Fatman to Ironman: Ironman UK Training Week 6

Week 6 of the 30 week plan. Still remaining pretty much injury free & no planned sessions cancelled yet. Biggest issue i am having is a knot the size of a walnut in my calf muscle. Although regular massaging of it and foam roller use seems to be helping. Any advice on sorting out the calf muscles would be appreciated.

Training

Calories burnt for the year = 49,857
Training hours this week = 9 hours 54 mins

Monday

Coached swim 1 hour

400m warm up followed by 4 x 50m with the kickboard. Then 150m of those finger dragging drills.
Whole bunch of lengths, didnt count them but worked on my arm technique, felt like it was getting better, i was managing to keep up a bit more with the others tonight.

Penultimate set was a 200m time trial which i did in 4 minutes 39 seconds.

East coast Triathlon 250m swim took me 7 minutes 33 seconds.

Although i'm not doing any sprint triathlons this year i may have to revisit some of the ones i did last year in 2014. Just so i can see what progress i have made.

Tuesday

Bike 46 minutes / Run 15 minutes brick session

First step up on the weekly brick, extra 15 minutes on the bike ride. Started to increase my pace as

well. Bike ride Average 15.1 mph & run was a 8.48 min/mile average.

Heres the routes, both out and backs

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/232035940

http://app.strava.com/activities/40678991

Wednesday

Run 1hour 2 minute

Run felt ok but suffering when i got back. Shins now really painfull & calf muscles aching. Although i use the foam roller daily, going to have to spend more time on the calf muscles to sort myself out. Either that or seriously consider dropping a run.

Swim 1 hour

New PB on the swim. 88 x 25m lengths within the hour.

Thursday

Bike 1 hour 1 minute - Hill training 865ft

http://app.strava.com/activities/40876940

Did 7 climbs of Long John Hill in Norwich. Was glad when it was over, not the most exciting hours ride. Next weeks plan will be a circuit including Mansfield Lane climb and Long John Hill on each lap. Quite handy as these two are on my doorstep so i dont waste time riding over to Thorpe.

Friday

Rest day

Saturday

Run 17 minutes

Didn't do park run today. Acquired a pair of Newton Sir Isaac running shoes that a member of Trianglia couldnt get on with. Newton website suggested a slow transition into using them, hence the short run today. Will build up the time in them over the next few weeks. Meldy the wise woman from the RW forum also suggested doing warm ups using them as well.

Have to say, first impressions were very good. Definitely encourage a mid foot strike. Although i had been trying to adjust to this in my other shoes, it was quite easy to slip back into heel striking, because of the size of the clumping great heels i suppose.

Newton Sir Isaac running shoe
http://www.newtonrunning.com/shop/men-running-shoes/guidance-2010-white-black-sir-isaac-wide

Bike 2 hours 1 minute - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/233330812

Great ride today, warm and sunny, little wind. Kept a good average speed, although it has been very distorted due to strolling round Wymondham Abbey with the timer still running. Feeling a lot happier about being able to hold a decent time over the 112 mile Ironman ride.

Ticked off another 5 Churches today bringing my total to 78.
http://thecyclingnorfolkchurchspotter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/norfolk-church-count-78.html

Sunday

Run 90 minutes - http://app.strava.com/activities/41214234

Comfortable 9 mile run down to to Whittlingham country park & back. No issues, quite a few runners down there. Very muddy though down the bottom end of the lake as usual, although looks like they are tryng to sort it out with wood/bark chippings.

Swim 1 hour 1 minute

As Arleya has been ill this weekend there was no Karate for her so I didnt have to go to the UEA in the morning, i'll normally do this session whilst she is training. Gave me the opportunity to go this evening and give it a go in the 50 metre pool.

Was good but i was a bit slower, mainly due to people socialising on the side of the pool and getting in the way, despite this session supposedly meant for lane swimming. Some people were stopping mid length, treading water & chatting, quite bizzarre?? There are only 4 lanes available as the clubs use the other 4. I did switch into one of the middle lanes in the end which was a lot better.

Other stuff

Struggling for pictures this week so here are some token visuals for this week.

My new Trianglia beanie. Should stop Jeff (IronYank) mugging me off about myYankees beanie everytime he see's it.

I'm putting together a bulk order for trianglia members at the end of the month so pop onto the club website and place your orders.

The Blueseventy transition bag i won for completing an online triathlon survey arrived this week. Never imagined i would be so impressed with a bag but this thing is fantastic. Compartments for everything you could possibly need in a triathlon, including a waterproof wetsuit compartment. It even has a little hole thing for your headphones to connect through to an MP3 player in your bag.

http://www.blueseventy.co.uk/collections/accessories/products/transition-bag

Now this next picture is very exciting, not. The Newtons Paul at Trianglia sold me for a tenner to try out. Very comfortable & a perfect fit. Probably a better fit than my Saucony's.