2014 Pilgrim to Kalmar

[Jungle_re]

Everything has to start somewhere though I wish it was a slightly more auspicious start the Alan Partridge esq
Pork pie dinner in a Norwich travelodge! (As a side note Asda pork pies are shockingly bad so don't even make a good tasting guilty tea)

I'm on route to the relays via an offshore survival course on the back of a layup post st polten, 8 weeks at sea and a chest infection that took 3 weeks and two courses of antibiotics to cure. The car is load with Tri kit and the more important case of booze to make the last drink prior to Kalmer a tasty one, though in true BCTTT fashion completely forgot to pack any trousers so off to course this morning in rugby shorts, pure class

This is going to be a struggle but I suppose ultimately that's the appeal; there is no training routine I can follow that will get me guaranteed through it, no easy 20 week program to churn out and things will be ok. The outcome is unknown and will be to the end. I've taken a different job to try and accomplish this which means I have a 5/5 week rotation on ship roughly so can plan ahead. The hope is to use the time at sea to lose weight and maintain fitness or make minor gains if possible and beast myself in the 5 weeks at home each time.

Why is something I've yet to fully rationalise, which may not even be possible; the wheels and now in motion and once they start they can't be stopped. The longest journey starts with the first step and so it begins

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further: it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow,
Across that angry or that glimmering sea,

White on a throne or guarded in a cave
There lives a prophet who can understand
Why men were born: but surely we are brave,
Who take the Golden Road to Kalmar

[sonofsammo]

Why is not important. There is no why.
There just IS.
Good luck my friend - enjoy the journey

[Jack Hughes]

Your work turns this into a real challenge. Going to be interesting.

What sort of milestones are you going past on the way?

[Kevy427]

What sort of milestones are you going past on the way?

No milestones out on the wet, blue, wobbly stuff

Use your time on ship to do strength/flexibility with your FKPro, bodyweight exercises etc.

[Jack Hughes]

What sort of milestones are you going past on the way?

No milestones out on the wet, blue, wobbly stuff

Of course there are: last week I only managed three turns of the deck with Roger the cabin boy. Last night it was 6.

The idea is to come up with something that demonstrates continual forward progress. To act as both motivation and measurement. The challenge is being able to come up with something that is relevant.

[jonathon.e]

Looking forward to this, hopefully it will not be a duathlon

No reason why this is not workable, good luck.

[Jungle_re]

there are a few big things to get in on route
myblongest run ever has been under 14 miles so quite a step up to mararhon distance
longest swim around 2k with the bike toping out at under 60 miles.
once i get back on the boat i can plan the year at look at the mararhon and sportive schedule to break down the aim points.
i have chippenham 1/2 mara before i go back which is going to be a killer furtheat i ran in 10 weeks now is 4 miles so i dont think a pb is on the cards which was the intial aim.

the biggest challenge will be to stop the drop off once volume lowers on the vesel

[Tritans]

What sort of milestones are you going past on the way?

No milestones out on the wet, blue, wobbly stuff

Use your time on ship to do strength/flexibility with your FKPro, bodyweight exercises etc.

+1
If you think about it logically. An IM run isn't done anywhere near threshold (at our level) it is a slow plod. Strength and flexability will do you more good than loads of long runs.

[Jellybaby]

myblongest run ever has been under 14 miles so quite a step up to mararhon distance

My longest during training was about 16 miles at IM pace. More than long enough. I managed a 5hr marathon off that, and negative split it. The ability to develop a sensible plan that you can execute unfailingly and adapt to any changing conditions is significantly more important than being able to run 26 miles in one go.

i can plan the year at look at the mararhon and sportive schedule

Don't do a marathon during your training for IM, it won't help.The recovery takes a lot of potential training time out, and you just don't need to. Tritans is right, you don't need a lot of long runs, just be consistent.

[flavadave]

Agree with the sentiments above. I actually did do a marathon in my IM year, but it was in February, ill thought out and undertrained. It took me longer to recover from that than the IM! Fortunately, I didn't get injured, god knows how given I was wearing pretty much brand new trainers and had no experience of off road running. Twat.

My longest run aside from that was 15miles. Unless you're one of the whippets of the club, I guarantee you won't be running 26miles at Kalmar. Best advice I had (and it may have even been you JB) was to get a few big bricks in. So a 5-6 hour bike, followed by a couple of hours running. It's not pretty but you learn a lot.

From a personal point of view, I took a lot of confidence from doing an OW swim of 3.8km, and also a century ride (on separate occasions). Running to me (with regard to IM) is a risk reward payoff. When do the risks outweigh the rewards... For me it was 15 miles (or maybe I'm just a lazy arse )