Last year I described how my training for my half iron distance triathlon had been rather unconventional and bordered on a ‘hippy’ approach to the sport. While this may not have made for a completely enjoyable race day (mainly the last 10 miles of the bike when I was crying big fat tears and snot) it certainly made training more fun.

To borrow a phrase from Julia Roberts’s trick-turning sidekick in Pretty Woman, when it comes to training: “I say who, I say when, I say how much.”

Keen to fly in the face of received wisdom once again, my Ironman training so far has not been entirely by the book. I’m 10 weeks into it now. For any normal race that would see me facing one last push before the taper begins, but not for Ironman training. Ironman training, like the race itself, never seems to end, going on for 30 weeks in total.

30 weeks. That’s more than half a year. As much as I’m focussed on that one long day in July and putting in a lot of time and effort to finishing that race (hello 7am swims), I’m doing it on my terms. So when I read training advice that says not to do a marathon in your Ironman prep, I pretend it’s written for someone else. Not for me.

I’m a runner who likes a bit of swimming and cycling and who has a go at triathlon, I’m not yet a triathlete. And as a runner, I like to run marathons. It’s what I do.

My plan is simple and it goes like this:

Weeks 1-15 run lots, cycle a bit, swim a bit.

Week 16 run a marathon.

Weeks 17-30 cycle lots, swim a lot.

So that’s how the first 10 weeks have gone. Six days out of every seven I’m training in one or more sports with more effort (in terms of intensity) put into the running than the other two. By April I’ll be bored of running hard and keen to get out on the bike for longer rides in the nicer weather. The lakes will be open for open water swimming and I’ll be able to go back to Stoke Newington reservoir to do my laps with the geese.

It might not be the sort of training plan that you’ll find in any books or magazines, but it’s the one that I think will keep me interested and committed. Whether it helps me finish the race remains to be seen.