Good morning!!! Its Friday morning, and taper week's gone to plan... only a 15 in run and 20mins on the bike tomorrow and its all done. Just a couple of errands to do today, but mainly I will be relaxing and putting my feet up. Looking forward to racing on sunday: I'll finally get some feedback on how the training's been going. Whether its good or bad though, I think I might try to get a coach when I get back to the UK. Don't get me wrong: I think I've done a good job of training for the goals I set: get a few months of solid, fairly high vol base in. Its the specifics that I kind of get lost on - noticed it especially in race prep... how much more intensity? what does intensity mean when talking about IM? But also in normal training, lots of questions. Epic was good for answering some of them, but I also learnt about a lot of other stuff - some of which I was already doing by accident, some which I'm not sure I'd ever do. I suppose it comes down to the fact that the last few years I've been training to train, and its only really been this year where I've got to grips with doing sessions I want to do properly, complete them and get through the rest of the week too! I used to find that my eyes were bigger than my stomach when it came to a lot of the training I was trying to do, so I'd end up with lots of 'recovery sessions'. So I guess now I want to switch to training to race - to be a bit more specific, make sure I'm training right all the time rather than just happy logging the miles cos it all goes in for base-building.
But pre-race, all's good. No injuries, feeling OK. Bit 'puffy' as AC was describing it yesterday - carrying a few extra kgs above race weight, but on the upside, apparently it helps you recover quicker ;) Port Mac is looking like an ad for lycra at the moment with far too many fit people trawling around on bikes and out running. Am going to make a concerted effort to avoid most of them today!!
Thursday 29 March 2007
Tuesday 27 March 2007
4 days to go
Finally its almost here! :) Managed to cut down to about 18 hours training last week, so that's good tapering for me... only aiming for about 9 or 10 hours this week ahead of race day, so really easing up.
Bob has solved my race wheel situation - his buddy is one of the race directors who is lending me his Zipp 404's. Awesome - means that I won't have to punish myself on the rolling terrain with a disc come race day... not sure whether or not to use the Hed tri spoke the AC's hopefully bringing down on the front tho... ahhh decsions, desions!
Apart from that, think I am all set for race day. Just need to get a few more gels and do the registration etc, but all ready. I'm moving out of my flat tomorrow :( as the place was fully booked lng ahead of the race, but moving slightly more centrally so that's good for race moring. Have LOTS of work to keep me busy in the meantime... that's good as it'll keep me occupied and out of the way - with lots of keyed-up athletes arriving, the town is starting to get crowded!
Bob has solved my race wheel situation - his buddy is one of the race directors who is lending me his Zipp 404's. Awesome - means that I won't have to punish myself on the rolling terrain with a disc come race day... not sure whether or not to use the Hed tri spoke the AC's hopefully bringing down on the front tho... ahhh decsions, desions!
Apart from that, think I am all set for race day. Just need to get a few more gels and do the registration etc, but all ready. I'm moving out of my flat tomorrow :( as the place was fully booked lng ahead of the race, but moving slightly more centrally so that's good for race moring. Have LOTS of work to keep me busy in the meantime... that's good as it'll keep me occupied and out of the way - with lots of keyed-up athletes arriving, the town is starting to get crowded!
Thursday 22 March 2007
Taper Hell
Backing off on training, putting my feet up, relaxing more... sounds like it should be fun. So how come I don't really like taper??? Motivation went through the floor so that as soon as I realised I was on taper, I was practically doing nothing. Seems like I can only do large volume of nothing. But I hope its working. After 2 really laid back training days, swim this am and this eve felt good for the first time in a while. I just need to make it to race day whole and uninjured, right? There's started to be some more athletes arriving in Port, so race day really is next week!
Getting in an early ride tomorrow before bike goes in for a pre-race service. 9 days to go! :)
Getting in an early ride tomorrow before bike goes in for a pre-race service. 9 days to go! :)
Monday 19 March 2007
Sleepless night
Man, its hot here tonight. I'm finding I can't sleep - probably because I was trying out some caffeinated nutrition on my last long ride earlier... but WOW when they say its long-acting, they mean it! The heat's not helping much either. I'm not allowing myself to use the air-con because I want to acclimatise. I guess I'm as acclimatised as I'll ever be after 5 weeks here, but damn do I still sweat.
So its Monday, well - Tuesday now, a little under 2 weeks out from IMOz - taper time. Not quite sure how I feel about that... less training is always the difficult choice when there's no injuries!! Also means I get to see if I've made any progress over the winter. I don't even know if the base work I've been doing will show up yet. This long distance malarky sure does make you play the long game.
Time to see if I can slepe yet. I'm knackered... guess the 6am swim squad is out of the window: that'll count towards the taper then ;)
So its Monday, well - Tuesday now, a little under 2 weeks out from IMOz - taper time. Not quite sure how I feel about that... less training is always the difficult choice when there's no injuries!! Also means I get to see if I've made any progress over the winter. I don't even know if the base work I've been doing will show up yet. This long distance malarky sure does make you play the long game.
Time to see if I can slepe yet. I'm knackered... guess the 6am swim squad is out of the window: that'll count towards the taper then ;)
Friday 16th March
I'm enjoying the sun in Port Macquarie and trying to get ahead on some work. I am taking it easy today as I'm feeling the peak intensity (and the yoga... ouch!) - but just another couple of long hard sessions before taper really sets in next week.
It'll be an interesting race here at IMOz. On one hand, the course is going to be quite tough, so the times won't be directly comparable to IMAustria or IMGermany - some estimates put the course at 20 mins slower than the races I've done before. On the other hand, my last IM race was back in July, and I've had some decent blocks of consstent high volume training (and some decent rest) since then, as well as Epic Camp NZ where I did more volume than I ever thought possible. The choice of equipment is pretty much whatever I have: luckily I brought out my race bike back in October, but with training wheels. I'm hopefully borrowing a set of race wheels from Charlsey, but he's racing too, so I get whatever he doesn't think is right for the course!!! O well, beggars can't be choosers... I'll take whatever I can get. If it turns out that its the disc, then it'll be an interesting experience!
Did my last longish run back on wed, hitting 30kms including a complete lap of the run course. It reminded me that this may (fingers crossed) be the most injury free run-wise that I've ever been in the run up to an IM. Previously I have always had problems with shin-splits: before IMAustria I was on a near complete running ban for 2 months (except for a couple of races) and before Germany I was still quite variable with running consistency. I haven't been doing any massive mileage, but the consistency's been good so far this year. Plus I got myself some Brook's Beasts back when I arrived in Port nearly 5 weeks ago, and they seem to be helping - I finally admitted to having THE flattest feet and went for the most supportive shoes on the market. You gotta work with what you got I suppose!
It'll be an interesting race here at IMOz. On one hand, the course is going to be quite tough, so the times won't be directly comparable to IMAustria or IMGermany - some estimates put the course at 20 mins slower than the races I've done before. On the other hand, my last IM race was back in July, and I've had some decent blocks of consstent high volume training (and some decent rest) since then, as well as Epic Camp NZ where I did more volume than I ever thought possible. The choice of equipment is pretty much whatever I have: luckily I brought out my race bike back in October, but with training wheels. I'm hopefully borrowing a set of race wheels from Charlsey, but he's racing too, so I get whatever he doesn't think is right for the course!!! O well, beggars can't be choosers... I'll take whatever I can get. If it turns out that its the disc, then it'll be an interesting experience!
Did my last longish run back on wed, hitting 30kms including a complete lap of the run course. It reminded me that this may (fingers crossed) be the most injury free run-wise that I've ever been in the run up to an IM. Previously I have always had problems with shin-splits: before IMAustria I was on a near complete running ban for 2 months (except for a couple of races) and before Germany I was still quite variable with running consistency. I haven't been doing any massive mileage, but the consistency's been good so far this year. Plus I got myself some Brook's Beasts back when I arrived in Port nearly 5 weeks ago, and they seem to be helping - I finally admitted to having THE flattest feet and went for the most supportive shoes on the market. You gotta work with what you got I suppose!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
