Nutrition for health and vitality

Hi all, for those that have read some of my posts before welcome back, and for those that are new, welcome!

In this post I am going to share an overview to my approach on nutrition as a health conscious individual and ironman athlete. In my mind I have 2 parts to my nutrition, part one is what I call my foundation nutrition and part two is what I call fuelling. I will address my foundation nutrition in this post and then my fuelling in another. When I discuss my fuelling I will use my Ironman Lanzarote nutrition plan as an example of how I also time my fuelling in races.

So I am clear, here is what I mean by nutrition: "The process by which living organisms obtain food and use it for growth, metabolism (energy production), and repair. Stages of nutrition include ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, assimilation, and excretion."

I understand nutrition is a huge and much debated topic and that there are many approaches, particularly if you consider the range of goals that are associated with nutrition. What follows is not necessarily what I believe is right for everyone, but rather what I have chosen to follow and have found works best for me. I am passionate about nutrition and have worked with many clients to help them improve their nutrition, in my opinion those that have an open mind and are prepared to thoroughly try new things out and honestly evaluate the impact of these new things will ultimately get improvement and success. This can take patience, perseverance and a belief that there is a solution to any health/nutrition problem. Those that believe in one way, a right way and treat their nutrition as a right or wrong problem that HAS to be backed up by conventional science or popular opinion often experience frustration, not all things that add up on paper add up in the human body. To put it another way, if you study how a frog behaves in a glass jar, where variables are controlled (scientific experiments), it may not behave the same as it does in its natural environment, where variables are not controlled (life). By this I simply mean things are not often as straight forward as 1+1=2 in the human body, therefore to know what works for us we must become our own experiment. This experiment essentially never ends as our physiology is subject to change as we age and are exposed to different situations. I use science to help guide me but not control all decisions I make.

One other note I would also like to mention with MY nutrition is that I eat for health, energy and recovery coupled with a desire to maintain a healthy training weight and achieve a race weight when necessary. What I am sharing here is not necessarily about eating for weight loss, getting toned, ripped or building muscle. I do not place an importance on having a 'mens health' type body, if I did I would eat and train differently, rather I want to maintain my health as best as I can, have energy and recover well so I can race as FAST as possible. Truth be known as a mesomorph body type the thing I struggle with the most is dropping muscle, which I develop easily, whilst maintaining power so my power to weight ratio improves. Really I would would like to be 4-5 inches taller and more skinny with less muscle! I should also add, not as a means to gloat or boast, but rather as a means of testimonial that I have not had a day off work sick in over 10 years, I rarely get ill (less than once per year) and rarely get mildly symptomatic with things like a runny nose or sore throat which all seem to disappear very quickly for me. If I sense a symptom, I jump straight on it and have strategies I implement to counter the symptoms immediately. Also I have never had an injury that has stopped me training, the worst thing I have had was a mild case of ITB in 2003 when I started triathlon. I am very proud of this as I do not know many ironman that have completed 12 and not suffered from serious overuse injuries. I firmly believe sound nutrition has given me a great foundation of health. I am by no means a saint, however I am a curious cat who knows how he wants to live his life and has accepted nutrition will count towards 70-80% of the way I feel. With this in mind I have always sought after information, researched things and made informed choices about what I do nutritionally, I consider the science and use my intuition to test things for enough time that I can be sure it is either making a difference or not making a difference. I believe I am honest in evaluating and do my best not to kid myself, ultimately I place faith in myself to solve any challenges I may have. I believe a person 'in tune' with their body will always know it better than anyone else.

Foundation nutrition

My foundation nutrition is what I eat to provide well rounded nourishment to my body so I have health and vitality, whilst I need extra macro-nutrients and micronutrients such as; extra protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals as an athlete my foundation nutrition takes into account a base, essentially what I need when I am not training. For me it is a focus on getting the minimum amount of goodness in my body to give myself a great chance of being healthy. How do I assess what a minimum amount is? Well I use some numbers based on science to guide certain consumptions, however I 'dial' these in by tweaking and assessing how I feel. I do measure my weight and body fat and I do believe this needs to be in check, however I place a greater emphasis on feeling energised.

The approach and rules I prioritise are as follows:

Paleo diet

For my foundation nutrition I follow the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet in other words means stone-age diet. It is based on foods that our ancestors would have had available to them and have eaten. The premise is that our genetics have changed very little in the last few thousand years, however the food we now eat has changed drastically in just the last 100 years, as such our bodies haven't evolved to deal with modern foods, they are simply doing the best they can, in many cases they battle for decades before they are unable to handle the poor nutrition going in. Examples of nutritional related problems are all around us: In recent decades we have seen increased obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and cancers to name a few. By no means am I saying poor nutrition is the sole culprit but I think it would be naive to say it is not a high contributor.

Essentially there are 6 ground rules to the Paleo diet which yield 7 key benefits over the typical modern Western diet. I will touch on these but if you would like to know more about these rules and benefits then I would highly advise you read the Paleo diet book written by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. (link below) or listen to him talk about the Paleo diet on an IM talk podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/imtalk/   Its no. 102, episode 264). What I mention is his work and he will obviously explain it far better than I could ever attempt to! Either way here is a VERY brief overview of the rules and benefits of the Paleo diet. and some of the things I do in relation to them.

6 Ground rules

1. Eat plenty of lean meat, fish and seafood 
2. Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables and fruit
3. No cereals
4. No legume
5. No dairy
6. No processed food

7 key benefits vs a typical western diet assuming the ground rules above are followed!

1. The diet provides a greater amount of protein, particularly animal protein which provides a considerable amount of Branch Chain Amino Acids for growth and repair. 
2. Fewer 'poor' carbohydrates will be consumed such as bread, pasta, starchy tubers and refined sugar. These types of carbohydrate are typically low in nutrients, low on hydration and are dense sources of carbohydrate with a high glycemic load. Over consumption of these can cause blood sugar issues and lead to insulin sensitivity issues for many. This can lead to fat gain and or disease. The Paleo diet encourages consumption of 'good' carbohydrates from non starchy vegetables and fruit that are high in nutrients, high in hydration and low in carbohydrates that cause blood sugar issues. 
3. One other benefit of high consumption of 'good' carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables is that it dramatically increases fibre intake. Contrary to popular belief vegetables and fruit provide far more fibre than whole grains. High amounts of dietary fibre is great for digestive health and blood sugar stabilisation amongst other benefits. 
4. If good quality lean meats, fish and nuts are consumed the diet can provide much healthier sources of fat. One key point here is that the diet can help balance Omega 6 to Omega 3 levels which should ideally be around a 1:1 ratio. Many people on a Western diet are found to have ratios of 20:1. This is an issue as Omega 6 is pro-inflammatory and Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory. You need both, however if Omega 6 is high it can increase and prolong inflammation which can slow down healing and all other inflammatory reactions. Whilst I couldn't conclusively prove it I am of firm belief that from increasing my Omega 3 intake via this diet I heal faster from training. 
5. The diet reduces sodium content and increases potassium content restoring the balance of two important minerals that are typically out of balance weighting towards excesses sodium. Excessive can contribute to various health issues such as high blood pressure.
6. The diet provides a net alkaline load due to fruit and vegetables that are net alkaline yielding. Most diets that are high in dairy and grains are net acid yielding. High acidity levels in the body over prolonged periods can cause all sorts of issues such as bone and muscles loss. High acidity has also been associated with asthma and exercise induced asthma. 
7. It provides a high amount of vitamins and minerals from natural foods that mean they are more readily absorbed. Remember many food sources such as whole grains, appear on paper to be good sources of certain minerals such as; iron, zinc, copper and calcium. However because whole grains contain anti-nutrients such as phytates which can bind to iron and block absorption they are not actually good sources!

Gluten free

Another rule I follow which is really part of the Paleo diet but does not get expressed as a separate rule is going gluten free. A few years back a former client and friend of mine who is also someone who follows the Paleo diet shared with me the impact going gluten free had on them. It was close to new years so I made it my new years resolution. Initially I didn't feel much different but after 3 weeks I had more energy and was digesting meals better, by this I mean I was not suffering any bloating or inflammation in the intestines which I sometimes experienced. In April of that year after being gluten free for 4 months I had my first beer of the year which someone bought me at an annual convention, after drinking it I immediately had stomach cramps and had to excuse myself for the rest of the evening as I was in quite a bit of discomfort, I have not drunk a beer since except on my stag do which was masked by the fact I was wasted on spirits anyhow! My drink of choice is now red wine or a white spirit if I want to get drunk! Anyhow going gluten free has really helped my digestion, I simply did not realise I was gluten sensitive until I removed it but I am very glad I did as it has no doubt helped my health. If you are wondering what gluten does, in very simple terms it can punch holes in the lining of the gut causing leaky gut meaning poorly digested food particles can cross into the blood. Here they have the potential to be treated as 'foreign' and attacked by white blood cells causing an immune response. Gluten is closely associated with many food allergies and autoimmune illnesses. Whilst I have never knowingly suffered from any I feel better for not having gluten and am also confident I am taking a positive step towards my health. So the major changes I have made are to try and ensure even my naughty treats are gluten free, I keep sending the gluten free easter egg picture to my wife hoping she will get the hint!!

85/15 principle

So for those of you that have read the above ground rules and thought, NO WAY! The 85/15 principles is something I use in conjunction with the Paleo diet. The 85/15 rule is about following a nutrition plan 85% of the time with 15% 'off' plan. This could mean having a drink or some junk food such as a pizza. The thought process of the 85/15 principle is that if your body receives good nutrition 85% of the time it will be able to handle the 15% poor nutrition without it severely impacting blood lipid profiles, blood sugar balance, acid/alkaline balance etc

As an example if I am in a week where I am not training I follow a pattern of eating 5 small meals per day (i'll talk more on this below) this will be 35 meals per week. If I eat 30 meals following the Paleo principles I will have achieved 85% therefore giving me flexibility to have 5 meals that may not be based on the Paleo principles. I monitor this and do pretty well in achieving this.

Eat small but regular

My base nutrition approach is to eat 5 times per day (this of course does not include pre, during and post workout snacks), each meal is typically spaced 3 hours apart, certainly no more than 4 hours, if I go 4 hours without eating I am in the words of my wife a grumpy old man! Which is true enough! I tend to have my biggest meal at breakfast so it provides the bulk of my energy for the day. Meals typically decrease in size as the day goes on.

A very simple formula to guide calorie intake which I do not live or die by but rather use as a 'flag in the sand' is 25kcal x kg/body weight = BMR. BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate, which simply put is the total number of calories your body would burn if you stayed in bed for 24hrs. Sedentary individuals are said to need approximately 25% more than this number, active individuals defined as those exercising 3-5 times per week need 50% more and really active individuals such as Ironman can need considerably more such as 200%. These figures are of course guides at best but can give a place to start if you are confused as to how much you should be eating to meet your energy demands. So as an example my training weight is around 68kg. Therefore 68 x 25 = 1700kcal. Now lets assume I am in a taper and estimate my activity to be 'active' requiring 50% extra calories, this would give me 1700kcal + 850kcal (50% of 1700kcal) = 2550kcal. If I spaced this out equally over 5 meals I should be eating approximately 510kcal at each meal. As mentioned I typically prefer to front load my calories in the morning and have a 600kcal breakfast and smaller lunches and dinners. It is worth mentioning the bigger the meal the more time I leave to digest prior to training sessions, particularly if the training session is going to be high intensity and demand most of my blood goes to working muscles. I do not want my digestive system arguing with my muscles for blood! As a guide if I have a 600kcal breakfast I like to leave it around 3hrs for digestion, 400kcal around 2hrs for digestion. No doubt you may already be asking what happens if you train really early morning? Well you have to make a call here and do the best you can. On race simulation sessions where I test nutrition strategies I get up at 04.00, eat snooze, wake, warm up and start training at 07.00, the same timings as race day, except on race day you normally don't get the snooze as you are travelling to the start line! However on normal training days I may get up at 05.00 eat a 400kcal breakfast, do a few hours work while I digest then go training at 07.00, that is the commitment!

Carbohydrate intake

An obvious question that athletes have on the Paleo diet is won't I need more carbohydrate? Can I get enough from fruit and vegetables? Well these are BIG questions and are worthy of a post or a book in themselves, I will certainly discuss pre, during and post session carbohydrate consumption in my next post, however for now I will keep in more general! If you are super keen on finding out more comprehensive information on this topic I highly recommend the Paleo diet for athletes by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel (link below). In short for me I eat tons of vegetables and mountain them up I also eat considerable amounts of fruit. I tend to eat most of my vegetables in the evening as I find I could not train hard with that much fibre in my guts. If I feel I really need to load or replenish my carbohydrate stores my preferred vegetables that are starchy are sweet potato (yes thats right - sweet potato is actually a vegetable!), parsnips and carrots lightly baked in avocado oil (tolerates high heat very well). In the mornings I tend to eat lots of low fibre fruits for carbohydrates such as melon, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. This is also where I adapt the Paleo diet a touch and use the 15% to modify it. So some non Paleo foods I may include to bump carbohydrate stores are gluten free granola, natural yoghurt, dark chocolate and energy bars and drinks when training - gluten free of course! These are my non Paleo treats.

Hydration (fluid and electrolytes)

My daily hydration strategy is simple I drink 0.033ml water per kg body weight which equates to 2.2litres for me. I tend to reduce this by 25% in the winter as I don't perspire as much and find my thirst naturally declines. This is a non training amount. When training I add 500ml for every hour of training I do that day. I drink little and often and choose Evian, Vittel or Highland Spring water wherever possible as it is cleaner water with less flouride in it, plus it contains good levels of minerals such as potassium and magnesium which can support absorption and health. I pretty much only drink water. I do not touch squashes or coke unless in the last 20km of an Ironman! Why? Well it raises blood sugar levels so fast it gives an instant kick, great when fatigued in an Ironman a disaster for those who want consistently good energy levels and weight loss!

How the training is going 

At present the training is going very well, I am really pleased with progress. Last week I did an endurance swim session that was 10x500m. I planned to swim the 500m's at a pace of 1.35/100m (approx 7mins 55secs per 500m) which is around a 1hr Ironman swim time, this is close to race pace for me. I was going to have 1 minute rest between each set. However the minute I pushed of the wall and started swimming I could tell I was swimming well for me. With less perceived exertion than normal the first 500m came in at 7mins 33secs (1.30/100m pace). I felt great after 30 seconds so decided to challenge myself to keep the pace and have 45 seconds rest. I completed all 500m around 7mins 30secs +/- 2 seconds with 45 seconds rest. The most pleasing thing was my RPE (rate of perceived exertion) was lower then normal at around a 6 out of 10. A session like that would normally register a 7 or 8 out of 10. A pleasing break through session which no doubt is the result of some solid base work mixed with some early speed work which I have injected in at the start of the build phase, which is now in full swing. Sessions like this are really satisfying and great for confidence, the key for me now is not to get carried away and over training by chasing times to hard in every session.  The next step with my swimming is to maintain the endurance and speed work and introduce the wetsuit. Swimming is a different beast in a wetsuit and in open water so I will start to sharpen my wetsuit skills and am planning my first swim in it next week, even though it will be in a pool as I am not going to brave the open water yet!

My cycling is going well, I have got plenty of endurance and strength sessions done, there are good signs of improvement on the turbo but outdoor sessions are hard to measure as the conditions are so variable as each ride feels widely different due to weather conditions, could be time for a power meter so I can more accurately measure my efforts! I did a 150km cycle with my training partner Ollie Williams (@Quichie123) last weekend and we got battered by the rain and wind throughout, it felt harder and taxed me more than a 200km cycle I done 2 weeks earlier, the data also showed I was 4km/hr slower, the good news was my average heart rate was similar! Hopefully spring will break through soon so I can get some less painful riding done. The tri bike is now set up and ready to go and as soon as I get a dry day will be taking it for its first ride in 2013! Always an interesting ride adjusting to the different dimension and balance requirements!

Running is also going good and I have 3 half marathons and a few solid 30km runs now under my belt.  I am running around 60km per week now and on my long endurance runs am comfortably holding my target race pace in heart rate zone 2. Like cycling though this has somewhat been dependant on  weather. This Sunday I went out for 34km and for the first hour when it was drizzling I was averaging 12.7km at zone 2 heart rate, then it started hammering it down with rain, it was also only 5 or 6 degrees. I was soaked and cold and the remaining 2 hours were tough, heart rates were all over the show. I weighed my kit when back and it was an extra 3kg when soaked with water - might as well of had a weight vest on! Needless to say that run taxed me more than I would have liked it to so the last few days have all been about recovery swims and turbo's. I will be back running easy tomorrow and if all is good will start to inject some intense sessions Thursday to Sunday.

Right time for a foam roll and turbo session now.....train hard, train smart and race fast.

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Planning a training session

Hello and welcome to blog post number 5 where I will be discussing planning a training session plus my usual update on where I am at with my own training in the lead up to Ironman Lanzarote on the 18th May and then on to Ironman Frankfurt in July (European Championships).


In previous posts I have discussed how I periodise a training plan and planning a typical training week.  In summary here are the key points in relation to those posts.

1. When periodising I select an 'A' race  and work backwards to give myself an 'official' training start date that will give me a sufficient number of weeks (or other training cycle such as 10 days) to prepare for the event. The number of weeks I give myself to prepare can change and has changed based on experience, current fitness and how demanding the event is. 
2. I Split my training into phases: Base, Build, Speed and Taper as examples.
3. I Develop a 'skeleton' training plan for each week that incorporates the 'must do' key sessions that I will fit in even if life gets really busy. I Plan other sessions around this skeleton.

With this in mind the next step is to consider each session specifically to ensure I am prepared for it physically and mentally so I get the most out of it, personally I like to plan specific sessions for the week ahead in what I call my 'Sunday sort out session' which unsurprisingly is on a Sunday afternoon when typically all training is done for the week and I am relaxing and getting organised for the week ahead.


Remarkably many athletes and especially gym goers do not think about their sessions in advance, certainly not in detail anyhow. I often ask gym goers, triathletes and even trainers the casual question, "what have you got planned for today?" The response, a sigh, and a "not sure really, probably......" The response of a professional or well planned athlete is much more specific, they will identify details such as: "Today I am doing an interval test set of 10x 400m with the goal of swimming each sub 6mins, going on 7mins". Knowing this detail is very important as it will tell you how much time, effort and energy the session will require and what kit you will need, all of which can give you guidance on how best to prepare. The session details themselves should ideally be logged so you can review them along with any regressions or progress you make in future weeks, months and even years. It can be very useful and sometimes interesting if you are a geek like me to look back on training logs. Sometimes it is not possible to execute a session plan due to something unpredictable, in such a situation having a back up session planned is always a good idea, either way a planned session is one you will almost always get more from.


Components and sub components of a session plan

When I plan my own sessions I consider the following components and sub components

Session Type
- What type of session will this be? Endurance, Interval, Recovery etc
Session Objectives
- How will this session improve fitness/performance? Essentially this is the rational for doing the session. Nailing session objectives so you have a clear focus for the session is critical!
Pre session nutrition
- What will I need and will I need to prepare anything? When will I eat it, 1hr, 2 or 3hrs before?
Equipment/kit
- What will I need and will I need to organise anything such as prepare bike?
General Warm Up
- Self Myo-fascial Release (SMR). What are my sore/'sticky'/tight muscles and fascia that I want to foam roll/trigger point?
- Dynamic movement. What joints and movement patterns will I be working? What will be good mobilisers/dynamic stretches and movement for warm up?
Specific Warm Up
- What will I do for warm up? What heart rate zones do I want to get in to?
Main Set
- Details of specific session. How long? No. Intervals? Intensity? Work rest ratio's?
Cool down
 - What will I do for cool down?
Post session nutrition
 - What will I eat/drink after the session? When will I eat it?
Post session adaptation facilitation
 - What will I do post session to promote recovery and adaptation? Foam roll, massage, stretch, compression, ice, nap, sleep 1hr extra?


Once I have planned my session I obviously then have a crack at it, afterwards I will review it, not necessarily a sit down formal review, but rather an informal one where I will take 5-10mins to reflect on the session. I may write some thoughts down on how I felt and performed there and then, but if not I will jot them down in the evening or in the Sunday sort out session. I call the Plan, Execute and Review steps the 'success cycle' as I believe it is doing this consistently and mindfully, challenging a sessions effectiveness that brings about continual improvement and success. The more educated you get yourself through reading, talking to coaches, getting coaching etc the more informed choices you can make and the better you can plan and review sessions, personally I love the whole process!

To help me plan, record and review my sessions I personally use Polar Precision software that came with a previous Polar watch that I owned back in 2006.  The Software is still available now with watches like the RS800CX.  I rate it and think it is simple and very easy to use, that said I am biased as I have been using it a number of years. I have data going back to 2006 and can see how many hours, km's, metres climbed etc I have swam, biked and run each day, week and year since then. Additionally I have heart rate data logged as well as body fat measurements, hours I have slept along more subjective information such as how I was feeling on any given day, all is useful to reflect on and build on year after year. I appreciate if doing a triathlon or other endurance event is a one time gig that puts a tick in a box then keeping logs may not seem worth while, however if you can see yourself doing the sport for a number of years I would highly recommend keeping accurate logs.

In my next post I will be start to discuss my nutritional approach which in my mind I split into two parts: Foundation nutrition and fuelling.

Report on training to date.

I have just finished week 7 of 18, leaving me 1 week of the base phase left to go! Man I am starting to see some gains now! My quads are starting to develop that 'road map of veins around the VMO area which I have been getting more pronounced each year as I develop as a cyclist. This no doubt has been a result of some quality work on the bike. This week I got my first 200km ride completed, I felt remarkably good and was strong the whole ride. I fuelled and hydrated well and held a solid pace. The ride had just shy of 1700m of climbing which I was pleased with - not quite Lanzarote though that comes in around 2500m! I have also completed some excellent strength sets on the turbo where I grind big gears at low cadences for blocks of up to 15mins, on the days I am performing well and the legs are well recovered the gears are getting harder by a cog, small incremental progress which is nice to see. The swimming has been improving steadily, particularly my endurance and mindset in the pool. Some 4/5km blocks are flying by now, I am enjoying them and can honestly say I am completing with 'gas left in the tank'. My focus now will be to maintain this whilst improving top end speed. In the past I have made the mistake of focusing too much on speed and have lost some endurance, not this time! I have also completed a good number of 20-30km runs although this week I went out on Sunday aiming for a steady 34km but by 20km I was gone and took a short cut home! I guess the 200km cycle which followed a 100km day took a lot out of me! Either way the endurance base is pretty much there although I may need to tag on an extra week of base to get in my second 200km ride and long run of 35km as it won't happen this week due to work commitments and a half marathon on the Sunday. Oh yeah I have also purchased some new run trainers which out of about 10 pairs I tested had the best feel and video feedback from gait analysis. As I log some miles in them and race in them time will tell if I have found a combination that prevents the blisters!

In the build phase which fast approaches I will keep the endurance work up albeit less frequent. I will put in a long ride and run every second or third week at the weekends. On the weekend session in between I will now inject some more high intensity efforts over mid distances. Some example sessions are: 120km cycle with 6-8x 10km race pace efforts and 22km run with 4x 5km race pace efforts. These will sting a bit! I will also introduce frequent brick sessions where I run off the bike. The above two sessions will no doubt be done back to back at some point! For now it is bed time for me!

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A typical training week

I intended to do more posts over the last couple of weeks but I have been busy! As mentioned in my last post I will go through some further details on planning a typical training week (micro-cycle) which builds on the previous posts details of structuring macro and meso-cycles in relation to a periodised training plan. First though a quick update on what has been keeping me busy!

Training over the last couple of weeks

Well truthfully the last couple of weeks have been challenging! The beginning of week 4 was all about adaptation and recovery after a high volume week followed by a weekend where I completed a 150km ride followed by a half marathon the next day. My legs were very sore after this weekend so Monday's workout was a 45min recovery spin on the turbo, light gears, 90rpm in heart rate zone 1. Tuesday was a technique swim with lots of drills. I self massaged and stretched a lot and got a few good 10 minute stints on the Power Plate massaging my legs, which I find to be very effective. When recovering I tend to have a couple of smaller extra meals/snacks to maintain a calorie requirement about 20% higher to assist with muscle repair. I also consume anti-inflammatory foods as well as those high in anti-oxidants. I will talk much more on recovery methods and nutrition in future post as these are HUGE topics. Anyhow by Wednesday my legs were coming good and I was able to put in a good interval run session and normal training resumed. A couple of note worthy sessions were my Saturday ride where I completed a session I call five, fives. This is where I do 5 repeats up 5 separate hills of varying gradient and length with each hill being around 10-20km apart. This session builds strength and will start to prepare me for the hills of Lanzarote. On the Sunday I completed my first 30km run which I enjoyed despite cold wet weather. The photo is me on the kitchen floor after this session - the wife won't let me any further in the house until I have stripped off and put the kit in the washing machine!

The next training week was the really challenging one. I was away with work all week staying in a hotel. I had access to a pool and gym so all was good there but I had to forfeit my biking which is frustrating as I don't like riding gym bikes.  Additionally I had evening work which left little time for anything other than eating, sleeping and training, however these are the real challenges of an amateur. I focused on what I could and did some extra gym & run sessions. The weekend was another 150km ride which was my favourite ride of the year. Ten or so degrees, light wind and the sun was out! It felt tropical compared to the weather we have had recently. I rode well at a good solid average around 31km/h. Afterwards I drove down to Brighton for the half marathon. Unfortunately I got food poisoning after a pub meal, at 04.00 it was coming out of both ends and I thought that was that! Around 07.00 I started to feel better and had a small amount of yoghurt with some gluten free granola which stayed down so I made a last minute call to run the half. This mean't a mad dash to get to the start line on time. I did manage to make it but I could only squeeze in to the 2hr -1hr 45min section before the gun went off. Nightmare! I had a really hard time the first few miles a) not throwing up b) battling the tired legs and c) weaving around other runners to try and find a space where I could get into a rhythm. I managed to get round but needed the help of a Lucozade at about mile 8 or 9 which I clutched for dear life and sipped all the way to the line. I crossed the line shot to bits in around 1hr 37mins which I was pleased with considering. I can say that was the closest I have ever come in training to feeling like I do at the back end of an Ironman marathon. Low blood sugar, dehydrated, with incredibly tired legs! I considered it to be good training! Please take note though I would not advise doing what I did and running if you feel poorly. I do know my body well and was confident I would not make matters worse. If I had felt I was doing more harm than good I would have walked off. Post half marathon I got some good calories in via fluid and I must confess some nice cookies from Ben's Cookies in the lanes! A sound sleep and I felt great on Monday. Legs were only slightly sore, much better than 2 weeks before where I did the same session sequencing; a 150km cycle followed by half marathon the next day. The low fatigue/soreness levels are a very encouraging sign that the body is adapting and that the base training is working. I am looking forward to the build phase in a few weeks now where I will inject some more strength and pace work! Lastly I have stepped up my endurance swim to a main set of 3x 1500m with a 90 second rest. I am completing this comfortably now at a steady average of pretty much 24min per 1500m. So although time has been tight due to travelling and work I have made the steps forward as planned and am feeling confident. The next 3 weeks of base will be about progressing the long endurance cycles up to 200km and the runs up to 35km. Ideally I will have a couple of each under my belt by the end of the base period. With regards to the bike, the weather and my mental capacity to suffer out in the wet, wind and cold will determine if this is achieved!

A typical training week

A tip I picked up a few years back from the book 'I'm here to win' by Chris McCormack 2x Ironman World Champion is to have a skeleton weekly plan based on key sessions that are must do's, the bare minimum you would need to make some form of progress (link for book below).

These are my key skeleton sessions.

• 2x swim - 1x endurance session, 1x interval session
• 2x cycle - 1x endurance session, 1x interval session
• 2x run - 1x endurance session, 1x interval session

You will see from this I factor in 6 key skeleton sessions. Basically an endurance and interval session from each discipline. Here are a few reasons I see them as key for me. Endurance sessions stimulate adaptations in many systems of the body; the myo-fascial system (muscles and connective tissue), nervous system, cardiovascular system (heart, blood vessels and blood) and the respiratory system (lungs). Many of these adaptations take years to build and gains can obviously reverse in off season. The endurance sessions allow me to build mental stamina, develop connective tissue strength, build movement efficiency along with increasing the ability of the muscular, cardiovascular and respiratory systems capacity to deliver and extract oxygen for energy burning! My view is the more years you have had in the sport the less of this you may be able to get away with. This does of course depend on your physiology. I consider myself to have relatively few years of endurance training under my belt and even less at Ironman. I have raced triathlon for 9 years and Ironman for 6 years. This may sound like a lot to some but I have no background in endurance sport. I played basketball as a kid but I was no swimmer, cyclist or runner so do not have the years and in many cases multiple decades of base some might have. If you consider a guy like Chris McCormack he has a background in endurance sports that stems right back into his early teens.  A training partner of mine was a national swimmer and as such has years of base as a swimmer. Because of this I consider my endurance sessions vital, particularly to progress year on year. Each year I have noticed improvements in my endurance which have allowed me to tolerate more volume and intensity. This has been reflected in my race schedules. When I started racing Ironman I only raced one a year, then I stepped up to two a year and now I do three a year. 

Interval sessions will build tolerance to the by products of hard work, increase capacity of muscle fibres to produce more power and increase 'engine size' i.e. the capacity of the heart and lungs. To get faster interval sessions are a must. 

In short. Endurance sessions are about being able to go the distance efficiently and with a high propensity to avoid injury and intervals are about developing speed capacity. The achievement of both equals a faster athlete. Many achieve this but they increase too quickly and get either injured or burnout due to either not enough endurance at easy intensities or too many hard sessions. 

So these are the reasons that these are my key sessions. I fit other important sessions in around this skeleton plan. Here is what an ideal & realistic week looks like for me as an amateur. 

Ideal training week

You will see from this the additional sessions are:

• 2x conditioning workouts. Typically these are gym based where I focus on 'core' or TRX at home. Again I will expand on this in future posts. 
• A technique and drills session for swimming.  Given that swimming is the most skill based sport, I work at continuing to improve my stroke. 
• An aerobic interval session for biking and running. These sessions tend to be moderate in duration/distance where I juggle between heart rate zones 2 & 3. Work rest ratio's tend to be around 1:1 as not much rest is needed if you are predominantly aerobic. These sessions add additional base. 

You may also notice that Monday is a very low intensity day. This is to allow me an opportunity to recover from the volume at the weekend. If fatigue is really high I may drop some sessions on the Monday and Tuesday and or switch the run interval sessions over. I call this 'rear loading'. By this I mean I rear load the week with the tougher sessions, this gives my body a chance to adapt in the early part of the week. 

I had a really good question on Facebook regarding my periodisation which asked: Do you factor in rest weeks? My answer was, I used to. Typically I factored in a rest week every 4 weeks and when I started to handle the volume and recover quicker I put a rest week in every 5 weeks.  Then I moved to no rest weeks and adopted the 'rear loading' technique. I would recommend that anyone starting Ironman Triathlon who is increasing their training load does factor in rest weeks, particularly if they have a demanding job and don't get much sleep due to life demands such as children. It is worth mentioning that when I say rest week this does not mean no training, simply less, around 50% less to be precise, and less intensity. This gives the body an excellent opportunity to adapt and you more time to get some sleep in and perhaps catch up on things you have had to sacrifice for your training. Based on this I personally prefer to call them adaptation weeks. Now I put in adaptation weeks by 'feel' if I am feeling excess fatigue, this takes confidence to alter the 'paper' training plan which I know many struggle with and feel guilty about thinking they are being 'weak' and that it will harm their results. Ironically it is often the opposite, for a committed athlete sometimes that hardest call is skipping a session and or taking a few days to rest when you need to. 

Training Log

To monitor my daily sessions I use Polar watches and bike computers and the accompanying Polar precision software. Below is a screen shot from a cycle workout from a while back. I am a bit of a geek so I love reviewing the data from my sessions and seeing my average heart rate, average cadence/stride rate, average speed, calories burned and altitude etc. Over time reviewing this has allowed me to Plan, execute and evaluate sessions very successfully so I get the most out of each. At present I am closely looking at cycling altitude data, meaning metres climbed. My focus with my rides is starting to turn to getting in as much altitude as I can. Lanzarote has 2551m of climbing so I am trying to use my base miles to scope out and produce rides that will get close to achieving this so I can hammer them in the build phase. It's not easy to get a good amount of altitude in a ride if the terrain you readily have access to does not have much, sometimes it means doing smaller loops of hilly sections which is what I will need to do. 

In the next post I will start to talk on designing specific sessions and the elements I factor in. Right time for a foam roll and bed!

To follow me on twitter: @ironman_JW

A periodised training plan

Wow - 3 weeks of the 18 week training plan have blown by! 15 weeks to go until Ironman Lanzarote. In this post I thought I would share some details about how I design my training plans along with an update of how the last few weeks have gone.

Designing a training plan

The first step for me in designing a training plan is deciding on 'A' races I would like to do.'A' races are races I want to peak for, where I intend to 'give everything' aiming to break personal records.  In essence they are the reason I train - the ideal is nothing is left to chance at these races, everything has been tested, practiced, and I go into the races rested and highly charged! I take into consideration the date of the race and will not enter unless there is 16-24 weeks for me to get in shape. Given my 6 years experience racing Ironman I have found that I can prepare in 16 weeks, I would not typically recommend this duration to someone new to the sport or someone stepping up to this distance unless they have a solid foundation in endurance racing.

Once 'A' races have been selected, I enter them as soon as I can so I am committed. With Ironman branded races most sell out the moment spaces are released so typically I am entering 1 year in advance.  Once races are entered I then select a date that is my 'official' start date for a regimented training regime. When selecting this date I consider life! So for example this year I started my 'official' training on the 14th January after a ski holiday and the festive period. For me it would be too difficult to stay committed to my training, nutrition and sleeping over this period and whilst skiing. I consider the festive period and ski trip opportunities to spend time with friends and family and have a break from the relentless focus of training for an Ironman.

Once I have my 'A' race date, in this case 18th May for Ironman Lanzarote, and start date -14th January (giving me a period of 18 weeks to train which is referred to as the Macro-cycle) the next step for me is to split this training into a number of phases (Meso-cycles). This process is often called periodisation and although there is lots of terminology around this, I keep it simple. For anyone wanting to know more on periodisation for triathlon, one book I would like to mention/recommend that has a good section on periodisation, is Joe Friel's triathlon training bible (link at the bottom of the post). The key sections I split my training into are base, build, peak and taper (there are others I use such as recovery post race if I am going to build back up to another A race). For Ironman Lanzarote I am doing an 8 week base, 6 week build, 3 week peak and 1 week taper.

During all phases Training load is subjectively considered: Training load = volume x intensity. Training load is key to understand as it gives a good indicator of the amount of stress you are placing on yourself. It is well documented that it is not smart to significantly increase volume and intensity at the same time, I have found this to be true with myself.

Base is where I focus on the volume side of the equation. High mileage at low intensities, coupled with plenty of technique work - long swims, bikes and runs along with conditioning exercises, typically high reps to build local muscular endurance. By the end of the base period I aim to be swimming 4km with relatively less effort. Biking up to 200km feeling controlled and measured and running 35km steady controlled and measured - of course there will be some fatigue after these sessions but it should only be mild and last only a day or two, if it is longer more adaptation is required which suggests volume has been increased too quickly or I am not recovering well which is most likely to be down to not eating and/or sleeping well. It is worth mentioning during this phase the mind adapts also and my goal is to get into that place that only really Ironman recognise when you say in response to the question; what training are you doing today? "I'm ONLY going out for 150km!" I understand this sounds insane to those that do not do this type of training but honestly when you are doing rides of 6hrs+ regularly a 5hr, 150km ride does feel short to the mind, a 1hr, 40km ride hardly seems worth doing! It's quite funny because my Wife Laura has clearly adjusted her mindset to this also and often responds "Oh, only 150km, I thought you were doing a long session today!" When I hear it back it makes me giggle at how ridiculous it sounds. I should say here that I do include some speed/interval work during a base phase but it is typically 1 session a week or fortnight from each discipline. Often I include some single discipline races such as a half marathon which serves as a good intense session, these I call 'C' races, I do not taper for these, I am not that bothered about my times, they are training as opposed to races really. For example I ran Watford half marathon this weekend after riding 150km on Saturday in high winds. My legs were tired on Saturday, at present 150km is still quite a long ride as I have not been tough enough to brave longer in the recent weather. Anyhow I posted a 1hr 34min half marathon time on a lumpy course with tired legs.  This is a long way from my PB half marathon - it was pleasing though to post this time at this stage in my training and this actually gives me more confidence than a fast 'fresh' time.  You never get to run 'fresh' in an Ironman, to me running fresh feels nothing like running in an Ironman and I have found little correlation between my fresh time improvement and my Ironman running.

After base comes build. The focus here is to maintain a high volume but build in more intensity work -this may include some race pace time trial efforts, another interval session for each discipline. Higher heart rates are achieved and sessions start to 'sting' a bit!

No doubt you can guess that peak is about intensity.  Volume is reduced slightly to give more recovery time from more intense sessions. If I have to skip a session or adjust it to be a recovery, in this phase I am okay with that as the sessions need to be of good intensity.  Sometimes in this phase I may put a 'B' race in the schedule, such as a local half iron distance or olympic distance race. This depends if there is one that is on a suitable date and if I need to test something like a new nutrition strategy or bike set up under race conditions. Leading up to Ironman Lanzarote I do not have a B race planned but I do have a 4 day training camp in Lanzarote with a training partner - this is ideal as we will smash up some solid sessions whilst getting a good feel for the actual course and conditions, ideal really.

Lastly then is taper.  This is all about letting the body recover.  You can't just do nothing here though as the body can de-condition very quickly and start to 'glue' up.  Weight can also go on quickly as the big appetite from burning 15,000 extra calories or so per week does not subside once the training load goes down so you have to be careful here! This phase is very subjective and I typically go by how I feel. Short, quality and non fatiguing swims, bikes and runs to maintain fitness and confidence are done.

To give you a visual representation here is how it looks in diagram form.

Of course there is more to it than this but this is the blueprint, in my next post I will talk about micro-cycles which for me are a week. I will look at the number and types of sessions as well as how I structure a week.

Hows the training been going up to week 3 of 18?

The first 3 weeks have been challenging but I have seen lots of progress. The biggest challenge has been the snowy, wet, cold and windy weather. This has made it hard for me to get out for good quality long rides. That said I did manage to get my maiden ride in on my new Cervelo S2 road bike, I covered 150km and loved every pedal stroke, the bike is awesome. Most of my riding has been on the Tri bike which is set up on the turbo. I have done quite a few 3hr sessions and feel really good on these, I have increased a few gears for particular sets and can feel my legs strengthening.

I have been increasing my run volume each week and have a couple of 25km runs under my belt now plus a half marathon. By the end of Feb I aim to have a couple of 30km runs done plus the Brighton half marathon which I am confident I will go quicker on as the course is flatter plus I am getting stronger each week.

Swimming is going very well, I am putting in some big endurance sessions around 5km. One session I do is 4x 1km with a 90second rest, this is becoming much easier now and I am finishing it feeling good, I plan to progress this to 3x 1.5km soon.

I have managed to steadily lose weight whilst getting enough energy in to perform and recover well - this is a tricky balance. My start weight was 158lbs and I am now down to a good weight of 152lbs. I aim to get to 146-148lbs, which is my racing weight, I can achieve this without compromising power.

Right for now it is time for me to start to prepare dinner and get ready for bed as I have a 5km swim session in the morning and a 3hr turbo with some strength sets in the afternoon! As mentioned in my next post I will look at how I plan a week of training - what is called the micro-cycle in periodisation terms.

You can also follow me on twitter: @ironman_JW

Reflecting on the past to learn for the future

I mentioned in my last post that I am now in training for Ironman Lanzarote in May. I started my 'official' training plan on the 14th January on return from a ski trip which is the typical way I like to start the year! For me the ski trip is the last of the relaxed living which started in November and involves a touch too much chocolate, wine, late nights and too many non focused (or missed!) training sessions. Starting training on the 14th January has provided me with 18 weeks of training to get into race shape, 2 of which have whizzed by. Whilst my 'official' training started on the 14th January I started to prepare for Ironman Lanzarote long before this.

So when did I start preparing for Ironman Lanzarote?

Well truth be known pretty much within hours from crossing the finish line of my last race, which was Ironman Florida held in Panama city beach at the start of November 2012. I had an okay race and posted a solid swim in rough sea conditions and a bike time of 4hrs 50mins which was 13 minutes faster than 2009 (when I last completed this race). Although my swim and bike were solid I was very disappointed with my run which was around 4hrs. Based on my race before and my training form I expected faster, much faster! I had worked on my run and was expecting around 3hrs 30mins, this was what I believed I could run and still is what I believe I can run. The reflection and evaluation of this run is essentially where the preparation for Lanzarote begun.

Why did I run so badly?

Running is my weakest discipline as a triathlete by far, and is something I have been aware of and have been working on since starting the sport. I have made good improvements and surpassed many of my expectations in training yet I can honestly say I have not run anywhere near close to what I believe is my potential in an Ironman and am still working on nailing this. Obvious suggestions for not running well are:

• Cycled to hard
• Got pacing wrong
• Made nutritional mistakes
• Insufficient run preparation

I have certainly made all these mistakes before.  In Florida 2012 I made a nutritional mistake, but it was not one I have made before and I can guarantee I won't make again!! Before I have over consumed energy gels and felt sick and had stomach cramps, I have taken way too much caffeine and had stomach cramps, I have used products that agreed with me in training in the U.K but have not agreed with me when racing in the heat abroad! All of these mistakes I have battled through and learnt from, however at the time they sneaked up on me and induced enough pain to substantially slow me down! 

Due to previous mistakes over my last few races I have developed a nutritional strategy that I am extremely confident in, although yet again I have learned it needs some small refinement and contingency plans built in for certain eventualities!  The mistakes I made in Florida 2012 were not getting enough energy in at the end of the bike, and taking too much water in. My previous plan simply did not work on this race day which meant I was not carrying enough gels to cater for what was an elevated energy requirement. Over the years, as I have got faster, I have enjoyed racing more minimalist - only carrying what I need and nothing else - with this though comes risk. In this particular race I carried 2x 750ml cytomax bottles with 100g carb in each and 8x GU energy gels, a strategy I have used a number of times and had faith in. Well by 140km I had drained the bottles and consumed the gels because although I have a 'paper' plan I overrule this if I get strong signals from my body that it needs the energy. I was not concerned about taking the energy on board too early as the plan was to pick up a number of gels when going through the last aid station to get me through the last 40km of the bike - this is where it went wrong!! Going through the aid station I dropped one gel, had another triathlete cut in front of me so I missed the next gel, then had a 'cowboy' aid station volunteer (I love them dearly really and am deeply appreciative for what they do) who was not paying attention and didn't have the gel ready to collect. I did manage to grab some more water though. The aid station was on a fast stretch of road so I was moving at 40kph, when racing well and feeling good the thought of stopping or going back seemed insane so I cracked on! In the last 40km I had just the water, on reflection I over consumed this as a replacement for not having energy gels. Either way I came into transition, passed my bike to the bike catcher and started to run to the change venue (this is a telling moment as you start to gauge how the legs feel).  My legs felt great and I expected them to (as I cycled conservatively), I felt relaxed, had fresher legs than ever, it was hot but nowhere near as hot as in Texas earlier on in the year, so to me it felt comfortable. My bike to run transition was fast, helmet off, socks and shoes on, visor on, grab 2x Gels, off I go. As I come out of transition I checked the polar watch for my pace to keep me in check - perfect 12km/h, legs felt great although I could feel some water swishing in my stomach I have never felt better at this point. I ran passed the Wife, high five'd her and gave her a confident smile! Due to the water swishing in my stomach I thought I would give it 20mins or so to clear before I put a gel down as I feared stomach cramps if I took the gel on top of the water. This was the mistake, I should have got the gel down somehow but didn't because I felt great and didn't want to risk the stomach cramps. Even though I did start to get energy down as the water cleared, there was too long a duration of no energy going in and what ensued was a 'bonk' around 25km, I ran the tank to empty - ROOKIE MISTAKE!! The next 15km were a walk fest, I simply had no energy and could not get it back. I crossed the line around 10hrs and I think the posture in the photo says it all - I still smile though because it is the challenge of racing I love, a great result is just the icing on the cake, so the smile is acknowledgement of the challenge and that I still have work to do to master my body and mind when racing. 

Coupled with my nutritional mistake I did also suffer with incredibly sore feet and some bad blisters - none of which I get in training. I have had sore feet before in races but it hasn't been consistent and I can't seem to put a finger on anything consistent that could be contributing to this. Shoes, feet swelling due to heat, feet getting wet, sock type, using tape on the feet, run form have all been considered and tested and it is quite a confusing issue for me. My thoughts at present are that most likely in the races where I have suffered sore feet there have been a unique combination of the above mentioned factors. I suspect only more practise and testing will solve this. 

So what have I learnt that I will carry into Lanzarote?

• Monitor water intake - enough but not too much, I will retest in training to see what I can handle. 
• Don't cut the energy you carry on the bike so fine. This will be particularly important on a bike course like Lanzarote that is hot, windy and hilly!! I will look at carrying more gels on the bike and using the special needs station to have a 3rd cytomax bottle for back up.
• Keep working on run form, particularly when fatigued as no doubt this is changing and contributing to my sore feet.
• Test more trainers, socks and combinations in an attempt to find a more comfortable race set up.

Of course, my swim, cycle and run training will be tailored to Lanzarote, the above though will be things I factor in to ensure I improve in these areas.

So how did week 1 of training go? 

Well, it was an interesting week getting over the inertia of starting the training again. Getting out of bed early on these dark, cold snowy mornings has been a real challenge even though I am generally in bed by 21.30hrs! Doesn't seem to matter how much sleep I get this time of year my body just seems to want to hibernate, this is typical for me this time of year but I know it will come good and it won't be long before the body accepts the routine and I can jump out of bed with enthusiasm. 

This week I completed 3 swim sessions, 2x endurance sessions (Session one: 4x 1000m with 90s rest. Session two. 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m x3) and 1x technique and speed session (500m WU, 5x100m fists, 5x100m paddles, 5x100m torpedo with flippers, 10x 100m full stroke, 200m BS CD). Due to the snow I chose not to ride outdoors, rather logging some quality hours on the turbo doing strength sets using hard gears around 65-70rpm. I monitor heart rates on certain gears and rpm's. It is nice to see that even by the end of the week I am pedalling one gear bigger at the same cadence with a slightly lower heart rate. What is also nice is that the mind is adjusting. The first 2hr session on the turbo dragged, now it is flying by and I am quite happy to put down 3hrs which is about as long as I like to do on a turbo. Again running has been indoors utilising the treadmill and all runs have been run at low heart rates with a focus on form and distance. I'll discuss bike and run sessions in more detail in future posts......

Follow me on twitter: @ironman_jw

Starting the journey

Hi and welcome to my Blog!

My name is John Williams, I'm 33 years old, and this is my first post on my journey as an age grouper to the Ironman World Championship.

I thought in this first post I would start by sharing why I have chosen to blog on this topic, what started me of in triathlon, what I have achieved to date, my goals for the future and what I anticipate sharing in the future!

Why I started this Blog

I have started this blog for a number of reasons. I love training and racing Ironman's, however the training is full on and gets tough sometimes.  It takes a huge amount of dedication to train for events and as such you have to be pretty disciplined. Accountability is something I find helps me maintain my discipline and focus, by committing to writing this blog and sharing my goals and experiences I believe it will keep me more accountable, plus along the way I may learn some things about myself - this is another reason for doing the blog.

The other main reason I wanted to write this blog is to share what I have learned and what I continue to  learn each day with regards to Ironman triathlon. If you are someone who is interested in Ironman, triathlon, endurance sports, fitness and nutrition then it is my hope that this blog will give you insights and information that will help you and perhaps entertain you!

How I got started in Triathlon

In 2003 I was working as a Personal trainer in a Central London gym and we got offered some free places for the London Triathlon.  I was asked if I would like to do it, I could swim (well 50m before I would need a breather), I could ride a bike (although I had never ridden a road bike), and I could run, so why not?

I immediately fell in love with triathlon after my first one and spent a couple of years racing sprint and olympic distances, my attention then started to turn to Ironman and I entered my first in Western Australia (in 2006) where in high 30 degree temperatures and a beautiful setting I raced 11hrs 35mins.

It is fair to say I am not a naturally built triathlete.  I am a mesomorph, meaning I am short and stocky, most think I am a gymnast and am surprised when I tell them I am a triathlete and that I have achieved sub 10hr Ironman times. It has not been easy though and I have worked hard to achieve what I have.

My Ironman achievements so far

1. Western Australia 2006
2. U.K 2008
3. Nice, France 2009
4. Florida 2009
5. Austria 2010
6. Arizona 2010
7. Frankfurt, Germany 2011
8. Cozumel, Mexico 2011
9. Wales 2011
10. Texas 2012
11. Sweden 2012
12. Florida 2012

Goals for the future

For the short term in 2013 I have Ironman Lanzarote on the 18th May and Frankfurt on the 7th July and am waiting confirmation on the World Championships in Kona Hawaii. Kona is my number 1 goal.  My number 2 goal is to complete all the full Ironman races on the Ironman calender, as they are all in great places around the world which encourages me to travel, which I also love doing.

Future posts

Well in future posts I will be sharing details on my training and how it's going leading up to Ironman Lanzarote. As I write this I am in week 1 of 18 of my 'full on' training program......the work has begun.....