Ironman training blog week 4: Hannah

All this lovely spring weather has seen Hannah freewheeling down hills, running like a kid and rediscovering the sheer joy of cycling and running that it’s so easy to forget about during those long winter training sessions.

Name: Hannah

Age: 23

The race: Ironman UK, Bolton, 20 July

Ironman history: The first of hopefully many (and, so far, my first ever triathlon!)

Goal: Finish in 12-13 hours

Views like this make all that training worthwhile

Views like this make all that training worthwhile

 

This weeks’ training has been quite bike orientated which means I’m currently thinking about fetching a bag of frozen peas from the freezer to sit on. Tires pumped to a 120psi on country roads (on reflection a bit of a mistake) and with a distinct hatred of padded cycling shorts means I am very aware that I did a lot of cycling last week. Loved every mile of it, even the 17% incline I did three times. I will be the first one to admit that sometimes cycling is shit, I have been known to scream ‘f**k off’ at the wind while grinding my way up a hill but other times it is the most fun you can have with your lycra on.

 

I cycled the uphill, windy section so that I could pelt it back down. It was so much fun that I wanted to do it again and again.

 

I had one of the best cycles I have had in a long time on Saturday. I drove down to Morpeth early in the morning, I have a duathlon there in a couple of weeks and wanted to get a sneaky pre-race shot at the route. The first 12-ish miles of it contain the climbing and sods law it was obviously into the wind but what that meant was when I turned around and headed back into Morpeth it was downhill with a tail wind! It was so much fun that I wanted to do it again and again, which is exactly what happened. I cycled the uphill, windy section so that I could pelt it back down. It’s the closest I will ever get to being a mountain biker (I’m not the best at avoiding trees or big boulders) after all they have to put in the hard graft of going uphill just to come back down.

Sometimes lots of scheduled training means that you forget the joy of just riding a bike for the sake of riding a bike or running like a child with your arms and legs flailing everywhere

 

Sometimes lots of scheduled training means that you forget the joy of just riding a bike for the sake of riding a bike or running like a child with your arms and legs flailing everywhere (although sometimes towards the end of my runs I forget all style and finesse, provided I had any to start off with and my arms and legs just flail everywhere anyway). This weekend, although it was training, it definitely reawakened my love for the road and made the long cold winter training sessions worth it.

 

I challenge you all to go and do something just for the sake of doing it. Ditch the regiment or the schedule and just go and have a bloody good time!

 

Today it really feels like spring is upon us, the amount I sweated on my run into work this morning confirms this, which only means one thing; ditch the layers, expose those nice pasty white legs and get out and enjoy the sunshine. While I enjoy the empty cycle lanes and parks that the winter brings, I do love seeing people out enjoying exercising and the outdoors even if it does mean that running in the city is like human dodgems. Having reawakened my love for my training and with it seeming like everyone is very focused on impending races, I challenge you all to go and do something just for the sake of doing it. Ditch the regiment or the schedule and just go and have a bloody good time!

Sweaty selfies. And why the hell not?

Sweaty selfies. And why the hell not?

Weekly training stats

Monday

  • 3000m swim
  • 25 miles cycle

Tuesday

  • 5 mile run
  • 2hr turbo trainer

Wednesday

  • 6 mile run
  • The most disgustingly hard TRX session I have ever done with Ollie – www.ojpt.co.uk

Thursday

  • Rest/foam roller day…ouch!

Friday

  • 2000m swim
  • 1hr turbo trainer sprints
  • 10 mile run

Saturday

  • 80 mile cycle

Sunday

  • 40 mile cycle
  • 1hr Vinyasa flow yoga

 

Follow Hannah’s progress on Twitter here @hannahmelv20

1 Comment

  • Bex says:

    Gosh I am so impressed by this! I really want to do a triathlon but am not a very strong swimmer and still not fully confident on my road bike, so I know it would be a lot of work! Your training is really inspiring though so might give me the confidence to do one next year…maybe!

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