Week 12

Totals for week 12:

Swim: 8.5k

Bike: 122.45k

Run: 36.5k

Commute: 60k

This puts the running totals at the end of week 12 as:

Swim: 59km

Bike: 1205.22km

Run: 266.9 km

Commuting 427 km

And he's back!!! Well it has taken 3 months, but finally I have caught up with my training plan for running. My knees are a little sore, but it seems to be going ok! The progression over the remaining 18 weeks will be a bit slower than what I have been doing over the last few months, so hopefully they should hold up well! The running has been fine this week, the speed work is gradually increasing (which my knees don't like as much) and as I am back home, I get to run alongside the canal, which is a mixture of path/stone/grass, which should be good for me knee and help strengthen them a bit more.

The swimming is plodding along nicely and the training with the tri club was easier this week. However, being the holidays, I am at home, so it's back to training on my own in the local leisure centre (get to dodge little kids!), so my mileage will increase a bit, but I won't get pushed as hard.

The bike again was its normal self, with the rides being shorter due to the recovery week, and noticeable improvements in climbing and battling the wind.

Being a recovery week, this week, means I had to take it easier to allow my body to recover from the last big training block, which due to injury/illness has effectively just been increasing since week 1, so it was nice to have a bit of a lighter week, and I certainly made up for it by going out lots! But I am looking forward to getting out on new roads at home, going to the welsh mountains, and 3 weeks of solid training with no distractions, in the sun! So hopefully, I will come back with a nice tan and a dusty turbo! I'm raring to go to up the mileage and increase the intensity, and being the holiday, I can get lots of rest so bring it on!

Week 11

Totals for week 11:

Swim: 8.5k

Bike: 133.34k

Run: 40.65k

Commute: 55k

This puts the running totals at the end of week 10 as:

Swim: 40.5k km

Bike: 1082.77km

Run: 230.35 km

Commuting 367 km

Well it was a tough week for swimming. The first swim of the week was fine, given the move up to 3k, but the session on Thursday was a tough one with the tri club. Moving up a lane was tough, and the pace was very high and I was knackered! That set finished at half 9 that night, then 15 hours later I was back in the pool doing another 3k swim set! Was tired, but managed to get through it and found my form after the first km. The training with the tri club will be good for getting my speed up in the pool and a bit of coaching to help remove the bad bits of my stroke. Really need to concentrate on my head position.

Cycling was a good solid week, enjoying getting outside on the thursday! Lovely weather, though need to get my tan back quickly, black bib shorts only help show up my white legs! The long bike on sat was much better than last week. It was 15k shorter as I had a run after but even so, I managed to keep my heart rate down on the climbs, and took a lot more to eat and as a result was feeling much better even going into the wind on the way back home.

The run after was surprisingly good having been on my bike for 2 and a half hours, and the whole week itself was good for running! I nearly ran a marathon over the course of the week, 1 hour 15 today (sun), longest run for about 5 years and feeling good, and running fri, sat and sun and my knees are still intact! All in all, very pleased with this week!

This coming week is now a recovery week, where I cut back the training by about 10% to allow my body recover from a hard 4 week block of training, and although I was looking forward to it at the start of the week, I have recovered quickly towards the end and would rather train hard, but I know my body needs a good rest, and it will still be around a 12 hour week. My running has also nearly caught up with where I should be according to my training plan! This week was supposed to be 4 hours of running and I managed 3 hours 20, which is more than what next week is supposed to be! So hopefully within a couple of weeks I should be caught up and on track!

My blog, (another way to waste time and avoid doing work) at http://timdoesironman.blogspot.com/, has all my weekly updates on to check back on, so have a look! But it is mainly so I can look back at my training, without having to trawl back through twitter or my training diary.

Thanks for all the donations so far! And keep them coming in, Christie's do a great job, and rely on your donations to make life easier for those living with Cancer, and helping them grow towards a future without cancer. And remember to GIFT AID it people!!

Also, if youre bored, keep popping back to my Twitter page http://twitter.com/agent_ti I usually post a couple of updates a day on there, and put every training session up when I've done it, if you want to see how much training I have to do! And see how quickly it builds up!

10 week update!

Well I have come to the end of my 10 week base period training block, so I thought I'd send you all a little update! The 10 weeks have flown by, and so far I have clocked up 950k cycling, 312k commuting, 190k running, and 42k in the pool, clocked up 80 and a half hours of training is 93 sessions, and burnt 40,000 calories (not including the calories I've burnt in the pool!), and that doesn't include the hours I've spent in physio and rehab, doing knee exercises!

Training is going really well, in all 3 sports! Swimming and cycling are their usual solid selves and plodding along nicely, with distance and times steadily increasing towards the ridiculous, except of course my ride this saturday. A bad ride was always going to happen at some point, and I'm sure there will be a few more but in hindsight, I should have prepared better, dieting and riding long don't go well together! Basically I bonked (ran out of energy/hit the wall/etc) big time! It was ridiculously windy, and as a result the first 45 minutes I was flying along to the pennines, averaging 35-40kph, and then hit the climbs. I did about an hours solid climbing, which when dieting isn't clever, but doing 14% gradients into strong winds is always going to hurt. The climbs got harder and harder, and then finally it was time to head back, except it was all into the wind and I didn't have any energy left. I was working as hard as I could, only managing 25kph, just completely drained. I arrived home dead, completely drained and the thought of having to run a marathon after double what I did, made what I've undertaken hit me! I have a lot of work to do! But I'm glad it happened, I know my limits a bit better, know how to spot the signs and it was probably a good workout!

I'm sure most of you know the fun I've had with my knees, which when training for a marathon isn't exactly helpful! But (fingers crossed/touch wood) they seem to be getting stronger. I am running 4 times a week, up to an hour, and times and distances are steadily increasing. I am only about 5 weeks behind where I would have been without any problems so am very happy! I have been hit by illness once, though this was through lack of sleep, which with current sleeping of 8 hours a night plus naps most days shouldn't happen again!

I am now moving into the build phase of my training plan, another 10 week block. This adds an extra swim a week, and all my swims increase to 3k a session. I have an extra bike a week and another run, which happens after my long ride at the weekend to get used to running with nothing in the legs having cycled 100-180k, which as any triathlete will tell you is an interesting experience! This takes my weekly sessions to lucky 13 including weights, and will have me doing 2-4 sessions a day, 6 days a week! But it's great fun and I love it!

Thank you so much to all those who have donated so far and keep them coming in! It is for a great cause, and really helps me keep going when the training gets tough! I'm hoping to have raised £1000 by the time my Ironman comes around, and so far have had nearly £400 pledged/donated. So if you haven't already go to http://www.justgiving.com/timdoesironman and give what you can! And remember to gift aid!

Also if you're avoiding doing any work, keep popping back to my twitter page http://twitter.com/agent_ti to keep up with my training, and my blog at http://timdoesironman.blogspot.com/ for weekly summaries!

Happy Training!

Tim

Week 10

Totals for week 10:

Swim: 4.5k

Bike: 127.42k

Run: 34.6k

Commute: 56k

This puts the running totals at the end of week 10 as:

Bike: 949.43 km

Swim: 42 km

Run: 189.7 km

Commuting 312 km

Another solid week of training (ignoring the fact I forgot to ready my training plan, and do an extended turbo on thursday! Only 15 minutes though!

Swimming is going really well, feeling a bit tired in the pool, due to the dieting I think and the fact I have long gaps between 2 sessions (thurs to tues), though this is about to change (see below). I have been told to move up a lane, when swimming with the tri club, so I'm pleased with that, should work me hard now and add a bit of variation and competition in.

Well a bad week was always going to happen at some point, and this week it happened on the bike. Although my brick session was good, going an extra 2 kmph quicker than usual for the 45 mins, saturday was not. In hindsight, I should have prepared better, dieting and riding long don't go well together, but I bonked (ran out of energy/hit the wall/etc) big time! It was ridiculously windy, and as a result the first 45 minutes I was flying along to the pennines, averaging 35-40kph, and then hit the climbs. I did about an hours solid climbing, which when dieting isn't clever, but doing 14% gradients into strong winds is always going to hurt. The climbs got harder and harder, and then finally it was time to head back, except it was all into the wind and I didn't have any energy left. I was working as hard as I could, only managing 25kph, just completely drained. I arrived home dead, completely drained and the thought of having to run a marathon after double what I did, made what I've undertaken hit me! I have a lot of work to do! But I'm glad it happened, I know my limits a bit better, know how to spot the signs and it was probably a good workout.

So I was a little nervous about my long run today (sunday), but having eaten my way through 2500 calories having returned from my ride, I had recovered pretty well. Managed a good solid hour, and my knees are a lot less upset compared to last week. The whole week of running has been great! My hours and mileage are steadily increasing, and am only about 5 weeks behind in terms of where I would have been without the injury in hours/mileage. Annoyingly my specialist appointment has been cancelled, so I've got longer to wait to find out what's wrong with them, but for now I can continue to slowly strengthen them and (touch wood!) increase my mileage.

And that's it for my base period! 10 weeks have flown by! I am a lot fitter, a lot thinner, and feeling pretty confident of reaching my sub-12 hour target! Training increases, I have an extra swim session a week, all of which increase to 3k per session, an extra bike a week, and a extra run, which is after my long ride on saturdays to get used to running with knackered legs! Onwards and upwards!

Week 9

Totals for week 9:

Swim: 4.8k

Bike: 123.88k

Run: 29.5k

Commute: 56k

This puts the running totals at the end of week 9 as:

Bike: 822 km

Swim: 37.5 km

Run: 166.5 km

Commuting 256 km

Well I have finally had a decent week of solid training. The swimming is continuing to improve, with some good speed work with the tri club, may hve to move up a lane after next time, once I have ironed out my bad habits! I will miss my 2.5k swim test on thurs for the session, but I feel that is far better than busting out a test, especially as I have broken 50 mins, which is what I am aiming to do.

Cycling is it's usual self, had less commuting to do this week, so the legs have been feeling a bit fresher, and had a good ride on saturday, with lots of climbs and mostly into the wind, which is helping to build some endurance. Am slightly ahead of where I should be for cycling according to my plan so pretty happy with that.

Running is going even better! Had my 2nd week of full run training, doing all the sessions I should be doing, for the durations that I want (though not where I should be without the injuries). Managed an hour for my long run, with no discomfort in the knees, so very happy with that. Now I just need to continue to build up my running and get the longer runs in, to try and build a good base for the IM. I have missed probably around 6/7 weeks of base training for running, so will not be as fit come race day, but I have 21 weeks to make that up so as long as I am strong off the bike, it should be OK, just a bit slower on the marathon.

Speaking of time remaining, I am now about to start my last week of the base phase. After this, I add an extra swim a week, all of which go up to 3k in length, I have an extra bike, when my thursday recovery/technical session now moves to sunday, and thursday becomes speed work, and I add another run after my ride on saturday to get used to running off the bike. This will now mean I will be training 2-4 times a day, 6 days a week including weights! (May also add an extra core session into training). Feeling fit though, already looking slimmer and am pleased with the progress!

Weeks 6-8

Running totals at the end of week 8:
Bike: 700 km
Swim: 32.7 km
Run: 125 km (thats a conservative estimate I've found out!)
Commuting 200km!

And I thought the previous weeks had been interesting! I have managed to keep the shin splints under control, they pop back occasionally but having gone back to my old trainers they seem much better, that was 80 quid well spent...! The knees appear to be holding up, am off to see a specialist in a couple of weeks because the doctor doesn't think a podiatrist will be able to resolve it, and neither him nor 2 physios can work out whats wrong!! But hopefully it should be on the mend soon....(touch wood!) I was also hit by an athletes 2nd most feared thing (after injury) which was illness that put me in bed over the weekend, meaning I missed 4 sessions of training that week and lost a bit of strength and fitness! Annoying! However I seemed to have overcome it now, other than this damn annoying cold, and everything is back on track.

In terms of running, this last week (week 8), I have finally managed to do a full weeks worth of training sessions, for the duration I wanted to! It's still about half of what I should have been doing without the knee injuries, but I am happy to be back on track. I just need to make sure I don't overdo it now...

Swimming has gone from strength to strength, with a new PB for the 2.5km swim test, which I took 3 mins off to 49 mins, even with having cramp on length 98 and having to stop and stretch it! Very happy with that, and it should continue to get better as I start back on the coached sessions and continue building on my fitness.

The cycling is its usual strong self, finally getting some long(ish) rides in of close to 3 hours, which will gradually start to build up, and I'm really enjoying the tough climbs the peaks have to offer, as well as the 50 mph descents! Have put in a lot of commuting over the last month, which has taken it out of my legs slightly but I have gradually adapted to it, and they give me a bit of time to work on speed and extra calories to burn!

Speaking of burning calories, I have begun on the annoying task of calorie counting, which is something I haven't done since having to make weight for rowing. The idea is to put myself in deficit of about 500 calories a day, so the amount I eat varies with training. This should help me lose about a kilo a week in the last remaining bits of winter fat I have on me, but also serves the purpose of ensuring that I am actually eating enough when training heavily (I can burn 2000 calories in a 3 hour ride, thats on top of the 2500 I need a day anyway, its a lot to eat!). This deficit will continue for around 4/5 weeks til I make my racing weight which I think will be around 68kg, but will tailor it when I get closer down to my minimum weight.

Weekly totals

Here are my weekly totals, starting from week 1!

Week 1:

Swim: 1 hour - 2.5km

Run: 2 hours - 22km

Bike: 2 hour - 52.27km

Weights: 45 mins - 1 session

Week 2:

Swim: 1 hour - 2.5km

Run: 1 hour 10 min - 13 km

Bike: 2 hours 52 mins - 75.22km

Weights: 45 mins - 1 session

Week 3:

Swim: 2 hours - 5km

Bike: 3 hours 15 - 90.93km

Run: 1 hour 20 mins - 15km

Weights: 1 hour 30 - 2 sessions

Week 4:

Swim: 2 hours - 5km

Bike: 2 hours 45 - 72.99km

Run: 1 hour 7 - 13km

Weights: 1 hour 30 - 2 sessions

Week 5:

Swim: 2 hours - 5km

Bike: 3 hours 10 - 85.13km

Run: 1 hour 20: 15km

Weights 1 hour 30 - 2 sessions

Commuting - 40km

Week 6 (illness):

Swim: 1 hour - 2.5km

Bike: 2 hour 15 - 56.75km

Run: 36 mins - 7km

Weights: 45 mins - 1 session

Commute: 24 km

Week 7:

Swim: 2 hours - 5km

Bike: 4 hours 15 - 111.62km

Run: 1 hour 20 - 14.5km

Weights: 1 hour 30 - 2 sessions

Commute: 48km

Week 8:

Swim: 2 hours - 5.2km

Bike: 4 hours 20 - 113.76km

Run: 2 hour 15 - 24.5km

Weights: 1 hour 30 - 2 sessions

Commute: 88km

Running distance based on speed of 11km/hr, which I have found out is a bit conservative. Now plotting runs with http://www.runfinder.co.uk/

Weeks 4 + 5

I know, I know, I'm a bit behind, but starting now, I shall update this from my recent news from my facebook group every week (or depending how lazy I am!). Anyhoo, here is weeks 4 and 5:

Running totals at the end of week 5:
Bike: 417k
Swim: 20,000m
Run: about 80k

It's been an interesting couple of weeks! Having almost cured my knee problems, I've been hit my shin splints, which are now on and off and probably caused by my new trainers which have helped my knee problems! So am waiting to see the podiatrist which should find the underlying problem to all of this and hopefully let me run properly! Until then, I'm doing what I can, which really isn't enough, but you can't have everything

Swimming is going really well, start having a coach back soon too, which should iron out any bad habits I've picked up whilst I've been training on my own, but have done two 2.5km swim tests, both around the 51min man, so really pleased with that puts me on for a sub-1 hour 15 IronMan swim when I get the wetsuit on!

The biking is going really well too, just been getting me legs back and rediscovering the climbs in the Pennines. Average speed has been going up, which is good and is only just short of what I want to do for the actual race, so should be there when I've got my race wheels and am fresh! Just got to keep it up for 6 hours....
In terms of that, the distances are really about to ramp up as I am now half way through my base period, 1/6th of the way there! Scary! The commuting has helped give my legs a bit of speed and a bit of a refresh when I'm tired, and the really long rides start now, as it slowly builds up to 6 hours!