Diary of an Ironman 20 weeks to go

We have good weeks and bad weeks, sometimes it’s not that easy to pick exactly what factors influence our training performance. One thing that experience teaches us, is that whether it’s been a good week or a bad one. You’re still the same athlete.

There may be something to learn from either type of week. There may be certain foods to avoid to help you dodge bad training sessions. I’ve been watching signs for many years now. I usually train and race well when the moon is growing in size towards the full moon. When I tell people that, I do detect a few rolled eyes. But it’s a fact, my best races have been either on the full moon or a few days before.

I can’t thank the moon for it, I’ll just accept the good results my training has delivered this week. All I can put it down to is consistancy. I have been regularly swimming three one hour sessions each week for months. I rarely miss a session. The only thing I’ve been doing different for the past two weeks is using the Power Breathe to exercise the muscles which open my lungs.

In two weeks I will have my sixty-first birthday. Last Sunday I ran at a good pace for two and a half hours. I’m laying a running base for the Gold Coast Marathon in early July. This run has left me tired for most of the week. On Tuesday I swam my one hour session. I arrived a little late and managed a one hundred meter warm up before a one thousand meter time trial. I don’t get stressed, I just do whatever I can on the day. I was chased all the way by a lady in my lane. I had no-one to chase. I was suprised to swim 17.08. To a swimmer, that’s no big deal, but I have never swam a 1,000m faster. 

I skipped my Wed run, it was pouring rain, I was still tired and Hawaii is still twenty weeks away. Thursdays swim (which we do before a windtrainer workout) I felt OK, not fantastic. I usually like to have a coffee before my morning sessions but Goran, my barista was late and I had to just get in and do it . We had a few timed efforts, late in the session I swam a 200m TT in 2.58, I can’t remember the last time I broke 3min for 200m?

After the swim we got into the windtrainer intervals. My power figures were respectable, 260-300wt for 2 and 3min efforts,  but I could still feel the fatigue in my legs from last Sunday. A max power effort at the end of the session produced 760watts. If I was a sprinter  that would be quite unremarkable. But for a sixty year old time trialist, I’ll take it happily.

My Friday lunchtime swim was basically one hour of drills and stroke counting. A nice end to my training week. The only solid effort was a timed 100m. From 1986 up until 2007, I had never swam a 100m faster than 1.22. After a lot of drill and stroke work, in 2007 I managed a couple of reductions in that time, 1.20, 1.19, 1.18, who would have thought that after over twenty years of triathlon training an old dog could learn new tricks. I have to thank the “Red Dog” for this.

Friday lunchtime I swam 1.18.3 for my 100m. I’ll take that.

There are a few lessons here.

* When you’re over sixty, even if you do everything right, a 2hr 30min run can take a week to leave your legs.

* A run of over two hours has as much impact on an athlete as a five hour aerobic bike.

* Consistant training at a moderate pace and duration will produce results, if the main focus is on technique improvement.

* The biggest limiter in human performance is our own expectations

I am very happy to be where I am right now when I haven’t even started to “train for Hawaii”. I’m just keeping the basics going in my off season.