12 weeks in

The highs and lows of Ironman training...

Whilst riding along on my long ride on Sunday I was going to quit. Not quit my long ride - quit Ironman and I was upset that it was the 1st of January and I wouldn't get as much of a refund if I had quit 1 day earlier on the 31st December....  I was just struggling.  Then I caught up to my friend Jacque who was in the middle of changing a flat tyre and she was bemoaning the horrible course that we were riding and saying how hard it was.  This, coming from someone who rides up Mt Glorious the hard, impossible way within a 200km ride!!!  So, I vowed to stick with it and be patient and put my faith in my training and see where it takes me.

My frustration I think lies in having made so many changes this time around and not really seeing the benefits of them just yet. I have reached my goal weight of 65kilos and was hoping that almost a 10kg loss in weight would translate into a bit of speed on the bike and run, but I don't see it.  I have been incredibly consistent with the training maintaning the 10 sessions a week and adding in a bit of yoga and core strength.  Maybe things will start to click soon, we'll see.  In the meantime, I will be patient, I will make each session count and just get on with it!

My 200m swim times are around the 3:30 mark now, so I am pretty happy with how they are progressing.  I am feeling very comfortable in the water.

I have just started riding a custom TT bike which is not the love of my life, just yet, but I am hoping that we will be great friends soon!  I had a 5 hour ride on Sunday which I managed to stick with it for 3hrs 45mins before finishing it on my ride bike.  I am hoping that over the next couple of weeks I can get comfortable on it over a 6hour ride.  I think that we will be OK together, there is just a bit of teething issues that we need to sort out!  I am doing my first 30min TT on it this Wednesday soI am looking forward to seeing if I go any quicker on it.

My running has been a bit hit and miss - some sessions I feel great and others I just feel very slow and pathetic.  The fact that there are glimmers of my running that feel ok is actually a positive sign considering the terrible base I have with running. I did a hilly 1hr 20min run on Sunday and followed it up with an easy 30min recovery run 5 hours later and my legs weren't sore and I felt good, so I am hoping that even if I am slow I will have the consistency in my running to do a bit better than last year.

So, all in all the training is going well, I am on track, I have no illness or injuries to speak of and things are ticking away.

I am in a recovery week this week and even have a full rest day this Friday (the only one until taper week!!).  After this week, the following 6 weeks are going to be massive and I think I am ready for them!

So much for quitting....

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.

Today marks the start of our 20week Ironman campaign!

Well, I have been incredibly slack not posting anything, but pretty much there hasn't been all that much to post about.

After Ironman New Zealand I pottered about for a couple of weeks doing not much at all.  I then decided that I wanted to work on my running and try and get some improvements happening there.  It all started pretty good, until I started running....  Turns out after several physio appointments that I had ITB Friction Syndrome, so after some exercises and several more physio appointments I eventually had two cortisone injections in the knee which helped greatly.  So, I have been running on it now for a couple of months and riding on it and everything seems to be holding up pretty well.  Consequently though, my running campaign was somewhat curtailed and I am still a very ordinary runner (that's being very polite)!

Swimming has been almost non-existent, cycling has been fairly consistent but nothing very long or arduous!  Mainly social coffee rides.  So, there's a bit of work to do.  On a good note, I have commenced Yoga and am loving it.  I did also commence a strength programme which I ceased as soon as my knee started giving me grief and I just didn't start it back up again...

I wasn't planning on undertaking another Ironman until I felt more confident with my run.  However, there are a number of people that I train with who have registered for next years Ironman New Zealand, including my husband Craig, so I figured that I was going to be there anyway and seeing as you have to register as soon as it goes on sale I have registered.  I am not sure if my knee is going to hold up, but I'm going to give it a crack, follow the Ironguides programme, train with some great friends, share some fun and see where it takes me.

This morning marked the first training session of the Ironguides 20 week plan which was a 60min easy cycle.  Faye had the brilliant idea of all starting our Ironman journey together so Craig, Faye, Robson, Steve and I all rode around the crit track at Nundah this morning gas bagging our way around.  We followed it up with coffee at DiBella - it was all very civilised.  Jacque G is going to be working around Sat's new job of a Virgin Blue hostie and her family committments, but I'm sure we will get many training sessions in together.  Lisa the mad Irishwomen is going to be joining us on the Ironguides programme and my good buddies Sarah and Alicia are Ironmen newbies this year.  So, all in all there's  a good group of girl training buddies that are going to be awesome and I am really looking forward to it.

When I think of some of the uncivilised training sessions coming up I cringe, but a little bit of me is saying "bring it on".   Let's just hope I can give it a bit better crack this year.

Let the fun begin...