IRONMAN TRAINING 2021
Week beginning Sunday, December 13, 2020
41 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.
WEEKLY GOAL
On the bike 4 out of the next 7 days. This week's goal is to get the scheduled saddle-time and maybe get to bed earlier.
SUMMARY
I feel like I was STAYING CONSISTENT
Great week of focused training given that work has been busy and that we are into winter here in Victoria.
Almost 10.5 hours of workout time from Monday through Saturday. I enjoyed this week's workouts too. There was no pressure to hit a pace; simply time spent enjoying the moments.
Mentally, I needed these workouts too. Christmas is next week and when I am not immersed in work or a workout, I am really missing my dad.
SUNDAY DEC 13 🌧
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Family commitments and terrible weather means I am pushing today's ride to tomorrow afternoon.
Mobility: 22 minutes.
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
Up way too early for a rainy Sunday (0520).
While the rain came down this morning, I was able to get about 4 hours of work in.
I can feel a bit of yesterday's mountain bike ride in my shoulders. It had been some time since I tried to pedal up a steep hill on a trail it seems. My right ankle is still mildly sore (feels like a bit of a sprain) but not as sore as when I went to bed last night.
I had a pretty solid nap from around 1645 to 1800 too (more of those please).
MONDAY DEC 14 ⛅️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 4 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 21 minutes.
Ride 2:00- 2:30 on MTB. Goose or Great trail would be a good route. Easy effort. Spending a longer amount of time in the saddle. Bring calories and water. Stay well fueled. Keep your effort even all ride.
NOTES
Total Time: 130 minutes
Sadly, the scale confirmed that the weight is still being packed on. 79.9 Kg is the heaviest single day number I've seen in years.
Making good on my promise to myself, I worked Sunday and took this afternoon off in lieu. I wanted to take the XC bike out but I did a poor job mounting the tires on Saturday, resulting in a nasty, out of round tire that wasn't going to work for a +2 hour ride. I started to work on it but no joy (probably the proprietary Bontrager rim).
With limited daylight, this is the wrong time of year to be "pretend mechanic". I pulled the road bike off the wall.
I headed west and did loop that included Happy Valley Road. I felt pretty good today. The weather was really nice when I left home, but was gloomier through Langford. If I would have taken The Great Trail north, I likely would have been wet. I wore "shoulder season kit" half way through December so... it was a good ride.
I ate a dozen ju-jubes and most of a bottle of lemonade (~300 cals).
HAPPY VALLEY LOOP
TUESDAY DEC 15 ☁️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Bike 60 minutes: 40 minutes easy spinning. 8x 1:00 high cadence, 1:00 easy after each. 4 minutes easy to finish up.
OTB: Run 40 minutes flat and easy.
NOTES
Total Time: 99 minutes
Wide awake at 0515 but I did go back to bed and get another hour of sleep. This was a long day at work and it meant getting into the garage for a ride on the rollers at 1830.
The ride felt a bit sluggish in the first minute but once I was up to temperature, it was all systems go. I watched the replay of the bike leg of the Daytona Challenge and it weirdly felt like it was me and a bunch of friends out for a ride in aero. I was on the bullhorns for the cadence work though. I had a bottle of lemonade with me and I got most of it down before the ride ended.
I felt pretty good on the bike tonight.
HEART RATE ON THE BIKE
I had my night run kit with me in the garage and I wasn't long off the bike before I was alone in the dark, plodding on the Lochside Trail heading toward Quadra Avenue. Everything was nice and easy on the outbound leg (minus the initial jelly legs) but when I reached the turnaround, I realized how much of a tailwind I had been running with. I also started to feel really hungry; I was just 19 minutes before I would be home and at the dinner table. This was a good, niggle free, slow run off the bike and just what I needed on a day like today.
After a late dinner, I had a somewhat large, emergency task to do for work. Sadly, it took longer than expected and I sent my last email at 0137 and was in bed by 0200.
WEDNESDAY DEC 16 ☁️
Sleep 6 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 2 | Soreness 2
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Run 50 minutes easy. Flat route.
5:30pm: Swim
WIND WARNING FOR GREATER VICTORIA
A frontal system moving across Vancouver Island is producing strong southeasterly winds of 70 km/h near the water of the Greater Victoria area.
The southeast winds will ease this evening but westerly winds of 50 to 70 km/h are forecast to develop overnight as the system passes.
NOTES
Total Time: 106 minutes
Avg HR Run: 136 bpm Avg HR Swim: 131 bpm
I had an emergency project that kept me up until 0200 last night and when I finally did get to bed, I woke up with night sweats and a way too early trip to the bathroom. Frustrating indeed but I have a plan...
First call at work this morning was at 0830 and I did have a few hours of productivity. Looking out the window I could see that there was a calm before the storm so I took advantage of the weather window to go for an easy run.
I knew that 50 minutes would put me between 8 and 9 kms and when I set out, I felt really good; zero aches or pains. I immediately promised myself to make this run feel as good at the 8 km mark as it did at during the first kilometre. In fact, I did just that. I just plodded along at what I thought was very consistent 6:30/km pace and when the watch showed 8km, I was feeling as good as I did on that first km. I was surprised to have run 5:50/km overall too. This was a bread and butter run and I felt like I nailed it.
8.88 KM OF EASY RUNNING
Considering I had a garbage sleep last night I needed to look after myself. So later in the afternoon, I put the computer away and put my head down for a solid one hour nap.
There wasn't a swim workout specified for today so I chose to repeat a previously written workout. I felt a bit anxious because I couldn't reserve a space moderate lane; this would be my first time in any fast lane.
Honestly, there wasn't a reason to feel self-conscious about being in the fast lane; it was me, another guy with similar fitness, one really slow person and one woman that really knew what she was doing. After 30 minutes, the other swimmers were done and I had the whole space to myself. I finished the 1900m workout with plenty of time on the clock so I did another easy 3x100m.
HEART RATE FROM THE SWIM
THURSDAY DEC 17 🌤
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 2 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 25 minutes.
Bike 80 minutes: 20 minutes easy spinning. 4x (:20, :40, 1:00 high cadence, :40 easy after each) 3:00 easy. 6x 3:00 w/ moderately strong pressure on the pedals, something you could hold for 40-50 minutes. 2:00 easy spinning after each. Easy spinning to cool down.
NOTES
Total Time: 80 minutes
I had the most restful sleep of the week so far but I did not get the quantity of sleep that I think I need. Calves and achilles (both) are mildly tender to the touch. Today is looking like a decent weather day before what is forecast for the weekend.
After a big spaghetti dinner, I got out to the garage late for the ride. I did feel a bit more fatigue that lasted further into the workout then the bike workout on Tuesday. I did wear my race kit to see if the forward tip of my saddle had a positive effect on the comfort of the suit. It did help a bit but on further inspection of the suit, its chamois wasn't sewn in with much care. I think it is repairable.
FRIDAY DEC 18 🌧
Sleep 2 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
21 Minute Cyclist Flexibility Routine.
Run 60 minutes. Flat to rolling terrain. Easy effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 63 minutes Distance: 10.3 km
This might have been the best sleep that I had so far this week as I woke feeling rested.
From morning coffee to the keyboard, I had another long but productive day at work. Unfortunately, that meant I missed a nice and dry, daylight period to get outside for today's run.
It would have to be a dark and rainy night with a gore-tex jacket, a hi-vis vest and a some of mental coaxing to get out the door.
I read stories of other people that have set out and completed what I am working toward and almost everybody has that same story about running during miserable weather on some dark, winter night, and how it was those times that helped them build the fortitude to keep going when times get tough. It was dark and the rain was coming down but I enjoyed the moment too much for this to be a fortitude building experience.
UP QUADRA - BACK ON GLANFORD
I am starting to feel the time on my feet as it is getting close to the end of the week.
SATURDAY DEC 19 🌧
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Bike 1:40 on the MTB. This would be a great day to drive further out on the goose or great trail. Get in some easy riding, stay well fueled, then follow it up with an easy run.
Off the bike: Run 40 minutes easy and flat running.
NOTES
Total Time: 140 minutes
So I thought I had a the right idea to get the stubborn bead of a MTB tire seated on a rim correctly. What worked for the rear tire and rim ended in a catastrophic failure for the front. No mountain biking for me today.
I was on the clock to get a 140 minute ride in before the rain started. A counterclockwise waterfront loop would get me close on time and have me at least pointed toward home if the rain started in an hour.
By the time I got to the UVic Campus, the rain had started, or so I thought. I doubled back on Cedar Hill Cross Road and the rain eased so I took a chance and headed north on Blenkinsop Road. I had surprisingly dry roads through to Mattick's Farm and on my way back south via Lochside Drive. I had a little more time on the clock to burn as I rolled into my neighbourhood, so I decided to head west. I stopped at 1:22:08 into the ride to take this week's photograph. No sooner than I took the picture, the rain began in earnest; time to head for home.
THE HUNT FOR DRY ROADS
The run started after a short break to rinse off the bike and put on some warm dry clothes (yes it was raining and I was going to get wet regardless). The run was an out and back on The Goose, done on fatigued legs; nothing acute but certainly not comfortable. I broke the work into four 10 minute segments and I paced it almost to the metre. I was in the exact spot when the watch beeped at 10 and 30 minutes and I was right where I pressed start when the watched beeped at 40 minutes. Mea culpa: I did add effort for the last 400m just because it was the end of the week.
6.66 KILOMETRES
Lots of stimulus in the legs; I am ready to get off my feet for the rest of the day.