CHALLENGE WEEK: 22HR+

Photo 1
This is a sight we woke up to at 5:30am in the morning. Riding around the lakes and all you could see was MT Fuji putting on an awesome display.



Photo 2
After our morning training we got to taste some really good Japanese style cuisine for breakfast

Photo 3
I tried my hand at a little amateur photography and this was the result. pretty cool don't you think?

I have one goal this week and that is to exceed 22hr of training. This is my current PB and I'm determined to smash this record.

Since I'm on school holidays this week I'm going to ride to Mt Fuji on Wednesday, Do some hill sessions and trail runs and return on Friday with a big bank of hours under my belt.

Monday
Bike: (4.5hrs), 125km, av hr 112bpm.
rode easy on the way out and TT all the way home. Sat between lower steady (130bpm) and MSS (145bpm). Felt strong on the bike. Feet are still getting hot towards the end of these long rides. I have to keep soft pedaling consistently.
Run: (29:49), 5.5km, av hr 132bpm.
First run in the Newtons. 10/10. These things rock. They are just so light and they really do help you run up hills. These things would be very helpful at Port. believe it not but you can feel a big difference running in these shoes.
I'm not sure how my feet will go in them as they really do get you running onto your forefeet. Time will tell.
Overall a good run on tired legs. Held form together well.

Tuesday
Run: (47min), 9km, av hr 124bpm.
feet were only 4/10 today. getting hot again. The hard ride yesterday is causing me some grief today.

Wednesday
Bike: (7.5hrs), 135km, av hr 104bpm
Rode from Tokyo to Mt Fuji with Noel and mandy. Pushed Mandy up all the hills, good strength work for me. Legs felt good the whole day. It's one very long climb up to the base of Fuji (approx 60k all up and 2-3% grade).

Thursday
trail walk/run: (3hrs), av hr 130bpm
This was a 3hr continuous walk/run uphill. I went ahead of the others and did a mix of running and walking. HR range from low 120's to high 150's. legs felt really good all day.
Run: (50min)9.5km, av hr 131bpm.
I was really tired starting this run in the rain, but once I got going I was surprised at how good I felt. Had lots of energy and the scenery was spectacular. Feet were good.

Friday
Ride: (2hrs), 50km, av hr 110bpm.
Snapped my left cleat even before I started this ride. Went out anyway. Just had to make sure I didn't pull up and tried to avoid the hills. We were thinking about riding up to Mt Fuji station 5 but that wasn't an option. Settled for a flat route around 2 beautiful lakes


Saturday
Bike: (2.5hrs), 68km, av hr 119bpm.
Rode easy for the 1st hour then did 15min @IMeffort and 15min @HIMeffort. Feeling strong on the bike after a very big week. Left knee was good today.
Run: (21min), 4km, av hr 136bpm.
easy run around a hilly loop. Threw in some fartlek efforts and some strides. feet were good again. Feel like I'm getting some good improvements with my running again.
Swim: (1hr), 2.5km
I mix of drills and 500's with buoy. The focus was on strength work this time. A good session again.

Sunday
Bike: (4hrs), 110km, av hr 120bpm
easy to Aet ride. Rode out to the warf did 3 laps. 2 laps easy then 1 lap at IMeffort (15min). Finished off with another 15min IMeffort TT back towards home. Legs are good, can feel the fatigue and wold have no hope whatsoever in picking up the pace.
Run: (52:58min), 10km, av hr 136bpm.
9min on 1min off as per normal.
1. easy to Aet
2, steady
3. Fartlek building to hard
4. steady.
What a way to finish off my biggest ever week of training. feet felt good. Body feels good lots of energy. legs feel like they have recovered well between sessions.


Swim 1:00
Bike 20:33
Run 3:20
Other 4:00

Total 28:53
Summary
I'm stoked. Beat me previous ever biggest week by over 6hrs. It even felt like I managed this week better then my previous big week of 23hrs. Made sure I ate well, slept enough, stretched alot and kept all intensity out. Can't wait to do this again over christmas.

Week 2 of 3: Bike focus ending 28/10/07

Photo
I've just order a pair of Newton running shoes. I'm hopping this will move my feet from being 80-90% injury free up to 100% injury free.

Very happy with last weeks training. My hours are slowly and safely getting closer and closer to my goal of being able to consistently do 18-22hr training weeks.
It’s all about the bike this week. My aim is to hit around 13-15hrs on the bike. I want to do a fixed gear ride on Wednesday as part of the third ride in a 24hr block. This will be a strength session. I also want to start pushing my long ride out to over 5hr regularly. This will also include some strength work towards the end of the session.
I’ll keep focusing on just frequency with my running by trying to absorb as many 30-50minute runs as I possibly can. I think I’m ready to start moving one run a week up over 1hr to around 1:15 soon too.
Hope everyone is having a good week.

Monday
Run: (40min), 127bpm, 7.5km
The lowest av HR run ever. Pace still felt good. Efficiency and economy must be improving. Feet good.
Corework: (1hr)
Combination of abs, swim bands and stretching.

Tuesday
Bike: (2:05), 52.5km, av hr 105bpm
This is the lowest av hr I have ever seen with a 25kph average speed. Not sure whats going on. Rode easy with Noel as he has just returned from a lower back injury
Bike: (1;11), av hr 111bpm, 32km
easy to aet effort. Getting dark so quickly now. Reduced to riding in and around city centre. traffic is a nightmare. May have to bring out the W/T soon

Wednesday
Bike: (1;45), av hr 102bpm, 44km
Adjusted my cleats last night. left inside knee has been getting sore. Moved cleats inwards and this small adjustment felt alot better on this ride. decide not to do the fixed gear session, until I'm used to new cleat position.

Thursday
Swim: (1hr), 2.5km
10min free
10min bouy, holding perfect stroke
chase set
25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200. 20sec RI, I started 5sec ahead Noel and we had to keep adding on 25m until I caught him. Did that at 125 and then again 200.
10 x 25m tempo, no breathes on 1mincycle.
10min drill
5min kick
on the case set I was able to hold around1:20-1:25/100 pace. feeling good in the water considering how much I'm not swimming.

Friday
Run: (56min), 10km, av hr 136bpm
Starting to get up to 1hr again. Everything feels good. My knee was 10/10 and my feet are about 8/10.
Ran 9min on, 1min walk.
30min easy
10min fartlek (145bpm cap)
10min lower steady (140bpm)

Saturday
Typhoon hit us today. No training, plus I had to work at the school festival all day.

Sunday
Bike: (4.5hrs), 119km, av hr 117bpm.
Starting to get up to 1hr again. Everything feels good. My knee was 10/10 and my feet are about 8/10.
Ran 9min on, 1min walk.
30min easy
10min fartlek (145bpm cap)
10min lower steady (140bpm)

Swim 1:00
Bike 9:31
Run 2:08
Other 2:00

Total 14:39
Summary
I was a little ticked off with the typhoon on Saturday and having to work. was heading for a bigger week. Next week I'm going to aim for a PB in terms of volume. My current biggest week ever has been 22hr anything over that will be a bonus. I'll probably aim to ride 5-6 sessions and run around 6-7 sessions and do 1-2 swims. Most of the volume will come from the bike as I'm continuing with my bike focus right up to January next year.

Week 1 of 3: Run Focus 21/10/2007

Photo.
I just could not drag myself away from the Hawaii Ironman last Sunday. What an awesome race and top effort Scotty. That was a very solid day you produced.

The goal this week is to add on one extra run and make it 5 for the week. I'll also continue with the bike focus and aim for 10+ hr of riding. I feel as though once I start consistently exceeding 10hr PW on the bike I start to see alot of improvement in my endurance and strength in and around my IM efforts.
My running is coming along well and I think I'm almost ready to say I'm recovered. I'm experiencing more and more runs with less and less foot issues. This is a good sign. I've limited all my running to around 40-50 minutes and I'm just working on increasing my frequency.

Monday
Run: (40min), 7.5km, av hr 141bpm.
Stress plays havic with my hr. RPE was nice and low but myHR was high. Alot going on at the moment. Need to relax.
Stayed with the 9min on 1min walk. Feet felt pretty good again

Tuesday
Bike: (2hrs), 117bpm, 55km.
easy to Aet ride for the first 1:18. Then I did 2 x 20min TT at Aet with a 2min RI. TTing well. Feeling comfortable on the bars.

Wednesday
Bike: (1hr), 25km, av hr 110bpm
Don't know why my RPE is so much higher on a wind trainer ,yet HR speed etc are much lower. Did a 1hr endurance spin after massage.
Run: (1:07), 13km, av hr 141bpm
2km W/U
4km @ Aet, (av sp 5:05, av hr 144bpm)
1. 4:54, 141bpm
2. 5:11, 145bpm
3. 5:05, 146bpm
4. 5:09, 146bpm
4km @ Aet +10bpm (av sp 4:43, av hr 156bpm
5. 4:35, 155bpm
6. 4:48, 157bpm
7. 4:46, 157bpm
8. 4:46, 156bpm
Feet were good no problems. I would say my Aet pace is sitting around 5:05min/k's at the moment. I The result clearly shows I lack endurance. My first 1km at Aet was pretty close to some of my Aet +10bpm. But I could hold my pace throughout the test. I felt like I was continually fighting an elevating HR, while trying to hold an even pace. This gives my a clear goal for next time. I have a 22 sec dufference between my Aet pace and Aet +10bpm pace and this shows that my Aet +10bpm has been left out of my training. This is good. If the gap was any bigger eg in excess of 30sec then this suggest I'm spending too much time training above my IM zone.
Overall I happy to be back and no I have given myelf a carrot to chase after before my next test. This is the longest run I've done in 6mths

Thursday
Swim: (1hr), 2.5km
10min free
10min buoy
4(4x50). Negative split on 60sec. 45, 42, 40, 35.
20min of drill, focusing on kick and body rotation.
Held the 50's well. Huffing and puffing on those 35's though.
Run: (31min), 5.5km, av hr 130bpm
easy recovery run. Was tired getting out of bed this morning. need more sleep

Friday
Total rest day

Saturday
Bike: (3.5hrs), 95km, 125bpm
fixed gear ride (53/17) for the first 1.5hrs. comfortably held around 35-37kph.
6/6/6/ (53/19@30kph, 53/11@40kph, 53/17@35kph).
small chain for the rest of the ride.
Very solid ride. Eric is strong and we were well matched well on the fixed gear and 6/6/6.
Swim: (1hr), 2.5km
300 W/U
4- 100 buoy. breathing every 4th stroke
4-50 drill catchup
4-150 free (50 easy 25 hard, 50 easy 25 hard)
4-200 buoy breathing every 4 except for the last 50 breathing every 5.
4 -50 (25max, 25easy)

Sunday
Bike: (3hrs), 88km, 125bpm
1.5 easy.
3 laps around the warf. (9km loop)
Building to a hard effort.
Was tired towards the end. Left knee was getting sore so I bailed and came home
Run: (51min), 10km, 132bpm
Felt like I was flying today. Light on the feet. Threw in some surges and my HR never exceeded Aet. Feet were good.
still sticking with the 9min on 1min walk


Swim 2.0
Bike 9.5
Run 3.1
other 1.0

Total 15.39

Solid week for me this week. This is the first time I have cracked 3hr of running in one week since March this year. My feet are holding up very well. I did my first run over an hour and I was able to insert some mod-hard efforts as part of my run test.

Week 3 of 3 recovery week ending 15/10/07

Photos
These are from my long ride down to Misaki last weekend.

Goal this week is to test my Aet pace over the bike again and compare it to the last cycle. I think I'm also ready to start doing the 8k run test.



I've been reading the survey on How to qualify for Hawaii and here are some of the main ideas that I have pulled from the article

1. 840hr P.A seems to be the benchmark. That is an average of 16hrs PW. 73% of all Hawaii qualifiers average over 840hrs P.A.
2. Peak weeks are in excess of 35hrs. This is broken up into 23k swimming, 752k cycling, 91k running in one week. Epic camps anyone?
3. There is no off season. These guys train all year round focusing on something.
4. Typical bike week of 10hrs will consist of a 5+hr long ride with some pick ups, an IMpace ride with 2.5hrs at race pace, a hilly hour, and a trainer session with 85-95% MHR and the balance made up of easy riding and drills.
5. Those that qualify for Hawaii do more volume on the bike, significantly more race pace training, more strength endurance training and more hard intervals at 85-90% MHR
6. The breakdown of an average 5hr run week includes a 2.5hr long run (easy with hills)a 2hr medium long run with 1.5hrs at race pace, 30minutes of intervals ranging from 80-100% MHR and some drills and a short recovery run.

I hope these tips help you with your training.

Monday
Swim: (45min), 2km,
Packed again. Could only do drills.
Focused mainly on single arm drill, catchup, kick and then 4 x 25's hard. Kept repeating this over and over.
The 25m pool is just too crowded to get in any straight swimming and not being aloud to overtake is a real pain.
Run (35min), 6km, av hr 136bpm
Program in a hill session today. Highest gradient was around 9.5%. Kept it at 10kph and just ran through the hills. Lowest gradient was 3%

Tuesday
Total rest day

Wednesday
Bike: (70min), av hr 124bpm, 34.5km
15min W/U
20k TT @ Aet, time 34:51, av sp 34.2kph, av hr 141bpm.
PB by 0.2kph (ie 40sec). Tougher conditions today with gusty winds. Hard to find a consistent pace. Just need to keep chipping away towards a 35kph average.
Massage: (1hr)
Stretching and core (30min)
Run: (40min), 7.5km, 130bpm.
(9min on 1min walk) X 4
1 & 2 easy
3 & 4 recovery to 130bpm, run at pace to 140bpm and repeat. Fartklek style.
Running way seems to really help my feet the constant changes in pace mean I'm not consistently hitting the same point on my feet. Plus it gives me a chance to do some sub 5min/k running again.


Thursday
Swim: (1hr) 2.5km
15min straight free working on holding B/L
4 x (4x25) on a 1min cycle. max effort.
1,2 free
3,4 buoy
Kept all between 14-16sec. Was getitng tough from about the 12th one onwards.
15min of of drill.



Friday
Run: (40min), 7.5km, av hr 131bpm
9min on 1min walk.
Kept everything easy to lower steady on this run.

Saturday
Ride: (3:30), av hr 112bpm, distance 88km
Easy to Aet ride for the first 3hrs.
Finished off with some strength work fartlek style.
Run: (45min), 8.5km, av hr 131bpm.
very happy with my feet on this run. Stayed with 9min on and then a 1min walk. Running like this is proving to be good on my feet and will stick with this with all my runs now.

Sunday
Bike: (65min), 25km, av hr 110bpm,
I did a W/T session. all drill work while I watched the Hawaii Ironman



Total

Swim
Bike
Run

Week ending 7/10/2007

Photo
Last weekend was just like this the whole entire time. It was relentless.

Well I've missed posting on here for a couple of weeks as I have dug myself in quite a hole. I did the Terry Fox 5km Fun Run 2 weeks ago. It really hurt my feet to do this run, but I ended up coming 2nd overall which I was very happy with. However, my feet were in a terrible state for the week that followed. I couldn't even run further than 2minutes without having to stop and walk. It got a the point where I was ready to give it all up. How could I possibly continue to train for an IM if I couldn't even run 5km without severe repercussions.
With nowhere to go I decided to make one last trip back to the foot podiatrist. She did a complete overhaul on my orthotics by inserting a grid system under my feet so that my joints are now sitting over holes. Guess what? It worked I'M BACK. I did my 1st ever run in Japan without any pain. It's early days yet, but if this continues and I can keep running without pain I just might be ready to start training properly for IM Germany. Fingers crossed

Goal
This week my goal is to find a balanced week of training with the emphasis mainly on the bike. I want to get into the 18-22hr week range as I feel this is where I get my biggest adaptations and in particular my endurance really improves when I'm training around this amount.
I'm going to be working on a 3 week cycle in the following way
week 1 of 3: Run Focus (16-19hrs)
week 2 of 3: Bike Focus (18-22hrs)
week 3 of 3: Swim Focus recovery week (14-16hrs)

During the Recovery weeks I'll do Testing mainly around Aet and FT to monitor my progress. Since this is still the off season for me I'll be closely monitoring both. Once I enter my IM preps I'll be mainly working on improving my Aet paces.

Monday
Run: (40min), 7km.
Success at last. 1st run in months with no pain. My foot doc cut some hole in my orthotics where my joints are as this seems to be the root of my problems. It worked I actually did a run without pain. I hope this one works.
Swim: (40min), Dryland workout
Dryland swim workout as per Gordo protocol

Tuesday
Bike: (1.5hrs), W/T, av hr 110bpm.
1hr spin
3 min on high cadence 95+, 3min off til the 90min mark.
The W/T is such a grind

Wednesday
Bike: (2.25), 63km, 110bpm
Rode easy for 30min
20min TT lower steady (130bpm)
30min easy
20min pacline (Aet) 2min rolling turns
10min easy
5min TT (upper Steady)
Good session. Holding decent paces across all zones
Run: (40min), av hr 133bpm.
9min on 1min off
1. 10kph (125bpm)
2. 11kph (131bpm)
3. 12kph (142bpm)
2min at 13kph (155bpm)
My 1st treadmill run. It felt weird but it was pretty cool being able to track HR and pace at the same time. Foot held up pretty well, not 100% but close to it.

Thursday
Swim: (3km), 1hr
1000 free, 16.20
100 (1:35), 2-50 (45)
200 (3:15), 4-50 (45's)
300 (4:55), 6-50 (45-46's)
400 (6:35), 8-50 (45-46's)
All B/L breathing and all on a 15 sec rest.
Run: (31min), 5.5km, 126bpm.
av hr Aet -19bpm. Feet were okay. Left foot was just starting to go on me towards the end, so I stopped.
Overall I feel this is a big step forward

Friday
Resy day

Saturday
Had to work Saturday. So I could only do a ride
Bike: (3hrs), 110bpm, 80km.
Good ride this morning. HR is sitting nice and low with my pace still up. Can sit around 28-30kph @ 110-115bpm. This was unheard of 1yr ago. TT'd the last 30min at Aet and it felt like I was flying. Comfortably holding 36-38kph @Aet.

Sunday
Bike: (5:20), 141km, av hr 123bpm.
Solid ride all the way down to Nisaki past Kamakura. Did the 1st 3.5hrs low hr (av hr 117) then I TT'd for the 2hrs as a strength workout. Aim was to keep HR above Aet the whole time while pushing a bigger gear then normal


Total

Swim 1:40
Bike 12:55
Run 1:51
other 1:00

Total 17:26

Summary
Finally was able to pull off a bigger week. Feet have held up pretty well. I was concerned about the long ride on Sunday, but my feet were only sore in patches. Overall, I very pleased with the way I'm riding, my running is slowly returning (baby steps) and I'm still not too concerned about my swim. I can pick that up quickly anytime.