Madness.

Ironman 70.3

So we lost the plot one evening.

Lying in bed deciding on how we could kick start our new fitness life in Australia we somehow managed to sign up to an Ironman 70.3 (a half Ironman).

It’s madness I tell you.

With limited mental capacity to keep running further than 5km, cycling 10km and swimming more than 300m before my brain settled into a state of boredom and distress. This was going to be a challenge.

But we had done it now. And there was no going back. So with a few months gone by now and not much training been done. It’s time to crank it up and make myself accountable and get on with the dreaded training.

My lungs and heart are going to take a battering and my body is going to change the way it works and moves. Mobility training will come into its own with the majority of my training being single plane (moving in one direction) I am going to need to keep my joins and muscles aware of all the other directions they are designed to move and protect my body in.

So here we go.

The swim

1.9km open water swim.

The swim event for the Ironman 70.3 is an open water swim. Gosh that’s a long way.

With the thinking that the swim would be my weakest of the 3 events I have probably spent the most tome on this. And after my foes 600m swim I thought I would never be able to finish the swim section let alone get to the next 2.

Over the last month I have built up to a 2000m swim in just under and hour. Which is ok with 6months still to go. But I am training in a pool! Very different to open water.

I did try an open swim in a rather exposed section of coastline where the tide had turned and the currents were, let’s say bloody strong! So for my feeble attempt in the water ( also afraid of all the things in the water that could kill me) was about 150m against a current running the opposite directing down the coast. We’ll just say it was not a great experience.

So back in the pool. Now the Theory is that you need to swim 3/4 - 2 times more than the actual distance in a pool to be ready for the open water. Oh goodness.

2 swim sessions for about 1500 a 2000m or 1.5 to 2 hours a week should be enough.

Now for planning. It’s hard to plan 2 swims into a week if you work. Luckily I am job hunting. But that doesn’t mean that my mental motivation doesn’t get the better of me. From time to time.... or most of the time.

My swim where I did 2000 m in under an hour.

No idea if they are good or bad stats.

The bike!

90km with a cut off time of 5hrs from start.

Now this is my worst event.

If find this event the most boring and painful and full of the 3 disciplines.

And I am rubbish.

My “granny legs” or “chicken legs” don’t have any muscle so they do not like having to make the peddles turn. At least with the run you can generate momentum through the ankle to bounce off each step. But in cycling it just pure hell.

90km is looking like a very distant reality.

With a few outdoor rides of which one was up a “small” (by cyclist standards) mountain I nearly died. We had a route downloaded on the Garmin and when I got to the top it bleeped and buzzed. The route had been done by someone else and they were essentially a virtual ride buddy. But they had finished and got home by the time I made it to near the top. So a lot of work needed on this event.

I am planning on 2 rides a week one on the trainer and then one trying to get out (Queensland heat is a little be debilitating), or a brick session mixing a ride then a run.