Civilised Training Day

Posted on August 16, 2008 by lord_lordy

Just have to write about todays training. Today was on paper my toughest bike session before IM Wisconsin and probably ever. It did not fail to disappoint. I wanted to be well rested so didn’t set my alarm and just slept. Woke after 9.5 hours just before 7 o’clock.

Not wanting to bomb like I did on my last big bike session I made sure I got my breakie. Couple of pork loins and 3 fried eggs washed down with a peach smoothie all whilst watching the Olympics. Great to see Rebecca Adlington storm the 800m freestyle. Inspiring.

Of course I got engrossed in all the sport on TV and started to run the risk of the day just drifting away. Hurrah ! I didn’t . At 9am out I got on the bike. I felt super strong and was looking forward to it. After 30 minutes I didn’t feel super strong and wasn’t looking forward to it. After 1 hour I started on the first of my 8 15 minutes at above IM effort, for me this really is push as hard as I think I can maintain for 15 minutes.

I felt great on the first one but during the rest period felt I couldn’t do the lot. Just decided not to think about the total just do the next one. I totally got into, got flow and lost time. Was going well, good leg ache throughout each piece and dropping over the bars at the end. I was running out of water so managed to devise a route so that the 8 finished at Bretts where I got my bottles filled, had a peach, scotch egg and two tomatoes and got 3 cooked sausages to put in my Bento box – something to look forward to at the end.

Now for the second bit. Yes there was more. 2.5 hours at IM effort. Could have done with a Power Meter as I kicked off at a similar pace to the 15 minute efforts. Of course, I eased off eventually but managed to keep focussed. It was going great till 2.10 into it. Then I really started to suffer. I would find without any concious thought my pace would massively drop off then seconds later I switch on and get back into it. After 10 minutes of this I started seeing stars ! I did think how weird it was I could actually see this white spots in my peripheral vision. Soon after this I started to feel dizzy. Kept thinking I should stop but caught myself and said don’t be stupid … you’ve worked hard for hours to get to this point and these last minutes are where I get payback for all that effort. The sausages tasted good.

It took 5hr05 to complete the session and in that time I covered 100 miles ! I got back with a 7h20 ride time and 134 miles on the clock. Very pleased – not only got the work done but combined with an over distance ride.

On top of that back in time to put my roast pork on and get out for my Brick before the Olympic highlights were on. Luckily I checked first and found they were about to start. So my Brick was rather broken having a 45 minute Olympic break before heading out for a fast 20 minute run.

Looking forward to tomorrow now – heading out with Jo. She’s got a bike session to do. I’m gonna ride the loop the other way doing my own thing. Plan is to do mainly steady riding but do about an hours pyramid in there somewhere. Hoping for a longer run after.

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Finding It Tough

Posted on August 15, 2008 by lord_lordy

It’s been a tough week unfortunately not in terms of training but again due to motivation. I am sleeping lots and feeling tired. It could be that I’m just older now and can’t handle the volume as easily, it could be that the intensity is increased. I’m swimming harder, doing formal sessions on the bike, doing big run mileage and even doing an interval session on the run. It means this week rather than building on my volume has seen a reduction on it.

Following racing on Sunday we had a relatively easy day on Monday. Jo and I went to the pool and did a swim. In the afternoon we ran in the hills. I was running well so much better than the day before. We got away later than expected and ended up late in London. It meant I didn’t get enough sleep and when I woke to pissing rain I decided sleep was more important than driving down to Box Hill. Bad decision, as the day ended up pretty good. The day just drifted away and ended up a rest day. Like back when I was studying for my accountancy exams unplanned rest days are so much less fun than planned ones since you feel guilty. Needed my sleep wednesday morning so didn’t get out on the bike. In the afternoon got my long run done – 3hrs and I felt strong throughout. In the evening did a great swim session – was cruising 100s in 1:18 and 200s in 2:40 and then did a couple of 600s in 7:54 and 7:51. Really going well. Thursday morning was a tough bike session – 6 x (8 mins fast, 2 mins rest) .. was managing to lap Regents Park in about 7:30 on all of them. We tagged on an extra one “for luck”. Felt wasted so rested all day before doing the club run session in the evening.

This being full time isn’t as easy as you would think. Certainly being in London isn’t ideal especially as I don’t like riding in the traffic. It means if I don’t get up and out before rush hour I find it very difficult to go for a ride. If I have an hours session to do it will take at least 3 hours when you include the ride out to and back from roads appropriate for the session. Also, when training is the main focus in your life if it’s not going well there’s little to fall back on. Wonder whether this would be better or worse if I was making a living at it.  I’m trying to ease the pressure on myself and stop chasing numbers. I sometimes wonder whether a training diary is a help or a hindrance – it’s great for data looking back and when things are going well but when you are tired and you can’t hit the numbers you’d hoped it’s tough. Chrissie Wellington said in an interview that she didn’t keep a diary her coach tracked what she was doing. That seems pretty sensible to me as it gives all the benefits of having the data without the bad pressures. Since I’m self coached this approach is not so easy. Jo came up with a good idea of tracking intensity of sessions so that figure could be chased rather than just volume. I may include that for next year !

Got some interesting advice from some very experienced Ironman Triathletes about my approach to competing in Wisconsin and Kona close together. One of the guys had been in touch with Team TBB about how their athletes perform so well in consecutive Ironman. They taper for the first Ironman as per normal then immediately after they get active – so the day after they do few short sessions – walking, swimming. They continue like this for 7 – 10 days and then get back in to normal training but with reduced volume and intensity. They continue this WITHOUT tapering through to the second race. Several people concurred with this. It seems the logic behind it is that tapering from big volume gives u fitness gains but the recovery period sees you lose some fitness. Thus, the aim is to build your aerobic base back but whilst staying fresh. A taper for the second race won’t really work since you won’t be tapering from big volume. This makes real sense as the big thing I was worried about when I looked at my plan for Kona was how little volume there was for so long ahead of the race. This was due to trying to taper for both. I’m going to rejig it.

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Still Pushing

Posted on August 11, 2008 by lord_lordy

Wensleydale Triathlon yesterday. Jo and I before the start and above a photo showing how flooded it was.

REPORT HERE

Race the Wensleydale Triathlon yesterday in appalling conditions. Good fast session. Blitzed the swim, steady bike, terrible run for about an hour and then it started to go well. Jo didn’t catch me ! Was pleased with it, enjoyed it and stuck to my guns about training straight through.

This past week is right in the middle of my push phase and though the hours of training has been relatively low (for me) it’s still felt like pushing. The intensity of alot of my sessions is higher than I’ve done in a long time and I’ve felt the need for rest. As such I’ve stuck with hitting my key goals and not doing any more.

SWIMMING

Managed 20+km for the week including all the squad sessions. Been swimming really well as evidenced by getting 30 seconds up in the Wensleydale Swim which was only 400m. Then this morning, in a public session in Stokesley pool I did 6km in 1h33 and it felt easy !

BIKING

Very low mileage this week. Only 220 miles which would be a recovery week back at the start of the year. However, every ride included a session. On Tuesday I got a long ride done (100 miles) inluding 1h20 at above IM pace and 2.5h at IM. On Thursday did 6 lots of 6 minutes above Ironman. Saturday did 4 lots of 12 mins above IM and 45 mins at IM. Then yesterday a 40m hard ride in gales, pissing rain and at least 4 25% hills.

RUNNING

Hit the 100 miles for the week again. Included a 3h long run. Also a interval session on Thursday night, 3 bricks and yesterday a reasonably tough 12m fell run in pretty nasty conditions.

Feel that over the next two weeks I need to include some over distance riding, if only for my mental well being – I feel reassured about racing IM and having something left off the bike if I’ve done some long rides.

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Wensleydale Triathlon 2008

Posted on August 10, 2008 by lord_lordy

Swim(400m): ~6m
Bike (40 miles): ~2h45
Run (12 miles): ~2h04
Total: 4h55 (16th)

Like two years ago the weather was terrible, probably worse. Not as cold but very windy and heavy rain. The wind was so strong there was a big chop on small Semer water and the swim was cut short to 400m. There’d been so much rain that T1 was completely flooded, as was the car park by the lake and the water was right up to the road. This meant that T1 was a do it yourself job. ie find a bit of grass, bush or tree to prop your bike up against.

I think I must have been one of the only entrants looking forward to the swim. The wind was so strong no one heard the start until the amassed crowd shouted go ! It was straight into the wind and chop. Great fun. One second swimming well, one second smashing into a wave, one second swimming in thin air. I got so far ahead I looked back to see if I’d false started ! By the turn buoy I was well ahead of everyone. By the exit I was 30m (per my mum) ahead of the next person.

Took my time in transition getting stuff on. For me this was a training day and I was determined to view it as such – so no ultra rush. One concern was that I couldn’t face having Jo come running by me on the run again and with the shortened swim that certainly was likely.

I was still at my bike as Jo came in. The bike was really tough, not only the 4 25% climbs but the pissing rain, the savage winds, only in the last quarter were these tail winds – prior to that side or head winds. Also the Coal road was a mix of massive potholes and gravel on the ascent and descent. Made it tricky. Good job we’d recce’d it a couple of weeks ago. Ride went well. Top of Buttertubs was cruel with the final steep section into a gale force wind. It was the best I could do to keep upright bringing back memories of Jo and I struggling over Kirkstone pass two New years ago in similar weather.

The final descent to Hawes was awesome. Another slow transition – I could even see my mum was concerned at my relaxed approach. I saw Jo coming in along the road as I ran out. She was pretty close … lucky if I’d made 5 minutes on the bike. If I ran like 2 weeks ago she’d have me on the run up ! The valley was flooded. It was funny as I entered the first field there was a massive puddle – I ran round it, a guy coming the other way (on the half cheese race) ran straight through it. I thought “it must be wet up there” … about a minute later I found the massive flood we had to wade through – it came above my knees. Luckily it was warm.

I didn’t feel good running but used my usual tactic running uphill of being determined to ALWAYS run. I was slow. I decided to munch the Kendal Mint Cake that was in the goodie bag. It was delicious. By 3/4 way up the climb I started to run well. As I came back down I saw Jo, only about 6 minutes behind but I was pretty sure if I ran well downhill I should make time on her. I ran really well on the descent and pushed hard along the valley.

Great race. Kendal Mint cake is gonna be my race food for Wisconsin.

One of the guys that own the bike shop and organise the race asked me if I thought I would have won if I’d not got lost. I explained I hadn’t got lost. Turns out some cyclists had made a wrong turn. They know me cause I won the inaugural race two years ago and am often in the shop – very nice to know they’d assumed I’d be in with a shot of winning it. Perhaps next year ! Jo got her prize and I asked if there was food in it… there wasn’t but the organizer went out back and gave me 3 bars of Kendal Mint cake as my ‘prize’ – All set for Wisconsin now !

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Feeling Fit

Posted on August 7, 2008 by lord_lordy

TriLondonAtRelaysTri London at the National Relays ! Read about it here. I’m the tall dude in the middle (no I’m not standing on my tip toes ;o))

Both Jo and I recently have commented on how we have ‘felt fit’ on the bike. It’s a funny thing to say when by all reasonable measures we’ve both been fit for years and years. However, with training like this you spend alot of time tired. You start so many runs, rides and swims with muscles aching and just convince yourself they’ll ease off and you’ll feel better later in the session. This normally happens. There are times though when right from the start you just feel great. It’s like you can push as hard as you like and you’ll still feel good. It’s great when it happens and it’s to be savoured. On the biking front this has been the case for both Jo and I. It’s also funny at the moment to feel like this since I have to almost force myself out on the bike but when out there I feel great. I’m currently doing pretty low weekly mileage (just under 300 miles) for me but am focussed on getting 3 formal sessions done each week. Anything extra is a bonus and so far all the ‘extras’ have  been knocked on the head. This morning we headed to Regents Park for the usual early morning reps. This time 6 x (6 min IM Pace / 4 mins easy) … I actually did this at IM Pace (ie about 23 mph) which translated to all out effort for me on my fixed. I felt great. I enjoyed the burn in my legs and trying to nail the last two minutes of each set and then collapsing over my bars as I finished. Jo missed the first rep so tagged on another at the end – I hopped on her wheel and did an all out sprint for the last 45 seconds… about 15 seconds into it I realised I’d gone too early and seriously hurt for the final 30. Great fun !

Tuesday I was out on the bike as well. I headed out to Box Hill and did a 2.5 hour run. Then breakie before my bike set: 4 x (20 min above IM, 10 min easy) then 2.5 hour IM. It was hard work but I completed it and ended up with a 100 mile ride. Ran for 36 minutes off the bike. I had to take Wednesday as rest again. Thinking I may just schedule that as a rest day from now on if I’m going to do such hard days on Tuesday.

I’m feeling fit swimming as well ! It’s great. On Wednesday evening we did a big 100s set. I was cruising and coming in on 1.18. The final two 100s I pushed and came in on 1.15 and 1.14. Then this morning I did a continuous swim – 5.1k in 1h20. Could really feel the water and if I wanted to squeeze more speed the strength was there.

The one thing where I haven’t been feeling fit has been running. I’ve been pushing out the mileage and doing numerous 2h or so runs and felt it would come at some point. Well this morning I felt fit. As I started my long run I felt great, my legs felt strong and I could feel the muscles tense on each foot strike. After about 30 minutes I tired slightly and started to worry about my target of a 3h run but from there on I felt no more tired, in fact I started to feel better later and pushed the pace from 2h to about 2h50. As I finished just over 3 hours of running I felt I could just run forever.

Currently feeling very positive (as u can probably tell) – I am fit I have no doubt now  I just need to not be carrying any surplus poundage come race day to ensure I make the most of this fitness.

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Final Push Week

Posted on August 4, 2008 by lord_lordy

FinalPushWeekThe photo this time is me following winning The Wensleydale Triathlon in 2006. Jo and I recced the course last Saturday and boy oh boy is it tough. The organisers seemed quite pleased I was doing it as it meant the two winners would come head to head. Not sure I’m in the shape (yet) to reproduce those winning ways but we will see.

See the cut up knee … thats as a result of running scared on the way down. I was in the lead and had seen a pretty serious fell runner coming up so I was sure I was getting caught. Probably one of the quickest descents I’ve done !

I’m continuing to lack motivation but when I do get out I’m feeling strong across all disciplines. I’ve managed a 5.23 400m free in the middle of a main set. This year I’ve done two 400m time trials both were 5.19. I feel my swimming is coming on in leaps and bounds and this proves it. Getting 33.5km of swimming done whilst up in North Yorkshire certainly helped. On the bike I’ve been flying along – in North Yorkshire I’ve managed some of the fastest rides I’ve done in a long time. My main session last week was 3 x 20 mins at IM pace with 5 mins rest (I reduced this from the planned 10 minutes) followed by 6 x 10 mins IM pace with 5 mins rest. I decided to ride a straight line route out along Swaledale – this was with a tail wind and slightly uphill. I was surprised to get to the end of the Dale with 2 reps left. This gave the great chance to do them up hill – one up the hill to Keld and the final up Buttertubs. Must have been funny to any observer as I powered up the hill, going strong and then about 100m from the top, as my 10 mins were up, I just stopped turned round and headed down! I felt so good I turned around and after something to eat pushed the pace all the way home into the headwind. Ended up completing the 100 miles in just over 5h20 which included a warm up and all the 5 mins easy ! Well pleased.

As for running – I started last week at my mums feeling pretty heavy but forced myself into the hills early in the week. This did me good and I’ve been piling on the mileage since and feeling good for it.

This week was meant to build on the week in North Yorkshire and has gone pretty well other than Wednesday where I just couldn’t get myself up and about – a hard day on Tuesday and the weather being so hot just made me so lethargic. I had thought of making up for it today but (I hope wisely) decided that I should just not worry about it and get rested up. The missed session was just steady riding and it’s more important for me to get a good bike session in on Sunday. I worry about the numbers though and it means that this week is unlikely to be bigger than last. Just writing that makes it sounds stupid to worry about !! There… this blog is worth something.

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Motivation And Feeling Strong

Posted on August 1, 2008 by lord_lordy

Wensleydale2006The photo this time is me following winning The Wensleydale Triathlon in 2006. Jo and I recced the course last Saturday and boy oh boy is it tough. The organisers seemed quite pleased I was doing it as it meant the two winners would come head to head. Not sure I’m in the shape (yet) to reproduce those winning ways but we will see.

See the cut up knee … thats as a result of running scared on the way down. I was in the lead and had seen a pretty serious fell runner coming up so I was sure I was getting caught. Probably one of the quickest descents I’ve done !

I’m continuing to lack motivation but when I do get out I’m feeling strong across all disciplines. I’ve managed a 5.23 400m free in the middle of a main set. This year I’ve done two 400m time trials both were 5.19. I feel my swimming is coming on in leaps and bounds and this proves it. Getting 33.5km of swimming done whilst up in North Yorkshire certainly helped. On the bike I’ve been flying along – in North Yorkshire I’ve managed some of the fastest rides I’ve done in a long time. My main session last week was 3 x 20 mins at IM pace with 5 mins rest (I reduced this from the planned 10 minutes) followed by 6 x 10 mins IM pace with 5 mins rest. I decided to ride a straight line route out along Swaledale – this was with a tail wind and slightly uphill. I was surprised to get to the end of the Dale with 2 reps left. This gave the great chance to do them up hill – one up the hill to Keld and the final up Buttertubs. Must have been funny to any observer as I powered up the hill, going strong and then about 100m from the top, as my 10 mins were up, I just stopped turned round and headed down! I felt so good I turned around and after something to eat pushed the pace all the way home into the headwind. Ended up completing the 100 miles in just over 5h20 which included a warm up and all the 5 mins easy ! Well pleased.

As for running – I started last week at my mums feeling pretty heavy but forced myself into the hills early in the week. This did me good and I’ve been piling on the mileage since and feeling good for it.

This week was meant to build on the week in North Yorkshire and has gone pretty well other than Wednesday where I just couldn’t get myself up and about – a hard day on Tuesday and the weather being so hot just made me so lethargic. I had thought of making up for it today but (I hope wisely) decided that I should just not worry about it and get rested up. The missed session was just steady riding and it’s more important for me to get a good bike session in on Sunday. I worry about the numbers though and it means that this week is unlikely to be bigger than last. Just writing that makes it sounds stupid to worry about !! There… this blog is worth something.

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What A Difference A Day Makes

Posted on July 17, 2008 by lord_lordy

PassoDoGiauJo and I atop Passo di Giau. She pushed me all the way to the top. Kept me honest.

I can’t believe how much better I feel now. Was thinking today that it would be good to do some research into the causes of post Ironman depression because it really hits me hard. I can pick the precise moment when everything changed:

Wednesday lunchtime Stephen comes round for a lunchtime run. We head to Hampstead Heath. As we start I feel pretty bad and we are running slow. As we approach Hampstead Heath I’m thinking that there’s a big possibility I’ll have to stop and walk home. I feel bad but just can’t face stopping. At 40 minutes we’re in the park and going up the hill and suddenly I start running freely and I feel great. Completed the rest of the 1h40 run feeling great. That night I head to swimming. I get in bang on time and push on ensuring no time is wasted – this is a sure sign I’m motivated. During the main set I manage a 2.35 200m and a 5.28 400m. Not gone better than that for a few years now.

This morning no worries getting up and out on the fixed. Jo and I spend an hour doing 2-up with 2-3 minute pulls. I feel good pushing myself. Then head to the pool and before I know it I’ve done a good steady 7.1km in under 2 hours. I enjoyed ‘flow’ during the swim and was thinking about nailing my training and being super strong and flying at Wisconsin and then going even better at Kona. Tonight I headed to the clubs Thursday night run, I felt light on my feet but made a point of only doing a few intervals. Felt great running back and patted myself on the back for being so wise.

2 days ago if someone had said I’d feel like this now I wouldn’t have believed them. Fingers crossed that thats the down in the dumps period over and now I can  start training hard.

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Difficulty Getting Out Of Bed

Posted on July 15, 2008 by lord_lordy

GrandCanyonThis is me just before I ran to the Inner Canyon and back when visiting the Grand Canyon with my mum. Back in the days where I did stuff like that just for the sheer challenge and to see what I could do.

I’ve been wondering recently whether I’ve lost touch with why I enjoyed getting in to Ironman. Back in the days before I was ‘serious’ and before I heard people telling me to change how I train. I should just get back to what I enjoyed and thats testing out my endurance limits.

Perhaps thats what I need to do to get my motivation back.

Had a couple of topics I considered for this entry. Probably touch on them both. The first is nothing to do with the title. This past weekend, in fact, this past Sunday there were 4 different Ironman Races on and I knew one or more people in each of them. All seemed to have awesome races, which is fantastic. I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon online checking up on them all. So well done to Gabriel and Helen at IM Austria, Gary, Rafael and Russ at IM Switzerland, Chris, Richard, Pete, Nick and John at Roth and finally Kevin at Forestman. I hope u all read this blog ;o)

Now to the main topic. I’ve always been a morning person. Alarm goes off I get up. No problems whatsoever. I’ve always been very unsympathetic with people that can’t get up. Well… is this about to change. For the past few months I’ve found it so difficult getting up. The alarm goes and my whole body just feels like a dead weight. This morning I got 8 hours sleep before my alarm went off. This always used to be more than enough to guarantee a sprightly start but this morning even though I had agreed to meet Roger in St Neots at 11am (a mere 75 miles or so away) I was, literally, unable to muster the energy to get out of bed. I had to text and cancel which I felt so guilty about as I pride myself on being reliable. It’s got me thinking.

I’m getting worried I may have tipped into overtraining and not realised it. Took a look at my HR data in the run up to New Zealand verses run up to Germany:

New Zealand: Av – 42, min – 29, max – 55

Germany: Av – 48, min – 35, max – 65

Funnily enough this reassured me ! The averages were no where near as different as I expected though I’t gotta be significant being 15% higher.

Really don’t know what do to. Part of me is screaming just push on with training as in the past once you establish a routine it all just ticks along perfectly. This was the case on Sunday – I didn’t feel hugely motivated to train but once out on my fixed I motored along and felt great. Completing a 75 mile loop in 4 hours – more or less equalling the previous best (which had been on my TT bike). The other part of me is saying rest abit more. This doesn’t feel right though. I rested so much post Epic and then at Germany didn’t really push that hard on the run so why should I need more rest now. No conclusions as yet.

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Trying To Regain Focus

Posted on July 10, 2008 by lord_lordy

MeAtRaceWeightMe at race weight.

Sorting through email found this quote on race weight from a buddy:

“The trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you’ve been sick. then you know you’re within 5 kgs. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you’ve got cancer or aids, you’re within 2.5 kgs . when they actually do an intervention, you’re at race weight”

Trying to get focussed on getting ready for Wisconsin now. Been really pretty down over the past few days. I normally get severe post Ironman blues but with such an awful performance it’s hit even worse. Been thinking alot about motivation – whether I can face the training required to get a performance I will be happy with. My conclusion so far is I’m not sure but best just crack on with the training and see how it goes.

Thanks to several of you that have sent me emails. Very sensible words and thanks so much for not congratulating me on a good race ! When someone that has any knowledge of me says something like ‘great race” when it clearly wasn’t it just makes me feel worse and think them pretty insensitive !

So been reviewing my performance and preparation a bit more. Big thing I did well in the run up to New Zealand were brick sessions. In the main 4 week build phase I managed 13 brick sessions , the similar period ahead of Germany saw me do 5. I’m certainly going to ensure I get them completed this time round.

Last night we had drinks after swimming to shoot the breeze about Ironman Germany. It was good to talk it through with fellow triathletes over a beer. I was quite open about the most frustrating thing for me which was my inability to pull it back together mentally once I’d realised I’d misread my watch on the run. It provided a nice excuse not to hurt and I took it. I’m just not pleased with myself about that. I like to think I’m tough but perhaps I’m not. For Wisconsin I am going to do alot of mental preparation for the run and think through how it must feel for me to be running fast. I re-read my Longest Day Report and realise with the right motivation I can really push hard on the run. The question is how to do this in an Ironman when the person you are chasing down is not really obvious. Something to ponder.

I managed to get out and swim last night. Felt good but kept it short. Similarly today I got out on the bike, felt good but kept it short. This is better than in the past following an Ironman. Tomorrow will swim and run with abit of luck. Hopefully feel ready to train more formally next week.

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