Time to update this with the last few sessions.
Wednesday 27th June1hr easy spin before work
After work: cinema (finally had time to watch Avengers Assemble!) and drinks
Thursday 28th JuneDay off - early into work, should have done something afterwards but the Toon was completely flooded!
Friday 29th JuneDoing random jobs & shopping ahead of the race. Last two sessions as well:
Swim: Concentrated solely on technique and form - 1500m in 27:30
Easy run: 3.4M in 26:18 @ 7:44/mile pace
Saturday 30th JuneTravel down to Nottingham & registration. Tempted to put all the walking to & from the train stations as training hours but I won't.
Sunday 1st JuneThe OutlawSwim: 1:07:00
T1: 7:03
Bike: 6:21:41 @
T2: 6:21
Run: 4:23:07
Looking back, Fink's Competitive Plan seems to have done exactly what I was hoping for when I started it. My swim has improved (mainly a function of increased volume & consistency), my bike stamina is
much better, and my running is basically the same as it was a year ago. Which is a good thing, as I was expecting my top speed to drop off massively as training progressed.
That said, I did make a few changes to it. The first five weeks or so before Christmas (it started on 1st December for me) were all about building the base and were actually less than I was currently doing, so I didn't stick to the sessions religiously at first. Instead I just made sure I was doing the right type of session on the right day to get used to the consistent layout of the week (i.e. I never normally used to train on a Friday after work, or have Monday off completely, or swim on consecutive days).
The Tuesday run sessions were substituted for the regular Harriers club night - about the same duration, and much better quality speedwork.
The Wednesday & Thursday bike sessions were steady Z2 rides with a bit of efforts put in later on; I substituted these for turbo sessions or spin classes. I think I would have got far too bored otherwise.
The Saturday bike sessions - I was already ahead of what the programme said when it started, so I just aimed to stay the same distance ahead of the book each week i.e. when it was saying a 1hr30 ride I was on 2h30, when it went up to 2h I was on 3h, etc. This was deliberately done because, as was pointed out by the Northern Witch, the bike was (and remains) by far my weakest discipline. I actually came to enjoy those long rides by the end of the programme, although the early morning starts to fit everything in got very old very quickly.
The Sunday run - I was also further ahead of this when it started (my normal Sunday run is about 1:45-2:00 and the programme started at about 45-60mins) so I just kept it were it normally was until the programme caught up. With the extra impact involved in running longer distances I didn't want to risk injury, plus I had some Achilles trouble in February/March which stopped me doing much of this anyway.
So that's it all done. Goals for the rest of the year all involve short races and enjoying training, doing more of it in larger groups rather than on my own because nobody else wants (for "wants" read "is stupid enough") to go out that far, that early, or that slowly. Still going to do enough long distance sessions to maintain a decent endurance base, but nothing so extreme as before. Operation Big Unit will be restarted with a vengeance. And I'm going to put some serious effort into reestablishing my social life too!
I hereby declare this training log finished. I hope it might possibly come in useful for anyone else considering using a Be Iron Fit plan.