SOCIALLY PROFILED
IRONMAN TRAINING 2021
Week beginning Sunday, November 29, 2020
43 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.
WEEKLY GOAL
This week's focus is all about a 5000m TT this Saturday
SUMMARY
I feel like was EMOTIONALLY READY to run, but things didn't work out at I had imagined.
I ran a 5K Time Trial on the track, felt confident all week right through the warm up beforehand, but 10 minutes into the run, I felt things going south for me and I found myself fighting a losing battle to hold what should have been a maintainable effort.
SUNDAY NOV 29 ⛅️
Sleep 2 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 12 minutes.
Run 75 minutes: 15 minutes easy to warm up. 10x 100 meter strides to loosen up/warm up, 100 meters very easy jogging between each. 6x 1000 meters @ 5k effort. Really trying to figure out your pace and rhythm. 4:23-4:27 pace. Leaving on the 6:00. Walking around to stay loose between each effort. 10ish minutes easy jogging to cool down.
NOTES
Total Time: 70 minutes Distance: 12 km
Second restful sleep in a row (happy to have my pillow back). I took an advil before bed to help with a stiff neck and it feels much better this morning.
After a drive to PISE to find out the track was booked, it was back to Oak Bay for today's workout.
I am not sure how to process this workout. In the moment, I felt like I was running the 6x1000m at a hard but controlled pace. I was generally on a 1:46/400m to start each rep and although I felt like I was steady with the same effort for the next 600m, the 1000m times were behind the target, mostly coming in on average 4:33/km.
The 4th and 5th rep had the sun peak out briefly and I was able to eke out a couple of seconds. The last 1000m was more comfortable again with a building but controlled effort from 600m out.
So, was this workout a win because it was a total of 7km at slightly slower than a scheduled pace? Or was this a miss because I was off target pace by 6 seconds except for the last one. 
MONDAY NOV 30 🌦
Sleep 5 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 5
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 21 minutes.
Swim 2000: 2x (150 easy free, 100 swim w/ buoy, 50 kick w/ board. All steady. R 10-20 seconds after each) 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200 all steady swimming. Rest 10-20 seconds after each. 12x 25 Odds: Strong, evens: Relaxed/controlled r :15 after each. 200 easy to cool down.
Wind Warning for Greater Victoria
It's blowing the dog off the chain outside but no never mind b/c I am at the pool this afternoon (barring a power outage).
NOTES
Total Time: 50 minutes
Hit with insomnia last night, I think I remember seeing past 0300 on my watch. I "felt off" most of the day today too. Regardless, I still was able to have a productive work day.
I generally don't have much to write about when it comes to a swim workout but tonight was FUN! In particular, the 12x25m set, going strong on the odds. I was really feeling it tonight knowing that I only had just 25 metres to the wall.
I know that for any real distance, these numbers are "unsustainable" for where I am at and what I am ultimately trying to accomplish but trying to best my last effort became "exhilarating". The speed of the water rushing past felt different, the torque rotating from pull to pull felt powerful, the bow wake from the top of my head gave me a way bigger pocket of air to inhale from. And my feet felt like they were fluttering at the surface.
| Effort Number | Time | Pace | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0:25.4 | 1:42/100m | 141 |
| 3 | 0:23.4 | 1:34/100m | 143 |
| 5 | 0:24.2 | 1:37/100m | 146 |
| 7 | 0:20.8 | 1:23/100m | 145 |
| 9 | 0:19.1 | 1:17/100m | 150 |
| 11 | 0:19.7 | 1:19/100m | 152 |
Yes that swim was all caps FUN!
TUESDAY DEC 01 ☀️
Sleep 2 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 5
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 60 minutes easy. Trainer or rollers. Keep it easy.
Run 30 minutes. Flat route. Easy effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 90 minutes
A good sleep last night and a solid day on the keyboard too (@work). I caught myself looking at the 5-day weather forecast with an eye on Saturday; it's almost like a "race week".
I did the easy, flat run first while there was a bit of daylight left. I headed down to the Gorge and did so gingerly; soleus (both legs) were more tender than usual. I stopped for a traffic light and to take a picture for this week's training log page; so not 30 minutes of constant jogging but there was 33 minutes of moving time over 36 minutes total.
It was a similar on the rollers in that I stopped for briefly to take some layers off, drink some Gatorade and after 40 minutes, a full on bathroom break. Total time easy spinning was 60 minutes out of a 63 minute activity.
Speaking of Gatorade, that was a 500ml bottle with 200 calories consumed before and during the the time on the bike.
BEAUTIFUL EVENING ALONG THE GORGE
WEDNESDAY DEC 02 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue - | Stress 2 | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 18 minutes.
Run 15 minutes easy to warm up.
6x 100 meter strides, 100 meter EASY jog after each. 200 meters @ goal 5k effort/pace. Walk 100-200 meters.
1400 @ 5k effort. Trying to hit 53/54 for each 200. Especially make a point to run the first 600 on pace. 10 minute cool down jog.
NOTES
Total Time: 30 minutes Feeling: Fantastic
I slept in this morning. The body is telling me I needed the rest.
Under the lights, post-sunset on the track; what a beautiful night to be outside! I executed the warm-up and found myself having to SLOW down the strides. The 1400m effort went one more half lap to 1600m because I can't count and because I was feeling a groove hitting those 53/54s.
THURSDAY DEC 03 ☀️
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 60 minutes easy. Inside or outside. Keep it easy.
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
—
FRIDAY DEC 04 ☀️
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 15 minutes.
Run: 30 minutes EASY.
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
—
SATURDAY DEC 05 ☀️
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Mobility: 15 minutes.
10 minutes easy jogging. 6x 100 strides, Ideally @ a touch SLOWER than 5k speed. Goal is to warm up. 100 meter EASY jog between each. Then... 200 meters @ what you think you might hold for a 5k. Walk 200-400 meters. Bathroom, tighten shoes, water, ect. 5k Full on Time Trial. We can have 200, 400, 600 goal times for you next Thursday.
5 minutes walking. Then 10 minutes EASY jogging to cool down.
PM: Spin 30 minutes EASY on the trainer
NOTES
Total Time: 90 minutes
It was a coffee with some toast and jam after an okay sleep last night. I drove to PISE at 0800 hoping to get the run completed before the soccer crowds showed up.
Getting to the track, the place was empty, save two teenaged boys practicing penalty kicks on the soccer field. This was a windless, crisp, 1°C morning with a spectacular sunrise. I was good to run, or so I thought. The track had a couple of un-runable, icy sections; with the sun just above the horizon, it would take another hour before I could start. I walked the track to pass the time.
Just after 9am, I started my warmup, paying particular attention to slowing down the 6x100m strides and nailing the speed on the 200m. My watch read 52.4 seconds for that 200m length; right on schedule.
So the TT starts and I have it in my mind to not go out fast and I put the first 200m, 400m, 600m all at 54 seconds. Everything is feeling light, easy and with a goal of running 53 second, 200m splits, I am only a touch behind schedule.
I decided to pick it up a bit and I ran the next lap at 52 second 200m splits. I was feeling really confident with how this run was shaping up. Cadence, breathing, posture all felt familiar to the work I had been putting in.
I finished the 5th lap, 2000m into a 5000m effort and then it hits; I was expecting it, but I was surprised that it happened so early. The breakdown began; I went from cruising down the track to fighting for everything. I was fighting to maintain pace, fighting to maintaine a race cadence. I tried to force a smile, anything to change the direction that this outcome was heading toward.
When I did this distance on Halloween, the breakdown hit around 4 km. In fact, today's effort sadly felt closer to September 19th where I didn't even get to 5km than any other day in between.
PACE AND CADENCE DROP OFF
Pace: — Cadence: —
Today's reality: 4:37 min/km for 23:07
I am pretty disappointed about my result.
CAN I FIND A SILVER LINING?
Over the last 4 weeks, I have been wearing a HR monitor strap and apart from a some runs with some abnormal data during the first few minutes of a run, I have, what I feel is a good data set from the workouts that I have been doing. With that data, Garmin has some proprietary estimates and if I can trust those numbers outside of today, the following chart shows a positive trend.
THERE WAS A RIDE TOO
The ride was scheduled for 30 minutes indoors but with the really nice weather, I took the road bike out for a flat spin around the Goose/E&N bike path loop.
