Sometime during September 2009, Steve Haywood will be competing solo in the
Enduroman Deca Iron UK. A 24 mile swim, followed by 1120 mile bike ride 
along the rugged coastal roads from Bodmin to Fowey in Cornwall, then 
a 262 mile run along the extremely demanding and undulating South West 
Coast path. Follow Steve's training blog along his journey to complete
the 'Toughest Deca on the Planet!'
 
Well my training is now well and truly underway. I sat down the other
evening and designed a training programme for the Deca using my own 
'System 4' neurological training system that I used for both Tom's and my
own successful A2A challenges. System is all about training at 4 pre-
determined training intensities (speed) and conditions (time of day, event
specifics).  The Enduroman Deca's format is 1 day swimming (24 mile), 7 days
of cycling 160 miles per day, and 6 days of running 44 miles per day.  So
according to System 4, each and every session I complete should relate to
this format and the conditions of the race.  My medium term goal after May
1st 2009,  will be alternating training weeks of 7 days cycling and 6 days
running, mixed in with swim sessions.

I will need to train at 3 different paces (faster / the same / slower)
than my predicted Deca pace, taking into consideration that I will be
starting all my 'Deca days' at first light each day.

My short term goal is to prepare my body so that I can complete this
training after May this year injury free and to ensure that I train
progressively before this time.

I will shortly be completing lactate sports tests to determine where my
event specific weakness lies, which will dictate the content of my '4th'
training pace.  Another short term goal is to complete 100 runs in 100
days.  I am 7 days into this routine already.  I am firstly concentrating
on my running.  This is for medical reasons, because a few
years ago when I used to race track and field, I could never run train
on consecutive days otherwise my Achilles injury would flare up (This
was the underlying factor why I gave up the sport and stared triathlon
in the first place).  The Deca asks for 6 days of Ultra running after the
swim and the cycle so it is imperative that I pay close attention to this
area.