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I Am the Master of My Fate
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Three things popped out at me from your above post...
1) Snorkel. Snorkel?? Tell me about this - why?
2) Obsessed.
3) Playing catchup/injuries/physio/s&c....all of your points are so incredibly true...for all of us!
1) I know they're typically used to allow swimmers focus on drills, but by swimming with a snorkel, I thought I'd get good technique drilled in by not having to turn to breathe. (I think that's when my stroke starts to break down.) Then I was hoping to belt out some fast 50s and 100s with good technique after the 400s. But look, I don't have a clue what I'm doing half the time, so I wouldn't worry too much about my thinking behind it.
Plus these days I'm trying to come out of the water less fatigued after swim sessions than earlier in the year when fatigue didn't really matter. So you might see me using a lot of swimming aids between now and my IM race.
2) Yes, obsessed just for the three weeks in question. Before my fall off the bike in July, I thought I had the balance right. I feel I was sensible in taking time off. It messed up my scheduling of recovery weeks, I sort of panicked about the number of tough sessions I missed and much like I studied for exams back in the day, I thought I'd be alright cramming all the work into a few short weeks. I would never recommend that someone else do this, but it's harder to take a step back and look at your own training with such perspective.
3) Indeed, I mght forget all these lessons in a few months though.0 -
Monday 7th September
a.m.
Swim
NAC, 50m pool
3,800m wetsuit TT200m warm upMonday evening coached club sessions are finished for the moment and I couldn’t think of anything to do in their stead. I checked back on last year’s training diary and saw I did a 3,800m wetsuit TT at the same juncture. I did one again this morning for comparison’s sake and was very happy to see an 8 minute 16 second improvement.
3,800m in 1:06:20 (1:44/100m)
100m cool down
Totals: 1.5hrs – 4,100m
p.m.
S & C
Totals: 0.5hrs – n/a
Cycle1 hour easy turboTotals: 1.0hrs – 25.0km
Tuesday 8th September
a.m.
S & C30 minutesTotals: 0.5hrs – n/a
Swim
NAC, 50m pool6*400m (pb, fs, pb, pb, fs, pb)Totals: 1.0hrs – 2,400m
p.m.
Cylce2½ hours easyTotals: 2.5hrs – 64.40km
Wednesday 9th September
a.m.
Cross training
50 minutesTotals: 1.0hrs – n/a
Swim
NAC, 50m pool1,500m straight with buoyancy shorts, <28 minutesTotals: 1.0hrs – 1,500m
p.m.
Run
14km w. 5 x 600m intervals8.66km warm upI was a bit nervous before this session as I was worried my Achilles wouldn’t hold up. I did the whole session on grass for this reason. I was also worried whether I would manage to hit my target pace of
1km drills & strides
4.30 km intervals and recoveries
1) 600m in 1:53, 3:08/km
2) 600m in 1:56, 3:14/km
3) 600m in 1:58, 3:17/km
4) 600m in 1:55, 3:12/km
5) 600m in 1:56, 3:14/km
Total: 3.0km in 9:38, Avg: 3:13/km
Cool down; Walking
:15/km. Running on grass wouldn’t make this any easier, but it wasn’t important enough to me to risk running hard on concrete.
Soreness in my lower left calf meant I wasn’t able to do all the drills I usually do during my warm up. I was running laps of the Polo Ground and the way the intervals worked out saw me finish almost exactly where I started. This meant that the wind, while it was a factor, turned out to be neither more nor less adventagous. After the first interval, my Achilles started paining me. I ran through it though and put it to the back of my mind and got through the next four without it bothering me. The pain came back when I slowed down and I walked at the end of the session, rather than jogging.
Totals: 1.5hrs – 14.0km
Thursday 10th September
a.m.
Swim
50m pool50m easyTotals; 1.5hrs – 3,750m
3*400m off 7:20 (6:51 – 1:42/100m, 6:47 – 1:40/100m, 6:52 – 1:42/100m)
4*200m pull off 3:40 (3:15 – 1:37/100m, 31;15 – 1:37/100m, 3:19 – 1:39/100m, 3:17 – 1:38/100m)
5*100m off 1:45 (1:33, 1:35, 1:36, 1:35, 1:38)
4*200m pull off 3:40 (3:19 – 1:39/100m, 3:21 – 1:40/100m, 3:21 – 1:40/100m, 3:25 – 1:42/100m)
400m easy
p.m.
Cycle15:00 warm upTotal: 2.0hrs – 60.0km
{15:00 IM effort & 4:00 recovery} x 5
Friday 11th September
a.m.
Cross Trainer30 ninutes with 6 x 20 second effortsTotals: 0.5hrs – n/a
Swim
NAC, 50m pool1,000m; as {150m easy & 50m fast} x 5Totals: 0.5hrs – 1,200m
200m cool down
p.m.
Cycle1 hour easyTotals: 1.0hrs – 25.0km
Saturday 12th September
I met Peter Kern at 8 in the morning for this mock race day. Unfortunately due to slicing open my rear tyre half way into a 180km TT, it didn’t work out as planned. Up until then though, I was happy enough with how the day it was going.
Swim
NAC, 50m pool
3.8k wetsuit TT50m warm upI started off with Peter, but he dropped me immediately and any drafting benefit was very shortlived. He passed me several times and it was the same story. He finished much earlier than me and was thoughtful enough to swim slowly and give me a draft for my final 500m. This should have been 600m, but I miscounted the lengths and I finished 100m shy of 3.8k. I got 1,900m done in just under 32 minutes, slowed down after this, but by the end was back to swimming <1:40/100m thanks to Peter. Assuming I would have done the missing 100m at this pace, I would have finished in a time of 1:05:09. (1 minute 11 seconds quicker than Monday’s time and 9 minutes 27 seconds quicker than my mock race day 12 months ago) It’s still a bit off my ideal IM goal time, but it was done in my old wetsuit. My Zerod Vanguard would be a few minutes quicker. I was swimming on my own for 3.2k and I was overheating for a long time, so maybe, just maybe I can keep my fingers crossed for a sub 60 swim in Mallorca.
3,700m in 1:03:29, 1:42/100m
100m cool down
Totals: 1.0hrs – 3,950m
Cycle
Aborted 180km TT2km warm upI used my race wheels for this and wore my aero helmet. Nutrition plan was three gels every hour, 3 litres of water in a Camelbak on my back and three bottles of sports drink on my bike. I’d left my bike into Wheelworx during the week for a service, and got a rear saddle bottle holder installed as well. A screw came loose durimg this first cycle with it, and I lost one of the bottles of sports drink. Had I cycled 180km, this could have been costly, but as it turned all it cost me was an expensive Camelbak Podium Chill bottle. I’d also recently installed a Salt Stick in my aerobars. I never used salt tablets before, but after suffering from cramps during a few cycles this year, I thought I may as well give them a try. I was going to take one every hour, but as I was only out for 2½ hours I only took two today. I’m not sure how beneficial they were, but I don’t think they had any adverse effect on me. So I may as well use them on race day.
93.69km in 2:30:33, 37.3km/hr
Avg. speed for 9km splits; 1) 40.6kph, 2) 38.5kph, 3) 42.5kph, 4) 34.3kph, 5) 37.1kph, 6) 35.7kph, 7) 40.7kph, 8) 34.1kph, 9) 37.4kph, 10) 34.4kph, 11) 37.9kph (3.69km)
I covered the first 40km in 1:02:??, the second 40km took me 1:04:??, so I was definitely slowing. I’d a long way to go when I had to stop, but still I’m pretty sure I would have managed to cover 180km in well under 5 hours. No matter how much eveidence I have, it’s one thing thinking I could have done it and another thing doing it.
I’d cycled just over 93km when I passed Kilpedder (where I’d parked) heading northbound for Bray on the N11. I was on a fast downhill section and was doing in exscess of 50km/hr. The hard shoulder was littered with debris and I rode over something that left a 3cm slash in my rear tyre. There was an instant expulsion of air and my immediate reaction was to slam on my brakes. With no air in my back wheel, I realised this wasn’t the most sensible thing to do and rolled on for another 500 or so metres until the road rolled up again and I could safely put my foot down and stop.
When I inspected the damage, I realised there was no point in replacing the tube. It was annoying as f*ck, but at least I didn’t fall off my bike and much better it happened today than in Mallorca. Between injury and this, I hope I’m experiencing my full quota of annual bad luck before the race. Luckliy I was only a few kilometres from my car and it wasn’t much of a trek back. While I was wheeling my bike back along the road, Peter (who I had dropped over 80km earlier:)) came by and pulled in to see what was up. He wasn’t enjoying his day and was glad of the excuse to stop. From there we both headed back to my car for the third part of our training day.
Totals: 2.5hrs – 95.69km
Run
14km @ PMP14.01km in 54:28, 3:53/kmAs I was only two weeks out from my Ironman, at the start of the day, I thought it would be wiser to shorten the 14km run I planned for my training day a week earlier. I was expecting to be pretty tired after 180km on the bike, but having cycled just over half the distance, this wasn’t the case. I hadn’t suffered anywhere near as much as I thought I would, so in addition to sticking with the planned 14km, I decided I’d try run it faster than I would otherwise haver done. <4:15/km will be good enough for a sub 3 marathon and I’d have been happy to able to hold it after 180km on the bike. The way things were, I decided to push harder and get my average pace under 4:00/km. In the end I finished a good bit quicker than this, on what was an undulating 3km loop. Hopefully it bodes well for the pancake flat loops I’ll have to run in Mallorca. As it will be much warmer over there and I need to get used to being hot and uncomfortable, I left on the base layer I wore for my cycle. I regretted the decision shortly into the run, but wasn’t willing to stop to take it off either.
Pace for first five 600m splits; 1) 3:58/km, 2) 3:56/km, 3) 3:55/km, 4) 3:43/km, 5) 4:08/km, 6) 3:52/km
Kilomete splits; 4) 3:53, 5) 3:45, 6) 3:54, 7) 3:49, 8) 3:58, 9) 3:50, 10) 4:02, 11) 3:48, 12) 4:02, 13) 3:50, 14) 3:43
Totals: 1.0hrs – 14.01km
I was very happy with two of the three legs on this training day. But then the run happened after a much easier cycle than I had anticipated. I probably started too fast on the bike, but the cycle was more or less going to plan before it was cut short. I missed out on 87 kilometres of it though, so no matter how much faster than target pace I was, it would be impossible to be happy with it.
Sunday 13th September
Run21.10km in 1:37:36, 4:37/kmI did this with two others and I was running at their pace. After the efforts of yesterday, it felt much tougher than it should have done. My legs were heavy and my Achilles was causing more trouble than it had all week. After 19 kilometres, I let the two others go and just ran at my own pace. I planned on running 26km, but I was just flogging a dead horse and bailed when I had a half marathon done. I started early in the morning without having eaten anything and there wasn’t much enjoyable about this run.
Kilometre splits; 1) 4:48, 2) 4:38, 3) 4:35, 4) 4:31, 5) 4:43, 6) 4:36, 7) 4:33, 8) 4:32, 9) 4:26, 10) 4:20, 11) 4:33, 12) 4:37, 13) 4:27, 14) 4:41, 15) 4:37, 16) 4:38, 17) 4:45, 18) 4:36, 19) 4:44, 20) 4:43, 21) 4:51
Totals: 1.5hrs – 21.10km
S & C40 minutes band work & foam rollingTotals: 0.5hrs – n/a
Weekly Totals;
Swim: 6.0hrs – 16,800m
Bike: 9.0hrs – 270.10km
Run: 4.0hrs – 49.11km
Other: 3.0hrs
This was the last tough week I can afford to do. I’m still not fully recovered from my Achilles injury and unfortunately the physio had to cancel the booking I had made with him on Sunday. Still I’ll see him twice between now and my race in Mallorca. The pain isn’t unbearable right now though and I’ve been able to get through some tough sessions with it the way it is. I expect it will improve further before my Ironman, and while it might mean taking pain kllers before and during the race, I’m hoping it won’t be an issue on 26th September.0 -
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You mentioned that you had a rear saddle bottle holder installed on your bike...and that a screw came loose. Mine has done the same, several times! Even had my bike shop install a new screw, but the new one came loose too....so, I've had to use zip ties to hold it in place. Something you might want to consider...for extra insurance on race day!
Also, a salt stick?? On your aero bars? I'm not familiar with this, but may be interested....
I returned the bottle holder immediately after the ride, so that's how I solved that problem.
This is how I installed the Salt Stick;
The washers they provide aren't much good. There's only one that fits, but I twisted two rubber bands around either end of the dispenser as well. It sits nice and snugly in the bar now. If your cables run through the end of your bars this method of installation won't work, but they also provide a mount you can clip onto the side of your aero bars. Like my rear bottle holder, it's something I'd trial before race day though.0 -
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