Week 16 - Back to Uni

Totals for the week:

Swim: 8.4k
Bike: 160.18k
Run: 57.5k
Commute: 55k

Totals So Far:

Swim: 93.9k
Bike: 1896.99k
Run: 477k
Commute: 482k


Well, in hindsight, coming back to uni after my 3 weeks of hard training, having to readjust my body clock to uni time (i.e. not sleeping properly) reintroducing commuting into my week and reduced rest from work was not the best way to spend a recovery week! In all honesty, at times I was pushing my over-training and illness boundary from sheer exhaustion, though thankfully I now know my body enough to keep on the right side of the line and avoid it. Though on friday I was dead! I am definitely going to have to start to having sports massages to help myself recover! This next week, hopefully I won't be as tired, as I sleep properly and get used to commuting.

It looks like it will be a week of milestones as well, I shall surpass 100k in swimming, 2000k in cycling, and 500k in both running and commuting. The last one is especially meaningful as when I started training seriously for this I managed a week of 24k before my knees gave up and I spent the next 10 weeks trying to recover and catch up. Now fully caught up, I am running more than I commute on my bike! I am also seeing a surgeon on friday to find the root of the problem, and if the signs from this week are anything to go by, (I have had barely any pain from my knees), I may actually be able to run the marathon! Overall the running this week has been good, my pace has been high, especially off the bike, which I am pleased about, though Sunday was quite a tough run due to knackered legs, and dehydration (the last part I should have fixed!)

My swimming has been reaping the benefits from the solid training I put in dodging little kids over the holidays. I have moved up the ranks in the tri club swim, going from last in the 2nd lane (worst out of 4, the people in 4 I swear are fish!) to top 2 or 3 on thurs. I have smashed my 3k PB by 4 minutes, down to just over 54 minutes, which puts me on track for sub-1 hour 10 for the IM swim, and possibly sub 1 hour 5 with a wetsuit and 14 more weeks of training. I shall have my technique looked at when I swim with the tri club next to see where I am losing any of my effort in the stroke and just go from there.

I think I have finally cracked my nutrition strategy for the bike! I finally formulated a plan for the long ride, having a gel and choc/energy bar an hour and 1-2 bottles of GO every couple of hours. For once I didn't feel absolutely dead at one point, didn't have stomach problems and felt great on the run! With all the hills I may need another gel and ensure I drink a bottle an hour, but so far it is looking good.

I have 1 week of heavy training before I back of a bit to have a mini-taper for my race next weekend (finally!). It will probably be the first time in about 18 weeks I won't have tired legs! I may even have my race wheels to test out by then...

I have also tested a lot of kit this week: I have switched my saddle to a tri-speciic saddle (fi'zi:k Arione tri 2 for those interested) to make 6 hours in the aero position slightly more bearable. I tried a 2XU Endurance tri-suit, which although the chamois isn't as thick as some of my usual shorts, I can swim and run in it, saving me lots of changing. I spend over 3 hours testing the 2 together on the weekend on my long ride, and they were remarkably bearable! Though I still need to get used to it if I want to be able to do 180k with them and be able to run a marathon after! I also changed my shoes to tri-specific ones as the race season approaches, these have big single straps so I can get in and out of them easily, rather than having to fiddle about trying to get my shoes on and off in T1 and T2. So far so good. This week I will have my back race wheel, still seeking a front one for a decent price, but they should be FAAAAASSSTTTT.......

Happy Training

Tim