In THE ROAD TO KONA – WEEK 1 I didn’t feel that good but I was improving as the week went on.

The plan for this week was to continue where I left off last week by getting in a second solid week back in the pool but with the addition of an open water swim at the end of the week. I have ordered a Roka Swim Skin in readiness for the non-wetsuit swim at Kona. The water temperature at the lake I swim at has been between 22’c – 24’c for the past month so I should be ok swimming without the wetsuit.

More of the same for the bike, 3 or 4 good challenging sessions on Zwift to build the power with a longer endurance ride at the weekend. Pretty standard stuff.

Running, I want to push on and increase the mileage now the knee is not posing as much of a problem. This week I will step it up to 50 miles for the first time since September 2020.

Now we are into the school holidays I will be off work Wed – Fri to look after my daughter which could make fitting in the planned training a challenge. I have booked evening swim slots to try and get around this but we will see how that goes as the week progresses.

Week 2 – 2nd – 8th August

Monday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Distance Speed Swim (2,600m):
  • 100m Warm Up
  • 5 x 200m Steady, 50m Hard
  • 100m Kick on side
  • 1,000m
  • 150m Cool Down
• FTP Development (Zwift):
  • 5 min Warm Up
  • 5 x (30sec @334w, 30sec @ 187w)
  • 4 x (4 x (2min @341w, 1min @187w) 2min Recovery @187w)
  • 3min Cool Down
• 1 Hour Easy Paced Run @ 8:54/mi

Kicked the week off nicely with a solid day of training. The swim felt like it was a struggle whilst I was doing the 200m reps but looking back at the splits now, I was faster than last week in all reps and pushing closer to my fastest splits for this session which is a good sign.

I did an FTP development ride on Zwift aiming to bring the FTP back up to the 364w in March. A good session like this 2 or 3 times in the training block where I am riding at FTP will help to build the leg strength back whilst developing the aerobic capacity at the same time. I will repeat this set in a few weeks but increase the time at FTP by a minute.

Tuesday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Endurance Strength Development (Zwift)
  • 5min Warm Up
  • 5 x (40sec @273w @65rpm, 20sec @187w @90rpm)
  • 3 x (4min @283w @65rpm, 2min @187w @90rpm, 4min @283w @60rpm, 2min @187w @90rpm, 4min @283w @55rpm, 2min @187w @90rpm)
  • 3 min Cool Down
• 4×10 Min Run

Another bike session on Zwift similar to yesterday working on the strength by dropping the rpm right down. It doesn’t look much on paper and TrainingPeaks totally downplayed it with a low TSS but it was a tough one, trying to peddle at 55rpm is something I find challenging. My typical rpm is around 90, I like to spin the peddles and ride at a high cadence so this session put me outside of my comfort zone. I did, however, feel the benefit of it.

This weeks run session with the City of Stoke AC group was a repeat of the 4 x 10 mins session I failed to complete last Thursday. Two ways to look at that one, I could go into it fearing the pain after only been able to run two 10 minute reps @ 6:15/mi pace last week or go into feeling motivated to do it again and improve on last weeks effort.

I decided to do the run locally rather than join the group, partially because I didn’t want to get dragged into running faster than want and not wanting to pull up halfway through in front of the group but also by running near home I can get back earlier in time to bath my daughter.

The session didn’t go as planned, I only managed to do two of the 10 minute reps again, my legs or more specifically my quads just didn’t have the strength to hold that pace and I gave up partway through the third rep. It was a partial win this time as my pace for the two reps was 5:48/mi and 5:47/mi so roughly 30secs per mile faster than last week. So I should have paced it better and ran slower in order to complete the full set.

Wednesday:

Plan:

• 45 Min Easy Paced Run @ 8:51/mi
• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)

I went out for a 45 minute easy paced run before my wife went to work. The quads and calves felt tight from last nights run and the previous two bike sessions.

From today I am on childcare duty, I had planned to do a speed swim in the evening but cancelled that as I was feeling tired and fatigued again, similar to last week. I didn’t want that to affect my running this week, therefore I sacrificed today’s swim and moved that session to Friday.

Thursday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• 30 Min Upper Body Strength (Peloton)
• VO2max Long Intervals (Zwift):
  • 10min Warm Up
  • 5 x (30sec @334w, 30sec @187w)
  • 2min Recovery @187w
  • 5 x (1min @375w, 2min @350w, 3min @187w)
  • 10min Cool Down
• Blend Session 1:
  • 2 Mile Warm Up
  • 12min @6:30/mi
  • 3min Recovery
  • 6 x (2min @6:00/mi, 90sec @8:30/mi)
  • 90sec Recovery
  • 12min @6:20/mi
  • 2 Mile Cool Down

Today went along the same lines as yesterday, up early to do the VO2 Max intervals on Zwift before my wife went to work, then spent the rest of the day entertaining my 5yr old, we are building a paper mache volcano ready to paint next week and erupt next weekend. You can’t be a bit of chemistry during half term.

The planned blend session ended up being pushed back to tomorrow, my wife went shopping after work which meant I would have been heading out for the 90 minute run at around 8:30pm straight after eating dinner and I just didn’t fancy that.

Friday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Aerobic Power (Zwift):
  • 9min Warm Up
  • 3min Recovery @187w
  • 2 x (2min @290w @100rpm, 3min @187w @90rpm)
  • 2 x (2min @358w @95rpm, 30sec @443w @100rpm, 3min @222w @90rpm)
  • 2 x (5min @351w @100rpm, 2min @187w @85rpm)
  • 5min Cool Down
• Off the MAAP Stage 1 Longer Route (Zwift)
• Blend Session 1:
  • 2 Mile Warm Up
  • 12min @6:30/mi
  • 3min Recovery
  • 6 x (2min @6:00/mi, 90sec @8:30/mi)
  • 90sec Recovery
  • 12min @6:20/mi
  • 2 Mile Cool Down

Another day of messing the plan around, messing or adapting….. we’ll go with adapting but, either way, it’s something I could do without.

So, last night I pushed the run back to today and planned to get up at 4:30am so I could get this done before my wife went to work….. childcare again today. 4:30 came and I snoozed the alarm. I changed the plan and dropped this evenings swim (the one pushed back from Wednesday) and planned the run after dinner but not as late as last night would have been.

I did get in two decent sessions on Zwift sweating it out in the kitchen whilst my daughter was playing with her Lego.

The legs felt heavy and tired on the run but I got out and I did it, the full session with no reps skipped and all on pace.

Finally managing to get that run done and hit all the pace targets felt amazing, this has given me a big boost of confidence going into the weekend. I am starting to feel more normal and like my old self. Hopefully over that fatigue and getting back used to training hard.

Saturday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Weekly Endurance Ride:
  • 10min Warm Up
  • 4 x (3min @290w, 3min @222w)
  • 3min Recovery @187w
  • 4 x (3min @290w, 3min @222w)
  • 5min Recovery @187w
  • 1 Hour @273w
  • 5min Cool Down
• 5 Mile Run off the Bike @ 8:00/mi

Okay, so I finished Friday off saying how great I felt getting that run done and getting back to my old self. Well, that all fell by the wayside this morning. Two bike sessions and a tough run set last night left my legs feeling trashed, they had no strength left and I pulled out of the endurance ride after the second over/under block. It was pretty much a basic 70.3 endurance session but I just didn’t have it in the legs. Another reason why I should have done that Blend session on Thursday, that would have given my legs a day to recover but it is what it is.

The 5 mile run was done but not off the bike, I did this in the early evening and got absolutely soaked. Annoyingly, it was warm and sunny when I would have done the run this morning had I “run off the bike”. The legs felt really tired and heavy, the heart rate was higher than normal and it just didn’t feel great, it got done though and 5 more miles ticked off.

Sunday:

Plan:

• 15 Mile Long Run @ 8:00/mi
• Open Water Swim (3,000m)

To be honest I wasn’t feeling very confident about the long run this week. After the struggle on the bike and tired legs on the run yesterday I was fearing a tough morning on the road.

After the first 3 miles at 8:00/mi pace I felt good and surprise surprise, I changed the plan once again. This time to make it more challenging rather than the easier option. The new plan was 4 miles @ 8:00/mi, 7 miles @ 7:15/mi and 4 miles @ 8:00/mi. Despite torrential rain once again, the run went very well. Far exceeding my initial expectations.

It felt so good to finally get back to doing longer runs including some time running at tempo. I had planned to re-introduce these long runs towards the second half of this training block but to have got through today even after the tired legs of this week, it feels good!

The new Roka swim skin arrived earlier in the week. I tried swimming in it today to see how it felt compared to an open water swim in the wetsuit. Frustratingly, after all the rain and colder weather this week, the water temperature had dropped to 18’c after being above 22’c for the past 6 weeks.

As soon as I walked in the water I felt cold. I was thinking about coming out and going home but managed to persuade myself to walk in deeper and dunk my head a few times. Eventually, I set off on the swim.

Those first 300m felt so cold! my hands and feet felt numb, which would have still been the case in a wetsuit but it was just COLD and that’s at 18’c which isn’t really that cold.

I managed to do two 750m laps and got out. The swim skin fits nicely and doesn’t restrict the arms or shoulders. Yes it was cold but that wasn’t what today was about, it was about getting used to swimming without the wetsuit and I think I did ok on that front. The pace was slower than previous swims at this lake but that is to be expected. Had the water temperature being in the 20’s like in previous weeks I think I would have felt more comfortable and go faster. Just have to try it out again in a few weeks.

End of Week 2:

I feel good about this week. Yes, I have chopped and changed things and moaned about the legs aching and feeling tired but I see that as a good sign of growth.

The big positive from this week has been clocking up 51 miles of running. That is something I haven’t done since September when I was training for four virtual marathons in six weeks. Since then I missed 16 weeks of running due to tendonitis in the knee and have been building up the running slowly since returning to running in January. No new niggles and injuries has got me back up to 50 miles.

Bike training has gone well despite cutting the longer ride short on Saturday. I got in four good sessions and a group ride on Zwift.

Swimming has been the one to suffer this week but I kind of knew that would happen when planning in the evening swims. I am not too concerned about missing two swims, I feel my swimming is as good as it is going to be so no need to push things at this stage. I felt good about the swim skin, it fitted well and should be good for Kona given the water won’t be 18’c over there.

Another bit of BIG news from this week was the announcement from President Biden regarding opening up the US borders to international travellers who have been fully vaccinated. No date on where this policy will come into effect or which vaccines will be allowed but it’s a positive sign that they are looking at reopening in the future. Let’s hope that future is before 4th October 2021.

Next week we are away for a long weekend at the beach. I am planning on doing the long run (same as this week but 1 mile further) on Friday before we head off. I don’t think it will have too much of an impact on the training, in fact, the rest should get the body recharged for the 7 tough weeks that follow.

• Swim – 4,323 yrds, 1hr 14min
• Bike – 139 Miles, 5hr 52min
• Run – 51 Miles, 6hr 39min
• Strength – 2hr 20min
• Stretching – 1hr 40min