Runs, bikes and obsessive compulsive disorder

So, when I said I was going to post everyday, I clearly didn't mean EVERY day! Actually, I did you a favour not posting yesterday as not a great deal went on.

Yesterday was the last day proper of my easy week. As there weren't any morning sessions during my easy week, I had a lovely lie-in until 7:30 and then got up to do 45 minutes of my chiropractor exercises. Although my back is still problematic and can certainly be painful, it seems to be less painful more often since I've been doing these exercises two or three times a week. Also, as a direct result of the chiro exercises, I've started to work regularly on flexibility through my hamstrings and the strength of my glutes – it's hard to tell if this is making a difference to either my bike or run, but I'll hopefully see the gains when the regular tri season starts here again at the end of September.

Yesterday evening was a 1 hour run set as 20 minutes easy, 20 minutes tempo, 20 minutes easy. I decided to see whether my long sleeve 2XU compression top actually achieves the amazing sweat-wicking, cooling effect it claims. The answer, in a word, was no. To be fair, 40°C and 65% humidity is quite a tough test to put it through and it performed no worse than any of my other gear – I guess once it reaches a certain burning heat, you just have to face up to the fact it's going to be uncomfortable. My pace reflected that, as I held 6mins per km for the first 20 mins, 5:15 for the next 20, then dropped to around 5:55 for the final 20. About the best I can hope for in this heat and I also had to consider my long ride the next morning.

Which was this morning. Up at 4am, some porridge and a waffle, and on the road by 4:30. I rode the first 25k or so solo until meeting up with the weekly Roadsters ride at Lime Tree Cafe. The early stuff was great – it was pre-dawn so we could drink openly (remember it's Ramadan) and relatively speaking, it was a bit breezy and overcast, so tolerable. By the time we hit the halfway point though, the sun had come out and temperatures soared. The second half was very hot – the last 10k almost unbearable as we were back on fairly busy roads and couldn't be seen drinking. My programme asked for 150k today and I did 152, which is great. I dumped my bike at home and, as my gym is closed mornings for Ramadan (yes, Ramadan is a bit of a pain as far as IM training goes – maybe more so than the summer temperatures, tho both combined..!) and that's where I usually do my brick run after a ride, I instead just found a shaded spot in a car park to do three quick sets of shuttle runs.

I mentioned recently how much my attitude to training has changed over the years; much the same has happened to my organisational skills. In the past, I was lucky if I turned up to swimming with a pair of trunks, goggles and a towel, whereas now I feel that attention to detail is one of my strengths as a triathlete – from making lists to ensure I don't forget anything on race day, to scoping out a bike course on Google Earth before the race to know what to expect. To be fair, I think most triathletes have a spot of OCD about them, it goes with the territory. This morning, for example, I rode my bike exactly how I'll ride it for Ironman. I don't mean with pedals – I used the wheels I'll use on the day, I placed on all the same hydration aids and bottle holders I plan to use on the day etc too. This is important to make sure it all works – triathlon is the finest example of the 'best laid plans' rule. You can have great intentions to go fast and buy new gear that's  sure to cut seconds off your PB and then, on the day, you'll find that some tiny thing you didn't think of has destroyed your plans. That new gel flask you've velcro'd to your seat post looks great and is really aero, but you can't reach it while you're cycling...

I'm happy to report that everything went to plan and it's now locked in. As, I think, is my nutrition and hydration plan, but I'll take you through all that another time.

The only good thing about training through Ramadan (and a Ramadan that falls in the middle of summer, for that matter) is that everything stops. Nothing's going on at all. A lot of people try to get away. Those that don't just shut themselves away with several boxsets of DVD. Therefore, I've nothing to feel guilty about missing; when I got back from my ride/run this morning, I had a lovely little nap. I watched a couple of films lying on the sofa and then had a read in the bath. I spent most the rest of the time eating – in my defence, my total burn for the day will be around 10,000 calories (to put that into context, what the average healthy, active man would burn in four days), so I think I'm allowed a lot of eating!

A little later, I'm heading out for a slow and steady 10k run, then it'll hopefully be a relatively early night as I'm planning on heading out for the Bab Al Shams coffee ride tomorrow morning. The last couple of tough weeks of Ironman training have definitely now begun – 37 days and counting!