Time flies and the race date is quickly creeping up. My injuries (knee, back & shoulder) have not healed, but are now in a manageable state. I am almost back to full training, but have to monitor the injuries (especially the knee) very carefully. Anymore setbacks at this stage could put the Ironman in doubt, and you get very little refund back from the very expensive entry fee.
All of my current training is at an aerobic zone, which for me means keeping my heart rate under 137bpm. This is sometimes called the fat-burning zone, as when training at this level, most of your energy is sourced from stored fat instead of glycerin, meaning you do not require as many carbs to keep going. In theory, over time my body will become more efficient working in this zone and I'll get faster for the same effort. Above the aerobic zone is referred to as the anaerobic zone. Training anaerobically will build strength and develop more speed and power, but result in a lot more stress on the body and greatly increase the chance of injury. It was the anaerobic work I did during the Duathlon series that resulted in my knee injury.
I am more or less unrestricted in how much swimming I can do, so I have been trying to swim most days. An easy session is around 1500m and the longer sessions are up to 3km. I need to get comfortable swimming 4km and maybe even do a 5km open water race. The shoulder is always sore when I start the swim, but seems to be behaving itself once I'm warmed up. My recent swims have not included any speedwork, so I have not broken any swim PBs. However I am finding that I am posting reasonable 400m freestyle times without a lot of effort, which is a good sign.
When I ride, I am very aware of my knee. It is not really a soreness, but an awareness that the knee is not 100%. I'm told the next morning is the best indicator of how the knee is holding up to training and my knee is usually at its best the day after a ride. The knee actually feels better when I am riding my Triathlon bike due to the steeper seat angle, but unfortunately my bum is not agreeing with the seat on the tri-bike when I go for long rides, so I'm tending to ride more on the road bike. Hopefully this week I'll get to the bike shop and try some different seats. Last Friday I did a very slow 110km in 4h21m - I felt pretty shattered by the end, and my bum still hurts 3 days later. I'm booked in to do the 200km Alpine Classic ride in January which is only 8 weeks away - so I have a lot of work to do here.
Saturday saw my first run without any walk breaks since the MRI. My knee had become quite sore due to a Christmas party on the Friday night, but it seemed to hold out quite well. Generally my knee feels great when I run (completely pain free, not even an awareness), but usually pulls up a touch sore the next morning. I could feel my knee on Sunday, but it was quite minor, so I am still feeling quite positive. I will run 8km today, 9km on Wednesday and hopefully 10km on Friday. While this progression looks great, I need to get my long run up to around 30km before the Ironman. Chances are I'll be racing very much underdone in regards to the run. To keep my heart rate under 137bpm, I currently need to run at around 5m55s pace - this is very (almost uncomfortably) slow, and hopefully this will improve closer to 5m00s pace before the race. I will be disappointed if I cannot at least run at 5m30s pace (3h51m Marathon).
Overall I am a long way behind where I hoped I'd be at this stage, but if my body holds out, I still believe I can get into condition in time. The last 3 weeks have seen me log good training loads - 9.5, 11.25 & 13.5 hours. Due to the easy level of training this has felt quite easy. At first, all the aerobic training actually loosened up my muscles, but as I've extended the amount of time (in particular the long ride), they have started to stiffen up again. It is the stiffness in my quads, ITB and VMO that pull on my patella tendon causing the inflammation, so I will definitely need to pay close attention to this.
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