Ironman Training

Walking a fine line

Walking a fine line

Three hard weeks in Lanzarote have dragged me back into something I’d call fitness. The lazy post-Ironman New Zealand weeks seem a long time ago and are happily forgotten. Day after day of long training is the routine again with harder work than ever before. It’s good to be back. Both physically and mentally there […]


Detraining

Detraining

Like so many endurance athletes I almost live in fear of losing fitness. Whilst I’ll rationally acknowledge the need for rest and recovery as part of the process there’s a part of me loathing the lost training time. Tracking training load has probably made it worse as I now have a graphical representation of the […]


Shaping the Taupo Taper

If you were reading during my Kona build up you may remember I attempted to plan my taper using some tables pulled from Training Peaks WKO+. The idea was simple. Look at performance metrics leading into previous races and correlate to race performance. If I raced well there’s a good chance I tapered well too. […]


Two Weeks Till Taupo

Even less than that! Only twelve more training days to go! The last fortnight has been an up and down time. On one day I can tell a friend in the UK that I’m starting to feel strong and more confident. The next I can come crashing back down to Earth with fatigue after a […]


Thoughts for Taupo

Thoughts for Taupo

It seems I needed some recovery from the daily blogging of Epic Camp as well as the training! Apologies for the recent silence. The day to day events of returning to a training routine just weren’t that interesting. It hasn’t stopped me before, but after blogging across a country it seemed too mundane! I’ll briefly […]


Training Past – Review of 2009

It’s close enough to the end of the year to review my training. Whatever I do tomorrow will make little difference either way. Not surprisingly being a full time athlete has led to a big year of training. More than I’ve ever managed in the past. The results have been PBs, two trips to the […]


We are Officially in Taper

We are Officially in Taper

I’m calling it today. After a shocking start to the long ride this morning rest is long over due. I knew it was coming. The early nights, plenty of sleep and then still feeling tired. The pain and struggle of running. Than pain and struggle of cycling! Yes, even the pain and struggle of swimming! […]


Kona Race Report Redux

Time for some data analysis from the Ironman World Champs! Having lost two days to travel there’s nothing else to blog about right now. So instead a look at some run and bike data. I’m pleased to say I’ve mile splits for the run this time so some kind of pacing record for once. For […]


Race Week in Kona – Final Days

Race Week in Kona – Final Days

Two days rolled into one as the amount of lounging in my hotel room I’ve done lately makes for a much shorter blog. We’re almost there now! Day Eleven – Relaxing at Last So this morning’s swim was my first time in my PointZero3+ swimskin. Fortunately it doesn’t take quite as long to put on […]


Race Week in Kona – Day Ten – Not so Chilled

Race Week in Kona – Day Ten – Not so Chilled

Today has been hugely frustrating. OK perhaps hugely is an exaggeration, but it’s fair to say I don’t feel like I really followed the plan well. Paleo man discovered some non-paleo foods on a couple of occasions and too much time was spent wasting energy on my feet. So I finish off the day starting […]