Diary of an Ironman 11 weeks to Kona

This was my heaviest week of training so far. Fifteen and a half hours training. Doesn’t sound much on paper, but five hours of it was trail running in the rainforest at the Bunya Mountains. The Bunyas are about three hours west of Brisbane and are about the highest point west of here.

I rarely ever run two days in a row. Maybe two or three times a year. Over the weekend we ran a running camp at The Bunyas. The last time we planned this sort of camp, I was sick, well I had a cold and didn’t run at all. This time my health was good. We spent the time after training cooking good food, drinking wine and watching movies. In moderation of course.

We’ve been building the bike hours and went into this weekend carrying fatigue from twelve hours of cycling over the previous seven days. One of the great things about a camp situation is the chance to catch up on some solid rest. Each day we met to go running at 8am. This is quite a change from our normal routine where we get up at 4.30am most mornings.

Our run camp consisted of a 2hr run Saturday, a 2hr run Sunday and a 1hr run monday. Even wearing compression socks in every run. Wearing compression tights for the rest of the day and refuelling for the rest of the day. Tuesday morning when the alarm went off at 4.30am, the night was just not long enough. My legs are tired but my muscles are soft and loose.

Trail running is hard on legs but the compression socks do definitely help save the calves. They also are very handy when the trails have stinging nettles along the sides.

Several of our runners had falls on the trails when they stumbled on unseen obstacles. Trail running does teach you to pick your feet up. We were constantly stepping up and over roots, rocks and climbing steps. The terrain is quite hilly in the forest but the scenery and the air quality is fantastic.

Along our run routes we stopped at lots of lookouts, it wasn’t all work. The time spent on the feet is most important. Because of the rough terrain, a two hour run covered only 19km. (measured by GPS) There’s no mobile phone coverage up there but the satelites can still see you.

I managed to get my three one hour swims into the week, but the fatigue of building bike hours kept my top end pace down. No PBs these weeks, the focus is on technique and endurance.

This new week is going to be my first easy week of the preparation. The training hours will drop dramaticaly and the focus will be on recovery.

On the calendar it is still winter but the gums and wattle trees are starting to flower. The wallabies at the Bunyas are mating (on the front lawn of out cabin). This is usually a sign that spring is almost on us. The Yeronga pool was 27 degrees last night. I had no complaints from the skinniest members of the squad. They’re my thermometer.   

I am feeling strong on the bike, I’m rolling over the hills at the end of four hours as well as when I start out. I can run two hours of hills and back it up next day with more of the same. I have no injuries or niggles. I’m happy with where I am right now.