Well I am back at work, in the New Year, just about to start a small taper towards Ironman 70.3 and I have just completed the biggest block of training so far.
The plan was always to do big bike miles in our leave. I initially had rather ambitious visions but we tempered them quite considerably. The last two weeks have been hugely beneficial and I can feel my fitness (and hunger) have taken on new proportions.
Week 1 totalled at 26h and 450km of time on the Springkaan. There was some MTB, Canal Swim and a session of pool swimming in there with some tekkie to tar. Pretty good if a bit short on swimming.
Week 2 was 20h with 411km on the bike with harder rides and bricks. I had my best swim in the Canal and my worst swim and the roughest on New Years Day. Yes that one was special with swell and waves breaking over Cherry.
I spent most of the rest of my time eating and resting on the couch! It was interesting to feel my hunger increase dramatically in the second week. The one morning I had yoghurt and berries and some fruit for breakfast, followed by left over steak from the braai the night before. Snacks filled the gap before lunch…. I also noticed that Rehydrat really helped recovery. One sachet after a long session really helped get a bit of pep back into the system.
I feel in really good shape for 70.3 and I hope to be able to smash it!
I can not help to look back at the parts of Lore of Running which are still relevant. I remember reading about Mark Allen’s training program. A sample peak week would include 28km swim, 800km bike and 130km run. I did not even come close to his “Patience Phase” which has 600 odd km of biking. That kind of puts everything into perspective. No matter how hard we try the pro’s are in a different league. We mere mortals just can not compete with that training load. So James, Kent, Dan and Conrad are safe for now! 😉 Having said that I am really pleased with the last few weeks and I look forward to building to IM full in April.
Here a rather amusing clip on East London:
leo rust 