4 weeks to the dance

Time moves fast, too fast some days, but when you want it to speed up, it sure has the opposite effect. 4 weeks to race day and I've been doing fairly well, but this is training, not racing.

This past week at training we were in the pool, getting beat up again with another one of Bronwyn's killer sets when Yas started chatting. For those that don't know Yas, well, let's just say she's a very determined athlete and no one, not even the coach, can get in her way to do an ironman. I think it was this notion, that got her talking with the coach about IM's. Interestingly enough, Mark (our head coach) told her, that if she wants to do well at an Ironman, then she had to train like me. In his words, I was a great trainer, but when it came to racing, I over think most things and I stuff it up......hmmmm. Well, he is right, I train the house down. This got me thinking about IMC and how I could treat things different. What have I done in the past to push through to betterment? What can I learn about my mistakes I've done in previous races? If I can figure this out, I can hopefully have a good race. Besides I have to do well, I don't want to get chicked ;-) (even though the way Kat's going she will crush me)

So I'm a trainer, not a racer. Okay, I can accept that concept.

People won't be expecting me to pull out a good race. I can accept that too.

But who am I really racing for, not them surely, nope. Me. If I can't race a good race, then I'm only hurting one person. Yup, me.

Digging deeper into my two IM's I've done, what was it that worked?

Well, I honestly think the swim for me is pretty good now. I take it easy, swim within my comfort zone and I will have a good start to the race. If you look at the typical pro's (chris jacob exempt) most pro's out of the water first rarely win. So, if I can go out, swim as good or slightly better than IMA this year, I've got the perfect start to the race.

The bike.... This one is interesting. You can go out, smash a 5:30 bike or better, only to pay for it on the run. The bike is interesting too, as this is your main time to get as many calories in as possible because as soon as you start your run, it's very difficult to get the same quality/quantity in. IMC also has these two 'little' mountain passes to tackle and a number of short sharp climbs to keep you honest. Consistency is king here. I stuffed my last IM by going out too hard on the return leg due to the massive tail wind. I have to remember that this may allow me to gain some minutes early, it will only hurt me later in the race. I truly think that I need to keep this in the back of my mind come August 28th.

So go smart, not too fast, yet not slow, eat like a pig, but not too late, don't burn out on the hills to save the legs for the other climbs but save enough for the marathon that follows....Got it.

The marathon. What do I have to about this leg. If you get off the bike, there's a 95% chance that you're going to hear your name called out in the finishing chute. Slow and steady, don't eat too much, never give up, ignore the pain. I think in the past, that if I'm not having the race go to my plan, I shut off too easy. Once I realise I've shut off, by the time I realise the race has gotten away from me, I push hard, but fall short. I can't let this be the case AGAIN.

One of my mates, who did IMA with me, gave me his insight into the run and I think I'm going to employ a similar moto, plan, whatever the hell you want to call it. 42.2 kms, or 26 miles. There's an aid station every mile, so I have 26, 1 mile repeats to do. This is the plan, I can run a mile. Walk the aid station, then run another repeat. That's the game plan.

It took me awhile to find the right combo for the half ironman, but I've found my groove in that one and I've been setting pb's each time ever since. Geelong 2009 is what I have to think about this time around.

For a race that I almost didn't start, it was my best race. I wasn't going to race, but once I heard the swim was on (for me) I was so excited and happy. I didn't care about anything. I went out, I had fun, took it easy on the bike and came home with my fastest run time in a 70.3, thus setting a very large PB in the works. That's the same way I need to approach IMC. If I do that, then I could be a happy camper.

With some good running the past few weeks, and things seeminly getting better in the pool I think the next two weeks of hard training will be okay. That and I get my new bike soon. Gotta love a brand new Felt DA, fully kitted up with Durace components and a set of 606's = some serious bike porn.

Take it easy out there folks and see you soon.
Rich

6 to go... it looks good but is it?

Pardon my french here but, holy shit! 6 weeks!?!?! WTF? It can't be that soon, I just got training again... oh ya, wait a minute, I've already built up a big base from doing one of these freekin races already this year. Phew, forgot about those killer sessions.



Okay, back to reality. I've been doing some solid training, and it seems (based on my training profile) I'm stepping in the right direction. But I can say, all this training is really starting to weigh heavily on me.







As you can see from the graph above, I've been very consistent in my build up to IMC. Starting smart and low and using each week to build upon. You can even see the one week which I used as a taper week. Classic graph if you ask me. (for the record, I'm only a weekend punter and have no qualifications other than the fact I know I'm nuts)



I have to keep at it.... 4 more hard weeks of training, then the best words in any athletes vocabulary... TAPER. Lots to do between now and then, such as keeping focused, keeping honest and above all trying to keep a balance between work, home and training.



The last week, I just kept at it. I didn't let my foot off the gas pedal, so to speak, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I trained longer and harder but I missed core workouts. Not good, but perfection is tough to achieve. Slightly more kms (quality not quantity was the key here) and slightly longer too. To be honest, I channelled my work frustrations into my training which helped somewhat, but I could see I was not myself. Between management duties and difficult clients/contractors it wasn't a good week. These stresses were high, and the training helped, somewhat, but I can really feel it spilling over to the home life.



I can honestly say I'm very lucky, okay damn lucky to have such a great wife and family that has allowed me to try and tackle 2 ironman races in a short time frame. These coming weeks I will pour myself into this training, race to my fullest potential, then it's time for me to hang it up for awhile. Family is the most important thing in ones life and if you stuff it up, you can't go back and ask for a re-do. I think I've used all of my free credits, and then some with the family and I need to focus more on them come the end of August. Going to the park, going to the beach, waking up when we want to, then making a nice brekkie on the weekend. A second or third cup of coffee with the lovely mrs.... why yes, that would be great.



The other part of me is looking forward to racing, but not being away from my girls. This will be the longest I've been away from my wife in the 19 years we've been together and I'm not looking forward to that. Yes I have to race which I will to my fullest ability, but I'm going to be very sad, that I won't have either of the girls there once I'm done. Me and mancub will have a great time where we'll be out there, playing, bonding and seeing what troubles he can get into which I will love very much.



Sigh....



This week I had some very good training sessions. Thursday's swim session with Coach evil ;-) okay Bronwyn, was just what I needed here. Prior to the session I was chatting with her on what it would take for me to get faster (very dumb move, or good depending on how you look at it), so when it came to the main set, she bumped me up a lane, putting me out of my comfort zone. I managed to hold the time sets given, but with very little recovery. I can say, that at the end of it, I was completely spent. No more energy available. In fact, the arms were shaking afterwards for awhile, meaning I gave it all I could. Thanks Bronwyn, I needed a session or two like this.



Then today, I headed out for a run with mancub. Pushing the extra 25+ kgs during a long run set is hard, but rewarding. We headed out and after we got through the "where are we going dad?" and the "you're going the wrong way dad", things were okay. I wasn't looking for a negative split here, but more about being consistent pace throughout. We kept at it, and believe it or not, Vaughn got mad at me when we turned around (what a slave driver). One thing I didn't like, but successfully managed, was the tummy. At the one hour mark, I tried to take my 2nd gel, but all I could get down was half of it. To be honest, I was pretty close to throwing up, but managed to hold it off. No more gels for me, just water. And that's all I had. It worked well and I kept a solid pace throughout the run which was fantastic. We got home, I convinced mancub to have a nap, and very quickly I managed to catch some zzzz's on the couch.



A tough but good week. 4 to go, I can do it. It's all about the donuts right? Here's my IMC summary thus far. Look at all those tv's I've powered


Keep at it, keep honest, and try and enjoy the little things.

Cheers
Rich

It seems the more I train, the better I feel. This feeling is good, as it equates to confidence. But the more confidence I gain, the more I think I need to train harder, faster, more. Man this is a vicious cycle.

I've been training constantly the past three weeks and other than missing a bike session due to travel, I've been bang on to my plan. Mother nature has been a bit mean as of late, with some very low (by Queensland weather standards) morning temperatures, giving me an excuse to sleep in a bit more, or wait till it warms up a bit. Soft I know, but, hey, I'll be racing in the summer back home, so I need to train in warm weather right? ;-) After a bit, I do get out and it's been productive. My longer runs as of late have been in the hills, so, this past weekend, I did a long run on the flats. WOW... That's all I can say. Those painful hill climbs during those long hill sessions seem to be worth it. I did a 24km run this week and felt great. Form was there, legs felt light, and I managed to come back with negative split.... 5 minutes worth, this is good right?

All this good training has allowed me to "add to the race bank". Good training, that will allow me to make withdrawals come August 28th. Now is the time to dig deep, get out there, keep consistent, and use compound interest to build the bank for a major withdrawl come race time, say 30km mark of the marathon?

I'm really going to try and bunker down in the next couple of weeks. I have a feeling this is where I need to call on experience to see where I can find that extra bit. It's only 5 weeks of training hard before taper. I think I can honestly say, this is where (in the past) I've taken my foot off the gas a bit. The only way to improve is to find out where I've gone wrong before and not repeat the same mistakes.

I don't want to train some days, but I have to, keep smart, train right, eat well and sleep...On that note, I better get off this computer and into bed, it's too late (but I had to watch NCIS, can't miss that).

Now if only my new bike frame would hurry it's sorry ass from Germany so I can build it, fit it properly and get it prepared for a good race.

Cheers
Rich

176 donuts and counting

Well that's what my training logbook says anyways. 176 donuts, 9 pounds burned off, or 0.03 times around the world thus far on this campaign (that's just shy of 1,100kms). This past week was a tough one filled with travel, good swims, some hard running miles and some company while training.

Not too much to say really, other than I'm really loving running through the mountain trails as it's a great way to get a solid workout but also if you're doing it right, time in the hills is actually is actually equivalent to a longer distance on flat runs. I figure if I keep running through the hills once a week, it's either going to kill me or make me stronger. ;-)

Another 10 sessions under my belt, 2 of which were core workouts (got to pay attention to the 1%ers) which will pay dividends later. The best/worst of those was the double run on Saturday.... I met up with a few of the squad boys for a run, this time through the trails of Mount Cooth tha. We went for a good run, but when it was all finished we'd only managed to run for about 70minutes (that's what I had for running time) and a little over 12kms. We stopped for coffee at the summit which was fantastic, but I knew I needed to do more. So..... after I got home and coach Vaughn had gone down for a nap, I headed out on one of my 8.5km routes around home. Out I went, and it was hurting.... allot. I didn't stop, but kept at it, trying to focus on my leg turnover rather than how I felt. This seemed to work and before I knew it, I was tackling the local hill, the last bit of hard work on the run. I pumped my arms and made it up without stopping. Down the other side and into the driveway I'd done it. When I entered my data, I discovered why the run hurt so much.... I'd run it at 4:30/kms. Damn.

Then Sunday, I headed out for a ride with one of guys I did IMA with. Out we went and things were feeling good, but unlike my crazy self, Blair has not been training hard on the bike (that's what normal people are doing at this time of year) so we rode for about 2.5 hours we finished up with a coffee and I headed back. I knew I needed more, so I tacked on an additional ride to take me up to 4:15 riding time, or 124kms.

Today was not a good day.....I know, why should I be sore? I barley did any training over the weekend ;-) but, I ate well, I kept hydrated and tonight in lieu of my bike strength session, I opted for an easy spin. While the legs feel good now, here's hoping they feel better tomorrow as I head out for a squad session back at Mount Coot tha (yes I'm a sucker for punishment)

I'm going to take it a bit easier this week as it's a recovery week and then back into it, with a 25km trail race through the Glasshouse Mountains planned for the 24th of this month, which will be a blast.

Keep at it and it's 6.5 weeks till I touch down in Canadiana (as it's dubbed here)

Cheers