Week nine, only 21 to go!

2 min read

I love it when a plan comes together. Well it really feels like it has started to come together this week, in terms of training that is! I am still seeing some positive results in the pool, my new bike feels great and I feel like I am in the best running form I have ever been in. After nine grueling weeks to get used to an average volume of 10 hours training g a week I feel like my body has just about adapted to these demands and is starting to develop in preparation of the Ironman Distance.

bike fit data

I visited Garth at Vankru Cycling this weekend to get a Retul fit on my TT bike. The results were fascinating, although I had set my bike up quite well, it seems I was ready to take on a 10mile TT rather than a 112mile IM course! My back was around 19 degrees which is very extreme and after some serious adjustments to the front end Garth got me in a much more respectable 25/26 degree angle. I have been experiencing a sore neck after 50km on my new bike so although yet un-tested, this new position should be more comfortable over longer distances. The theory is to sacrifice a bit of aero positioning in place of comfort and power which are far more important over longer distance events. If you haven't had a bike fit before I would highly recommend it as it really does improve your comfort - I'll report back if this converts to results !

Swim

Standard week of 3x3km swims. I submitted a 12.38 for an 800m swim as part of winterswim and am currently ranked 8th in the system which I still have not quite figured out? Hopefully 8th is good though as I have certainly seen improvements over the last 3 months in my pace and efficiency.

Cycle

2 turbo sessions and a long ride of 90km over Winterfold woods. This was my first attempt to lug the TT bike up hill and it certainly wasn't as easy as my old road bike - probably due to the standard chainset rather than a compact, but I made it to the top and didn't feel too bad - some proper hill work is need over the next few weeks tho. All this was pre-bike fit, so next week I hope to report on some more comfort and time improvements

Run

I managed a 1hour run at a steady pace on the treadmill this week and 2 threshold runs with negative splits. I seem to have found a little bit more pace outside but the treadmill still does my head in. I have started to judge my pace a little better now and the negative splits are getting easy to achieve - need to push harder at the start !