Is
Ironman training tough?
There
are two answers to this – Yes and No (Obvious I hear you say)
Why
No?
The training
is not tough, it’s managing family life, work, commuting, eating, sleeping,
recovery etc around the training.
Why
Yes
Because
as an amateur athlete (yes I did call myself an athlete) the things I have
mentioned above come first. Hence the need to fit training around these
important things. The pros have it easy J
What
the above has thought me recently is that a very very important aspect of
successful IM training is a good support team around you. Thankfully I have
that in the form of a very understanding wife (although she is getting a
holiday to Austria out of this so she is not completely neutral J ) and kids (they have no idea what’s going on, but anytime I
look at the front door they wave at me and say bye bye). There are a lot of
others who have offered advise and encouragement recently too, so thanks for
that. I’ll have dozens of more questions over the coming weeks for you to
answer.
Training
has been very consistent recently so happy with that. The bike rides and the
runs are getting longer. I’m starting to feel stronger during them and I’m
happy and content with the improvements made in these disciplines. Swimming is
still consistent, but I haven’t felt as comfortable in the water over the last
few weeks as I was. I’m not sure what the cause of this is, but I’m not losing
faith in it yet.
The
brick sessions are tough, and one thing they have thought me is the need for
pacing. I really can’t pace properly and that could be a problem if I don’t
correct it over the next few weeks. The longer bricks are due to start soon so pacing
will be a key focus area during those sessions.
Ssshhhh,
don’t tell too many people, but the wind, yes that damned wind, appears to have
subsided over the last 2 weeks. Some spokesman for some wind farm was on the
radio last week talking about how little wind we had in Ireland for the last six
months. I felt like dragging him through the speakers, tying him to a bike and
sending him out for 4 hours on it.
For
the most part, the road surface in our beautiful countryside is utter rubbish,
so I think the motorways should be shut down for one day a month to allow all
us tax paying cyclist use them at our leisure. What ya reckon? Whatever
politician brings this in gets my vote. I don’t see it happening, but one can
always hope.
It’s
been a while since I reported on the weight management situation. The current
status is
Weight
– 73.2kg
BF –
13.1%
Now
this was before I was away for the weekend, so it could shoot up again. To be
honest, I am finding it difficult to maintain because it appears that all I
have to do is think about food or look at food to put on weight.
I’ll
know I have successfully reached my goal race weight when my grandmother tells
me I look miserable.
That’s
all for the latest instalment, so here’s to another few successful training
weeks.