The plan for week 3 on the Road to Kona is to front-load the training over the first five days before we travel down south for a long weekend break and a chance to catch up on some of the missed sleep.

In THE ROAD TO KONA 2021 – WEEK 2 things were changed up quite a lot with being off work looking after my daughter during the summer holidays. This week is the same in that I am off work from Wednesday but I have planned this week a little better, learning from last weeks mistakes. Hopefully, this will result in less changing and a good solid week.

I am continuing with the main focus being the run training, building on last weeks 51 miles with another 55 miles and increasing the weekly long run to 16 miles. I really enjoy those long runs. I feel much happier out running for 2 hours than I am on the bike of late.

Week 3 – 9th – 15th August

Monday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Distance Speed Swim:
  • 150m Warm Up
  • 4 x (200m Steady, 50m Max Effort)
  • 100m Kick with Float
  • 1000m Steady
  • 100m Cool Down
• 2 x 15 Minute Run:
  • 2 Mile Warm Up
  • 15 Min @ 6:20/mi
  • 3 Min Recovery @ 8:30/mi
  • 15 Min @ 6:20/mi
  • 2 Mile Cool Down
• VO2 Capacity (Zwift):
  • 9 Min Warm Up
  • 2 Min Recovery @ 187w
  • 3 Min @ 273w
  • 3 Min Zone 4 Ramp
  • 6 Min Recovery @ 187w
  • 4 Min Max Effort Free Ride
  • 30 Sec Recovery @ 102w
  • 1 Min Recovery @ 153w
  • 8 Min Recovery @ 187w
  • 90 Sec Recovery @ 153w
  • 4 x (2 Min @ 392w, 2 Min @ 187w)
  • 5 Min Cool Down

Big day to kick off the week. I am trying to fit in the swim training on Monday and Tuesday to free up time on Wednesday for a run session.

I moved the Tuesday run session forward to today and it went really well. I hit the pace goal of 6:20/mi for both of the 15 minute reps and felt comfortable in doing so. A really good confidence builder coming off the back of a great long run yesterday and Friday’s Blend session. It feels like I am starting to get into the swing of things now after feeling so tired and fatigued in THE ROAD TO KONA 2021 – WEEK 1.

The bike session on Zwift didn’t look too challenging on paper but I may have miss read the 4 min Max Effort part, averaging 420w over 4 mins wasn’t as easy of an effort as I was expecting from this one but it felt good after. The leg strength from these short sharp Zwift sessions is really starting to return now. A few more weeks of this before building out the endurance.

Tuesday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• VO2 Development (Zwift):
  • 10min Warm Up
  • 2min Recovery @187w
  • 3min Zone 3 Ramp
  • 3min Recovery @187w
  • 8 x (20sec @409w, 40sec @256w)
  • 6min Recovery @187w
  • 8 x (30sec @409w, 30sec @256w)
  • 6min Recovery @187w
  • 8 x (40sec @409w, 20sec @256w)
  • 6min Recovery @187w
  • 4min Zone 5 Ramp
  • 5min Cool Down
• Speed Swim:
  • 150m Warm Up
  • 6 x 25m Max Effort
  • 50m Kick on Side
  • 8 x 50m Max Effort
  • 100m Kick with Float
  • 10 x 100m Max Effort
  • 400m with Paddles
  • 100m Cool Down
• 1 hour Easy Paced Run @ 8:42/mi
• Off the MAAP Stage 2 Short Route (Zwift)

As with yesterday, another big one today. The main session being the VO2 Dev on Zwift at 5:45am, I am not sure the legs had quite woken up when that first 20sec rep at 409w hit but it didn’t take long after that!

The speed swim was a bit of a mess from the get-go. As soon as I got into the pool someone started talking to me which cost me 10 minutes and then 4 reps into the 100m block he started talking to me again so I gave up and got out. Who talks to you midway through a swim set anyway!

The rest of the day was pretty easygoing. A one-hour easy run, my goal for these runs is to keep my heart rate down below 130bpm and just bank some miles without the effort, let the body have that active recovery on the days between bigger sessions.

I was planning on doing stage 2 of the Off the MAAP series on Zwift tomorrow morning, however, when I went to sign up for the 6am event I noticed that stage 3 began on Wednesday. This meant I had to do stage 2 tonight. So I did the short 10 mile route and took it easy.

Wednesday:

Plan:

• Off The MAAP Stage 3 Standard Route (Zwift)
• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• Aerobic Threshold Development 2 (Zwift):
  • 10min Warm Up
  • 5 x (2min @280w, 2min @256w)
  • 3min Recovery @187w
  • 4 x (3min @280w, 2min @256w)
  • 5min Recovery @187w
  • 3 x (4min @280w, 4min @256w)
  • 5min Cool Down
• 10 Mile Tempo at Goal Marathon Pace
  • 1.5 Mile Warm Up
  • 10 Miles @ 6:50/mi
  • 1.5 Mile Cool Down
• 30 Min Upper Body Strength (Peloton)

Today was the first day off work looking after my daughter, which meant doing the Off the MAAP stage 3 ride at 6am before my wife went to work. I opted for the standard route of 14 miles and like last night, took it pretty easy.

I then tried to fit in the second Aerobic Threshold Development session, which is the same as the one in week 1 but with one extra rep in each block. This was going ok for the first two blocks but then my legs started to really feel it. The result of four bike sessions in two days. I could have carried on and got it done but knowing I had a big 10 mile run later on which I felt was one of this week’s key sessions, I decided to cut the ride short before the 3 x 4min @280w block.

The run didn’t go to plan either! I ended up having dinner a little later (burger & chips) and then squeezing in the run 90 minutes later, trying to get out early enough to avoid running in the dark. I am sure you can imagine how it felt attempting to run 10 miles at 6:50/mi 90 minutes after eating a burger and chips. Even during the first mile of the warm-up I kinda knew this wasn’t going to happen but pressed ahead with it.

I got 1.7 miles into the 10 mile block before having to pull up to be sick. I then jogged back home with my tail between my legs, coming home with 6 miles and only 1.5 of those miles at goal marathon pace. Not the outcome I wanted from this run, I know I can comfortably run 10 miles at 6:50/mi pace and I also know that running on a full stomach isn’t the right thing but sometimes you have to try to fit things in where you can. Today was one of those days in the plan that you can put down as a learning experience.

Thursday:

Plan:

• 45 Min Easy Paced Run @ 8:57/mi
• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 20 Min Core Strength (Peloton)
• 20 Min Upper Body Strength (Peloton)
• 45 Min Easy Paced Run @ 9:04/mi

The experience of yesterday knocked me back a bit. I spent last night checking my hotel cancellation options for the Dorney Lake Half Marathon in 2 weeks time. I was ready to cancel the hotel and forget about that race so I can focus on training for a marathon distance run in October (either Kona or Manchester Marathon).

I decided to change my plan of one 30 minute easy run and a 1 hour easy ride today, swapping the hour easy ride for a 45 minute easy run and increasing the 30 minute easy run to 45 minutes. This would make up for the missed miles from last night and give the body more active recovery ahead of this weeks long run on Friday.

Both easy runs were, well, easy. Not a great deal to say about those besides I got to see the sunrise during the first run and then set during the second run.

Friday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 16 Mile Long Run – 4 Miles @ 8:00/mi, 8 Miles @ 7:15/mi, 4 Miles @ 8:00/mi

I felt a little nervous going into this long run after Wednesday’s cock-up. I have run 16+ miles many times and run them at a faster pace than today’s run but I felt a little pressure on this one. I know how critical these long runs are in the build-up to a marathon so I cannot afford to shorten or miss any on this short block.

Well, I needn’t have worried, this week’s long run went as well as last week did. I hit the 8:00/mi pace over the first 4 miles before picking the pace up to 7:15/mi for the next 8 miles. This wasn’t quite as easy as it felt 5 days ago, it did feel like I was working a little harder to hit that pace but I did hit the pace and let’s face it, it’s not meant to be a walk in the park.

The plan for these first few long runs is to run the middle blocks just over my goal marathon pace as I build up my speed and endurance as the weeks go by. Then towards the back end of the training cycle, I will increase the pace of the faster blocks to that 6:50/mi goal marathon pace. That will give me two, maybe three long runs of 20 and 22 miles with 12 and 14 miles at 6:50/mi pace.

All in all, I came back from this long run feeling much happier with my running week. Kinda like last week. That long run saved the week again.

I went straight from this long run to the long drive down to Bournemouth…. 5 hours driving after a long run wasn’t the most pleasant experience on the legs but they made it.

Saturday:

Plan:

• 10 Min Upper Body Stretching (Peloton)
• 10 Min Lower Body Stretching (Peloton)

Nothing on the plan for today, just a bit of a stretch in the morning and spending the day at Paultons Park & Peppa Pig World.

We got to meet double Olympic Champion Hannah Mills whilst at Paultons Park, she was kind enough to let Sienna hold her Olympic gold medal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Put all of my Ironman and running medals to shame.

Sunday:

Plan:

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

Another day of recovery whilst away for the weekend. I did get out for a one hour easy-paced run to loosen the legs after the long run on Friday and the day of walking around the theme park yesterday. Nothing too exciting really.

End of Week 3:

More good miles banked on the running side. The long run was once again the big success this week, as was the first run session on Monday. I also learned or reaffirmed my knowledge that I should not run so soon after eating. Swimming was a partial success in that the Monday swim went well and Tuesday was going pretty good around the interruptions.

The bike was solid again, no long endurance ride with being away for the weekend and just not having the time to fit that in but I know the endurance is there, for now, I want to focus more on building power and strength then stretch that out with the longer endurance stuff in the coming weeks.

Three weeks into this ten week block now, 30% of the way towards Kona, still no news on when or if we will be allowed entry into the US but we keep training.

• Swim – 4,320 yrds, 1hr 6min
• Bike – 98.92 Miles, 4hr 12min
• Run – 54.9 Miles, 7hr 23min
• Strength – 2hr 20min
• Stretching – 2hr 10min