Diary of an Ironman 4 weeks to go

Confidence is built one small step at a time. This week has given my wife and myself another boost in confidence. We treated this week as an easier one, with a bigger, tougher workout on the end.

We both devote time each week to our body maintenance programs. Without that we’d fall apart before we got to the start line. Sandy has her massage/body maintenance guy. I have my chiropractor/kiniesiologist and we both have an accupuncture session once each week. On top of that we aim to eat meals “which we would serve to a World Champion if they came to visit us”.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t drink wine every night, and drink “real coffee” every day. It’s possible to over complicate things. I like the words in the song, “You can jog up to heaven, but you’re still going to die”. Each of us had a glass of wine each night right up to the night before our qualifying races. Sandy won hers by 29min and I won mine by 70min. If you decide to cut out wine from your diet, you really should have everything else in order first.

This week my total hours of training was 13hrs. That was made up of 3 x 1hr swims. I’m not setting any records here these days, my energy reserves are low, with the longer endurance workouts. I did one 3hr bike mid week and another 3hr bike on Sunday followed by an hour on the windtrainer at race pace.

Sunday’s workout was one of my favourite workouts. A 3hr aerobic bike plus 1hr on the trainer at race pace, 20 x 1km runs on a 5min time base. I do the 1km runs as 2kms, turning before I reach my time base, banking a few seconds to use at the 2km turn for feeding and drinking. We set up an esky at the start and have to drink/eat whatever we’re getting in before the clock says go.

I find that finishing the bike with an hour on the trainer is an opportunity to go harder than you could on the road, and you don’t have to watch the traffic. Then running repeats of the same course instead of just running the straight distance requires more mental strength and the pace is “on target” the whole time. Not getting slower with every km.

Early in the runs, I gained a few seconds each 2km. I thought I’d bank them to use later in the workout, if I needed them. I had all the bottles made up to simulate feeding on race day.  I had banked up a few seconds on every 2km turn. I ended up not needing them. I finished my 20 x 1km with 45 seconds to spare before my time base was used up.

Sandy completed her 20-x 1km on her 5min time base as well.

This was a great confidence builder because starting Sundays bike I could still feel the effects on Fridays hard efforts on the trainer. The “Red Dog” get’s great pleasure in pushing me to the edge. That’s what I pay him for. I can honestly say that I would not do those sort of workouts, to that level of intensity on my own. It’s just too hard on your own. Maybe I’m going soft?

During the Sunday workout I was trialing the new Compressport quad sleeves and my long socks. I found them comfortable and I’m sure they were of some benefit in supporting my quads and hamstrings during the runs. I’m already sold on the calf compression supports, this was my first try with the quad supports. I even pushed the pace up in my later efforts, testing my hamstrings and quads. I had no sign of cramping. I have done this same workout before and fallen on the ground with cramps. I was fully hydrated and fuelled this time. No amount of compression will save the dehydrated athlete.