Emma’s Blog: From Fitness Fanatic to Ironwoman, July 2016

This pretty much marks just four months away until the Amsterdam marathon, followed by my Indoor Iron Challenge for Cancer Research two weeks later.

The good news is that my body is slowly getting stronger. I can feel it and I’m loving it!

Swim

This month I got back in the pool and managed four sessions through June.

I know it’s not enough, but I’m still solidly swimming at around 1500m in an hour which equates to just over 2 hours to cover the Iron Man swim distance of 3.8km.

Next month I have to get back to swimming consistently but also start to do sessions which are longer than an hour to get the distance in my body!

Cycle

I absolutely loved cycling this month as I clocked an overall 6 minute speed increase over the marathon distance cycle.

This is only a fraction of the 180km I need to cover on the day but I’m still getting it done in 1:20 which is bang on my target of around 30km/hr. I have found interval sessions have massively helped and doing spin bike work has been very valuable too.

Next month my focus is on getting used to being on the bike for longer sessions of 2-3hrs and not lose sensation in my glutes!

Run

My running has been going really well. I’ve stuck to my training plan and sessions as well as pace times for tempo/recovery runs.

My long runs are now about to hit 10 miles this week so I was intrigued to see how the legs and mind cope when I start to push into the unknown of over 13 miles.

Over the last six weeks I’ve completed two 10km races through the streets of London, both very well organised by Vitality.

Time-wise I was a second apart between each race (49:47 & 49:48), so I’m happy I’ve nailed my pace consistently. It also proves that with a bit more strength work, a sub 4-hours time should be achievable for Amsterdam.

Overall, as it seems has happened over the last few months I have neglected swimming! I need to make a change consciously to swim more. Running is looking after itself and it seems cycling 1/2 times a week is also doing me just fine.

Time to work harder, to fully embrace triathlete life and just get it done.