◂ ALL REPORTSTHE ROAD TO 70.3

WEEK 6 TRAINING PLAN — TWO SWIMS, BIKE RETURNS

SEP 7 – 13, 2026  ·  IRONMAN 70.3 ROCKFORD · 2027-06-13  ·  T-MINUS 279 DAYS  ·  PHASE: BASE-1 (WEEK 6 OF ~45)  ·  CHICAGO OVERNIGHT TUE–WED · HOME THU ONWARD

Weekly Targets

SPORTTARGETSHAPE
Swim1,200 mTwo sessions: Tue hotel pool (if free) + Thu home pool — else Thu + Sat at home. The week's priority: first unbroken 75 m, then 100 m if it goes
Bike34 miOwn bike is back: 16 mi easy Fri + 18 mi Sun (longest ride yet, deferred from Week 5)
Run9 miWed 5 mi Chicago Lakefront + Sat 4 mi easy w/ strides. All easy — Sunday's sprint session was the week's quality
Strength / Mobility3+Upper-body Mon · pushups/core on the road · stretch 10 min daily

Schedule

DAYSESSIONEFFORT CAP
Mon 9/7Recovery. Yesterday was 12 sprints at max HR 186 — legs earned a day off. Upper-body/core (no leg work) · stretch 15 min · pack: goggles, run shoesno leg work
Tue 9/8Early travel to Chicago. PM, pool free → Swim ~600 m: 4×25 easy warmup (nose exhale) · 2×50 · rest fully · attempt 75 m unbroken — controlled? attempt 100 m · easy 25s to finish. Pool occupied → stationary bike 40 min easy (bonus minutes; Thursday's pool is guaranteed, so nothing is lost)swim: no cap · bike: avg HR ≤ 140
Wed 9/9Run 5 mi easy, downtown Chicago (Lakefront Trail — flat, no excuses on pace discipline). Morning, before the workday. No sprints; conversational throughout. Travel home in the evening; stretch on arrivalavg HR ≤ 145, ceiling 150
Thu 9/10Swim 600 m, home 25 m pool. If Tuesday's attempt happened: consolidate — 4×25 warmup · repeat the longest unbroken distance, twice · easy 50s to 600 m. If Tuesday was lost to a full pool: run Tuesday's session verbatim, 75 m attempt includedno cap — technique & milestone
Fri 9/11Bike 16 mi outdoors, easy. First real ride in 10 days — terrain varies, watch avg HR, not speedavg HR ≤ 140
Sat 9/12Run 4 mi easy + 4×20 s relaxed strides at the end (strides, not sprints — smooth and tall, full recovery between). Optional third swim if the 100 m is still unclaimedavg HR ≤ 145 (strides exempt)
Sun 9/13Bike 18 mi easy — longest ride of the program, deferred from Week 5. Fuel: carry fluids + one gel/bar. If the week has gone perfectly and legs feel good, add an easy 1 mi jog off the bike (a mini-brick); otherwise just rideavg HR ≤ 140

Morning Go / No-Go

Check wake RHR before training (watch on the road, morning brief at home).
  • ≤ 62 — green light, train as planned
  • 63–66 — train, but easy only; skip the 75/100 m attempt that day
  • ≥ 67 — swap to rest / stretching
Wednesday is the exposed day: hotel bed, early start, 5 mi before work. If Wednesday wakes amber, cut to 3 easy miles — the trail will still be there in June. Sunday's 18 mi gets the Week 5 rule: amber morning → ride 12, skip nothing else.

The One Rule This Week

The swim is the week. Continuous swim distance (ceiling: 50 m) is the single number gating race readiness — the model wants 400 m and every other discipline is ahead of it. Two guaranteed pool sessions plus a possible hotel bonus is the best swim access of the program so far. One unbroken 75 and the week succeeds; an unbroken 100 and it's the best week yet. Everything else is easy-capped: the quality work already happened Sunday, and the engine is built by the month, not the week.

Fueling

  • ~2,100–2,300 kcal on light days; add ~300 on double-session days
  • Protein ≥ 135 g every day — order it first at the work dinner Tuesday
  • Log every meal, even approximately. Last trip the log went dark on the road (3/7). This trip is one night — no excuse for a blank day
  • Wednesday morning: eat something small before the run — 5 mi at HR 145 on empty after a travel day is how amber mornings happen
  • Sunday 18 mi: normal breakfast, fluids + one gel/bar on the bike

Week Checklist

  • [ ] 75 m unbroken attempted (100 m if it flowed)
  • [ ] Two swims completed (Tue/Thu or Thu/Sat)
  • [ ] Chicago run Wed: 5 mi, avg HR ≤ 145
  • [ ] Fri 16 mi ride, avg HR ≤ 140
  • [ ] Sun 18 mi ride — longest yet
  • [ ] Sat run w/ strides
  • [ ] Protein ≥ 135 g · meals logged all 7 days
  • [ ] Stretching 10 min × 5+ days

Why These Numbers

Week 5 actual: 5.3 mi run / 16.2 mi bike / 550 m swim. The swim delivered the week's headline — three unbroken 50s (66.6 / 66.7 / 66.9 s — a 0.3 s spread) with the nose-exhale fix, doubling the continuous ceiling from 25 m. The Sunday brick didn't happen; in its place, 5.34 mi with 12 sprints (45–60 s, descending 9:56 → sub-8:00/mi, max HR 186) — a harder run than prescribed, which is why every Week 6 run is easy-capped. Bike came in at 16 of 34 mi, so the 34 returns unchanged — same two-ride shape, and Sunday's 18 mi (longest yet) is simply Week 5's postponed ride, not a new ask. Swim doubles to 1,200 m because access doubled: two guaranteed home sessions Thu–Sat plus a hotel bonus shot, against one borrowed lane last week. Run rises modestly to 9 mi across two easy runs. Diet logging broke on the road last trip (3/7); this trip is one night — the streak restarts today and holds. Readiness sits at 35%; the swim line is what moves it. T-minus 279 days.