This morning I was out for a solo ride again. My 3 1/2 hour journey was good with the exception of the wind picking up during my ride. Nothing too bad, but it did make me focus on technique more, which was a good thing. The ride also signified the last of my big training. Tomorrow, I get to enjoy a full day off. mmm taper.
The bike has been tuned (really love taking a freshly tuned bike out for a ride) and Tuesday I pick up my tri suit, which will have my name on it. Pretty much have my ducks in a row.
This coming week is pretty easy for me, with a massage booked Monday before work, a swim Tuesday night, a light ride Wednesday morning and then I fly out to Perth first thing Thursday morning. The plane ride will not be fun as it's over a 5 hour flight over to Perth. Definitely taking an isle seat and wearing the skins.
I've taken the Wednesday off too, and plan to use it as my packing day and to also spend some more time with the family before heading over. If work doesn't get in the way, Vaughn and I will spend the day together and we'll pick Alyssa up from school.
When I arrive in Perth, I'm going to check out the course and meet up with the Team Canada coach as they have my parade of nations gear for me (saved a bunch of money by not shipping it out here). I plan to take it fairly easy with some light workouts just to keep the legs fresh and calm the nerves a bit. Your typical lead up to a big event too, with the water bottle following you where ever you go.
I've prepared my race plan and it's looking good. I've had Mark and Tim have a read through, just to get feedback and no real tweaking was done. I plan on using this race plan to get me to my end goal of my best possible race. If I do that, I know I'll be happy. Just need to be smart, stick to the plan, pay attention to my nutrition and use a bit of attitude where required.
I plan on taking my computer with me, and hopefully I can find some internet to tie into and throw some updates up.
Kona represents the best of triathlon. Each year 1500 people toe the line in Kona to swim one of the toughest swims, ride through hell and then run through the lava fields all in the quest becoming the world champion.
You have the classic races of Dave Scott and Mark Allen, the dedicated finishes of Julie Moss or Chris Legh. Hours spent hovered around the computer watching live streaming video of the elites battling it out. My hat goes off to Crowie (Craig Alexander) who had the perfect race plan and used it to get his second straight title...take that Macca, he's a great triathlete an a fantastic individual, maybe you could learn a thing or two from him. The you have the unbelieveable Brit, Chrissie Wellington who was in a league of her own, blowing the women away, smashing Paula Newby Faser's 17 year old course record and beating most of the pro men. 23rd overall??? I think they might need to get a third title going, Men's, Women's and Chrissie. My hat goes off to her.
A big congrats to fellow squad member Scott Budd, who raced today in Kona. Conditions were tough and even being under the weather, he made it through with a good time and finished with style. Well done mate!!
I'm two weeks out from Perth and things are going well. I had a 3+ hour ride today so off I headed, on my own. Colleen was kind enough to send me text updates to keep me from getting bored. It turned out to be a lonely and soggy ride. I cut it at 3 hours as I was sick of the rain. All in all, I did feel good keeping an average of about 33km/hr through the rolling course.
Saturday's training was a ride out to Redcliffe for transition training (3 loops of 300-400m swim, 5 km ride, 1km run). The water was choppy but when I could find some smoother water, or with the waves, I was moving well and feeling good. As the each loop came, I was feeling better and better. On the last run, I decided to try the legs out an opened it up to see where things stood. Well, I was running sub 4's and it felt good. I might have a chance on the run, I just need to play it smart over the next two weeks. A change back into dryer clothes and I rode back home.
Going into Perth I have a different feeling than previous races of a similar distance. I know I'm ready, I know I will finish, and I know I will give it my all. But even all this, I do feel like I need to do more. Similar to craming for an exam, I want to get the most out of it and wanting to give it full throttle.
This challenge will be the trickest I've had in triathlon and I just hope come race day, I have the right combination and give it the best on the day. Maybe I can call on some of the highlights of today to get me through it. Stick to your plan and good things will come of it.
This coming week is another full on schedule of training which I want to make all training sessions. With my shortened taper I need to make the most of it. In order to get ready, my bike goes in Wednesday for a tune up and I'm taking my tri suit in to get my name put on it. I was hesitant to put my name on, but after pressure from friends, I broke and the name is going on.
Here's hoping I can make the most of the next two weeks and maybe, just maybe I can pull out a win...a personal win for sure, and if my shipment of EPO makes it in time, maybe an age group win.....okay big dream, but what the hell might as well think about it....(without the EPO of course)
This past week was a test of the nerves. With just 4 weeks to go, I had 2 solid weeks of training then a 2 week taper. Focused and determined, I was mentally prepared for the hard weeks ahead. A core workout and run Monday, lead to Tuesday morning........
Your typical Tuesday morning run workout with 2km warm up some stretching, drills and then into main set...10x300m. The group I was in was to do the 300m on no more than 55, and they were actually around the 49-51 second mark. Things were going well until the 6th one. About 200m in, it felt like someone had stabbed my right hammie with a big needle, followed immediately by solid muscle tightening... Oh no! What had I done?! Perth is in my sights and I didn't know if this would keep me from it. That was it for me. I limped around work for the day, and then went to the pool after work for a swim set. I figured if my hammie was sore, I could still use a pull buoy and get a workout in. Oddly enough, it felt not too bad, (that and you really don't use your hammies to swim).
I went to physio Wednesday to get it checked out. Had I torn it? strained it? what? Well the good news is, it was a strain of the lateral something or other hamstring muscle. 2 rounds of physio and a massage had me in decent shape, but it was still lingering. I was allowed to still ride and swim, but when it came to running, I could only run Wednesday (7, 1km repeats where the muscle felt okay), Friday and then Sunday at the race. Racing was allowed, but I was under strict instructions to stop if I felt any tension in it. I still managed to get some good swimming and rides in this week and was feeling okay, but with a bit of caution.
My Saturday morning ride (3 hours) felt okay, so I took my bike down to check in Saturday afternoon and then it was an early morning start Sunday. My heat was off at 5:52am and transition opened at 4:45, so I was out the door at 3:30. (I must love this sport WAY too much).
Well I went down to the race the sprint man of the Gold Coast 70.3. My distances were 1km swim/33km bike/7km run.
A quick warm up in the water and I waited near the start line for my heat, the 3rd of the day. The sprintman heats were only 1 minute apart, so when the gun went off, it didn't take long for me to catch the wave in front. I was swimming well again and was constantly in a crowd of people. I guess you know your swim is coming along when you actually pass more people than people passing you. Just when I was getting into a solid rhythm, I was at the ramp. All the people around me were caps from the previous wave, so I was really happy with that. I jogged through to T1, quick exit out of my wetsuit and out onto the bike. A flying mount and I was off.
I was happy with my swim and it was now time to give it hell on the bike. 33km and I wanted to pass as many people as I could. Well, on the way out, that's all I did. Actually I didn't have anyone pass me on the bike. I had a couple of people who sprinted by me, but I caught them within a few 100 meters. I wanted to keep my speed as close to 40km/hr as possible, so with any hill, it was out of the saddle and pound the pedals. Things were going well on the bike, so it was just the wind that one had to worry about, but everyone had the same issues. Before I knew it, I was back into transition and putting my shoes on. my bike computer said 52:56 so I had managed to ride very well averaging over 37km/hr, not bad.
Focus on the run, was to run without pain...seems simple enough, doesn't it??
I headed out and was not feeling any pain, good start. I didn't use my footpod as I wanted to run on feeling rather than time or pace. Things were feeling okay and I felt like I was running at about 75-80% so not bad. As it was a 2 lap 7km course, I took the first with the same speed and would try things out a bit on the second. At the end of the first lap, I was feeling good and the hammie seemed to be holding up. So I took it at the same speed for about 500m and decided to try things out. I picked it up slightly, and waited.....no pain, this is good, not even a twinge. So I decided to pick it up closer to my race pace. I could feel the hammie tightening so I immediately backed off to the pace I had been holding, all good.
As I ran into the finishing area, I was extremely happy my leg had held up.
The times below, T1 is with the swim, and T2 is with the bike
Swim
00:22:12
HH : MM : SS
Cycle
00:54:37
HH : MM : SS
Run
00:29:14
HH : MM : SS
Finish Time
01:46:04
HH : MM : SS
Actually my time was good enough for a top 10 result in my age group! Never have I done this in Australia, so I'm extremely happy! Actually my run average was around a 4:16/km so things are looking okay, down from my 4 minute average at the peoples race a few weeks ago, but considering I thought I might not be able to race.... Phew.
Now with my leg seeming to be holding up (I'll be going to physio a few more times this week) I'm going to listen and do what I can. After talking with Mark, we're going to push my taper down from 2 weeks to around 5-7 days as I really want to have a decent result.
I did try my team Canada tri suit at this race and it was very comfortable, no chaffing so a good test run for Perth.
IMA 2009, check, IMA 2011, check, IMC 2011.. training for it. It's official, I'm an Ironman junky and this is the year of the double. I've had a small PB this year, but will be looking to improve on it when I travel back to home soil to what is one of the best IM races in the world (2nd behind only Kona in my eyes)
