Countdown to Busselton Ironman with ABMMA PRO (Part 3)
By Michael Rand, personal trainer and triathlete.
As I write this month’s blog, there are 5 weeks left until race day. It is about this time in an Ironman build that you really ramp up the training. The weekly volume is at its highest and as an athlete you are at your most tired.
Over the last month my progress has been steady. There has been a mixture of great workouts, okay workouts, and workouts that I either didn’t do as prescribed or left out completely. This is a series of blogs journaling my training in preparation for Busselton WA Ironman in December, with support from my ABMMA PRO Bioelectric Meridian Therapy device.
Training schedule
Overall, my training week adds up to around 20 hours of training. I also have a physical job, averaging about 42 hours a week, so my schedule is full.
My training schedule looks something like this:
Monday – rest day
Tuesday – 1hr 40min tempo run and swim squad.
Wednesday – 2hr cycle with ironman race pace intervals and a 4km aerobic swim.
Thursday – 1hr 40min aerobic run and swim squad.
Friday – 90min aerobic cycle.
Saturday – 5hr+ cycle and a 1hr run.
Sunday – 1hr 30min cycle and 2hr aerobic run.
ABMMA PRO recovery support
Most nights I manage to do around 15–20 minutes of mobility work on the floor watching some TV. After that, I settle in to relax and put my ABMMA PRO BMT device on and run it for up to an hour on a variety of areas. Predominantly glutes, hamstrings, calves and quadriceps.
It is a great thing to put the pads on the area to be treated and set the intensity and just let the machine help the body recover.
Reflecting on performance
The main thing I think I have learned in this Ironman build, as a self-coached athlete, is to look at the entire program and not just each workout or each day/month in isolation. I learned this a few weeks ago when I did my Tuesday run. I was running particularly strong, and my program goal was to run 11km at a moderate tempo pace. When running, I was reaching paces I hadn’t previously. I chose to push it a little harder. I finished the run feeling super strong and was very impressed with myself. The main problem was that the workout wasn’t the last one for the week.
What happened for the rest of the week was a bit of a debacle because I was too tired to hit any of the workout intensities I had programmed. It wasn’t until Saturday that my energy levels started to return to normal.
Now, 3 weeks later, if I am feeling strong I stick to my targets and will continue on with that workout as programmed. It’s because of that mindset I have hit every workout in the program at the required intensity.
I am really looking forward to the remaining 3.5 weeks of full-on training. After that, I will be into my taper. My next blog will likely be the week before Ironman Busselton and I will be mid-taper and likely nervous as anything.
Until then, I keep focus that exercise is a privilege not a punishment.
Other articles by author:
Countdown to Busselton Ironman with ABMMA PRO (Part 2)
Michael’s Ironman training and recovery journey with ABMMA BMT (Part 1)
Ironman recovery with ABMMA BMT – a success story (Part 2)
Ironman recovery with ABMMA BMT – a success story
