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IMUK was a tough one on Sunday. Pleased to report that the medal is now hanging on the wall.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
5 days to go - done enough?
I think so. Being my third Ironman I've got a bit of experience behind me now, the accumulation of all the miles of training, plus the wisdom to look back at my training of the previous two events.
For the first two I followed a 24 week programme, which broke down into four 6 week periods. With the first period acclimitising to the volume of training needed I opted to skip that this time round, partly because I didn't think it necessary, but more so because there wasn't time between IM South Africa and now.
I've done a bit of comparison between my three sets of preparation by looking at weeks 7-23:
So, yes I think I've done enough.
How quick will I go? We'll just have to wait and see. Sub 11 hours would be nice but that depends on the course, conditions, nutrition, pacing, mood and gear.
Will I get the club swim record of 55:42? That would be nice, though do hope to get under the hour this time.
Just so long as I get that finishers medal.
For the first two I followed a 24 week programme, which broke down into four 6 week periods. With the first period acclimitising to the volume of training needed I opted to skip that this time round, partly because I didn't think it necessary, but more so because there wasn't time between IM South Africa and now.
I've done a bit of comparison between my three sets of preparation by looking at weeks 7-23:
| Event | Total Mileage | Miles per week | Swim pw | Bike pw | Run pw |
| IM Switzerland 2007 | 2,870 | 159.5 | 3.5 | 131.7 | 24.2 |
| IM South Africa 2008 | 2,971 | 165.1 | 2.6 | 138.1 | 24.4 |
| IM UK | 3,285 | 182.5 | 3.7 | 155.5 | 23.4 |
So, yes I think I've done enough.
How quick will I go? We'll just have to wait and see. Sub 11 hours would be nice but that depends on the course, conditions, nutrition, pacing, mood and gear.
Will I get the club swim record of 55:42? That would be nice, though do hope to get under the hour this time.
Just so long as I get that finishers medal.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
More Energy than you can shake a stick at.
I've been a regular user of Science in Sports (SiS) products for a while now. I like their "Go" electolyte powder, their engery bars and rate their "Rego" recovery drink.
When training for Ironman Switzerland I bough some Powerbar energy drink powder to familiarise myself with that product, but as I didn't like it, nor did I feel it worked for me I opted to go self sufficient and stick with SiS rather than use the event provided drink.
At the Tour of Wessex this year I tried and liked the Torq Pink Grapefruit drink. Having worked my way through a large tub of the stuff, which is really easy to measure out, I took delivery the week before last of another tub of grapefruit plus an assortment of 5 small tubes of their 5 different flavours.
Then yesterday I received even more energy products. When entering Ironman France a few weeks back I opted to recieve samples of InfinitNutrition products that will be available at Ironman France. I wasn't expecting them to arrive so quickly and I wasn't expecting the samples to include a tub of Bike specific drink comprising 6:1 carbs to protein, a tub of Run specific carb drink, a tub of their recovery drink and two bottles.
With 4 different manufacturers energy drink in my kitchen cupboards I feel I should be conducting comparison tests and writing up my results.
When training for Ironman Switzerland I bough some Powerbar energy drink powder to familiarise myself with that product, but as I didn't like it, nor did I feel it worked for me I opted to go self sufficient and stick with SiS rather than use the event provided drink.
At the Tour of Wessex this year I tried and liked the Torq Pink Grapefruit drink. Having worked my way through a large tub of the stuff, which is really easy to measure out, I took delivery the week before last of another tub of grapefruit plus an assortment of 5 small tubes of their 5 different flavours.
Then yesterday I received even more energy products. When entering Ironman France a few weeks back I opted to recieve samples of InfinitNutrition products that will be available at Ironman France. I wasn't expecting them to arrive so quickly and I wasn't expecting the samples to include a tub of Bike specific drink comprising 6:1 carbs to protein, a tub of Run specific carb drink, a tub of their recovery drink and two bottles.
With 4 different manufacturers energy drink in my kitchen cupboards I feel I should be conducting comparison tests and writing up my results.
New Goggles too..
... and they made a massive difference swimming in the lake last night. I could see the length of the lake, I'm sure that helped me swim straigher.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
New Sunglasses
Bought some new sunglasses today to replace the cycling pair I lost on Saturday.
It's amazing how much clearer everything appears when your lenses aren't scratched. Me thinks I ought to have replaced the other pair earlier, or perhaps taken more care of them in the two years I had them.
It's amazing how much clearer everything appears when your lenses aren't scratched. Me thinks I ought to have replaced the other pair earlier, or perhaps taken more care of them in the two years I had them.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Wroxham 5k - 2008 number 3 - 20th August
Last week was my biggest week of training ahead of the UK Ironman ahead of what should have been a recovery week. Over the last two weeks I've covered over 500 miles in training (425 on the bike 78 running and 7 miles swimming). In the 5 days leading up to Wednesday's 5k I'd run 38 miles and the legs were feeling reluctant to move. I was convinced I shouldn't be running and shouldn't be going for a fast time. I asked if anyone needed pacing round in 25 minutes.
I ran my usual 2k warm up and the legs felt heavy but produced 8mpm, which was faster than I was expecting. Lined up for the start and suddenly felt light on my feet - guess it was the light weight cycling socks rather than blister resistant thick running socks I normally prefer. Legs still felt heavy and didn't want to risk injury. 4:10 for the first km, ran the second km chatting and watching the form of those around me. I know my style is far from perfect but a session recently with Neil Featherby had me looking at toe landers, circular leg actions, lopsided shoulders, backward leans and uneven arm swings. Second km was done in 4:00. Third km was the usual slower split that I've come to expect with the Wroxham course of 4:22. With just over 2km to go, and inspired by our Olympic success I went into overtake mode from the bend and clocked 3:56 and 3:55. Total time of 20:24. Whilst still 44seconds off a PB it is still my fastest 5k as a Vet (oh, okay 1st 5k as a Vet), my fastest 5k for 3 years and way faster than I had any right to run. So I'm a very happy bunny with that performance, very happy with my training in prep for the Ironman and very happy with how my body seems to be coping with the training. Not promising anything great for the Ironman just the finish but I'm sure I'll have fun getting round. Have I mentioned my just giving site of www.justgiving.com/roblines?
I ran my usual 2k warm up and the legs felt heavy but produced 8mpm, which was faster than I was expecting. Lined up for the start and suddenly felt light on my feet - guess it was the light weight cycling socks rather than blister resistant thick running socks I normally prefer. Legs still felt heavy and didn't want to risk injury. 4:10 for the first km, ran the second km chatting and watching the form of those around me. I know my style is far from perfect but a session recently with Neil Featherby had me looking at toe landers, circular leg actions, lopsided shoulders, backward leans and uneven arm swings. Second km was done in 4:00. Third km was the usual slower split that I've come to expect with the Wroxham course of 4:22. With just over 2km to go, and inspired by our Olympic success I went into overtake mode from the bend and clocked 3:56 and 3:55. Total time of 20:24. Whilst still 44seconds off a PB it is still my fastest 5k as a Vet (oh, okay 1st 5k as a Vet), my fastest 5k for 3 years and way faster than I had any right to run. So I'm a very happy bunny with that performance, very happy with my training in prep for the Ironman and very happy with how my body seems to be coping with the training. Not promising anything great for the Ironman just the finish but I'm sure I'll have fun getting round. Have I mentioned my just giving site of www.justgiving.com/roblines?
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