SOCIALLY PROFILED
IRONMAN TRAINING 2021
Week beginning Sunday, May 16, 2021
19 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.
WEEKLY GOAL
Despite the added stress from work and an ongoing bathroom renovation, I am feeling some fitness improvements. The goal this week is to stay the course.
SUMMARY
I feel I like was FINDING A WAY
This was a 12.5 hour week that started with a run on tired legs, feature a ride over the top of Munn Road, followed by another run on tired legs. I felt it in the pool too but I pushed through every workout and got the work done.
Work and the renovation compounded the stress but that life component was handled well too. The answer was more sleep.
Weather was still unseasonally cooler this week.
SUNDAY MAY 16 ☀️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 2 TAC Routine. Run 70 minutes. Running around Elk Lake or a similar trail would be ideal. Easy effort. Spending some time on the feet. aka: Flatter route. No need to go uphills after the long Saturday ride!
NOTES
Total Time: 70 minutes Distance: 11 km
First real bout of hay fever after mowing the lawn and doing some weeding in the yard today.
I had a pretty good nap mid-afternoon too.
Another sunset jog around Elk/Beaver Lake on a Sunday. This was a taken at a very easy pace, whether I wanted to or not. I may not describe myself as being completely smoked from the ride yesterday but I certainly was not fresh. Good form for the first hour and things started to fall apart as I got closer to my truck.
MONDAY MAY 17 ☁️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Short spin to/from pool. 10 minutes each way. 5:30am: Swim 2200: 3 rounds (100 easy swim r :20, 2x 50 kick/steady r :10, 2x 50 as 25 fist drill/25 strong finish to stroke r :15) 8 rounds (50 building from easy to strong, 50 Strong (something you could hold for 400-500 meters), 50 EASY. r :20 after each) 2x 50 super easy to cool down well.
NOTES
Total Time: 75 minutes Swim: 2200m
I've had a knot in my back, between the shoulder blades for a few days now but last night, I must have slept awkward because that knot was aggravated enough to wake me up last night. Before riding to the pool, I spent time with a lacrosse ball to work out the tension.
That knot went unnoticed in the pool; massage and the swim seem to have helped.
The swim overall was telling in that I am still (likely) feeling the ride two days ago. My times on some of the 50m lengths reflect that. Regardless, I swam the strong lengths to the best I had for the day and swam the easy lengths easy. The continuous lane did get a bit congested and I did the last of the workout in the fast lane once that lane cleared out.
The ride home was the big tell with regards to my level of fatigue in my quads; I am not back yet. A raw spot on the undercarriage developed from Saturday's ride too.
TUESDAY MAY 18 🌦
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 4 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
This can be a brick or split. Your choice. It can also be a run-bike brick. Just get in the time. And have fun. Ride 90 minutes. No intervals but.... get in lots of climbs. You could.....ride up Willis point a few times, you could do all the climbs off the waterfront, you could even ride Mount Doug if you wanted. You have 90 minutes. Effort is "easy between climbs". And up the climbs the effort is... "get up the climb". But.... a lot of those climbs are steep enough that the effort to get up them is significant. Just like Tour of Flanders. Run 30 minutes. Easy route. Easy effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 132 minutes Ride Elevation: 596m
So I have been doing okay riding and swimming during the early mornings but waking up and going for a 30 minute jog felt like a big shock to the system today.
Right ankle was tender for the first kilometre but it did relax. The muscle tissue from the knee to mid-thigh felt pretty cooked and didn't come around until I was almost home. Despite that tired feeling, seeing myself in the reflection of the windows of a strip mall, my form looked okay; meaning I wasn't hinged at the waist.
Then I did something a bit different. Running past the soccer field, I decided to kick off my shoes and socks for a couple of barefoot laps on the artificial turf. This felt great! I made sure to limit it to two laps because it has been a few years since I attempted this.
After work and a few things done around the house, I finally got on my bike. I was getting hungry but the choice was: eat and ride the rollers after dark or find a hill and have dinner when I get back. I grabbed a bag of Maynards and chose the later.
This morning's showers had cleared but replaced with a stiff wind from the southwest. With just about 90 minutes until sunset, I set out into that headwind toward Munn Road.
I paced Munn pretty well, never going into the red. I also found a feature on my bike computer that measures the grade of a hill. It seems to report about 10 seconds behind real-time but it is good to put a number to a feeling.
Clockwise Munn/Ross Durrance Ride Profile
As I was making my way up the hill, I planned on riding down Millstream Road into Langford; that should leverage a long downhill into the wind and give me a bit of a tailwind for the leg home.
That was the easy out.
After cresting Munn and having 40 minutes on the clock, I tossed that easy plan out by turning north on Ross-Durrance Road. My legs and back were feeling good and I thought I'd take a chance with the punchy hills and eventual headwind that would greet me by the time I got down to West Saanich Road.
That decision was rewarded with a beautiful ride through the forest. The last of the sunlight making its way through the trees was just amazing.
Other Ride Notes
There was also next to no traffic in the hills tonight. Maybe 5 cars passed me going up Munn and just one oncoming car on Ross Durrance.
The wind died off as the sun dropped below the mountains so next to no headwind down West Saanich/Interurban Road.
I kept hunger at bay with 300 calories of Maynards (watermelon and peach) but I really needed food from a plate at the end.
WEDNESDAY MAY 19 🌤
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 1 TAC Routine.
Run 80 minutes. Hilly route. Easy effort. Cedar hill would be great. But you can literally run anywhere with some hills. Thetis, loops around Beacon hill works. Anywhere! Have fun on rolling terrain.
NOTES
Total Time: 90 minutes Distance: 14.2 km
Three things about tonight's run: Dead legs, dead legs and finally, dead legs.
After a day on the computer and some time on the renovation , I set out for a pre-dinner, 80 minute run. I didn't have time to drive somewhere so I made it a "Tour de Craigflower", from Raynor Ave in Vic West to Helmcken Road in View Royal before doubling back towards home. Stopped once for a traffic light and once for a pit stop.
THURSDAY MAY 20 🌤
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Short spin to the pool. Easy. 10 minutes. Ride 60 minutes. Long way home. Easy effort. Good day to pick a flat route! 5:30am: Swim 2500: (if you run out of time, ditch the kick at the end) 12x 50 Very gradual descend from 1-4, 5-8, 9-12 from easy to "good form/not too much effort". r :15. 5x 300 as 25 strong (effort you could hold for about 1000-1500 meters)/25 relaxed (something you could hold at least 30 minutes) r 1:00. 6x 50 steady kick. r :10. 100 easy free to cool down.
NOTES
Total Time: 130 minutes Swim: 2500m
The lanes were busy this morning. Me and a another regular from the continuous lane moved over into the slow lane. It worked out because it was the least busy spot in the pool. I got into a rhythm on the 300m set, clocking a 5:59 for the first and going slightly faster each rep through the fifth (5:45).
I knocked out a 1:37 final 100m, leaving the pool feeling pretty good.
The ride home was a flatter waterfront route from Gonzales to James Bay, then through Esquimalt to Colville. The wind off the water was COLD this morning. I was in full tights and a heavy cycling jacket too. Effort was easy.
BEDTIME AT 1700
This afternoon, I felt like I was hit by a truck.
Cold, shivers, and a headache. I went to bed for a nap and didn't get up until morning. I am not sure if this is a reaction to life stress from this week or quite posibly, the after-effects of the Moderna vaccine from last week. The symtoms do check the boxes even if a week late.
FRIDAY MAY 21 🌤
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 2 TAC Routine.
Run 30 minutes. Flat route. EASY effort. Really easy. Followed by...... 10x :20 strides, :40 walk after each. Walk to cool down.
NOTES
Total Time: 40 minutes &nbps; Distance: 6.5 km
Headache, and a pretty bad one too (all day).
I waited until the end of the day to run. Easy pace to the middle of the Selkirk Trestle and when I got back, I did the strides on Harriet Road. The strides felt good. 
SATURDAY MAY 22 🌤
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 3:15 on TT bike. Flat to rolling terrain. aka: Peninsula. Easy to steady riding. Fuel well. Stay hydrated.
NOTES
Total Time: 195 minutes Distance: 82 km
The only thing noticed in the morning were my metatarsals (yesterday strides?) Headache was gone and that's what I am most relieved about.
Starting the ride, I made a mental note of how tired my legs felt at the Switch Bridge.
From there I took Interurban Road north for a typical loop of Lands End Road. My legs started to come around to feeling okay between Brentwood Bay and Saanichton. I stopped for my first bio-break at the one hour mark on Willingdon Road near the airport. First bottle was done at that point too.
Second pitstop was at the McTavish Interchange just after the 2 hour mark; second bottle done now too.
I did briefly stop once more to address a creaking noise that had developed. I first noticed it on Lands End Road but at the top of Martindale the noise had become untenable. I thought it was in the bottom bracket or crankset but it turned out to be a loose rear wheel skewer; a half turn adjustment and all was good.
On Lochside Drive, I had an older (but strong) roadie holding onto the back of my wheel. We were having a pretty good go too. At least until a car pulled out of a driveway and scared me out of my aerobars. I don't blame the driver for this one; who sees a cyclist in the shadows of the tree cover, riding at +35kph? The fun was over, the other cyclist turned east on Royal Oak Drive, I turned west.
I repeated the first kilometre stretch again near the end of the ride. I felt a magnitude better after 3 hours than I did at the start of the ride.
I didn't completely finish the third bottle but I did run out of Maynards. Total of ~840 calories
(525 Lemonade mix, 315 candy).
