August 5: 11 weeks to Goa | Weight: 80 kgs | CTL: 63

Another long work week (2x 10pm dinners and 3 nights of 6-hours sleep) and a sick kid, along with appointments at the passport office! Nothing dramatic, but just enough to put me off my game. Missed a swim on Tue and a run on Thu. The positives: my longest trainer ride in a long while – 2 hours at 200W average – on Saturday. Followed by a Sunday long run of HM distance, where I felt like my legs were dead from the start. That I managed to stick it out to complete the run is what I can take away from that one.

If watts/kg is the metric to go by, then I am hoping that the watts are creeping up (managed a 228W 20-min effort in the midst of a 2-hour long session). Nothing to write home about, but a slow creep upwards. I’ll take that.

10 weeks at the end of this training week. Need to make the next 8 of them count (before a gradual taper). Time for an FTP test this week or next – for some confidence-building?

July 29: 12 weeks to Goa | Weight: 80 kgs | CTL: 65

Started the week slowly – the Olympic Tri and a good end to July were followed right up with a bit of work travel, and a rough work week. All this meant that I didn’t get to back up the tri with a ramp-up in training. If anything, it was a small step back.

A missed swim set and a missed long ride on Sunday (due to work travel) were the main problems with the week. Of course, I did manage to sneak in a couple of short, but crucial (for my training momentum) runs over the weekend. This meant that I was just about able to keep my head afloat with the training plan. A cheeky little brick session was also a nice positive.

Not much to say about this week. Time to build up the volume and intensity.

July 22: 13 weeks to Goa | Weight: 81 kgs | CTL: 62

Another reasonable training week to cap off a good training month (by my recent standards). In fact, this is the first month since Jan ’19 (main training block for Colombo) that I crossed 35 total training hours according to TP & Strava. If I were to take a month-end health-check:
Run: Reasonably good month – did a hard 10km and a hard ROTB during the Oly Tri.
Bike: Good month – did a couple of solid outdoor rides (even if they weren’t too long) after a break of about 4 months, and with the Tacx and Zwift setup, some of the indoor sessions are also a bit more enjoyable
Swim: Not satisfactory. I aimed to do at least 8 hours of swim time per month during this 16-week block.  And this month, I’ve only managed about 4.5.

Highlight of the week: I did a practice triathlon (Olympic distance with a pool swim). I have close family visiting me this week, so the weekend leading up to it wasn’t ideal race prep. But given that it was a casual practice race, I didn’t stress too much about that. The aim of the race was twofold: (1) Get some hard outdoor riding practice, including hills and headwinds. Nearly all of my riding has been indoor of late, so this is an important element to incorporate, and (2) Do a proper run off the bike since I haven’t started doing brick sessions and I need to do them.

All things considered, it went reasonably well. The weather was good – overcast and not hot. The pool swim went as planned (no real surprises in a pool), the bike went quite well, and the run was a touch below par. Most importantly, the bike leg introduced me to some really hard riding outdoor after a really long break, and I got some practice keeping the intensity up in the face of some brutal cross-headwinds. I also managed to throw in a last 200m sprint to take 2nd (just edging out the guy who overtook me at the 6km mark). I also didn’t focus on transitions, and changed attire – bike jersey, and a run vest. Total transition time added up to 6:40 or so. Lots of room to shave time there.

The coming week will see a bit of a drop in intensity due to some family and work commitments. I need to make August really count, so I’m aiming for another 35+ hour month, and to get my CTL up to 70+.

Finally, a big shout-out to TriBLR, a fledgling, informal triathlon community in Bangalore. This was a largely self-supported triathlon organized by the group. And 32 volunteers turned up to support 32 racers! Truly grateful for the support, and I’m hoping to return the favour soon.

A brilliant swimming pool

A great venue: The Padukone-Dravid Sports Center

Great volunteer support

July 15: 14 weeks to Goa | Weight: 81 kgs | CTL: 56

This week, I broke the 10-hour training barrier for the first time in months. It wasn’t easy, particularly with a 2-day work travel trip thrown in, but some advance planning meant that I could squeeze in a ride the day I flew out, and a run on the treadmill at the hotel.

This week, I also made sure that I’d get two swims in (and going for 3 in the coming week, including the training triathlon on Sunday) – the second of which was a no-watch affair. The focus was not on times, but on form. I tried to swim long, extend each stroke, and do a proper catch. I tried to go by feel, and after about 5 such swims, I’ll take a video and see how it looks.

This week, I also ventured outdoors and did my first outdoor ride since February (Colombo). It felt good, and boy, is it easier! I didn’t push the pace as I was navigating a bit of traffic and some head/crosswinds. My HR never went above 145 or so and averaged only about 133. In contrast, a typical Zwift ride would have me averaging 155-160. It was also such a joy zipping down some mild rolling terrain.

After the first hour, though, it wasn’t quite as much fun. Exhaust from passing trucks stifled my progress and a bus that overtook me at speed – passing just an inch away from me. And when the roads turned to gravel, the pace came right down. All of it made me appreciate indoor training, and the ability to hold the intensity when on a trainer. Of course, nothing beats a nice, rambling outdoor ride, but it isn’t always practical (or optimal training).

Happy to be out, can’t tell from my face since I just inhaled a lungful of exhaust fumes

Part-road, part-gravel

Week 4 coming up.

July 8: 15 weeks to Goa 70.3 | Weight: 81 kgs | CTL: 52

First 9-hour training week in this block. And boy, It took some effort!

A few interesting firsts – I managed to start using my Tacx Neo trainer and connected it to Zwift (which meant getting off TrainerRoad – don’t see the point of paying for both). This also meant a first Zwift ride, which was a lot more fun than I’d expected. [My favourite feature is the bumpiness that’s transmitted when I’m going over cobbles or wooden bridges – so cool!]

Swimming took a hit – as it always does when the training ramps up. Strength and swimming sessions are the first to take a hit. And I need to make a more concerted effort to make sure this isn’t the case anymore. The goal is to do a minimum of 2 swims a week, and at least 10 weeks where I do 3 a week.

The wins for this week – did a 2+ hour ride for the first time in months. And a ~20km run for the first time since Feb. Time to slowly dial it up.

July 1: 16 weeks to Goa 70.3 | Weight: 81.5 kgs | CTL: 48
The last proper block of training I did was for Colombo 70.3. In the 4 months since then, I’ve gone through a mix of the off-season, low-key events, and work-life balance shifting decidedly towards work. The events themselves have been quite fun. While Goa Swimathon 5km (March), Thonnur Swimathon (June) and Bengaluru 10k (July) have ensured that my fitness doesn’t roll all the way back to zero, the intensity has dropped sharply. The last 3 weeks leading up to this 16-week training block has helped me ramp up slowly. Now, it’s time to ratchet it up.

Bengaluru 10k last weekend was a nice, hard effort (10km is such an enjoyable distance to run. Short enough that you can do it and still have enough in the tank to have a full day for family and friends, long enough for it to feel like a proper effort if done well) given my limited fitness at the moment. It was slower than my 10k split during my HM PB in Dec ’18, but faster than I’ve run in the last 6 months since. So, I’ll take that as a good time-trial to establish a baseline.

I also managed a nice 2.5km open water swim at the Thonnur Swimathon the weekend prior. It’s a bit of a trek 6 hours of driving round-trip, but well worth it. Beautiful, scenic waters and good open-water practice close to home! While the pace I swam was nothing to write home about (finished in about 57 mins at 2:16/km), it was a great practice swim and I’m most pleased with how little I deviated from the straight lines.

I’ll see if I can sneak in a couple of swims at Thonnur in this training block – get some sighting and open water practice in.