Taper week 1

This week I have been tapering back my training and doing about half the previous week's training. I seem to be more tired not doing the training although my muscles do not, I suppose that is the way it should be.

Insect Bite

On Monday I did a nice easy 4 mile cross country which was fine until afterwards I realised I had been bitten by an insect on the top of my calf. The next day it had started to turn red and swell up a bit. This is the sort of thing I wanted to avoid in the last few weeks before the race.

Luckily I work in a hospital so was able to buy some stuff from the pharmacy. It seems to be working and has now significantly reduced. It is not causing me any issues now training and have since been swimming and running.

Race Haircut

At the weekend I got my race haircut for the Ironman.

I was planning to get it cut short but it is shorter than I planned for. I don't think I have had it cut this short since I was at primary school.

The only way to describe it is a military style hair cut.

It however was good for doing the 4 hours cycling in the heat at the weekend, so hopefully will be good for the race.

Weekly Update

This week I did nearly 11 hours of training which was spread quite evenly between the three areas.

25% swimming, 40% cycling and 35% running.

The cycling and running had a long session. The swim was all pool based doing short sessions which I made some technical improvements during the last few. Some of the swims where also before a running session with a few days I did triple training sessions.

The Taper Begins

Today I did my last session before the two weeks of tapering down before the ironman.

I did a 62 mile (100 km) cycle ride with the temperature on my cycle computer reaching 34C (93F). I did this in just over 4 hours.
This was fairly good time as the route was undulating with a few big inclines and declines, so was a good training route for two weeks time. From my GPS the route had over 3,600 ft (1,100 m) of ascent.

I was also eating solid food on the bike every 20 minutes which was good to practice which I felt ok doing and when I finished.

I decided against doing any further on the bike or a run due to the heat, as that would have affected me and I did not want risk that being so close to the event now.

Swim Improvements

Over the last 3 swim sessions in a pool I felt I have made some improvements with my technique. With better timing on the stroke with the body rotation phase, this has improved my speed but not making any more fatigued afterwards.

I just need to try this in a lake now, hopefully at the weekend.

Weekly Weigh in

This week I have lost 1.75 lb (0.8 Kg), however my % body fat did increase by 0.5%.

The weight loss was mainly due to the longer training sessions which where done at a lower intensity which uses a different fuel source (more fat).