IRONMAN TRAINING 2021
Week beginning Sunday, December 27, 2020
39 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.
WEEKLY GOAL
Last week of 2020 and this week needs to be consistent (don't they all).
SUMMARY
I feel I like was HIT BY A TRUCK but I healed then carried on.
When I look back on how unusually stiff and sore I was on Sunday and then how that carried over to Monday I wasn't listening. Tuesday was a message that was loud and clear; my capacity for stress was beyond it's limit.
It wasn't a bump in training volume or intensity but the culmination of an emotionally heavy Christmas season.
Although this week didn't go to plan, I was able to get +9 hours of training in and to me that is a small win.
SUNDAY DEC 27 🌧
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 2:00 on MTB. Great Trail or the Goose. Keep it nice and steady. Cover some ground! Stay well hydrated, fueled, and warm!
OTB: Run 40 minutes. Flat route. Easy effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 150 minutes
Last night's sleep was ok; I woke feeling rested but man, my posterior is stiff and sore.
The weather was blah; not rainy but dreary nonetheless. I went into the garage and looked at all the work that I did yesterday and realized that there was one more project.
Last year, I built a fork stand for the rollers; it didn't work as well as I would have liked. The unit would "walk" and after a while, I'd be pedalling with a handlebar pointing either left or right. Today, I put some time into building a better rig.
REBUILT THE FORK STAND (TRAINER)
The scheduled ride's intent was nice and steady and with a new indoor rig to test out, I pedalled steady for an hour and fifty. I sipped a 750ml bottle of lemonade (~200 cals). I had Tabot Cox' 2019 Kona Series Compilation on the screen and the Seahawks Post Game Show on the radio.
Very sore glutes and adductors for the easy run.
MONDAY DEC 28 ⛅️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 2 | Soreness 5
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Run 30 minutes flat and easy.
Mobility 17 minutes.
NOTES
Total Moving Time: 33 minutes
Another okay sleep last night but I am again, very stiff and very sore. Like yesterday, this is mostly in the glutes and adductors but today I can feel it in the lumbar and hamstrings too.
I jogged easy down to Curtis Point to catch the sunset. I continued on but stopped after the short hill up to Harriet Road because I thought I had a rock in my shoe; nothing was in the shoe or sock though.
I can still feel that bit of pain on the bottom of my foot an hour after getting home. Thankfully I don't run for another couple days.
TUESDAY DEC 29 ⛅️
Sleep 6 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 4 | Soreness 6
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Trainer 70 minutes: 20 minutes easy spinning. 6x (:30 high cadence, :15 easy, :15 moderate standing, :30 easy) 1:00 easy. 4x 5:00 @ moderately strong effort (30-45 minute effort) 4:00 easy/normal spin between each. 4 extra minutes easy to cool down.
Mobility 23 minutes
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
What happens when I don't read the tea leaves.
Today was a no go with a headache so bad that I was bordering on vomiting. 4 Advil over the course of the day and the headache only began to get better by dinner time.
WEDNESDAY DEC 30 🌦
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 60 minutes easy. Inside/outside. Trainer/rollers. Up to you. Keep it easy!
Run 30 minutes flat and EASY.
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
So I did sleep better last night and that headache is gone but given how terrible I felt yesterday, I am taking today off training too. That sensation of a rock in my shoe is still there too, even though I am in the house barefoot.
Elliot sent me an email letting me know about this race at the end of May: Of course I signed up! Hopefully this happens.
THURSDAY DEC 31 ☁️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Run 75 minutes. Hilly route. Easy effort. Mobility 20 minutes
NOTES
Total Time: 80 minutes
Mea culpa: I thought today was Friday so I was on the trainer for 80 minutes of easy spinning.
In all fairness though, I would have looked to give my plantar another day without running just to be safe. I am ok with pushing through tender soleus pain because I am generally confident in the outcome of running with that type of tenderness.
What started from the run on Monday and persisted through yesterday was closer to a localized burning sensation.
FRIDAY JAN 01 🎉
Sleep 2 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 2 | Soreness 2
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
90 minute easy/fun MTB. If the weather is terrible, then 80 minutes easy on the rollers. (easy)
Mobility 22 minutes
NOTES
Total Time: 120 minutes
The weather outside was terrible so the TT Bike set up on the trainer it was. I did my best to vary the intensity as if it was an outside ride but still, the effort was easy. ~200 calories of lemonade in a 750ml bottle consumed. Second day on the trainer and I feel pretty good, minus the piriformis (only noticed during slower cadences).
VARIED BUT EASY EFFORT
SATURDAY JAN 02 🌧
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 2:15 on MTB. Ideally on the Goose or the Great Trail. Easy to steady effort. Stay well fueled. Bundle up for the inevitable showers. Off the bike (but feel free to take time to get warm if needed)
Run 30 minutes. Flat route. Easy effort
NOTES
Total Time: 165 minutes
"Bundle up for the inevitable showers..."
It rained HARD all day. Needless to say, I bailed on the outside MTB ride. In its place, I was the on the trainer but instead of just pedalling aimlessly, today I made this a bit more fun.
Earlier this week, I took a write up on the IRONMAN Canada bike course and plugged in the points of interest into a Garmin Workout at a condensed, 10:1 ratio. For example, the first point of interest in the write up is Skaha Lake at 6 km from T1 which I plugging into Garmin as 0.6 km. Rinse/repeat until I had a total of 18 kms. Then I "rode" that workout at a constant, easy effort last Sunday. Finally, I took Sunday's time splits, multiplied each time by five, giving me a 3 hours worth of segments and beeps for my bike computer; each beep representing a point of interest from that original IMC Bike Course article.
During today's trainer session, the fifth beep put me at "the foot of Richter Pass" at an hour and seventeen minutes. After and hour and fifty-three minutes, the bike computer let me know I was at "Keremeos and _HWY 3A". Anyway, this was a novel attempt to add some contextual fun into an indoor ride (even if not to scale).
Out of lemonade so I had a can of ginger ale and snacked on ju-jubes. Apart from a sore saddle interface, the legs felt relatively good.
The untended result of starting the workout(s) later was that the rain had stopped by the time I got off the trainer; bonus!
JUST A TYPICAL ROUTE
I ran easy and generally felt pretty good on my feet; the exception being my left piriformis which is still knotted up and tender.
Before I when to bed, I revisited an old Kelly Starrett video on piriformis syndrome. That knotted up tissue got a solid work over with a lacrosse ball. This has worked in the past; let's see how it feels tomorrow.