Tough Progress in June

My last 2 weeks of May saw running mileages of 44 and 43km, followed up by a 43km run the first week in June.  The initial plan was to be running over 60km a week by now, but for now I'm just happy to be stringing consistent weeks together.

Then I became ill. It seemed everybody at work was getting sick and I was lucky enough to get two bouts.  Needless to say this really ruined the training load in June.

So instead of my running mileage increasing up to 70km per week as planned, it dropped to the mid 30’s. And the swimming momentum I was experiencing last month was also completely ruined and my bike riding was almost non-existent. Very disappointing, but sickness is always going to be a factor when trying to train through a Melbourne Winter. A factor I believe is made worse due to my daily tram trip (whereas I used to do all my commuting to and from work by Motorbike).

1 June to 7 June

  2 swims - 5.9km

  1 ride - 98km

  5 runs - 43km

8 June to 14 June

  no swimming

  1 mountain bike ride - 19km

  3 runs - 32km

15 June to 21 June

  2 swims - 4.2km

  1 ride - 76km

  3 runs - 32km

22 June to 28 June - recovery week

  1 swim - 2.4km

  1 ride - 54km

  3 runs - 35km

July will now become more of a rebuilding month and hopefully we can get things back on track.

Jen completed her Half Ironman in Cairns in 6h54m53s (9th in her age group out of 17 starters). She went off course in the swim resulting in a longer than expected swim split (50m46s, slowest in her category). This also meant she started the bike at the rear of the field. Fortunately riding is her strength and she gained gain quite a few place with an excellent ride (3h09m00s, 5th fastest in her category). I thought her run was quite good, but Jen was disappointed (2h39m46s, 13th in her age group but very close to several others). It is also going to be very difficult to come from a Melbourne Winter to race in the tropics, especially when you are doing a Long Distance Triathlon.