Ironman UK 2013 Training/Progress Thread

Blimey, that's a hell of a training week, great effort. You'll be flying come August!. I feel like such a slug now! Cycled 50 miles last week and swam about 6k that's it! So difficult to just sit and do nothing all weekend.

Hopefully this week and weekend will be better! Going up to Bolton and camping Friday night for one of the team true spirit training days. 3.8k swim in the lake then two laps of the bike course, so should give me a feel for it!

Just hoping I can pick up the volume again this week where I left off, and not have anymore hamstring pain. Here's hoping!
 
Ah man sorry to hear it's not getting any better :(

Personally I would give it a few more days rest and also see what the physio advises.

You're not going to lose all your fitness having a week off but I know it's far from an ideal situation. Are you able to to swim with it - at least to keep you going insane?
 
I would be seeking professional advice/treatment for sure, I also echo what DC says, swim swim swim!

Race number 101 for me!
 
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haha that's a great race number! looks like your going great guns from your strava feed too. Smashing it.

Well, the leg felt a lot better today, so I cautiously went for a ride, got suckered into getting a KOM on one segment as I felt pretty good (when will I learn) probably due to all the rest I've had over the past week. Some minor pain, but nothing that I thought I should be worried about.

Then thought I'd at least give a small run a go to see how it feels now, only went half a mile up the road and back but no pain at all, and felt pretty fresh. Going to ice it and rest it for the rest of the evening, and give it some foam rollering just to be on the safe side too.

Hopefully I can be out training properly again soon. Think I may have to spend a little more time in the future on core and hip strength, as I think that's where the problem may have originated from.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
haha that's a great race number! looks like your going great guns from your strava feed too. Smashing it.

Well, the leg felt a lot better today, so I cautiously went for a ride, got suckered into getting a KOM on one segment as I felt pretty good (when will I learn) probably due to all the rest I've had over the past week. Some minor pain, but nothing that I thought I should be worried about.

Then thought I'd at least give a small run a go to see how it feels now, only went half a mile up the road and back but no pain at all, and felt pretty fresh. Going to ice it and rest it for the rest of the evening, and give it some foam rollering just to be on the safe side too.

Hopefully I can be out training properly again soon. Think I may have to spend a little more time in the future on core and hip strength, as I think that's where the problem may have originated from.
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That's positive news, well done! Just thinking out loud, do you think it has anything do with your TT bike? Aggressive set up / relatively new to sport with high training mileage? I logged onto strava just before I checked on here and the first thing I saw was blimey Thomas is smashing strava with his dodgie hams, what a looney! :D Go steady back into it, come on now.

My race number was 123 for the 70.3 so 101 is nearly as cool :p Cycled strong today, I don't know what got into me. I normally average around 28km/h so I was pleased. I did take my seat up about 8mm and put tape on my clip on aero bars, so maybe I'm in a slightly better position.

Got big swim tomorrow at 7:30am then a ~1.5hr cycle to fit in at some point.
 
Niceone, I think if anything it's my road bike position. I've been thinking about it and I've now changed the stem to a shorter one. I did two century rides two weekends in a row on the road bike, and I think having had too long a reach and low bars had me stretching too much. Amplified over longer rides, with poor core strength, then not stretching and sitting in a car afterwards has all added up to bad legs! At least that's what I've been thinking anyway.

I've been messing around with my TT position for ages and think its pretty nailed on now. Going to try a proper training this weekend, albeit slightly lower volume than plan, just need to take it easy and see how it goes.
 
Swam a good interval session this morning.

500 wu, 8 x 50DR, 12 x 75 @20sec, 12 x 50 @15sec, 12 x 25 @10 sec, 8 x 50DR, 300 cd

(wu - warm up, DR - drills, @**sec refers to rest between efforts, cd - cool down)

This is from Don Finks book btw and I have a load of them that I normally do three times a week.

Went for a 1hr30 run mid morning, it was going OK but my right calf started to get quite tight ~40mins in, it got tighter still after I'd finished the run. I've since had it massaged and its much better, I'll see how it is in the morning as to if I do my big cycle run session. Also booked in to have a sports massage and will probably wear my calf guards from now on to try and prevent further tightness!

How's it going everyone else? Hows them there hams Thomas?

Good luck to all the outlaw people for Sunday too :)
 
Niceone Pete, sounds like you're training well!

Hams seem better thanks, just trying to go a little easy on them, which isn't always easy. I'm currently camped up near Bolton for the next two nights. Up early for a training day tomorrow, 3.8k open water swim at 6:30 tomorrow followed by a couple of loops of the IM bike course. Probably do another loop Sunday and try for a semi long run too depending on how I feel. Hopefully it'll all go ok!
 
Camping IM style!

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Didn't want to chance leaving it in the car!

Awesome day today, full IM distance open water swim in 1:10, then out on the IM bike course for 2 laps plus a bit extra. Did 100 miles in the end. Great to experience it, sheephouse lane is nowhere near as bad as its made out to be either which surprised me.

There's another training weekend on the 20th too, would heartily recommend it. The guys organising it let us use the leisure centre after. Jacuzzi and plunge pool where a godsend post bike.

Details are here if anyone is interested:
http://www.theendurancestore.com/bl...days-in-conjunction-with-the-endurance-store/
 
Thats a great swim time, seen your strava bike section - looks like you're going just fine now!

I've had a less productive weekend, two swim sessions to let my calf rest, I'll get out on the bike today and try and get a big distance in then hopefully attempt a gentle run in :(
 
Agreed that swim time is excellent. I'll be happy if I can get in under 1:30.

For me the bulk of my training is now done. Last week was the last big week and I'm dropping the distance down from now.

Last week stats:

Swim: 2.25 miles
Bike: 153 miles
Run: 28 miles

Saturday I did the full 112 miles with 5500ft of climb and it felt good. Originally I was aiming at 7:30 for the bike section of IM but I did this in 7:14 so if I can replicate on the day I will be really pleased.

Sunday was my last long run and I forced myself to slow down to try and run around IM pace. I did 20 hot miles in 2:58 so 8.55 per mile which was exactly what I was after. Legs were good although the last couple of miles were tough (mainly due to the heat).

Going to up the swimming distance this week and drop down on the bike and running.

After the last couple of weeks I'm finally starting to get to a place where I can see myself getting to the finish line. Really starting to get excited about this now!!
 
Cheers guys, had to stop for a toilet break for a minute or so, and was told I wasn't swimming the straightest, so there's still a bit of time to find which is encouraging. As for the bike, it's probably a bit misleading as I was riding with a group the whole way so getting the benefit of a draft for the most of it. Hoping for a sub 7, maybe even 6:30 for the race.

But yeah seemingly back on track now, just need to try and build up to a long run this weekend.

Agreed Dolmio, really getting close now and I cannot wait!
 
http://app.strava.com/activities/65612032

Bit of a strange route, I normally do out and back routes so I have no excuse to cut a ride short and it acts as a good judge of how long your're likely to be out for.

Just starting my last 'big week' then it starts to scale down. Don't quite feel prepared for the run but meh, hopefully I'll be OK :) My running is what I would consider my strongest area, 40min 10K, 1:35 half. Went for a 30min run after my ride and was running fast without trying - I was planning on going slow to ease in my calf problem but seemed there was no need.
It was very hot out today too. I drank 4.5L of fluid during the ride/run, plus a small box of dates, a flapjack, 3 gels! Feeling good, sleep now.
 
Ah nice wheels. How did everyone's peak weeks go? Had a decent week on the bike covering just over 160 miles, but not so much running, concerned I haven't done more than a half marathon still. Think I may be resorting to a run walk strategy especially if the weather is anything like this.

Absolutely dead on my feet today though. Just been asleep on the sofa the last two hours.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Ah nice wheels. How did everyone's peak weeks go? Had a decent week on the bike covering just over 160 miles, but not so much running, concerned I haven't done more than a half marathon still. Think I may be resorting to a run walk strategy especially if the weather is anything like this.

Absolutely dead on my feet today though. Just been asleep on the sofa the last two hours.
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Saturday session with big ride and run went to plan - 6.5L of fluid over 6.5hrs :D

Sunday didn't go to plan... got stung by a wasp twice on the inside of my left ankle just above my shoe line after 5mins cycling, finished the cycle and only did half an hour run as I felt I was compensating for the unusual feeling in my ankle and didn't want to cause problems elsewhere. So my peak run session was cut 2.5hrs short! :mad::D

Also went swimming in a Loch whilst working up in Scotland last week, did about 2.2KM in my wetsuit then did a further 400M in my trunks to cool down, it was bliss.

So yeah, peak week over with... can't get any fitter really - just conditioning now, excitement building!

You'll just have to see how it goes on the day I guess. Lots of stretching from now leading to race and nothing to further aggravate it, in the words of a true Yorkshireman... you'll be reet!
 
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