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Fluro's Ironman Training (FIT)

Face your fears live your dreams

Monday, February 27, 2006

5 weeks to Port


This photo shows all the orthotics and inserts I have been trialing over the last 18months to try and correct my poor biomechanics while I run. Over the last 4-6 weeks things have been traveling along well for me. However, as always the good times don’t last long and my metatarsalgia problem has come back. It’s ironic really since this was the exact time last year in the lead up to Forster that I had this problem. Hopefully, this time around I can fix it before the race. This will be my 3rd IM since I resume training in 2004 and I’m yet to compete without having some sort of lower leg injury to bother me. Maybe I’m just not cut out for the long stuff. Time will tell.

Last week was a bit of a disaster for me. My original foot injury is back. I picked this injury up in the lead up to IMWA04 and no almost 18months later it has come back to haunt me again.

After seeing the osteo he has recommended that a go back to my original orthotics and keep running. resting won't solve this problem. Improving my technique and efficiency will. The metarsal dome in the oorthotics is meant to spread my metatarsals out over a greater surface area and therefore in theory they should relieve the hot burning sensations I experience. Because we have addressed my shorter leg and I'm now running in more of a neutral shoe my peroneals, this time, should not flare up and become chronic. Lets see how this week unfolds.

Monday
Swim 3km 1hr. 6-150 drill/kick/swim. 12-50 on 55,50,45,60. 8-200 on 3:15.
terrible swim tonight. Had no energy. A bit mentally exhausted after a phone interview for job in toyko. Bailed out after an 1hr, after struggling to hold 3min for 200's.
Tuesday
Bike 28k 1hr. was meant to ride 2 hrs today, but my bike was making a very strange crunching noise. Turned around and went home as the noise was getting loude rand louder. Boy rain it rains it pours, what more could go worng. Left foot is still swollen next to the ball of my foot. Ice ice baby!
Wednesday
Run 9km 42:30. Oesto wants me running. So I'm running. Rest won't cure this problem. Need to run to get used to previous orthotics again. Felt like a gazzelle today. It pays to be rested. Foot was good, not great, but manageable.
Thursday
Bike 65k 2:10. did 2x20k TT @ Impace from Puckeys bridge to start of sea cliff bridge. 2min RI. times were 37min exactly for both TT's. Kept hr very controlled today. Aim was to keep hr around the 130-135bpm. This puts me right on 36kph on the flats. Let hr climb to mid 140's on the hills. Legs felt good. Times are the same as 6months ago, however, av hrs are 10bpm lower.
Friday
Bike 15km 30min. recovery spin.
Saturday
Bike 120km 4:21 (av hr 126bpm).met scott at 5am. Will did 6/6/6 (st/bg/TT). Felt good this morning on the bike. legs were good on the hills and good hold a solid pace on the flats. Pace was good throughout the ride, although we did need to stop a few times (flats, toilet etc). Riding on fresh legs is a bonus or maybe I'm starting to peak. Not sure yet.
Run 10km 46:20 (av hr 143bpm). Ran at Aet. pace is excellent at the moment, but my foot is still burning gradually more and more. I don't think I could of run much more then an 1hr
1st 5km= 23:31, 2nd 5km= 22:50
Sunday
Swim 3km 1hr (av hr 119bpm). quality swim session today. Most efforts were above Impace. Did alot of chasing after letting the others start before me. Stroke feels good. it helps swimming 3 PW.

Total 12hrs. Down about 2 hrs with running due to foot problem

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

6 weeks to Port

A good week of training last week. Had an excellent TT on saturday and a very solid run on Thursday. This week I've decided to drop the volume down a little more as the BT sessions now include quite a bit intensity. Recovery between BT sessions will be the most important factor in getting through the next 3 weeks of training before the taper.
Over the last 2 weeks I've included 2 x 2hr long runs. This week I'll reduce my long run to 1.5 hrs, before I do 2 final long runs between 2-2.5hrs. I've also done 2 x 180-200k rides and this week my long ride will be reduced to 150k. After that I'll do 1 more long ride of around 180k.
My BT sessions for the week will be

1. Ocean swim 4km
2. Long Brick 150/20
3. Long run 19km.
4. Med ride 60km (include 2 x triples 6's).

I expect my total volume for the week to be around the 15hr mark. However, if I feeling tired i will drop any aerobic maintenance sessions to make sure I'm feel fresh for the BT sessions listed above. At the moment I feel okay physical, however mentally I think I'm breaking down a little. Will need to watch this very closely this week.
Monday
total rest day
Tuesday
Run 19km 1.5hrs (RPE). Knocked back run to 1.5 hrs today. feeling mentally fatigued at the moment. Ended up running really well. Hit a runners high for about 45min where I was floating along sitting on 4;30's. Only 2 long runs to go. Both will be 30ker's
Bike 15km 30min. very easy spin to help with recovery
Wednesday
Swim 4km 1hr. Epic morning to be out in the ocean. Swam hard for the first 500m, then dropped back to Impace for the rest of the way. Shoulders were tightening up towards the end.
Bike 15km 30min. Easy spinning
Thursday
Bike 59km 2Hrs (122bpm). main set was 6/6/6min (standing/BG/TT) x 2, then a 20min TT at IMpace. felt good this morning, although hr was a little lower then usual. On the 6min standing the key is to keep it in your 53/19 and don't stop pedalling at all. This really teaches you to become efficient cyclist. It hammers your legs but over time your efficiency improves and you start to cope with it. BG is the biggest gear on your bike and you don't change gears, no matter what. TT is at Impace of HIMpace.
Run 10km 44:39 (152bpm). ran 1k off and 1k on, splits were 4:43, 4:14, 4:48, 4:16, 4:39, 4:04, 4:39, 4:09, 4:50, 4:07. Ran really well tonight. It is such a joy to train fresh. Splits were better then expected although Hr did climb into the high 160's towards the end. It was hot out there but wasn't expecting such a high hr (ie LT -5bpm). My left foot was really burning. Will need to contact oesto to try and sort this out. Don't think I could of run much further.
Friday
Total rest day. Lower body stretch.
Saturday
Bike: 150km 5hrs (av hr 131bpm). did 2x20min TT (av hr 158bpm). This is my LT which then puts my Impace at 135bpm. Need to focus on that hr. Rode up to Garrie. Hit the hills pretty hard and kept it easy to steady on the flats. Legs were full of Lactate for a good 90 min after the TT's then things began to settle down again. It was good to ride this way and see how the body processes the lactic acid. It was also good to see what happens on the hills when you ride too hard at the start. Picked up on the few key markers today. Quality session.
Run: 12km 1hr (av hr 146bpm). I felt good running. RPE was good and hr was good. I was comfortably holding sub 5min k's until I got that burning feeling in my left foot again. Back to my original injury. It's definitely Metatarsglia. Will need to go back to Foot Podiatrist to see if I can get something done with my orthotics. Theytend to make me supinate too much which then stresses out my peroneals. It's soo frustrating at the moment. I hope I can get on top of this one in time for Port and actually do an IM without an injury, just once.
Sunday
Swim: 500m 10min. Stung by a bluebottle around the shoulder and arm. Bailed out after that.

fluro

Monday, February 13, 2006

7 weeks to Port

21.5 hrs of training last week is a big PB for me. I’ve recovered better then I hoped for and I’m looking forward to chasing another PB this week. My goal is to hit around 25hrs this week. I’ll aim for around 4 swims (5hrs), 4 bikes (12-15hrs) and 5 runs (6-8hrs). Once again I do for key sessions which will be;
1. long bike (180-200km)
2. long run (30km)
3. Ocean swim (4km)
4. Brick session (4/1)

I didn’t do my brick session last week as I was focusing more on just putting a big week of training without breaking down. I was unsure how my leg would hold up and it wasn’t until after my long run on Sunday that it did start to really tighten up and feel sore. I’ll address this by doing a lot more stretching this week.
Overall I think everything is moving along well. I feel strong on the bike and my swimming is improving. I’ve been able to put in some very consistent running training at the moment, however, I don’t think, at this stage, it will be enough for me to run near a 3:30 marathon. I feel like I’m running out of specific IM running training in order to achieve that goal this year. I just don’t think I’ve had enough time since my injury to really build up and consolidate some run fitness leading up to Port. Another 12 weeks would have been great and that would of given a better chance of running a 3:30 IM run. I’ll still give it a go. Who knows what might happen.

Monday
Run 10km 50min 9av hr 133bpm) light recovery run today. Suffering from some DOMS after yesterdays long run. Will need to stretch plenty before squad tonight. other then that body feels good.
Swim 4km 1:20. 4-150 (kick,drill, swim), 12-50 (1/3 hard, 2/3 hard, 50 hard, 50easy) on 50. main set 20-100 on the 1:30. (10 free, 10 buoy). This is the first time I have been able hold a 1:30 base in a long time. Worked very hard. Started out doing around 1:23-25 then by the end I was down to around 1:26-27. Pleased to make base but I think some linguring fatigue had me swimming a bit slower then I would of liked.
Tuesday
Bike 51.2km 1:36 (av hr 134bpm). was meant to be a 180km TT this morning but I got called out to work at 7.15am. Had to cut the ride short. Was feeling good on the bike. RPE and av hr was very low and av sp was continually rising. Started out very easy and was gradually building into the ride.
Run 10km 50min (av gr 134bpm). felt good running home from my massage today. Body is coping better through the hills now. Starting to find a little form on the way up and I have been pushing the pace a bit more on the decents to try and increase the durability in my legs.
Massage 1hr. needed some deep glut med and TFL work. peroneals have been flairing up again. need to watch this closely
Wednesday
Bike 15km 30min easy recovery spin to and from work.
Total day off. Double work day. teaching during the day and then club work that night. Probably need the rest anyway
Thursday
Bike 15km 30min easy recovery spin to and from work.
Run: 24.9km 2hrs (av hr 143). ran 30min easy at 5min k's. then did 6 sets of 9min on 1min off. My 2k splits for these were 9:24, 10:04, 10:02, 10:05, 9:41, 9:35. Very hilly course today, Stoked with my splits. A big breakthrough run today. Resting up for a couple of days really helped. Total ascent for the run was 220m.
Friday
Bike 15km 30min easy spin to and from work
Saturday
Bike 180km 5:33 (av hr 142bpm). Broke this ride up into 3 loops of 55km each. The goal was to ride easy/Impace/hold Impace with some mod hard. Av hr for each part was 136/143/144. Pick out a course that I thought would be harder then Port as I really wanted to test myself today. After speaking with people who did Port 1/2 they told me to ride to Stanwell park and back and that would be hilly then Port.
The ride went great. I felt very good at the end and my av hr was down around the 140bpm which is what I was hoping for. I consumed 10 bottles of fluid( 1 gatorade, 1 wattle each hr) and I had a bottle of coke and V at the 150km mark. I also had 3 powerbars. Based on last years 180k TT (flat course) in training I am now 12min quicker this year.
It was very comfortable to hold 36-38kph on the flats and I made sure i REALLY held back on the climbs (x 12 all up). My only concern was that my adductors were cramping up right at the end of the ride.
I didn't expect to ride a 5:33 today. I thought I was heading towards more of a 5:40-5:50. Todays sessions has been a real confidence booster.
Run: 8km 40min (RPE). Easy recovery run this afternoon. legs feel pretty tired after TT this morning.
Sunday
Club race: 400/14/3.6. time 53min. Had an absolute shocker today. My power on the bike was lower then yesterdays TT. HR was way low so decided not to flog myself into an injury. back it right off and completed the course.
Bike: 50km approx, 2hrs. Rode 1.5 hrs before the race and then an easy 30min home after the race. Legs are trashed. Will need a full reocvery day tomorrow. BT sessions are getting quite hard now. Time to focus much more and making sure I'm fully recovered between BT sessions. There is no point in flogging a dead horse at this stage.

fluro

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

8 weeks to Port


This is the start of my final 4 week block before Port. The goal each week will be to hit 4 key sessions which are

1. Long bike (180-200km)
2. medium brick (4/1-1.5)
3. Ocean swim (4km)
4. Long run (24-30km)

Everything else will be aerobic maintenance, skills and technique. I'll keep my volume up around the 15-20hr PW mark. The big difference now will be that my key sessions will be much harder while everything else will be kept at an easy to Aet level of intensity. In the lead up to this 4 week block I was performing around 8-10 sessions PW that focused on long Steady efforts. Now I’ll be focusing on just 4 sessions PW. The intensity levels will be at mod-hard (ie Impace to Impace +5bpm).

Monday
Swim 3.7km 1:20. 400 free, 300 (50f,50d), 300 (50f, 50off). 12-50 finz hard/easy on 55. mainset 4-200 finz @80%, 4-200 free @80%. coming in around 2:30's with the finz and 2:50 without. Swam okay not great.
Run 10km 50min (RPE). Steady fartlek run to and from squad tonight. 25min each way. legs were feeling pretty good. holding a good pace running on RPE at the moment. Feels good to not have Hr monitor on.
Tuesday
Bike 58km 2hrs (RPE). Massive southerly blowing this morning. So I rode north for an hour then I did 4-8min efforts ME style. ie 1-2 gears harder then normal. Cadence was around 65-70rpm. Did all the efforts into the headwind. It was a struggle to get anywhere near 30kph this morning.
Wednesday
Run 18km 1:23:55 (av hr 145bpm). first 7km steady in 32min, then 8min steady-modhard with a 1min recovery. I repeated this 3 times. Was covering around 2km in 9min. very solid running for me. The last 20min I dropped back to Impace (145bpm) and ran a couple of hills. All up the did the entire run at 4:36-4:40pace with a 145bpm av hr. This was a real breakthrough run for me today. Progressing well since leg injury.
Thursday
Bike BT session 200km 6:40 (av hr 134bpm). 7hrs from the time we left home till the time I got back. Actual saddle time was 6:40. We lost 20min due to lights, trains, school crossings and 2-3 water refills. A very good mental and physical ride today. 200k is a long time in the saddle. I felt quite good most of the way. Nutrition was okay. I think I went through close to 10 bottles all up. Legs were good on the hills and it especially helped having a 23 on the back now. No more grinding it out towards the end of long rides. We broke the ride up into doing plenty of TT efforts fartlek style and we had quite a few good climbs to contend with. Av sp for the enitre ride was exactly 30kph. Overall very pleased with todays session.
Friday
Run 12km 1hr (137bpm). ran a very easy 12k today on tired legs. Threw in a couple of hills for good measure. legs came good the further I got into the run. Feeling pretty good after yesterdays big ride. Recovering well these days.
Swim 2.5km 40min. Difficult swimming in the ocean with SE onshore winds. Battled through 40min on my own before I had enough. Upper body is feeling good and stroke is coming along well. Had some good hip drive happening today.
Saturday
Bike. 115.6km 4hrs (av hr 129bpm). Excellent ride this morning. TT'd from Loftus back to Wollongong. Dist 49km, time 1:24, av sp 34.6, av hr 141bpm ascent 519m. Good TT effort at Impace, felt very comfortable. Legs feel good. recovery has been good. Hopefully I can keep this up in the lead up to Port.
Sunday
Long Run BT session 24.7km 2:03 (av hr 145bpm). ran 9min on 1min off. Goal was to keep running around 10min for each 2km split (goal for a 3:30 IM run). ran a hilly course today to mimic the Port run course. 2km splits were 9:39, 9:54, 10:27, 10:06, 10:24, 9:40, 9:53, 9:58, 10:00, 9:55, 9:50, 10:04. ran exactly to my target pace. However, I think at this stage I may struggle to hold that pace for a full IM run. My leg was quite sore after throwing in some decent hills and that was only after 24km. It's going be very close coming into Port and I hope I can nail my Peak period to find some much more needed running endurance.
Ocean swim 3km 45min (av hr 112bpm). swam over from North beach today. saw the biggest stingray along the way, awesome. pretty rough conditions until I got into belmore. Then I hooked with Brian and we did three loops. Brian was swimming very well. He was there with me the whole time.

Total training time 21.5hrs. My biggest and best week of training yet.

fluro

Saturday, February 04, 2006

9 week to Port (for Bill)

Recovery period this week. Have decided that the fatigue lately has caught up with me and Scott. Will knock back the training hours from Monday to Friday by about 30%, and then we’ll resume normal training again on Saturday with a long ride. Haven’t had a deep tissue massage in about 5 weeks now so I’ll book in for one this week sometime.

Monday
Swim 4.2km 1:20. 3x300 (free, 50 drill 50 free, 50 off 50free) 8-50 on 55,50,45,60 x 2. main set 200 on 3min 2x50 band on 1min x 5. 4-150 polo swim middle 50. 100 free, 4-100 free/back. Breakthrough session tonight. I was coming in on 2:43-2:47 on my 200's. I'm almost back to my best swimming. Just need to start swimming on 40sec/50 pace and I'll be on target for a sub 55min IM swim. When I swam a 54 in 1998, I was generally holding around 1:20's per 100. I'm probably sitting on around 1:22-24 at the moment.
Stretch. Did a full body stretch before squad for 20mins
Tuesday
Swim 2km 35mins. swam easy 10min, steady 10min, easy 15min. Right shoulder was a bit sore this morning. Looking forward to having a massage this week
Run 9km 42min. (no hr, RPE). Just ran on RPE. legs felt good. Still can hold a good pace in the hills which was surprising. Haven't run hills in months.
Wednesday
Run 22km 1:45 (RPE). Didn't use hr monitor today. was sitting on 5min k's for the first 40min then I did 1km on 1k off the rest of the way. Was holding around 4:30-4:40 on and doing my recoveries on 5min k's. Felt good running no issues with the legs. I would say I'm now 99% injury free.
Thursday
Bike 41km 1:30 (RPE). Easy ride north this morning. Freshening up the big ride on Saturday. Body feels good at the moment. Morning weight 78.5kg. Body composition is good, flexibility is good, core strength is poor.
Massage. Boy I was hammered today. Deep tissue massage, was much overdo and Michelle new. Very tight quads and gluts and there was no holding back. There may have even been a slight tear in the eye. Hobbled out afterwards.
Friday
Run 12km 1hr (RPE). did 6 x 30 sec strides 90 sec RI and then I ran 6 hill repeats at a steady pace. Legs was okay. Strides are feeling easier. I used to be stumbling all over the pace. Starting to hold form better now
Core strength work. Did 30mins of stretching and core strength work. Felt good afterwards.
Saturday.
Bike 160km 5:10 (RPE). Av sp 30.5kph. Had a deep tissue massage on Thursday and I was feeling pretty flat on the bike this morning. Legs were filling up with lactic acid quicker then normal. Still a good ride overall. Did some paceline with Scott on the way out into a roaring Southerly( approx 50min). Legs were gone on the way home and sat on Scotts wheel most of the way back. He is riding stronger then ever. Didn't use hr monitor today rode on RPE. Nutrition was pretty good. 1 gatorade bottle per hr and 1 water bottle per hr. I also put away a powerbar which are hard to digest while riding.
Sunday
swim 3.5km 56min. North beach. straight swim with Scott. Perfect morning to be swimming in the ocean.
Run: 8.2km 42min (RPE). Legs and body are holing up well. feels good to be running up over 5hr PW again. A few more weeks of this should se some good aerobic gains come through. Goal is to consistently run 80km PW.

fluro