Getting to Hawaii

There’s an interesting article in the latest Imeg (http://www.imemag.com/email.html) which gives the averages times for the top 10 athletes in the 35-39 age group category.
These are
 Swim 52:56 (1:24/100)
 Bike 5:17:34 (34kph)
 Run 3:20:32 (4:45mim/k’s)

This gives an average time of 9:31:05. That is flying but that is what is necessary in order to have a realistic chance of qualifying for Hawaii.
Well this is still my goal for next year. However, I will probably be competing in the Japan Ironman (May 2007) as I’ll be living in Tokyo for the next 2 years. I have always said that you need to train for a 9:30 in order to qualify and the above results at Port this year confirm this.
I gave it a good shot this year and really buckled down and put a good 10-12 months of training together. My goal was to break 10hrs and really aim for that elusive 9:30 barrier. Along the way my swimming and cycling developed well. However, I was plagued with running injuries that I could never really get on top of. It is difficult trying to train and manage a chronic foot/leg injury along the way and in the end it didn’t really do me any justice. My run training over the past 12 months ended being very sporadic and over the course of 12months I only managed to average just over 3 hrs PW. In reality I need to at least run around 6 hr PW in order to have any chance of running a sub 3:30 marathon. To run around a 3:20 is going to be a really change for me and may take another 2 years of consistent and injury free running in order to get to that level. I do think a 3:30 could be a realistic goal for next year. For that reason I need to really sort this running injury out before I start committing to this long term goal. I’ve been told I need to take a least 6 weeks off running altogether so that Ian, my osteo, can really work hard on improving the mobility through my fibula, in particularly, where it attaches to the tibula. At the moment there is just no movement there and this is causing my peroneal nerve to become very stressed out. If I can cure this then I should be able to run again without issues.
In regards to my swimming, things are good. My worst swim in an IM has been a 58:30, this was at Port this year and this was with a chest infection. Current PB in an IM is 54min. I think I could get back to that time and quicker with an extended period of consistently swimming around 3-4 times PW. I find the more I swim the faster I swim. I know that sounds silly but my technique in the water is quite sound and it’s just a matter of me putting time back in the pool. Over the last 12months I averaged 1hr and 46min PW in the pool. It’s not much as I was focusing more on my cycling and running this year, but it still gave me a 58:30 at Port, which wasn’t too bad.
My biggest improvements this time around came from the bike. I really put in some big consistent periods of quality training with Scott and it paid off, unfortunately not in the race. I ended riding a very difficult 5:45. I suffered the whole way around the course with coughing fits and it was near impossible for me to spend time on the tribars without gagging. In training Scott and rode all our 180k under 5:45. In fact I did a 180k TT on my own on a circuit harder then Port and rode a 5:33. So my time at Port this year was disappointing. Not much I could do about it on the day and I couldn’t really ride any harder. Over the last 12months I averaged around 8hrs PW of cycling. Probably still not enough, but the time that was spent in the saddle was all quality work, which was the key. Very little time was spent riding in packs as my only training partner was Scott and if we weren’t riding side by side we would be TTing in a non drafting situation. Next year I’ll aim to ride around 10hr PW consistently. Because I’ll be living in Tokyo I think nearly all of my training will be on my own. I may even have to resort to buying a windtrainer during the winter months. I’m not sure yet as I know very little about Tokyo and the climate.
So, 9:30 is still my goal. I still committed and keen as ever to keep on improving. Even though I’ll be in Tokyo Scott and I will still train under the same plan and keep each other motivated as much as possible. The sort of hours I think we’ll have to commit to are
1. Swim 3-4 sessions (3-5hrs PW)
2. Bike 3-4 sessions (9-11hrs PW)
3. Run 5-6 sessions (5-7hrs PW)

On average, I think we will need to build a basic week of training that will target at least 17 hrs PW. Put that time in and we should be well on our way to establishing a very solid aerobic endurance base to build on.
We will start kicking things off again around the first week in May. I keep a weekly log going for anyone interested in following our progress.

Keep in touch

fluro