Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Week 16: IM Candidate

Summary of Week 16

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Training Goal: Absorb and recover
Personal Goal: Salvage training
Distance Covered: All Activities:289.37km
Duration: All Activities: 15h26m
Elevation Gain: 1677m
Overall Training Completion Rate (Actual Vs Planned):
117.1%

Swim Time:
1h27m
Swim Distance:
3.6km

Bike Time:
10h22m
Bike Distance:
260.34km
Elevation Gain:
1523m
*For indoor bike - time measurement only
**Including brick

Run Time:
2h54m
Run Distance:
25.43km
Elevation Gain:
101m
*Including brick (none this week)

Time Spent Doing Strength/Core/Stability Exercises:
37h04m
*Including rest/chit chat

Time Spent Stair Climbing (ascent):
4m38s
Elevation Gain:
53m
*Based on what was recorded

Unaccounted for
~ run drills
~ stair - descent



Training Notes for Week 16:

1) Only 2 swim session scheduled this week. I didn't want to try and squeeze a swim and ending up not doing it. I've been doing this too long to know it just won't work. Since it's recovery week, swim was focused on form and just going easy. Swam at IM effort. Timing was ok but I think for OWS I'd probably lose more time. The long swim was ok in terms of expended energy and was sustainable. Pace was ok, no surprises there. Foregoing drills to save time has seen speed improvement plateu but swim fitness is improving though at a slower rate.

2) Right after coming back from kampung for the Raya Haji, went straight for a TT ride as a replacement for last week's ride. Still think haven't log enough mileage. As for the ride itself it was ok. There weren't any crazy hills so that's something I have to try and see how that'll effect the average bike speed. The spin bike session was used to maintain and simulate ironman effort. This week replacement ride from previous week see my TT bike going the longest it has ever gone at 120km. Could stay at TT position probably 70% of the time. I was bonking at 100+km. Highly likely due to me purposely experimenting how far I can go without taking any gels.

3) Intervals was tough as expected but rep reduced since its recovery week. The interval session was swiftly followed by a 50 min run. It's not ideal but had to be done to cater for the busy weekend. Ran a simple out and back for 40 min at kampung with focus on cadence and staying aerobic.

4) Brick was ok. No cramps and pace was good. The longer brick sessions simulates the discomfort I'd normally feel on long races. So I was really feeling the effect of the bike on the run. Pacing would be very important on the bike and on the run as well.

Feeling Notes for Week 16:

1) Trying to recover as much as I can this week. Also used this time to reflect on what was done, hence the mid term review. However, went for a longer than prescribed ride to make up for last week and that sort of derailed the whole recovery plan. This was my biggest week yet and its gonna get bigger.

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2) The training itself is not the hardest part. The hardest part is to remain consistent, committed and focused as things get routine/boring and life gets in the way of training. That is by far the toughest part of training - showing up to train. I am pleased though by how everything turned out and also by the fact that this week seems to pick up the slacks of previous week.

3) I'm starting to feel the heat of the Ironman. It's less than 2 months away. While training for the 70.3 and Powerman, 2 months is nothing and time would just fly by. It's actually a month and a half considering 2 weeks is reserved for tapering. I have 2 races coming up and that will occupy my attention and the next thing I know, I'll be packing my gear for the IM. But I can't quite see how the whole thing will turn out. In fact, currently, I'm quite anxious about starting the Ironman. And it's not because I'm not capable of doing the race. More on that in the mid term review.

4) Next week is the Mantin trail run and I'll take a day off work so I can complete the long bike ride. This is so I could have saturday off and hopefully show up fresh for the race on sunday. Looking at Week 17 schedule, plus the race on the weekend, its going to be big but I'm sure big weeks is what every IM candidate will have to go through.

5) Discovered that syncing issues happens after the garmin is charged. So I have to sync everything before the battery runs out or it will not upload on garmin connect after every charge. Sucks.

5)  52 days to Ironman Langkawi.

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