Light at the end of the tunnel


Well, we're finally getting close to the end of all the pain and hard graft in our training sessions, not to mention the sacrifices and selfishness of neglecting my family for so long. It's only 3 weeks this Sunday until Ironman!!! Last week we got our race numbers (my bib No is 1068) and the race notes, for race week and the day itself. I'll be posting a link on Facebook for the live tracker, on the day.

The past month or so has seen a big increase in the amount of work that we're doing in our sessions. It seemed to start with the Team True Spirit training day, which was held at Eccleston Delph. We did a long swim and then went out on the bikes to do a loop of the Ironman course, finished off with a shortish run off the bike. It was heavy rain for the majority of the day, so there were a few sense of humour failures and lots of splits in the bike groups. I ended up riding most of the loop alone, after being dropped on a climb, until I caught up with Chris from Team Deane and then spent the last 15 miles stuck on his back wheel. It was incredibly humbling to train with some of the injured guys from the race team and Help For Heroes. What they've been through and are still able to look on life with such positivity is nothing short of inspirational. Not to mention the constant laughing and mickey taking, all in a true squaddie black humour, it's brilliant. I'm really looking forward to seeing them on race day and I'll be incredibly proud to be part of what Team True Spirit stands for.

The week after the TTS training day I did my first century ride. I don't know what went wrong as I'd been knocking out 80+ mile rides easily enough, but I just bonked on the century. I think it was a lack of sleep as I'd worked the previous night as well as completing one of the long Thursday night run sessions. Luckily I found a shop and got some chocolate and sweet stuff down my neck and I was able to carry on and finish the ride with no more problems. After a lot of longer rides, since I did my first century, I think my nutrition plan for the day is sorted now and I'm really confident of the bike leg. Hopefully I'll be able to do it in a time that will set me up to have time to do the marathon and finish the race in a time that I'm happy with.

The other week saw another first for me. We were doing the Tuesday night duathlon and got caught out in a torrential thunderstorm. It's the first time, that I can remember, that I've ever been nervous when riding my bike. The thunder and lightning were right overhead, not the most enjoyable of experiences when riding a carbon bike. We ended up stopping to shelter twice, until it had blown over and we were able to carry on and finish the ride. Albeit a bit damp.

We seem to be doing our training phases in 6 week blocks of either intense training sessions or longer sessions with more volume in them. The last 6 week phase has been all about volume with intensity, which has added a new element of pain to the sessions. I've struggled on the long runs quite a lot. Not from fatigue as such, just from a lot of pain in my legs and feet. Hopefully I'll get far enough down the road at Ironman before this kicks in and forces me to slow down. Having said that, I've noticed some real gains in the distances that I'm covering though. When we first started the longer stuff I was struggling to complete 13 miles in one go. Last week I managed to run 18.2 miles, with the vast majority of it being alone. I think this should help me on race day as I'll be used to running alone and with the crowds in Bolton, that should provide enough of a lift to carry me to the finish.

As I've mentioned, our weekly programs are more about volume with intensity at the moment, below is an example of a typical training week, at the moment:

Monday - Run - 1 mile warm up then 10 x 800m reps
Tuesday - Duathlon - 1 hour bike ride, then 5k TT run
Wednesday - Swim - 4k swim (open water)
Thursday - Run - 3 hour run along the canal, 3 x 30 min out 30 min back laps
Friday - Mini triathlon - Usually completed indoors at the gym using the pool, spin bikes and treadmill
Saturday - Swim / Bike - ride to Eccleston Delph, swim and then ride home
Sunday - Bike - long bike ride, usually 6+ hours often on the Ironman course

I still don't train on Saturdays as I want to spend at least one day a week with Ruth and Hannah and I feel as though this has helped a bit. We're able to spend some quality time together and do stuff as a family.

Although I've been training for Ironman since approx September last year, I only bought my Garmin in January this year and I was looking back on some of my training sessions the other day. I was amazed at just how much we've done as a team since the start of the year. Looking at the stats, it's amazing that I'm not about 10st by now (damn you sweet tooth). So far, in 2014, my stats are:
Distance trained - over 1700 miles
Calories burned - over 130,000
Feet climbed - over 71,000
Time spent training - over 170 hours
Activities - over 160
Weight lost - 1st 7lb

Although it's only 3 weeks until Ironman I'm not actually nervous at all. In fact I'm really looking forward to it. In fact my only worry is that I have a mechanical failure on the bike. Realistically, the bike should be ok, I've always looked after my bike and kept it clean and maintained / serviced, so the Ironman is just like any other bike ride. I finally got my new carbon wheels the other day and they look awesome on the bike, I can't wait to get out on it this weekend. I'm not totally sure why I'm so relaxed about the race, my nerves usually build up from weeks before a big race, whether it's because my body is just so tired and just wants it to be over, or whether it's because I feel as though I couldn't have trained much harder for it, I've no idea. I'm definitely looking forward to completing it though and I'm also excited about getting back to normality and our family holiday, starting the weekend after the race.

One topic of conversation that's been fairly constant since the new bike course was announced a few months ago is whether the bike section is faster or slower than previous years. Obviously, to me, this makes absolutely no difference at all, as I've never ridden the old route or raced in Ironman previously. However, there are a few peoples times that have done it in previous years that I'd like to beat. So it was a bit disappointing to find out that it's definitely a slower bike course. Some say by about 30 mins on average, so I may miss out on the times that I had in mind to beat. Still, it is what it is and come late evening on the 20th July, I'll be able to say that "I am an Ironman" :-)

Well, that's about it for now, I don't know if I'll post again before the race. It depends what happens between now and then.
If I don't, I'll see you on the other side when I'll be able to post pictures of my finishers medal.

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