5 weeks in!

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

So far, I have lost 7 kilos, with another couple still to come off. I have not missed any run sessions and am coping quite well with the speed work (it is all relative - let's face it, my 'speed' work is not really speedy!!).  I have also done all my weekend runs on the trails which I am absolutely loving; even if I have yet to find an 'undulating' trail - they are all 'hilly' in the Emma elevation classification.

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.