Well, I am 5 weeks in to Ironman training.... So far it has been pretty good. I have missed 1 session and pulled 1 session short, so considering there are 10 sessions a week I think this is not too bad.
A few things that I am doing differently in this Ironman campaign are as follows:
- Aiming to lose weight and race and train lighter
- Aiming to do all the run sessions including speed work with a concentration on high cadence
- Aiming to incorporate trail runs at least every 2nd week
- Aiming to follow the Ironguides programme to a 'T'
- Aiming to incorporate yoga and core strength work - at least 1 of each a week
I am following the Ironguides programme in the order stated and am starting to understand the benefits in doing this. I have been attending yoga once a week and incorporating a strength session after my Tuesday run session and occasionally after the Thursday session.
My strength session has evolved and is now at 3 sets of sit ups, plank and push ups. I am currently doing 110 sit ups, 2.5mins of plank (this needs work!) and 35 push ups. So, I will continue to 'up the ante' on these each week to gain improvements. Thankfully, I have joined a gym in town which is where I do my midweek runs, so I am finding it easy to use the gym afterwards to get the strength session completed.
My swimming has improved also. The 200m TT efforts started out at 4mins and I have now got them down to 3:43mins. I know, not 'speedy', but an improvement nevertheless. Hopefully this can continue to improve as I concentrate more on my stroke. I am using the pull buoy and paddles as per the programme which I struggled with last year due to shoulder pain. This time, however, I have got smaller paddles and am coping really well with them.
My bike seems to be taking a little while longer to come together. It will be interesting to see the 20min and 30min TT times when I get up to them, but I expect that they may be a tad slower than last year. Hopefully that will pick up in time. I am going to incorporate some good hills in with my long rides this year to build more strength which was definitely lacking last year. Hopefully I can keep any hip and knee pain at bay and continue to do this which I wasn't able to last year due to pain in these areas.
So, all in all, progress so far has been positive. No, I am not going to get a Kona spot, no, I am not going to be in the top half of my age group, but I am hoping this year that I don't have to be worrying so much about the cut off time!
Onwards and upwards. 14 and a bit weeks to go.
