15 min @ 6:45/mi, 3 min jog recovery
• 15 min @ 6:40/mi, 3 min jog recovery
• 15 min @ 6:35/mi
• 1.2 mile cool down

A total of 12.5 miles of running with 1 hour at or below goal marathon pace.

As with yesterday, the remained of the afternoon was recovering and rehydrating before a 30 minute upper body strength session in the evening.

Friday:

20 minutes of stretching, 20 minutes of core then down to the pool for 8am for a technique swim set. Back on track with the pool swimming this week now the kids are back at school. It does make me wonder how I am going to plan the swim sessions over the 6 week summer holidays but thats a problem for next month.

Lunchtime, I had Bike intervals on Zwift which looking at the session now, it is very similar to Tuesday’s Short but High Cadence bike just with a longer block at 70.3 pace, so I will have to have change that session up going forward.

In the evening I went to see the physio for the latest check up on the knee. Progressing in the right direction, she is happy for me to race next week and to race at Ironman UK in 3 weeks time. Looking back just 3 months, I didn’t think I would be fit enough to make the start line, now the knee is recovering, still not 100% but I can at least line up at the start and do my best to get around on the limited swim and run training.

Saturday:

Up at 5am for a long bike, I decided to ride over to Cholmondeley and ride one lap of next weeks bike loop to give me an idea of what to expect. It isn’t a bad course, a couple of short sharp hills around the mid point of the lap which will slow the pace on each of the three laps, not sure I will be biking a PB on that course but we will see. In total it was 68 miles @ 204w with a nice low heart rate of 122.

Straight after the bike I went out for a 5 mile run on those post bike jelly legs. I am starting to get used to that feeling again, it usually takes the first mile or two to get the legs opperating properly and I NEED to hold the pace back on those first miles, I find it all to easy to go out too fast when on jelly legs.

Sunday:

Again, up at 5am to get the long run in and out of the way early on. The plan was 22 miles at 7:30/mi. After 5 miles I just didn’t feel right today, I could have called it at that stage but I told myself to at least make 10 miles and see how it feels then. At 10 miles I told myself to make it to 13 miles so it is at least the longest run of the week. Then at 13 miles I sold myself on the idea of making it to 16 miles and 2 hours.

It didn’t feel like a good run, I am not sure what it was but I just didn’t feel good today. The legs were a little heavy but I just felt off in general.

In the end, I finsihed up at 17 miles @ 7:27/mi with a 138 heart rate, so in the end, it was good miles banked even if it was 5 less than I had planned. I could have pushed on through to 22 miles but that probably would have taken too much out of me and had a negative effect on next weeks race.

After the run I went up to Boundary Park for the weekly open water swim. The water temperature this week was 21’c, really warm! My focus for this week was to try and get used to swimming open water breathing every 3 strokes like I do in the pool. The last few open water swims and all previous years, I have taken a breath every 2 strokes. I changed my breathing in the pool this year and have found I am swimming faster. I wanted to see if this had a similar impact to the open water swimmnig.

Two weeks ago I swam four 700m laps and was averagin just over 2min/100yrds. Today I swam four laps again but the pace was down to 1:48/100yrds.

Was that down to the breathing and as a result, holding a better position in the water or was it the warmer water making me feel more comfortable. We will see how future swims go but today was a good step forward.

• Swim – 10,095 yrds, 2hr 43min
• Bike – 165 Miles, 7hr 45min
• Run – 45.6 Miles, 5hr 27min
• Strength & Stretching – 5hr 40min

The journey continues on my IRONMAN – SEASON 4 PART 8 post.