Timing and Mindset

It is no surprise that my training over the last few months is significantly less compared to what I was doing last year when I was training for my first half (and full) Ironman triathlon events.

I was going to start to be more diligent and increase the number of sessions (keeping in mind the quality too) of training in Sept. This was haltered due to work commitments (my manager being away and me having to step in for much of the role) and recovery week in the middle of the month.

So for the week starting 23rd Sept, I decided that I must attempt to do more than one session a day and increase my runs and rides to 3 sessions a week (rather than just the two per discipline). I have no issues waking up early as I do this 5 days a week already with swimming, long rides (50% of the time) and runs. The reason for only doing one session a day during the week was that I would be so fatigued from the morning sessions that I wasn't able to dedicate the afternoon sessions at 100%. 

So yesterday was my first double session Tuesday since February of this year a few weeks prior to Melb Ironman. So yesterday was a run session at Albert Park. We did the usual warm up of about 3km, then it was 2km, 2 x 1km, 2x 1km increasing in pace as we go along. I didn't end up doing the 2 x 500 and 4 x 250 (marathoners did) as advised by the coaches as this was my first Tuesday am session. A gentle cool down later, I ended up doing a good 11km. My legs were still sore from the Sunday 18km (at an out of comfort zone pace) and I didn't end up soaking in the cold bay due to time restrictions with coaches up-skill session. I would say that it was a good session but I know that I do need to push harder and get use to the uncomfortableness of training again. As funny as it sounds, I am always afraid of stepping outside of my pain threshold as I have a fear of injuries and being an absolute dick in training - why run a fast T4 pace in the warm up when you have 8km+ left to do for the rest of the session?

During the working day, my legs were starting to feel the effects of a run session without the recovery (of a cold soak) and so I had to apply some muscle pain relief ointment on it. It soothed the soreness a small tad but the smell was too overpowering.

In the afternoon, it was my favorite training session - Tuesday night windtrainer session at MSAC. I love it as we get to sweat sweat sweat! I am also notoriously lazy at my own windtrainer sessions so being amongst others is what I need to get through the 60-70-90 and soon to be 120min sessions. We have started to get into a few race pace sessions (e.g. 10min at race pace and position) which I love as I get to train the brain to be more disciplined. We have also started to incorporate the nutritional needs in these sessions too. I tend to do more "trial" gels and flavours in these sessions as it is in a safe enough environment (not out on the roads without a toilet in sight).

By the end of the day, I was cooked. That day consisted of waking up at 4:45am to start run session at 5:45am, worked 8 hours and then a pretty demanding session in the evening. I would have burnt over 1000Cal just from the training for the day. I am really feeling the effects this morning as I struggled to wake up for the am swim session. Fortunately, I will be able to make up for it this afternoon.

I don't know how this will impact on my race performance (starting double sessions now) but I guess I am heading in the right direction. 

I have 18 days left until my next official half marathon (13th Oct), 39 Days until Noosa Olympic, 53 days until Shepparton 70.3, 130 Days until Challenge and 179 days until Melbourne Ironman. I think mentally (and physically) I am ready for an increase in the training load. I will just have to monitor how I progress not only in the intensity I am able to give to each session but also how quickly I am able to recover and bounce into the next.