Week 1 of 26

So I said I'll share my training log up until the big race - Ironman Malaysia, Langkawi on September 27. Here's the first week of my 26 week build up.

Originally I didn't plan a rest day this week. I started the week off with a 50 minute session at the gym, alternating between arms, legs and core. My legs were still feeling a bit sore from the weekend run and on hindsight, I should have taken this day as a rest day. This became even more true on Tuesday. It was nice and sunny outside but the winds were really gusty and I didn't want to risk being blown off my bike after having not rode outside since November. So I went on the trainer but I felt no power in my legs at all. I decided to call it quits after 15 minutes.

I did make up for it the next day. I got home late and only started my ride at 6pm but luckily we still get daylight until past 8pm, so I was able to get a 60km ride in. I went to Thorndale and back. A pretty decent effort too, if I say so myself, averaging at 32kph.

Thursday's weather was a bit gloomy. I did a 12km run at Springbank, had a nice tailwind on the way out. The wind was blowing so strong that my legs could barely keep up with it. On the return lap though, it was pretty tough and I had to dig deep try maintain an even split - was slower by 3 seconds on the way back.

Friday it rained most of the day, so I spent another 90 minutes on the trainer. I'm not sure whether it's because it's getting warmer and I'm feeling more uncomfortable, or the resistance on the trainer actually gets harder with the higher temperatures. I was struggling to hit the speed I usually do in winter.

The weekend came and because I took an unscheduled rest day earlier, I packed two workouts on each day. Saturday I did a swim in the morning with my favourite main set - pyramid swim of 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m. At first, I had the whole lane to myself and then, 3 other guys came and did sprints. Yes, it was pretty crowded and in a 25m lane as well!

I took a nice long nap in the afternoon and hit the road for a long run in the evening. I've been gradually increasing my long run the past few weeks and this week, the plan was to hit at least 21km. The route I took got my clocking 21.7km with a 4:30 per km average, so I was pretty happy.

Sunday's weather was nice and sunny. I took my bike out for a ride heading towards Thorndale again and then a loop around Lakeside. The wind picked up on the way back and you guessed it, it was a headwind! My average speed dropped a bit but still glad to have done 90km in just over 3 hours. I was pretty tired but had a couple of hours rest, before I did a long swim set just after lunch - I was burping curry chicken! Main sets were 1km, 10 x 100m, 1km. The first two sets were okay but I did not have much left in the tank by the 3rd set and it was 30 seconds slower than the first.

I'm quite pleased with this week's training. I haven't been able to pull myself out of bed for a weekday morning swim but hopefully, I'll be motivated enough to do that next week.

Week 1 stats:

Swim 7.0km (2 hours 2 minutes)
Bike 205.1km (6 hours 24 minutes)
Run 33.7km (2 hours 30 minutes)
Gym (50 minutes)

Total 245.83km (11 hours 46 minutes)