Enough Training Already!

I have to say that I’m pretty much over this whole training lark! Realistically I’m not going to get any fitter before 1st March, and really the only improvement I can measurably get now is to freshen up and be well rested.

It’s been a long haul, and to know that in two short weeks I’ll all be over is both daunting and exciting. Daunting because really there is very little else I can do, after all these long months of training, to prepare myself any better and there’s still the nervous doubt of just how I’m going to cope on the day. In the ideal Ironman world my training volume would have probably been twice what it has been. But my life is not solely about Ironman. I also have a family who have not seen nearly enough of me as it is, and who are my top priority. As such my Ironman plan has always been to fit training around family rather than the other way around. I think my biggest training week has been 13 hours, and consistently between 10 to 13 hours for the last couple of months. Before that my training was peaking at around 10 hours. So a big question for me is “can you do a meaningful Ironman on that amount of training?”

For me being the type of guy I am, I do no want to finish down at the back of the pack (or at least not to far down the back anyway). I’m reasonably confident that I’ll have an OK race as endurance sports have always seemed to be something that I’ve been able to adapt to fairly easily … be still there’s doubt. I’m comforted by the fact that I’ve run marathon’s, I’ve biked big k’s and swum the distance, so my doubt is tempered with healthy optimism. I guess I’ll have my answer in a couple of weeks, if it all works out I might even patent my training system!

This week has been fairly relaxed on the training front, partly by design and partly due to a number of social engagements. I only did a few light sessions during the week leading up to a typically busy weekend.

On Saturday I finally got around to doing a four k swim. The weather forecast was for a fairly horrid day so it was an easy option (as a side note, I read in our local paper that the North Shore beach’s have been invaded by microscopic jellyfish that are causing stings and nasty rashes, so absolutely no more sea swims for me this summer!). Dragging my way through 160 lengths was rather mind numbing, in the end I did it in four 1k sets with 40 seconds rest so I didn’t go insane. In the end I still got the counting a little mixed up in each set, so I actually swam somewhere between 4k – 4.2k (my theory being that it’s better to swim to far rather than to short). It took me 1 hour 35 which is about where I expected it to be – my pick for Ironman is a 1 hour 20 – 1 hour 30 swim, anything less than that will be a bonus.

My form was fantastic … or the first two lengths anyway. By the end of the swim my form was pretty poor and I’d pretty much had enough, in saying that I didn’t actually feel all that tired (sure my arms were happy to stop moving) so that bodes well. My swimming has certainly come a very long way! I amused myself by chasing after other swimmers feet as much as possible, good practice for Ironman and basically if I go faster than 1 hour 20 it will be because I’ve managed to draft most of the way.

Today was a 100k ride, which actually ended up being quite tough as I had a fairly strong headwind for probably ¾ of the way (don’t ask me how that worked out, it just did!). Still I got in on 3 hours 18 (30.3kph average) and although I was a bit more tired that I would have liked to have been, the legs seem to get to the right pace. One of my worries and consequently something that I’ll be focusing on in the race is keeping the bike under control so that I can actually run the marathon. Assuming the wind doesn’t play a major part, an average speed of 30kph is pretty comfortable for me, and I know I can run of it well.

So with that in mind it’s not hard to do the maths. 1 hour 30 for the swim plus 6 hours for the bike makes 7 and a half hours. My best marathon time is four hours and I’m pretty sure I won’t be running a PB at Ironman, but if I have a good race and the wind doesn’t mess up the bike then a 13 hour race is a possibility. They say you shouldn’t have time targets for a first Ironman and I tend to agree, as there’s so much that’s new. But I do know the course (especially the bike course) fairly well, and I think barring a melt down – which is entirely possible by the way – sub 13 is possible for me. In saying that my main goal for Ironman is to firstly finish, and secondly actually run the marathon (excluding the aid stations and maybe the odd up hill … got to give a guy a break you know), the rest will take care of itself!

Not much planned for next week. My bike’s getting serviced on Tuesday and at some point I’ll get it down for inspection. Other than that I’ll be doing one more swim, one more run and a couple of short rides before a final 70k ride on the weekend. After that the legs go up and the full taper begins in earnest.