Welcome

I started this blog in 2010 when there were 11 weeks to go before my next Ironman triathlon. People have found it interesting (mainly my Mum!) so I continue to write.
The Ironman is a long distance triathlon; Swim 2.4miles, Cycle 112miles, Run 26.2 miles (marathon). I have competed in one every year since 2004. I hope this blog can help others see what is involved. I find the process of writing it makes me more accountable and motivates me to do the harder sessions when i'm not feeling like it!

Friday 4 May 2012

Swim

2hours 20mins 6.7km (PB)

The target was 8km tonight - the pool changed configuration a couple of times which made it difficult so I was happy to just get the time in. It's great to do these longer swims as there's a chance to work on aspects that I normally neglect. For instance, I don't normally have much of a kick but after an hour or so I focused on that, and found it's not so difficult after all. After the 10km swim I hope to do a long swim like this every so often.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Run

Track session with tri club -
3min, 2min, 1min all on 90 sec recovery around 5km pace

Set off too fast (3min/km) settled down into 3m30sec/km pace which is probably my 5km pace. Calf still sore from the 5km on Saturday. I am in that dangerous zone where my fitness enables me to run fast but my running specific strength has not kept up - I could easily pick up a nasty injury so need to work on this.


Next session needed is the long swim - just looked at plan - it says 8km! I hope I can find a pool that's open long enough. 

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Turbo

I wasn't sure what type of session to do today. A blog post I occasionally get suggested a few types of sessions; They are based around 2 intensity markers turn point 1 = 80%MHR and turn point 2 = 90%MHR they have lots of different names but I thought i'd give it a go.

1. Threshold - 10-20 intervals as 3min effort on 2min recovery at "turn point 2"
2. Threshold - 40min continuously as 2min above TP2 and 3min below
3. Tempo - 1-2 hours at TP1

I chose the first session and did 10 intervals. I had to drop the wattage as they went on to keep the heart rate from going too high.
300, 300, 295, 290, 290, 290, 285, 285, 280, 275

I calculated my 90 & 80% based on my maximum heart rate being 212-Age = 172


TP2 for me should be 154bpm - It was interesting to see that I could keep good form at this level. Next time I think i'll keep it around 285 and do more sets? The principle with all this is to get a good training effect but not at the expense of recovery taking too long  so that's what I be looking at over the next few days. 

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Swim

Masters swimming - i've never done any big group sessions like this. Really good. For the moment I think it will replace my interval session. Hopefully if I keep it up i'll get better at the other 3 strokes!

Not sure how far we went somewhere between 2 and 3km in the hour. I didn't manage to hold much technique together.

Monday 30 April 2012

Turbo

Warm up 10mins
Main 1 x 20min x 250W x 90rpm

A busy day, only time for this. Only have a tiny fan at the moment - felt as hot as Hawaii.

Sunday 29 April 2012

Rest day

A rest day exercise wise but busy otherwise, no time for anything else.