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!