Enduroman Deca Iron UK. A 24 mile swim, followed by 1120 mile bike ride
along the rugged coastal roads from Fowey to Lands End 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 be the first person in history complete
the 'Toughest Deca on the Planet!
"OK, to cut a long story short, I had planned to do the Deca In September. However, I have just found out that I am moving jobs and location down to Dorset this June. This means I will only be given half a year's annual leave. After I take Claire's Arc to Arch in July, I will only have 10 days leave left to take. My only choice, is to attempt the Deca before I move. I have studied my diary long and hard and the only 14 day slot I have is between the 15th and 29th May. Not doing the Deca before the race in 2010 is not an option. I need to be able to give the most credible advice I can to my athletes.
I now have only 9 weeks to train for what is the toughest triathlon ever to be held in the UK, and with the exception of the A2A, possibly the world. Including the Lanza Ultra I did in December 2008, since July 5th 2008, I have done 10 runs, 8 swims and 5 bikes. I really will be doing this from scratch. Ok, I have some natural ultra base fitness but getting all the training in over the next 8 weeks is going to push my body to it's limits. I also need to leave at least a week's rest before the Deca to give any niggles I have a chance to heal.
I am going to stick strictly to my 'System 4' training system and train for the exact requirements for the event. I pretty sure I can jump in the pool now and swim for 24 miles, but I need to do this leaving enough in the bag for the bike and run, so I will only swim twice each week and build up to 6hrs.
As I need to bike for 7 days (160/187 miles each day) then run for 5 days (52 miles each day), I will train the same way by alternating bike weeks with run weeks. I only found out 4 days ago about the new start date so I have done a short run week week doing 3 x 2hr runs in the last 4 days. Next week is bike week. I know I have to build the distances up quickly but I have to remember what standard I am presently at. So I am aiming for 4 days of 40 miles per day and one of 60.
Here I go again......
"