IRONMAN TRAINING 2021

Week beginning Sunday, September 13, 2020

54 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.

WEEKLY GOAL

I am expecting the smoky skies to clear this week and get back to putting some consistency into into my fitness. This is another week to build on good habits and get a test of where I am at.

SUMMARY

I feel like I was MOVING FORWARD.

The start and end of the work week, I struggled with my energy. Part of that is the load at work and part of that is on me. After acknowledging those two days, I have five other days that I can look back on that tell a story of me bouncing back to a more consistent routine. Mobility and strides were put back into place this week. I also got a new pair of shoes that are fun to run in.

I did have a few moments of sadness throughout this week too.

SUNDAY SEP 13

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 2 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Mobility 20 minutes: Swimmer's Routine
Run 50-55 minutes. Easy effort. Hilly route. On trails is great, but not mandatory.

NOTES

Total Time: 60 minutes

Another very smoky day, another day waking up not feeling rested and a headache worthy of an 200mg Advil.

I rolled out the yoga mat and got a good stretch in. Swimmer's routine showed me that my neck and traps are very tender, that my pecs and hamstrings are tight (but not sore) and that my hip flexors and quads have decent mobility.

With the smoke lingering, I substituted the 55 minute run with a 90 minute walk down to (and up from) McKenzie Bight with Carina.
Distance: 5.7 km   Elevation: 240 m

MONDAY SEP 14

Sleep 2 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
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PLANNED WORKOUT

Mobility 25 minutes
Run 30 minutes. Flat route. EASY effort.

NOTES

Total Time: 0 minutes

I was up really early (4am) so I checked in on a few things at work. That early start meant I got a morning nap between 06:30 and 08:00; from there I was ready to take on the Monday.

Flexibility Routine V3! showed me that my hamstrings are tight and the straddle positions at the end of the routine were challenging too. My quads, adductors and hipflexors are GTG.

Today was another smoky day but a light rain started at 16:30; hopefully that will clear out the air. Regardless of the rain, I struggled with motivation this evening and ended up spending time on the keyboard and not going for my run.

TUESDAY SEP 15

Sleep 2 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Ride 1:00-1:15. Easy spin on the road bike. If you are crunched for time... 45-60 minutes of easy spinning on the rollers.

NOTES

Total Time: 50 minutes

I had an "ok" sleep last night but today was a bit of a frustrating day at work as I did get myself into a grumpy state by not stopping for lunch at a decent time.

I did 50 minutes of steady state pedalling this evening, using the road bike on the rollers. The top of my right knee cap was mildly tender through the first 24 minutes and from then on, everything felt good. At least until the saddle started to become noticable after ~40 minutes. The tire pressure was low for rollers so (I think) it was a good workout. I chose rollers over outside because of the lingering smoke in the air.

WEDNESDAY SEP 16

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Mobility 22 minutes
Run 40 minutes: 15 minutes easy running to warm up. 10x :40 strides, 1:20 easy jog after each. HR should drop fairly close to your easy run HR by the start of the next stride. (with in 5-10 beats) If it's not, then stride slower. 5 minutes easy to cool down.

NOTES

Total Time: 60 minutes

Sleep last night was ok but I did wake up feeling congested and with a stiff neck.

I got the run in after work this evening. Weird day as it looked like the smoke was going to lift in the morning but it got thicker as the afternoon wore on. The last of the sun was visible as a dim, crimson dot in the sky at 17:45 and gone completely by 18:00. Regardless, I put on an N95 dust mask and headed out.

This was one of those runs that felt good in the beginning but as soon as the work started, I really wished that I had put in some real training last weekend. Regardless, I made it "Last stride, best stride" and enjoyed a walk for the final 1:20 recovery period.

I have to say, running with a mask sure had me aware of my breathing.

Distance: 7.5 km   Pace: 5:35/km   Time: 42:00

I did the Cyclist Flexibility Routine after the run; which served to highlight my asymmetries!

THURSDAY SEP 17

Sleep 2 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 5
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PLANNED WORKOUT

Run 30 minutes. Flat route. EASY effort.

NOTES

Total Time: 30 minutes

New shoe day! A pair of Nike Zoom Fly 3 in "Volt/Smoke Grey" came in the mail today.

I got a revised run from Elliot before heading out; a bit of structure and a chance to open up was added to the run. I was a tiny bit tender (glutes/quads/calves) from yesterday but nothing that was out of the ordinary. New shoes didn't take much to get u sed to but a second day up on my toes might require a bit of massage later tonight.

Other than the run, I had a solid sleep last night, a solid (productive) day at work and spent some time working out the tight spots in my back with my massage chair.

FRIDAY SEP 18

Sleep 2 | Fatigue 2 | Stress 3 | Soreness 5
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PLANNED WORKOUT

Mobility 25 minutes
Rollers ~ 30 minutes. EASY spinning.

NOTES

Total Time: 0 minutes

Another pretty good sleep last night but I am stiff (mostly lower body) from the past couple of days.

As the day became the evening, I ran out of engery (mentally and physically) and whiffed on getting out to the garage for a ride on the rollers.

No television tonight either, I am going to bed early on this Friday night.

SATURDAY SEP 19

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Morning: 5-15 minutes of basic mobility (of your choice) to loosen up for the day.
Drive to the track
10 minutes easy jogging. 6x 100 strides, Ideally @ a touch SLOWER than 5k speed. Yes, these are pretty slow. 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, etc.

5k Time Trial! Lap splits would be great. But not mandatory. 5 minutes walking. Then 10 minutes EASY jogging to cool down

NOTES

Total Time: 60 minutes

I feel rested enough but last night wasn't the easiest sleep; sadness is still coming and going and I don't have an answer for it except to just

accept that is still my reality at this point.

The mobility routine I chose before heading out was Tom Merrick's 20 Minute Full Body Flexibility Routine.

The weather today was a humid 18℃ (64℉) with a breeze from the south west.

So at PISE (a local running track), it was boys soccer that had the infield this afternoon; that meant I'd have an audience of kids and parents to watch me suffer for a bit. I only hope that I can be entertaning for them.

The warm up was done (so I thought) according to the write up and I felt good. With my heartrate back down to normal, it was time to see where my fitness is at.

This was a tale of every second lap. The start of the second lap, everything is good. On the fourth lap, I have settled into a rhythm. At the start of lap six, I am feeling the fade coming on. On the eighth lap, life is starting to suck pretty bad and it is too early to be feeling this bad.

On the 10th lap, I am REALLY fighting the urge to walk. "Just two more laps then a back straight, I can do this!"

Eleventh lap, I am just hanging on as I crossed the start-line on the home stretch; I again, press the lap button on my watch. I look and the lap indicator, it reads, "12/12". So if I have done 12, then I just have this back stretch to do. I muster up a push that would make Tim Noakes proud and hit the "stop button" as I cross the half lap line. 20:54.8

Sadly, I didn't realize that I shorted myself one lap until I got back to the truck for the drive home. Damn it.

Pace per Lap

TIME IN HEARTRATE ZONES

MY TAKE AWAYS

• Learn to count all the way to 12.
• I will get that 5K PR before the end of this year; I just need to keep showing up.
• Even if I didn't get the full distance in this afternoon, I do have lap time data and a good training stimulus out of the activity.
• Maybe slow down a bit on the "warm up".

OTHER TAKE AWAYS

• 2 Mile: 14:00
• 1 Mile: 6:37
• 1 KM: 3:59
• .5 Mile: 3:11
• 400 m: 92 seconds