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Writer's pictureConor Hillick

Road to Marbella IronMan - Stacking Days on Busy Weeks

Managing a busy week and stacking days. I hate the word busy, I’m not really sure why I’ve used it in the subtitle other than because it’s a general excuse when it comes to inability to do something. I get it, we can get “too busy”. But we’re all busy these days. Busy in work, busy with family, busy commuting around the place and god knows what else. There will of course be times when your day genuinely does not work to fit in a certain session but that’s when you adapt. That’s what I did this week to continue consistent training. I think my last day off was the 24th June - the day after my wedding!


Stacking Days

Stacking days. It’s all about stacking days, one after the other, continuing to add to the day before. Adding a little each and every day compounds and the aim is to keep moving. These are my thoughts on Sunday morning. I’ve hit 10 sessions already this week and I’ve one to go, having been away for the night, we’ve drove back to Dublin and are hosting family for a BBQ later so I have a small window for my 90minute run. It’s perfect as well. Dry, pretty warm and just me and my thoughts for the next hour and a half. Something that has become more peaceful in recent years.


You think all sorts. It might be as simple as, I better do that wash when I’m home that I got asked to do hours ago. On the other hand it could be me wondering what the meaning of something is. On this particular run part of me wondered why I really do all of this. Sometimes I think it’s for the benefit of 90 year old me. So that he’s carrying shopping and playing with grandkids, hopefully even swimming or jogging. Heck, that’s 100 year old me. Another part of me knows that it’s something to do with working towards a goal and luckily my need for exercise and its benefits for my mental and physical health happen to coincide with an IronMan providing that goal. 


Then there’s something inside of me that wonders if it’s all for 15 year old Conor. The one who was at one stage a top national level swimmer, hampered by injuries who battled them in his head. Is there something where I’m fulfilling his dream? He dreamed of the Olympics but now the only way that tattoo would ever happen is if I lost a bet. Deep, I know. That thought occurred around 37 minutes into the run so you can only imagine the next 43. To be fair, a good portion of the next 43 minutes I thought a lot about the Lemon Drizzle cake we had bought.


Whatever the reason is, it’s probably a combination of them all, thankfully they all somewhat align for this goal and that makes it a little easier.


The Week

Monday & Tuesday were as normal, lots on but normal and manageable. On Wednesday I was hosting a group in the office, which meant early check in, with them for most of the day, fitting in my day to day work somewhere and seeing out the day with them in the evening.


Followed by getting home to help sort dinner as it was my turn. My plan called for a Vo2max session, a bike session lasting around 1hr 20mins, when you take into account everything around it add on around 30mins total. It wasn’t going to happen. So, I moved that to Thursday and moved my 40min easy run to Wednesday. It doesn't sound like a big deal and it's not but sometimes when we have a plan it can consume us and we get stressed if we don't meet the plan that's in front of us. This is where we have to be flexible and learn to adapt it and ourselves to meet the stresses and demands of our day to day lives.


Weekly Training Hours

Swim: 3 x 30-40min sessions (plus travel time)

Run: 2 x easy runs (45mins), 1 x threshold run (75mins), 1 x long aerobic run (90mins)

Cycling: 1 x easy cycle (75mins), 1 x threshold cycle (85mins), 1 x long aerobic cycle (3.5hrs)

Work: Monday -> Friday

Wine intake: 2 glasses: 1 x Saturday, 1 x Sunday (rosé)



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