@JoeX - So sorry to hear of your struggles, but good to hear those nothing noticeable from the doc. It’s weird how part of us wants the doctor to find something so it can be fixed, but we don’t what anything found that’s too hard to fix!
I’m 48 days away from IMLP, my first Ironman and only second triathlon (did an oly last summer). Starting to get anxious already! Cycling is going good with two 90 miles rides so far and a ~115 mile ride planned for Saturday. I’m a strong swimmer so that’s been going fine. I’m still recovering from a hip labral tear, which forced me to stop running March and April. I’m now back running once a week, which I use to build my mileage … did a 13 mile run Saturday. I’m slow, but I got it done. Hoping to get at least one 20 mile run in before race day.
Training has been going well - the weather in the PNW has been cold and rainy much more than normal years.
I have IMCDA 70.3 in 20 days and have fully moved into “how cold will Lake CDA be?”. Todays temp is 52 degree F (11 C), we need some solar exposure to get that towards the low 60’s (16C+).
Bike is ready, nutrition is figured out, no injuries than just the normal niggles. Focusing on improving sleep quality and nailing the taper.
This is my home race and then a couple weeks later going down to Oregon for the Salem 70.3.
Hey everyone!
Flying over to Cairns today… pretty excited to be warm again after all the crazy wind and rain we’ve been having in SA lately!
I have to say I’m not at all confident about this race. Still in the process of coming back after an accident, and even with a pretty minimal build I’ve still missed/modified a fair few sessions due to severe weather warnings and my consistently useless exam week self. I’ve seen people succeed on way less, but I’ve never had any big injuries before so this is pretty unknown to me. I do have lots of friends going down though so I’m trying to focus on the fun stuff rather than getting in my own head, especially as It’s going to be far from my fastest race anyway. Kind of feel a bit bad tapering after all the hard training I haven’t done
Also first race with my mum so that’s pretty cool! Been 3 years in the making with all the travel difficulties/deferrals.
Good luck to everyone else racing this month…at least some of us seem to know what we’re doing
Thanks, Joe. Wishing you a speedy recovery from Covid.
May was pretty good for me, stayed basically 100% compliant with my cycling and running plan; I didn’t miss or fail any workouts this month. I’m feeling pretty strong, no injuries, no burnout, even got small bumps in my cycling FTP (281) and running CP (244). However, had to miss a little over a week of swimming due to some Covid cases at the rec center where I swim, but I got a second booster and I’m back on track.
I also had my first open water swim “session”. It wasn’t much, just splashed around a little bit to try out my wetsuit and gear, but oh boy, I am not feeling confident about the Oly I have in two weeks. I’m just going to use these next two weeks to try to build as much confidence as I can in open water and hopefully I’ll be able to finish the swim without having a panic attack
May report
Swim planned 7h 0 min completed 5:50. An improvement
Bike planned 12h 30 min completed 11h 10min
Run planned. 10. H 30 completed 8h 10min
Total 25 hrs
Wow this is a great therapeutic process. Just reviewing this has given me pause for thought. I didn’t realise how close to planned I was this month.
My It’s a boost. Validation.
I still feel weak on my bike. That’s disconcerting. Could it just be that the volume balance is bringing my bike into line with my other disciplines?
Thanks @JoeX for the roll call. I’ve got to say it’s 19 days away from my first 70.3 and I had a week on holiday with the family with no bike and my first sea swim in eight months. I’m feeling really nervous. That may be scared witless TBH.
Training is in the bag buddy, all you have to do is not over do it during taper and be confident in your pacing and nutrition plan.
Maybe practice transition, or if you’re travelling pack your bike and kit a week early as that will throw out anything you’ve forgotten and need time to buy.
I’ve done my bricks, my concern is over my nutrition as most of my sessions were max 3h
I’m ok for before the swim, ok for feeding on the bike but it’s getting my self ready for run that I’m nervous of bonking.
May was a solid recovery from April where I had some kind of stomach flu at the start of the month and was derailed by Covid in the 2nd half of the month.
I’ve got a 70.3 this weekend and I don’t think I’ve ever FELT less prepared than now due to the stop/start nature of the last couple of months of training due to illness. It doesn’t help that the start of taper this week I’ve felt utterly exhausted. Looking back at the training, the fitness should be there. The last 5 weeks have been pretty good: felt great on 5 rides over 3 hours (including a Saturday century followed by 80mi on Sunday), had 4 long runs >90 minutes, incorporated weekly running workouts (very rare for me) and hadn’t “failed” any TrainerRoad bike workouts. I just need to taper well and it will be there on race day.
My experience is that bonking on the run is more related to bike nutrition and more importantly, pacing on the bike. Nail your nutrition plan on the bike and bike easier than you think you should and the run will take care of itself.
Thanks @JoeX I guess you havent had to brave the commute too much?
After a horrible chest infection in April, May was much more like it. Consistently hit between 12 and 15 hours, and got back in the pool after a few weeks of finding excuses. A build phase thrown in kicked my a**, so decided to autoregulate and use train now.
I also decided to swap Staffordshire for Weymouth - the impact of the chest infection led me feeling under-prepared, the split transition was giving me serious anxiety, and I was concerned it was too close to my A event (Outlaw).
This weekend I’m going for a reserved 70.3 that will let me test my race morning nutrition and fuelling strategy.
Seven weeks to go and I feel good, if not like I might be pushing a little too hard. But we go again.
May was a solid month of training. Lots of work at or above 70.3 race pace. Picked up a little niggle in my left hamstring on Sundays run, (I watch a lot of European Football Hala Madrid. Stretching foam rolling and Motrin seem to be doing the trick. This afternoon will be my fifth open water swim of the season. Two with Wetsuit, one in Tri Shorts only, one in Race Kit and swim skin. Someone just posted the water temp at 74.6 so I will make the call at the Lake this afternoon if I swim in wetsuit or not.
400 miles cycling
100 running
40K yards swimming
5.75 hours of strength
A few times train and tube, its nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but the bike commute is fine and has been in fine weather I get an amazing aerial view of London from the cable car I’ve the river. Just needs champagne and strawberries…
I guess we’re both taking it a bit easy recovering.
I lost my mojo last year at IMCDA when I was laying down from full body cramps and burning on the tarmac in 107 degree heat. It took me 6 months to feel good enough to want to train. Then I got Covid and got sick again and again for a couple months. It wasn’t until March that I finally was healthy and looking forward to race. I think I did alright on 8 weeks of training
These races hit me hard. Before the IM, I was at 270 ftp. I just tested yesterdays at 215. Yikes! Should be back up there in a few weeks. I’m not planning on any fulls next year. I’ll probably do 2-3 half’s. Just not enjoying the long training sessions and long races anymore.
Everything is going well, I am wrapping up my Build for IM Copenhagen this weeks with a local half. So far I am happy with my progress and fitness, everything is where it should be. With more outdoor riding windows my load weeks now fall between 12 and 13 hours, which is all the volume I can absorb at the moment. It already costs me workout quality. At 12h all I can do is one long ride, one long run, one proper run workout and one proper swim workout, the rest ist just braindead noodling along I am not particularly fond of. Reminds me, why I don’t like IM training very much.
I’ve completely disregarded the fat-adaption paradigm and am fueling all workouts >1,5hrs very aggressively. It has improved my long run pace significantly to well below 5 min/km and on long rides I can push 70.3 power for 4 hrs and more without any issues. And I am less fatigued and ready the next day. Compare that to previous years when a long run in the heat would ruin the following day of training. I am also getting close to 100gr of carbs per hour running and cycling without any GI symptoms.
On the bike I’ve given up on FTP improvement. I started the season in Jan at 4 w/kg and it hasn’t moved a watt since then. I figure it is enough to be fast in August and less intensity on the bike has afforded me more room to improve my run.
Swimming has plateaued a bit, but on a reasonable level. Finally had an ow swim last week to get used to the wetsuit and I guess I’ll be fine on Sunday.
I get an amazing aerial view of London from the cable car I’ve the river. Just needs champagne and strawberries…