Week 3 of 28.
‘Why aren’t you on Strava Iron’, asked one of my twitter followers this week.
He made a good point.
‘Why ain’t I on Strava?’ I asked myself’
For those that don’t know what Strava is, it’s a free app that you download onto your phone and record your rides & runs onto it as you do them for the world to see.
But the greatest feature of Strava is also one of the main reasons that I wasn’t on it.
Once you complete your bike, or run, a ‘leaderboard’ is then displayed and you can compare your times with everyone else that has ever done the same route as you.
You then spend the rest of your days trying to move up the leaderboard of your chosen circuit!.
This is very addictive.
Its like a real life computer game and you are ‘Player 1’.
But this ain’t the gig here….
As I touched on last week, Chasing rainbows and trying to PB the bike loop/move up leaderboards is my kryptonite and my ticket to an Ironman DNF!
But I understand that some of my followers and readers of this blog may like to see my training as I do it, so I was happy to oblige.
From now on I will post links to my training runs & rides each week in the stats section at the bottom of the page, thanks to Paul for pointing it out.
Having duly signed up I was itching to get out onto the loop again Wednesday and take Strava for a spin.
I’m sure you can guess what happened next….
I defy anyone to wire themselves up to strava for the first time, go out onto a route they know well, press record, and then not attempt to ‘smash’ the hell out it.
This is exactly what I did. (tut tut tut Iron, really, how long is this going to go on for?)
But before I started the loop on this weeks session I remembered another reason why I wasn’t on Strava.
As I sit by the side of the road in the freezing cold and the pissing rain, trying in vain to get Strava to work, I gets the error message…
‘No GPS signal being received’
I swear I nearly threw the damn phone into the river at one point.
I need to be starting my 50mile IMUK loops totally relaxed and in a happy, harmonious place….
Not stressed, vexed and wanting to throttle someone because I cant get bloody Strava to work.
As it turned out, it worked perfectly, and I was literally buzzing when everything ‘synced’ just as it should as I finished my loop.
For the stats lovers amongst you, a total of 1,339 people have recorded their IMUK loop time on Strava.
This weeks effort of 3:10 ranked 993, which, believe me, I am totally over the moon with! – remember I am still just buzzing that I can actually ‘do it’ & not come last.
1st place did it in 2:02 (but you are in IMUK legend Joe Skipper territoty here, british IM record holder lol) and last took 4:19.
Interstingly the average time is around 2.55, if I can find 15 minutes this would move me up 300 places to the ‘half way’ marker…….
And this is where Strava becomes dangerous for my IMUK plan.
As I keep saying, moving up PB leaderboards / chasing pot’s of gold at the end of rainbows really isn’t what I am trying to achieve here.
I vowed last week that I would stop chasing PB’s once and for all..
Strava wasn’t exactly condusive to that this week, ‘Ok, one last go at chasing the rainbow’, I said to myself on Wednesday, ‘but then that is definitely it’.
My first big test is coming at the end of January and we are nearly there…
All was well on this front until I awoke Saturday full of energy, with the sun streaming through the curtains……...
Here Is how I got on this week:
Swim
2 x 64 length sets, separate days, time of 39 mins & 38 respectively.
My time is not going anywhere but this doesn’t phase me.
My goal as always is to finish the session feeling strong like I could go and fight a lion, not feeling weak like I have just fought a lion by spanking all my energy trying to PB a mile swim.
Bike
Again I had Wednesday or Weekend available for my 50 mile IMUK circuit and with higher temperatures (8 degrees lol) 2mph wind and little rain forecast for Wednesday, midweek it was!
Wired up to Strava for the first time (see above) I couldn’t help put my foot down, and the first half of the circuit sailed by.
I kept seeing a group of cyclists up ahead at various points and I finally caught up with them just before Babylon lane.
Turned out it was a local tri coach, we had a quick chat and he very kindly invited me out with his group, whilst I really appreciated the invitation, I have been a lone wolf my entire journey up until this point, and I don’t intend to change that now! maybe later in the year, once the final chapter comes to a close.
The second half of the loop was once again much windier than the first, certainly felt much breezier than 2mph, but totally tropical compared to last week.
In the end I didn’t PB despite going for it, but I recorded a decent time of 3:10.
Just like last week I was meant to be taking it easy on Saturday and doing some hill work but once again awoke full of energy with the sun literally beaming through the curtains.
‘How can you not go and do the loop on a day like this?’ I thought to myself, and off I went.
Duly wired up to Strava, here we go again! my focus was firmly on the leaderboard!!!!
There were many more cyclists out today and it was an absolute joy to see Sheephouse Lane literally full of helmets making their way up.
It was here that I met Patrick, another IMUK first timer, and me and Patrick spent the entire 2nd half of the loop playing cat and mouse with eachother.
Half way into this ‘duel’ and I am thinking to myself ‘what the hell am I doing? I aint no Joe skipper, all I want is the Damn medal.’
Not only am I ‘racing’ the Strava leaderboards, but now I find myself getting into a ‘duel’ with another competitor, the exact thing that the Ironmen told me I should not be doing.
Once my loop was over, I sat by the side of the road waiting for Strava to ‘sync’. Patrick pulled over and we ended up having a good chat.
Turns out we are both in precisely the same boat, Strava Leaderboards, PB’s, ‘duels’ & ego’s getting in the way of the bigger picture, the IRONMAN picture.
We laughed but this is no laughing matter. Partaking in this behaviour is my guaranteed ticket to a DNF.
This needs to stop
Thankfully, 2 things are fast approaching that are going to help me.
- Next week will be my first of 6 Race simulations
- February will see me begin increasing the bike mileage.
I have had my fun on the bike, now its time to get serious….
Oh and I also achieved last weeks goal of getting the bike looked at, apparently I can either stay out of a certain gear or I need a new everything………Great
Run
Nice steady Sunday 10k @ 1:03 dropped it down a notch from last week, (penny finally dropping!!) certainly felt like I could ‘go again’ at the end of the run, exactly the feeling I am looking for!
Big lesson from this weeks run was to make sure I visit the loo before setting off!!! (annoyingly I already know this but didn’t do it & paid the price!!)
My first big run test of the year is coming at next weeks race simulation #1 of 6!
Brick
‘Gentle’ for want of a better word 15 minute jog after both 50 mile bike sets
Strength training
As always sitting in the sauna drinking my protein shake after my weights session is the highlight of my week.
Diet
Alcohol and smoke free since week 1, plan is to continue for the duration.
Still eating sensibly all day and closely monitoring everything that goes into my mouth
Food is fuel right?
Focus Areas For next Week
Slow the hell down stop chasing pots of gold PB’s at the end of rainbows!
Next Update
28/1/17 – Race Simulation #1 – Huge week next week!
Stats From Week 3
Weight @ my scales : 13st 5 lbs
Weight @ Bodytrax Scales : 13st 5 lbs
Muscle @ Bodytrax : 74.3%
Bodyfat @ Bodytrax : 22%
1 mile swim time : 38 mins & 39 mins (sep days)
47 mile IMUK bike loop (Weds) : 3:10 www.strava.com/activities/836059736
47 Mile IMUK bike loop (Sat) : 3:11 www.strava.com/activities/839175351
10k Run Time : 1:03 www.strava.com/activities/840297379
Total Training Hours : 10.5
To your amazing journey!
Readers should not be under the illusion that I am going into this 28 week Ironman plan straight ‘off the bat’ as it is not the case.
Full details of my journey, together with the exact training plans that I followed for each race and of course the secrets from the Iron men themselves will be revealed in my book, which will be available to download soon.
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