Ironman Austria training week 1 - T-30 weeks

Where to begin?

Week one has officially arrived. That means it less than 210 days until my date with the water and roads surrounding Klagenfurt.

Week one called for the following training according to "Be Iron Fit by Don Fink" or as I will be referring to it for the next 30 weeks "The Bible".

The Bible

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Swim set #1 and a 30 min Z2 run
• Wednesday - 30min Z2 bike and 15 min Z2 run
• Thursday - Swim set #2 and a 30 min Z1 bike
• Friday - 30 min Z2 run
• Saturday - 1 hour Z2 bike
• Sunday - 45min Z2 run

Not too bad for the first week, in fact easily manageable apart from a few issues.

Those being working on Saturday and my injured shoulder.


I have amended my training plan to include the Blizard Physio track session on a Tuesday night and the GI Tri swim on a Thursday.

This week I managed to complete the following training

• Monday - Rest. Phew that was hard work.
• Tuesday - Track session with Blizard Physio consisting of 1 x 1600m with a 2 min rest followed by 11 x 400 with a 45 second rest between each rep. This was preceded by a 1.2 mile warm up run and followed by a 2 mile cool down run at Z1
• Wednesday - 30 min bike ride followed by a 15 min Z2 run. Wow were my legs tired on the run after the track session.
• Thursday - Due to being unable to swim I had an extra rest day.
• Friday - I had to drop my Dad back off at his hime after work as he has been staying with us recuperating from his broken arm.
• Saturday - I worked all day so didn't manage to train.
• Sunday - I managed a 9 mile run with 90% of my running time being in the right zone (156 - 168bpm)

Given the injury to my shoulder I am pleased with the first weeks training. I am over the moon with the fact that I completed a 9 mile run which is the my 6th longest run EVER and it is only week one of 30.

It took me until week 5 of my Outlaw training before I managed to amass this sort of mileage. This is week one. The last time I managed a 9 mile run it took me 1:46. Today it took me 1:36 which is a 10 minute improvement and I wasn't even trying for time. I was running to my prescribed HR zones.

I really am starting to enjoy running. It was also nice that my wife came along on her bike to keep me company.

In other news. I hope to be back swimming this week as my shoulder is starting to feel better.

Oh yeah and I am now a qualified triathlon coach. Me the former sedentary smoker, now a bonafide triathlon coach.

I have already put this qualification to use by coaching some GI Tri swimming sessions and I really enjoy passing on my swimming knowledge. The feedback I have received from my athletes has been positive as well.

Thanks triathlon you really have turned my life around.

That's all from me for now.

Thanks for reading,

Michael