We continue. Any normal training cycle would finish with the taper into that big A race. Last weeks Ironman UK 2021 in my case. Well, this is no normal year, right? so season 4 of this very long Ironman journey continues for one last post.

After Ironman UK I have two weeks until Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire. Not ideal and not something I would plan to do but initially the plan was to race Staffs 70.3 in June as a tune-up race for Ironman UK in July but then Staffs was pushed back by 1 month and now sits two weeks after the big race.

Needless to say, the majority of this post is going to be rest, recovery and a few sessions during Staffs race week to get the legs turning over again. I have no plans to race Staffs, more a case of just getting around and enjoying the event. I suspect the body will be tired from the big effort last week and the legs will be far from peak condition.

Also, to throw another curveball into the mixer, I have my second COVID vaccination 3 days post Ironman UK, 11 days prior to Staffs.

Week Thirty – 5 – 11 July Recovery Week

Now I would typically take at least a week off after doing a full distance Ironman but I have Staffs next week so I wanted to do a little bit of training this week. More to shake out the legs from last weeks Ironman and see if they are still playing ball.

Coming into this week motivation was high off the back of a PB across the Ironman UK swim, run and overall and just insanely off the chart having just qualified for Kona! I mean come on, all being well I will be heading to Kona in 12 weeks, that is just insane even typing it let alone actually planning the travel and training.

Monday:

The legs feel pretty good today, no major aches or pains just a slight pain behind my left knee but I will keep an eye on this to see if it is just a post Ironman ache or something more to it.

Training wise lol, come on? there was none.

Tuesday:

Another rest day today, well, I did do 20 minutes of stretching, starting the process of loosening those muscles. There is a little more quad and glute pain today, the DOMS are kinda setting in but it’s not that bad, in fact, given the lack of running this year I am surprised I am not crawling up and down the stairs.

Wednesday:

More stretching today and the DOMS seem to have peaked, no worse than yesterday. Still have that ache being the left knee which is a little concerning right now.

Lunchtime I went for my second Pfizer COVID vaccination. Not something I would tend to do 10 days before a 70.3 race but given the fatigue and tiredness from Sunday’s Ironman, I figured I may as well add the COVID jab fatigue to that and do it all in one go. Next week is not an A or B race so I can just take as long as I need to get around.

Thursday:

Today, I jumped on the bike for the first post race ride. Just an easy 1 hour ride on Zwift, ticking over at 190w. The legs were still aching prior to the ride but when I got off they did feel somewhat better. Even that ache behind the knee seemed to improve after the ride, promising signs.

I also did my first 20 minute core strength session and 20 minutes more of stretching.

The legs are starting to show signs of improving again now and as yet, I am not seeing or feeling any side effects from yesterday’s COVID jab.

Friday:

Leg update – they are still attached and I would say getting to around 80% normality.

I jumped back in the pool today for a distance speed swim session, whilst I didn’t feel at my best, it was far from the worst swim I have had this year. Just before the swim, I was up early to get in the daily 20 minutes of stretching and 20 minutes of core strength.

Lunchtime I jumped back on Ziwft for a recovery hour spin, this was basically a few 3 min reps at 260w to push the legs a little harder than yesterday followed by a 20min block at 210w for a little endurance.

After dinner, I braved the outdoors and banked a very easy paced 4 mile run.

Really pleased with the recovery progress to this point. The legs are feeling good and that pain behind the knee is improving by the day, I am still a little unsure whether this is a slight niggle or just some pain from the weekend taking a little longer to clear up. Let’s see how the coming days go.

Saturday:

The day started off well, with 20 minutes of stretching, 20 minutes core and 20 minutes of upper body strength training. I had planned to do a 2 hour semi endurance ride and a 4 mile easy but I had to reduce this to 1hr 40min ride to fit the run in before heading out with some friends. In the end, I got off the bike after 1hr 20mins, I felt tired and as though I didn’t have the strength for the last 20 mins, with having to do the bike late that also meant I was then running straight off the bike and running when I felt low on energy.

Needless to say, the run felt like a slog. The body was tired and I think the glucose levels would have been really low.

A sign of fatigue from Ironman and the COVID jab? I think so but I will see how things feel tomorrow after eating well tonight and getting more sleep.

Sunday:

I had originally planned a 10 mile long run early on before heading out for an open water swim just before lunch. After feeling tired and fatigued on last nights bike and run, I opted for moving the run to the afternoon and spending longer in bed.

I woke feeling quite refreshed after a 9 hour sleep. I did the 20 minutes of stretching and 20min core work.

At 11am, I did the open water swim. This was nothing special, just another three 750m laps around the lake. Once again, the GPS tracking and data from my Garmin 930 watch was useless, it tracked around 400m short. I am not massively concerned with this junk GPS data, it just makes my pace look slower than come race day I seem to be surprised to be minutes faster, like last weekend.

During Ironman UK my Garmin Heart Rate Monitor chest strap stopped working and has been having issues for the last few weeks. It seems to do two runs before the battery dies. I was using some cheap batteries off Amazon which I thought weren’t cutting it but having just forked out the cash for some from a more well-known brand only to see my HRM not working again today after just two 4 mile runs, I think it is time to replace this chest strap.

This Garmin strap has lasted just over 2 years but the Wahoo chest strap I use for Zwift rides (the Garmin HRM isn’t Bluetooth) has also been giving very dodgy data and that’s not even a year old.

I think a lot of my gear is now getting close to its use-by date so I am due a refresh. What better time to buy new gear than ready for Kona!!!

Anyway, the afternoon run went well, no fatigue or tiredness today. Just 10 miles at a fairly steady 8:00/mi pace. Onto next week, which I guess is taper week/race week. I am looking forward to getting through that week and crossing the finish line in Stafford to bring this block to an end. It has been a 31 week rollercoaster of a training block that has been far from textbook but has seen great results too.

• Swim – 4,912 yrds, 1hr 23min
• Bike – 77.1 Miles, 3hr 21min
• Run – 18 Miles, 2hr 31min
• Strength & Stretching – 4hr 0min

Week Thirty-One – 12 – 18 July Race Week!!!

The final week of season 4. It has been a long 31 week road to get here but we are now in the last few days before racing Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire on Sunday.

The plan for this week was to do a little more than last week and rest Saturday before race day. With how fatigued I had been feeling over the weekend I think the second COVID vaccination has been adding to that fatigue from Ironman UK, but this is something I was expecting. I did think I could do a little more training but I have decided to cut it back a little and let the body have more time to recover from Bolton and the jab.

At this stage, I am not going to gain anything 7 days out from race day, on the flip side, if I push too much I could totally burn out and crash on race day.

Next week is a full week off to give that break between training blocks. Normally I would like a 2 week break but with Kona 12 weeks away, I will take the one week off and go straight into training for Kona.

Monday:

I did 30 minutes of stretching this morning, 20 minutes of which were lower body. The legs are starting to feel normal now, no real signs of last weeks race and the pain behind the left knee has virtually gone. Promising signs that they will feel ok for Sunday, I won’t say good or fresh but just ok and well enough to race.

I went swimming for a distance speed swim which I ended up cutting short after the 5 x 250m reps. I was feeling tired and the session was a struggle.

I took the decision to skip the planned 20 minute core strength and 30 minute upper body strength classes today and pushed the high cadence turbo back to tomorrow.

Tuesday:

I slept well last night, the body must have really wanted that extra rest. I woke feeling much better and stronger. To fit in the extra sleep I moved the morning stretching and core strength from the usual 6am slot to after the school drop off at 8am. This meant I could only fit in 10 minutes of stretching and 20 minutes of core strength but it got done this time.

I spent my lunch hour chatting with a friend who is also racing Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire this weekend, this will be his first Ironman branded race and first 70.3. It was nice to be able to offer my help and advice, answering some questions he had about the logistics of preparing for a split transition etc.

That did mean I had to quick fit in my bike session as I had forgotten I was due to take the bike back into the shop to have the rear brake replaced.

I am quite fortunate that my place of work is flexible with the working day so I can take the occasional 2 hour lunch and either log on earlier to off later to make the time up. In reality, with working from home still, I tend to log on when I would usually leave for the commute into the office and log off when I would typically arrive home, meaning I am working longer but with the longer lunches to fit in more of my training whilst my wife and daughter are out. This gives us more family time after work with all of the Ironman training done for the day.

Anyway, I got the bike done and didn’t feel that fatigued, although it was only a high cadence session, nothing too crazy.

Once my daughter had gone to bed I did a 30 minute upper body strength class. I haven’t done one of these for a few weeks with tapering for Ironman UK then having the aching arm from the COVID jab last week.

Wednesday:

Another good night of sleep in the bag although I did wake earlier today as it is swimming day. I still got over 8 hours of sleep.

Before swimming I did 30 minutes of stretching, again, 20 minutes were lower body. I am really pleased with how the legs have been feeling since Ironman UK. I was honestly expecting them to feel trashed for at least a week but they have come through it really well.

After dropping my daughter off at school, I was at the pool for my 8am swim slot. Today was the weekly speed swim which is 150m warm up, 6x25m, 50m kick on side, 8x50m, 100m kick with float, 10x100m, 400m steady, 100m cool down. This set felt great, none of the tiredness that resulted in Monday’s swim being cut short. In fact, I clocked my second fastest 100m and third fastest 400m. Really pleased with that one.

Lunchtime saw the first run of the week. The plan was to do a 2 mile warm up and cool down with 10 x 2min @ 5:30/mi, 2min recovery. I didn’t feel right from the get-go. The warm up felt laboured and I had a pain around my ribs, it felt similar to a stitch but just couldn’t shift it. I did 6 reps which progressively felt harder. The “stitch” didn’t shift so I skipped the last 4 reps and came back home.

I felt a bit down after that, however, when looking back at the splits my pace was increasing with each rep which explains the struggles. The rib pain/stitch lingered around for the rest of the day.

The bike was done and now has a fully working rear brake. Not having the rear brake working during the wet downhill sections of Ironman UK was a challenge and not the safest but it should be good for another 10,000 miles now.

Thursday:

I had that rib pain all night, even painkillers didn’t help. That meant sleeping wasn’t the best. My plan had got another run interval session for today but I moved that to tomorrow and brought forward the easy ride which was down for Friday.

I did the usual 20 minutes of stretching and 20 minute core strength in the morning, with no swimming, I moved these to after the school drop and opted for a less than healthy breakfast of 4 waffles with honey, 2 cinnamon buns and a cinnamon bagel.

Lunchtime I jumped on the bike in the garage for a 45minute easy ride on Zwift. The final bike session of this season of Ironman training!

That rib pain had cleared up by the time I got off the bike, it may have cleared earlier in fairness I can’t remember it aching on the bike, it just seemed to go during the morning. Not sure what it was, what caused it or what sorted it.

Just after dinner, I had my last physio session. She is really pleased that the knee held up well during Ironman UK, held up that well I raced a PB and Kona qualification…… not sure I have mentioned that? I did tell her about the weird pain behind the knee but she was not massively concerned by that. We think it is more than likely due to tight quads and/or calf so she worked on them. Got to say, walking out of there, the legs did feel a whole lot better.

Friday:

I had planned on a technique swim today but I dropped that. For now, the focus is on letting the body get over that COVID jab and one technique set at this stage won’t make much difference.

I started the day with 20 minutes of stretching, once again, I did this after the school drop. No more strength training now until I begin training for Kona, which I guess will be Ironman – Season 5, or maybe I should come up with a better title….

At lunch, I went out for another run interval session, slightly slower than Wednesday with longer recoveries. This was more about giving myself the confidence and knowledge that the body is getting over Ironman and the COVID jab and putting the struggles of Wednesday out of mind.

It worked! The run went well, no sign of fatigue and the pace felt fine. I really enjoyed it and gave myself that much-needed confidence boost. I also went out in 27’c heat to gain a little insight into what the run could feel like on Sunday. It’s not that bad, obviously, Sunday will also have 56 miles on the bike beforehand but the heat shouldn’t be such an issue. In fact, it looks like Sunday will be around 25’c so not boiling hot but a stark contrast to Bolton two weeks ago in the rain and where my hands got so cold I couldn’t tie my shoes.

Saturday (Registration):

Lots of stretching today. Morning and evening with some rolling and hydrating going on.

I drove down to Stafford at 9am to register and drop off the red bag. Then drove down to Chasewater to rack the bike, drop the blue bag and have a look around the swim course.

It feels good to be back racing an Ironman so close to home. Sleeping in my own bed tonight should give me much more sleep than I got prior to Ironman UK and the 30 minute drive to Stafford will give me a little longer in bed. Saying that, the 3:30am alarm that I just set does not feel good at all!

Sunday (RACE DAY!!!):

Here we go then, by the time this blog uploads, I will be at chasewater getting ready to start Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire and wrap up Ironman – Season 4!

Check out my IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE 2021 RACE RECAP to see how race day went.

• Swim – 4,156 yrds, 1hr 03min
• Bike – 37.5 Miles, 1hr 38min
• Run – 14.4 Miles, 1hr 55min
• Strength & Stretching – 5hr 10min