And just like that it’s week 20 of my Ironman training. The weeks have gone past pretty quickly – it’s nearly four weeks since London marathon but seems like only a few days ago.

I have occasional bouts of ‘Shit, shit, shit I’m not prepared, I’m not doing enough, what have I been doing for the past 20 weeks?’ that I try to pacify with a very technical piece of triathlon kit. It’s a notebook with flowers and birds on the front.

At the start of a week I write down in the notebook the training I plan to do that week. Sometimes that gets crossed out and changed around. Sometimes things get crossed out and not added back in. It helps me figure out where I’m going to fit all the training in, where I’m going to fit my life in and to make sure I take a rest day every now and again. And it helps me realise that I haven’t been sat on my arse for 20 weeks, or when I have , that arse has had a bike seat under it.

I don’t know if I had any idea of how much training this whole Ironman thing would require until I’d already decided to do it. I don’t do as much as others, but I’m hopefully doing what’s right for me. So, in case you’re wondering, here’s what Week 19 looked like.

Monday

Cycled 10 miles

Tuesday

Gym at lunchtime.

Cycled 10 miles.

Wednesday

Swam for 1 hour doing drills.

Cycled a hilly route 45 mins.

Thursday

Ran 4 miles.

Friday

Cycled 10 miles.

Lunchtime yoga class.

Saturday

Open water swim 1200m.

45 min turbo session on the bike.

Sunday

45 min fast trail run.

Monday