In my Ironman – Season 4 Part 8 update, a nice short one for a change, I was doing a mini taper into the Cholmondeley middle distance triathlon which resulted in a PB and more importantly a big confidence booster that the knee can hold up to a triathlon still.

Week Twenty-Eight – 21 – 27 June Taper Week

The plan for this week is to see how the body is feeling after the half distance triathlon at the end of week 27 and look to reduce the volume but keep the intensity as I start to taper down ready for Ironman UK next week.

Monday:

Today was a very easy recovery day after yesterday’s Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon Gauntlet race. Starting off with 20 minutes of stretching and a 20 minute core strength session. The legs felt pretty good considering I raced 73 miles yesterday. The only tight area was my right glute, I targetting more of the stretching on the glutes, hips and hamstrings to loosen the tight glute off.

After work, I went out for a 4 mile easy paced run to shake out the legs and keep them turning over. The pace was 9:07/mi and heart rate 136bpm, although I had to measure heart rate off the wrist monitor as my chest strap wouldn’t connect to the watch.

In the evening I did a 30 minute upper body strength class.

Really pleased with how today went, no issues or tiredness from the race, now to continue to reduce the volume over the next 12 days and arrive at the A race feeling fit, fresh and healthy.

Tuesday:

Woke up with the glute still feeling tight but improving. another 20 minutes of stretching targetting that area to continue the recovery. 20 minutes of core strength and a 45 minute easy ride on Zwift @ 190w at lunch.

In the evening I went off to the City of Stoke AC run club session. This week we were down for 10 x 4 min, off 60 seconds. After recovering from Sunday’s race and tapering before next weeks Ironman, I cut the session back to 7 x 4 minutes. The glute felt fine and I felt strong throughout the session. The legs were good and no signs of fatigue. I averaged 5:34/mi for the 5 mile session and felt as though I could have continued through to 10 but stuck with the initial plan of 7 reps to save the body.

Straight from the session, it was back home in time to watch England get through to the last 16 in the Euros, although our performance throughout this tournament has been lacklustre, to say the least, but 7 points and three clean sheets are all we need right now. Roll on Germany next week.

Wednesday:

Glute and legs in general felt fine today, no knock on from last nights speed session. Still continuing to target the glutes, hips and hamstrings with another 20 minutes of stretching.

Then off down to the pool for a speed swim which was 150m warm up, 6 x 25m hard, 50m kick on side, 8 x 50m hard, 100m kick with float, 10 x 100m hard, 400m with paddles and 200m cool down. The pace on all reps was consistent with that of my previous speed swim sessions so things are looking good on that front.

At lunch I was on Zwift for some quick bike intervals, more fast leg turnover. Then a 30 minute upper body strength class in the evening.

Thursday:

Just a 10 minute lower body stretch in the morning, my focus this week and next is to get as much sleep as possible, give the body that natural sleep recovery. That means I am waking later and fitting in the stretching after doing the school run.

Lunchtime I was back on Zwift for a 70.3 power development session. I am not too fussed about targetting full distance pace, for now, I just want the faster turnover whilst the volume is reducing. Keep that speed in the legs and let the body recover from all those big training weeks.

Friday:

Starting the day the same as ever with 20 minutes of stretching before going down to the pool after the school drop. Today’s swim session was a distance swim set made up of 150m warm up, 5 x 200m steady, 50m hard, 100m kick with float, 1,000m steady focus on technique and 100m cool down.

I mixed things up a little today by doing 20 minutes of core and 30 minutes of upper body strength on my lunch break then went out for a 1 hour easy run after work. That turned out to be a bad idea, lunch was dry but in the afternoon it was pouring down! typical!!

The main thing from Friday was the final visit to the physio before Ironman UK. She is pleased with the continued improvement in the knee. Still not 100% pain free but a lot better than it was 12 weeks ago. The fact I can race a middle distance triathlon and continue training the week after with no issues is proof that the knee can withstand the stresses of the run. She has given me the green light to race next week!

Saturday:

Very little to report from today, 10 minutes stretching in the morning and 20 minutes of core strength and a longer easy ride of 75 minutes in the afternoon. I guess the big achievement was the 9hrs 15min sleep last night.

Sunday:

Switching things around again today giving priority to sleeping in or sleeping in as late as my 5yr old allows, which today was 7:30am. That is a lie in for her, last Saturday she woke up at 5:55am. That gave me another 8hr 30min sleep and took the average for the week past 8 hours for the first time since last November.

I went to the lake for the final open water swim before race day. This time I planned to swim four 750m laps giving a decent 3,000m swim. The water was 19.7’c which would be lovely if next weeks swim at Pennington Flash is that warm. I got around the four laps in 51:32, given that is only 800m shy of the full distance swim which would probably take around 14mins giving a very rough time of 1hr 6mins, I am thinking I may have swum a little short today, that feels too fast for me but hey if I am wrong and I do swim a 1:06 next week I will take it! that would be a 20 minute PB.

After the swim, I grabbed some lunch then went out for the last “long run” before race day. It was only a 10 mile steady paced run along the canal averaging just under 8:00/mi but I felt tired and my legs were aching towards the end. I am thinking the aching legs was more down to the uneven trail like path I ran on and the tiredness, most likely due to running 80 minutes after the swim. We’ll see, maybe the body is still feeling last weeks race.

• Swim – 8,243 yrds, 2hr 16min
• Bike – 77.1 Miles, 3hr 47min
• Run – 29.8 Miles, 3hr 58min
• Strength & Stretching – 5hr 0min

Week Twenty-Nine – 28 June – 4 July Race Week!!!

So it is race week again but this time the BIG ONE! Ironman UK race week, it feels like I have spent the last 3 years training for a full distance triathlon which hasn’t happened for one reason or another. Well not to jinx it but I think that day has finally come. By the time this blog publishes at 6am on Sunday, I should be lining up to go into the water at Pennington Flash and starting that 140.6 mile journey.

The plan this week is to take things fairly easy, low volume but a little intensity to keep the legs used to fast turnover. Thursday I am heading over to Bolton to pick up my race pack and drop off the run gear then Saturday I will take the bike to Pennington Flash and stay overnight at the Holiday Inn right opposite the swim start. That will give me less travel time and longer in bed, although starting at 6am it is still a very early start!

Monday:

A nice easy start to the week. Just a reduced distance speed swim. This week I cut it back to 100m warm up, 5 x 200m steady, 50m hard, 400m cool down.

Lunchtime I did my 20 minutes stretching and 20 minute core strength training in the evening.

You know it is taper time when you have the paintbrushes out and start doing those bits of decorating that you have been meaning to do for months but not had enough time with all of the time spent training.

Tuesday:

20 minutes of stretching, 20 minutes core strength and 20 minutes of upper body strength training. Lunch was spent out of an interval run, turning the legs over. Got to say though, the legs felt heavy and sluggish again today, similar to how they felt Sunday but then I hit the pace targets with little effort. I am hoping the rest and reduced volume over the next four days sorts this out.

Tuesday evening we went out for dinner as a taper treat. This was the first time we have eaten out since visiting Disney World in November 2019.

Also, England beat Germany to advance to the quarter finals of the Euros. This now poses a slight issue in that the quarter final is at 8am on Saturday with a 4am alarm Sunday for race day.

Wednesday:

Need I say it? 20 minutes of stretching to start the day.

Then down to the pool for the final swim before Sunday. Today was a speed session, the same as every Wednesday. 6x25m, 8x50m, 10x100m, 400m steady. Interestingly I beat my 100m PB three times during that 10x100m block, the taper is clearly paying off, or maybe it was the burger and chips from last night?

Lunchtime, back on the bike in the boiling garage, dripping with sweat on the warm up. Today was a high cadence interval session with a 10min block at 70.3 power. More time spinning the legs, keeping them moving.

Thursday (Registration):

A very easy day today, 30 minutes stretching after doing the school drop.

Then headed into Bolton after work to register for Ironman UK. I will then drop the bike, blue & red bags off Saturday afternoon. I thought by picking up my race pack today I can do all the stickers and sort everything into the right bags on Friday and take some of the stress out of Saturday.

Just before registering I did a 3 mile easy run with 4 x 10 sec strides going around half of Sunday’s run course. I wanted to get another lap of the park and another run up that hill in the park to further erase the memory of the struggles up there in 2018. On fresh legs, the hill feels easy and not as long or as steep as I remembered. I am glad I came back and ran the hill twice before race day, the experience of 2018 really had me worrying that this hill would break me again this year but I feel much more confident about it now.

Friday:

Another very easy day, similar to yesterday. 20 minutes of stretching followed by a 45min easy ride on Zwift then a 20 minute core strength class at lunch.

That brings my training for Ironman UK 2021 to an end. Next time I put the goggles on, strap the helmet on and lace up the race shoes will be for the big A race.

Saturday:

A rest day on paper.

I started the day with 30 minutes of stretching, no surprise there. Then took my daughter to swim class.

It was very wet today, heavy downpours and thunder, The forecast for tomorrow’s race shows a 30%-55% chance of rain from 9am through to midnight. If the rain is as heavy as today’s showers, it will be a little unpleasant on the bike but nice to have the cooling rain on the run. I made a late call to put the rain jacket into my blue bag just in case. I probably won’t wear it but it is there just in case.

At lunch, I set off for Pennington Flash to rack the bike and drop off the blue bag. As my hotel is just across from the swim start/T1 I walked over there to leave my white bag (swim gear, nutrition and breakfast) behind the desk whilst I drove to Bolton to leave the red bag in T2 and park the car overnight to near the finish. Taxi back to the hotel and ordered a LARGE Domino’s Pizza to eat in the room whilst I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

I will tell you what! these split transitions are a pain. This is my fourth Ironman event and third with split transitions, it was so much easier in Mallorca dropping everything off in one place. Bolton and Stafford’s transitions are like 14 & 18 miles apart!

Sunday (RACE DAY!!!):

Check out my IRONMAN UK 2021 RACE RECAP to see how race day went. Spoiler alert! It went quite well.

• Swim – 4,429 yrds, 1hr 8min
• Bike – 38.5 Miles, 1hr 47min
• Run – 11.1 Miles, 1hr 26min
• Strength & Stretching – 4hr 30min