SOCIALLY PROFILED
IRONMAN CANADA TRAINING - 2022
Week beginning Sunday, July 24, 2022
5 weeks out from race day.
WEEKLY GOAL
The start of the last push.
SUMMARY
Total Time: 20 Hours
I feel like I was FINDING MYSELF AGAIN
Biggest single, Sunday to Saturday week in my life. During the build last year, I got to a 19 hour week.
This week delivered a small boost of confidence, with two rides standing out; both rides starting in the Cowichan Valley and both ending up at home.
My toe is starting to mend and my confidence in it is finally starting to happen too. I'd say its 90% healthy and no longer an impediment to running.
SUNDAY JUL 24 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Open Water swim ~ 2x 3 minutes easy swimming to warm up. Rest as needed after each. 3x 15 minutes steady swimming. Ironman effort/groove. Whatever you want to call it. R 2:00 between each. Ride 4:00 on the MTB. Great trail, Goose, something like that. Bring lots of water and calories. This is a big day out. And it will require a lot of fueling!
NOTES
Total Time: 315 Mins OWS: 3.2 km Ride: 62 km
Up to Shawnigan Lake for some afternoon training.
The lake was awesome; clean, cool water with little wind but some boat wake thrown in to practice with. I wore my farmer-john wetsuit for the first time and I am not sure if I prefer it over my sleeved wetsuit. It is certainty a half size smaller and having my arms free was nice.
Carina dropped me off at the Kinsol Trestle Parking Lot and I rode the kilometre north to grab this photo. From there it was south on the Great Trail with a couple of big hills in between. I included a trip up and over the Bear Mountain Parkway for good measure. There was no wind and I was in a long sleeve shirt for any sort of heat adaptation. 
MONDAY JUL 25 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Run 50 minutes EASY w/ your buddies. If they are running 6:00 K's, then run 6:00 K's. No need to speed things up! Mobility 15 minutes
NOTES
Total Time: 60 Minutes Run: 10 km
First run with my neighbours in almost 2 months.
The pace started slow and gradually increased over the course of the hour. I was feeling ok with the added push near the end; muscles were perfused and I was getting next to no complaints from my little toe. We were brushing up against 5:30/km on the false flat until the final rise up Culduthel Road.
It was another warm one.
TUESDAY JUL 26 ☀️
Sleep 5 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Easy spin to the pool. Swim 2800: 4 rounds (100 easy swim, 50 steady kick. R :15 after each) 15x 50 as 1: Easy, 2: Gradually build easy to strong, 3: Strong. R :15 after each). 150 easy/smooth. 8 Rounds (100 Strong/high turnover. R :30. 50 EASY. R :20) 100 extra easy to cool down. Ride 40ish minutes home from the pool. Just enough to count it as a ride, but not so much that it will fatigue you.
NOTES
Total Time: 105 Minutes Swim: 2800m
Not the most restful sleep like night. I was expecting to feel more dinged from the run yesterday but I actually feel pretty good overall. My right ankle being the only tender spot.
While pedalling easy to and from the pool however, I certainly feel the ride on Sunday lingering in my quads.
In the pool, I got after it during the strong 100m reps. I clocked 1:33 for the 100m and a new PR, repeating it 4 times in a row for good measure. There was a slight fade for reps 6, 7 and 8 but overall, a big session.
WEDNESDAY JUL 27 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 3:00 on TT bike: Ride 20-40 minutes easy to warm up.... 3x Observatory climb. Not at an effort, just steady climbing up and down. Being as comfy as you can. Then.....ride 30-50 minutes on flatter roads. then.....2x Willis Point (Front side) Again, just spinning up and down. Head home. Do your best to fuel and hydrate on this ride.
Off the bike: Run 30 minutes. EASY and flat.
NOTES
Total Time: 182 Mins Bike: 60 km Walk: 1.5 km
Much better sleep last night.
I rode up Observatory Road 3 times and took a nice spin through Central Saanich before looping back to Willis Point Road.
On the way up that hill I heard what I thought was my rear derailleur needing an adjustment (new cable installed recently). Just before the crest of the hill, I found the real culprit for the noise; I had a rear tire going flat.
I had a choice to burn another can of Vittoria Pit Stop and ride up the hill a second time or to top up the tire with C02 and head for home. I made the executive decision to nurse the tire back home with the C02 and not invest the $24 (cost of the Pit Stop) when I just bought a replacement tubular yesterday.
I made it back.
I did start the run but I was feeling off, very off.
My ankle, this time the left one, was barking loudly so after 400m, I walked for a bit. Starting the jog again and I was still not right so I called it and walked home. No need to force something into a worse spot at this point in the game.
THURSDAY JUL 28 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Swim 2000: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 w/ buoy, 4x 50 Paddle-fist drill. Rest as needed. 10x 100 aerobic/smooth w/ focus on rotation from hips. R :20. 4x 50 easy to cool down.
Mobility 25 minutes
NOTES
Total Time: 90 Minutes OWS: 2100m
Late afternoon swim at Thetis Lake in place of the pool workout. This gave me ~40 minutes of commute time on my bike.
I set my the interval programming on my watch for 4 x 10 minutes with a 2 minute rest then set of for a cruise around the lake. IM effort without a wetsuit and towing a float in calm water was around 2:20/100m according to the GPS track. Although those numbers are not "race typical" for me, I felt great (connected, present) in the water today.
FRIDAY JUL 29 ☀️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Run 40 minutes. Easy and flat route.
Spin 30 minutes easy. Either around town for errands or on the trainer to keep things simple.
NOTES
Total Time: 32 Minutes Run: 5.4 km
Just a run in the sun on Lochside Trail to _Quadra Street and back; no ride today. 
SATURDAY JUL 30 ☀️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride ~ 5:30ish on the bike. Your 138km route works well for me. If you ride it faster, just add on some distance to get to the 5:30 mark. I'm ok if you take longer to ride the route as well. Obviously wind, traffic, ect always plays into it. Standard fueling, standard hydration. Time in the bars. Finding your personal pace and effort for a long day of riding efficiently.
Off the bike: 30 minutes on the feet. Ideally you get your gear away somewhat quickly. (10-20 minutes) Walk 10 minutes. Run 10 minutes easy, but actually trying to run. Walk 10 minutes to finish up a long day.
I'd bring water and calories on this run. If for anything, to start recovery on the final walk.
NOTES
Total Time: 398 Mins Ride: 143 km Run 5.3 km
Carina had a sailing regatta in Cowichan Bay so I hitched a ride up into my old stomping grounds with her.
This was a very nostalgic ride for me. I pressed start at the resort that my parents owned in the 80's and left Cowichan Bay and headed north on the road that my father first gave me the wheel of the family pickup truck. I was 14 years old at the time.
I climbed up Kingsview Road and turned on to Belcarra Road, passing the home I grew up in. The current owners have looked after the place. A Japanese Maple Tree that I planted in the back yard is now taller than the house itself; amazing.
After Maple Bay, I headed west on the highway up to Lake Cowichan. This road was not in any sort of condition that I remember. The shoulder was very rough, if it even existed in some places. Traffic on the highway was very heavy too; a large outdoor country music festival had every hillbilly, jacked-up 4x4 on Vancouver Island racing up to the lake. It was a dangerous stretch that beat me up too.
From the lake, I took the quieter back road for my return east. I caught up to a local roadie, also riding an Argon 18 and we shared the road back to Duncan.
I skipped most of the highway south of Duncan by taking Koksilah Road, then Cobble Hill Road toward Shawnigan Lake.
Just past 4 hours and 97 kms into the ride, I stoped at the Cobble Hill Market for a fill of my water bottles and a can of RedBull.
The climb up out of Shawnigan Lake wasn't too bad. It was hot and I had an my 11x25 cassette on the back wheel but I was able to break up the hill mentally into smaller chunks.
The Malahat has not changed; I still do not find the long downhill sections safe to be in the aero bars with the amount of large stones on the shoulder and speeds at which the traffic goes past. Luckily, I did have a lull in traffic through the construction zone coming down Tunnel Hill.
The traffic lights of Langford offered a couple small breaks and the last 15 minutes of the ride, I actually felt as strong as I had at any point in the ride.
I got to Seaton Road (basically back home) where I pressed stop on my bike computer but instead of rolling to the house, I turned around.
About a 100m back, a cyclist was dealing with a flat tire. It was less than a month ago when I was that guy with a flat and someone stopped to help me out. This afternoon, it was my turn to help a stranger.
That may have added about 20 minutes worth of break before the run.
I headed out on the Lochside Trail toward my turn around at Quadra Street. Unlike the jog on Thursday, today I was there about a minute faster. I slowed it down a touch for the return home but this was a solid run off the bike for me. It wasn't until typing up this report that I realized that this was written as a Walk/Run/Walk session.
CALORIES ON THE BIKE
Between 1800 and 1900 calories for the ride, between Maynards Sour Patch Kids, maple syrup and a can of RedBull that I picked up at the corner store in Cobble Hill.