Train hard, race ......... Also hard

So I have been building my training steadily since March. It has reached the point where I can tolerate 9 sessions a week without getting sick, 3 swims, 3 rides and 3 runs.

It looks something like this on a typical week:

Mon
- 6AM Swim 2km
- lunch 8.4 km run

Tues
- 7am 40 min ride on spin bike in gym holding heart rate between 140-150

Wed
- 6AM Swim 2km
- lunch 8.4 km run or 6-8 kms high intensity intervals on treadmill

Thurs
- 40 mins high intensity intervals on spin bike in gym, 2 mins on 1 min off

Fri
- 6am swim 2km plus a little bit if I have time

Sat
- 6:30am 24km hill run or 7:30am 11km intense hill run

Sun
- 100km hill ride or 120km Beach rd ride

Now that Ironman is 121 days away, I have to work out how to take things to the next level without adding too much training time.

I need more swimming pace, might have to do some stroke correction and maybe some squads.
I need to do more riding at a steady effort on flatter roads.
I need to run off long rides to get used to the feeling of running on tired legs.

All this training has transformed me physically. I have only a few kgs but have dropped my body fat percentage drastically.

So things aren't going to bad, just have to work out how to step up a level.

What did I sign up for?

The high from running a good marathon is dangerous.

It makes you do stupid things.

Very stupid things.

Things like sign-up for Ironman Melbourne 2014.

Those not familiar with Ironman, it is a single day triathlon comprised of a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and a 42km run (a marathon). It's a big step up with the longest I triathlon I have done being the Olympic distance of 1500 metre swim, 40km ride and 10km run. That said I have done the run and ride distances as stand alone events, it is only the swim and putting them all together on the same day that will be new.

So the next few months will be spent building a cycle base, working on run speed and avoiding swimming. I finish my Masters in June/July at which time I will start a more structured training program in all 3 disciplines. It's hard to get up at 5am when you have been studying to midnight.

Once into my structured program I will probably be doing 9 sessions a week, minimum 10-12 hours in total and building up to a peak of somewhere around 16 hours for a few weeks. This isn't a lot by Ironman standards so I will have to focus on getting the most out of each session. Learning nutrition will also be an important part of training. Finding out what food I can tolerated when under extreme stress and how many calories I can consume per hour.

It's a huge challenge, but I have learnt that if you manage your nutrition and get your pacing right the very hard becomes manageable. The pacing is the really tough one and the only way to learn it is through lots of good strong training and then not getting carried away on race day.

Having a goal is good for motivation and my weight has been steadily decreasing all year. Most of all I am loving getting out on my bike on a Sunday morning and spending a few hours enjoying the hills of Melbourne's North Eastern green wedge.