I was reminded yet again on the bike in a race this week that I’m not at the place where chasing marginal gains will benefit me. I’m still very much at the stage where I just need to do a lot more of the basics and get the training done. All of the icing can be put on top of the cake in a couple of months if I can first address the weakness of my bike leg.
It’s very frustrating as the bike was always the area where I was strongest, now it’s my weakest discipline. I guess I just haven’t put in enough work so far. Ais also reminded me that we haven’t actually done anything yet in training that would give me a strong bike leg, in fact we have stayed away from the big volume and very hard bikes on purpose during the busy season in work because I struggled with doing these and recovering last year.
Related: Lanesboro triathlon: Two Provinces race report
The logical part of me knows this is true but the emotional side of me finds it very hard not to panic. My urge is to go out and ride every day this week for hours. “Massive volume will sort it out” I think.
Then I stop myself. I have to trust Ais. She is the coach and has a plan. I can’t take the parts of her plan that I like and then tack on my own ideas. That just won’t work. I can give my feedback and tell her how I feel things are going but I can’t constantly question what she’s doing and not expect to get a whack of a dog toy or something. Ais doesn’t have a lot of time for stupidity or doubt. She’s very black and white about things. Do the work and the results will come and don’t constantly analyse every detail.
And especially don’t question the coach if you want your plan for next week to land in front of you on Sunday afternoon.
Ineed to remember that Ironman is much more about the big picture than how one session goes or how I feel on a given day in isolation. I tell this to athletes all the time, don’t sweat the small stuff. For the most part the exact details of what you get done on a 5 hour bike ride or a 3 hour run matter less than the fact that you got the five hour ride or a 3 hour run done.
Still, knowing all of that doesn’t stop the growing ball of fear in my belly that I’m not doing enough. I think the fear is good sometimes, it’s what gets me out of bed at 5am to go to the pool or onto the bike for a long ride in the rain and cold. The fear of failure is a big part of what drives me and makes me keep on pushing. The fear of failing in public on my blog or here while putting all of this out for the world to read in Lava magazine is an even bigger driver.
The reason I trust Ash’s guidance is that she isn’t governed by that fear. Her coaching decisions are based on her instinct and experience and what she thinks is best for me. They aren’t based on an irrational fear of failing to perform in a race that’s still nearly four months away. And while she tailors my plan almost daily if needed to how I’m physically reacting to the training load she doesn’t tailor it to how I’m handling it emotionally.
She just tells me to get my shit together, get the work done and stop thinking and worrying about it afterwards. Trust the plan. Trust the work. I’ve said it to our athletes hundreds of times reassuring them when they are struggling to see the big picture.
I know she’s right. But it’s hard to not worry when I’m on the bike and the legs no longer do what they’ve always done in the past. It’s hard to ignore a rider going by me on a road bike while I’m on the tri bike (that must have been very satisfying for him) even as I look at him riding hard and I’m on a long easy day. It doesn’t matter. It knocks my confidence. And athletes are all about confidence.
When things are going well I feel like I could run straight through a wall or ride anyone off my wheel. When they’re not going well I feel like shite.
But I need to just continue to get the work done and trust the plan. It will come around I tell myself.
So with all of that inward naval gazing done lets see how the week went…
Monday 10th 1:55 (1)
Run 1:55 23k
Progression run
10 easy 45 IMRP (Ironman race pace) 45 HIMRP (Half Ironman race pace) 15 cd
Target: First 45 at just under 5 min/k. Second 45 at 4:30-4:35
Splits for those interested in the numbers.
- First 45: 4:58, 4:58, 4:58, 4:55, 4:58, 4:58, 4:55, 4:53
- Second 45: 4:46, 4:33, 4:32, 4:35, 4:36, 4:30, 4:32, 4:33, 4:33, 4:33
- Energy: Legs were heavy from yesterday’s climbing but effort/energy was good.
- Motivation 10/10
- Work off
- Sleep 6.5 hours
Tuesday 11th —
Off
- Energy 8
- Motivation 8
- Work 14 hours
- Sleep 7 hours good
Wednesday 12th 2:25 (2)
Swim 1:25 4300m
Bike pm 1:00 25k
- Energy 8/10
- Motivation 10/10
- Work 10 hours
- Sleep 7 hours
Thursday 13th 2:15 (1)
AM bike 2:15 67k
Inc 6×2 mins hard
Friday 14th :50 (1)
Swim :50 2500m
- Energy 5/10
- Motivation 7/10
- Work 12 hours
- Sleep 7.5 hours. Good
Saturday 15th 1:25 (1)
Run :15 3k easy warm up. Race Lanesboro Two Provinces race. Report available here
- Swim :15 800m (12:44)
- Bike :35 20k (34:15)
- Run :20 5k (20:43)
- Energy 8/10
- Motivation 8/10
- Work 2 hours
- Sleep 7.5 hours. Good
Sunday 16 3:20 (1)
Bike 3:20 100k
Tri bike steady/Ironman pace
- Energy 8/10
- Motivation 8/10
- Work 6 hours
- Sleep 8 hours, good
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