Ironman Barcelona 2015 - 10 Week Training Summary

Here is a quick review of my last 10 weeks leading into Ironman Barcelona.

Training time was at a premium.  During this period Lynn had a serious car crash, we moved house, it was the summer holidays and we needed to entertain the girls, and then we had to adjust to increasing commuting time for the girls school runs.  Training, although usually high priority for me, was not high on the family priority list!  That said, Lynn gave me some great support and encouraged me to find time for training, often sacrificing her own spare time to support me.

A couple of quick observations:

• I had almost two weeks out whilst trying to get my left knee fixed - it had been swollen, crunchy and cracking since the end of May and I had tried - in vain - to train on it.  The MRI and the cortisone injection was the last throw of the dice!
• Run training was limited throughout.  Long run peaked at 1 hour! It was painful to run beyond that.  I tried to make up for that in the last few weeks by increasing frequency of shorter runs.  Most of this running was steady - nothing particularly fast.
• All bike training was indoors on the turbo trainer.  Managed to do quite a few 2 hour + sessions to try and build some endurance.
• Swim training was consistent, notching up 18 sessions (all in a pool) during the 10 weeks.  However, all sessions were 40-50 minutes.
• All gym sessions focused mainly on core work, with some low-weight leg exercises as the knee started to get better.

In summary then.  Over the 10 weeks, I averaged just less than 8 hours per week, with an average of 8 sessions per week.  78 sessions consisted of 24 bike sessions, 20 run sessions (including 5 short runs in race week), 18 swim sessions and 16 sessions in the gym.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 10 8 hours 26 minutes	Turbo – 70’ Tempo	-	Turbo – 180’ 6x20’ @z3	Run – 30’ Easy	-	Turbo – 75’ Strength endurance	Turbo – 150’ 5x20’ @z3
Week 9 8 hours	Run – 55’ Steady	Turbo – 60’ 10x3’ @z4	Gym – 25’ Swim – 60’	Gym – 25’ Swim – 50’	-	Turbo – 60’ Strength endurance	Turbo – 144’ 3x30 over/under
Week 8 6 hours 50 minutes	Gym – 45’ Swim – 40’ Turbo – 75’ 5x10’ z3/4	Physio	Resting swollen knee	Resting swollen knee	Resting swollen knee	Gym – 50’ Swim – 40’	Gym – 55’ Swim – 45’
Week 7 3 hours 6 minutes	Resting swollen knee	Resting swollen knee	Resting swollen knee	Turbo – 50’ 4x8’ z3	MRI Scan	Turbo – 75’ 10x5’ z3	Gym – 60’
Week 6 8 hours 6 minutes	Turbo – 70’ 5x10 z3	Run – 35’ Steady	Cortisone injection	Gym – 30’ Swim 40’	Run – 35’ Steady	Turbo – 120’	Turbo – 120’ Tolerance efforts
Week 5 10 hours 29 minutes	Turbo – 120’ Z3 efforts Run – 10’ Brick	Gym – 50’ Swim – 50’	-	Turbo – 55’ 10x3’ z4	Gym – 20’ Swim – 45’ Run – 65’ Steady	Turbo – 120’ 4x20’ z3	Swim – 60’ Run – 35’ Steady
Week 4 10 hours 30 minutes	Gym – 25’ Swim – 40’ Run – 30’ Steady Physio – 70’	Turbo – 70’ 3x10 z4	Run – 30’ Steady Swim – 55’	-	Run – 48’ Tempo	Turbo – 140’ 3x30’ over/under	Gym – 40’ Swim – 45’ Run – 35’ Easy
Week 3 12 hours 14 minutes	Turbo – 150’ 5x20’ z3 Run – 50’ Brick	Gym – 30’ Swim – 25’	-	Turbo – 70’ 5x10’ z3	Gym – 40’ Swim – 50’	Turbo – 95’ 2x20 z3 1x30’ race pace Run – 60’ Brick	Turbo – 120’ 4x20’ Run – 30’ Brick
Week 2 7 hours 43 minutes	Gym – 40’ Swim – 45’	Physio	Gym – 20’ Swim – 40’ Run – 40’ Easy	Turbo – 50’ 10x3’ z4	Gym – 30’ Swim – 40’	Turbo – 60’ 2x20’ Race Pace	-
Race Week	Swim – 40’ Run – 30’ 4x2’ efforts	Run – 25’ Steady	Run – 20’ Steady Swim – 35’	-	Bike – 40’ Run – 10’	Run – 15’	RACE DAY

Ironman Barcelona – Training Review

I’ve had a review of my training leading into IronmanBarcelona.  After a couple of weeks of rest and unstructured training after a disappointing Ironman UK, I started training properly with 8 weeks to go.

A couple of key areas to point out:

• Most weeks were less than 10 hours worth of training
• There was a stronger focus on higher intensity work
• I ran at least three times per week – sometimes four – and included interval work and a ‘faster’ long run
• Long run peaked at 2 hours
• Cycling was limited to twice per week – generally strength intervals and longer ride
• Long bike peaked at 4 hours
• Swim was squeezed in when possible, with limited structure
• I maintained a session in the gym on most weeks, focussing on core strength, stability and mobility
• I had a minimum of one rest day per week, sometimes two.
• There was consistency in the training
• Most days had just one session, ensuring I was ‘fresh’ to perform that session

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Week 8 7 hours & 40 mins	Rest	Run (Tempo)	Gym Speed Swim Turbo Intervals (3x10’)	Run (Speed intervals)	Bike (Strength Intervals) Run (Brick)	Rest	Run (Long) 1hr40 inc. 2x20 @ 4.30min/k
Week 7 10 hours	Swim (Threshold) Bike (Strength Intervals)	Rest	Run (Intervals – 4x8’ @ 4.30min/k) Gym Short Swim	Bike (Strength Intervals) Sports Massage	Run (Long) 2hrs10 (inc 2x20’ @ 4.30min/k)	Rest	Run (Sprint Intervals)
Week 6 8 hours & 50 mins	Run (60’ Tempo)	Bike (70’ Tempo)	Bike (3hrs30 tempo)	Run (30’ easy)	Run (Long) 1hr40 (inc 2x20’ @ 4.30min/k)	Bike (Strength Intervals)	Rest
Week 5 10 hours & 15 mins	Bike (FTP Intervals)	Run (Intervals 4x8’ @ 4.20min/k)	Bike (Long) 4 hours	Run (Sprint intervals)	Swim (Threshold)	Rest	Run (Long) 2hrs (inc 3x20’ @ 4.25min/k)
Week 4 11 hours and 35 mins	Bike (Strength Intervals)	Run (Intervals 4x8’ @ 4.20min/k)	Bike (Long) 4hrs Run (30’ Brick)	Rest	Swim (Speed intervals) Gym	Swim (Speed intervals)	Run (Long) 1hr50 (inc 3x20’ @ 4.25min/k)
Week 3 8 hours and 45 mins	Swim (Speed intervals)	Run (Sprint intervals)	Bike (Long) 3hrs Run (50’ brick)	Run (Intervals 4x8’ @ 4.20min/k)	Swim (Threshold) Gym	Rest	Swim (Threshold)
Week 2 9 hours	Bike (Mixed inc FTP test) 1hr45 Run (50’ Brick)	Rest	Bike (IM Race Pace - 1hr30) Run (30’ Brick)	Run (50’ Tempo) Sports Massage	Gym Short Swim	Rest	Bike (IM Race Pace – 1hr) Run (20’ Brick)
Race Week	Run (Steady with 4x2’ efforts)	Run (Easy with 4 x 1.30 efforts) Sports Massage	Swim (Speed intervals) Run (Easy)	Bike (60’ tempo) Swim (Wetsuit) Run (Easy with 4 x 1’ efforts)	Bike (60’ steady with efforts) Short wetsuit swim	Rest	RACE DAY