An easy day again, with just a swim. Due to a super busy day at work (EOM) and the fact that it was No.3 daughters' (Lily) birthday I got up and did the early AM swim at Bold Park. Hit the water about 555am and was home by 7am for present unwrapping. Lily's main present was new bike. Damn that thing is heavy! I could hardly lift it... Anyway, I did a standard swim of 2.4k with some endurance and some form type work. It felt great to have that done before breakfast.
Tuesday
Last night I found out that Marko, one of the RW crew suffered a major injury mountian biking and fractured 4 vertebrae in his neck! Shocking news. Luckily it appears that he will be Ok and make a full recovery. Thats one of the reasons I don't want to get into that sport! Today I did bike intervals as 3 x 15' z3-4. Total 37km in 1:09hrs. I still struggle to get the HR up to threshold on the flats, whilst riding on my own. I can do 78-79% of max, but to get it up to 82-84% is impossible on flat terrain. The legs give out before the lungs. But on a spin bike it is no worries to sit on 84% (hard work, but achievable). Anyway, I digress. I then came home and grabbed the dog for a quick run - 4km in 19min. It is an easy week for running this week with only 2 hrs planned. So the legs are feeling great.
Wednesday
Another easy day with just a swim scheduled. Hit the pool after work today (just before 6pm) for the first time in ages. It wasn't too busy, which was nice. Did a 2.5k set with a bunch of 200's, 150's and 50's. Did it easy and I feel like I should be doin more kays in the pool, but I am following the plan... Got home and was (predictably enough) starving!
Thursday
A break from the long run this week (it's a very cruisy week) and so a 5k TT was the flavour of the day. I slept in on purpose and ran at lunchtime. I need to run in 'warm' weather when I can to acclimatise somewhat before Busso. Race day will no doubt be hot and the run is in the middle of the day...Anyway, I did the same course as last time I did a TT and was hoping for a good result as well. But alas, I was a few seconds slower than last time, even though I buried myself. My HR was increasing the whole time and finished on 89% of max, with an avg of 84% of max. I really don't think I could have gone any faster. But it wasn't enough for a sub-4 min pace time and I ended up with 20:04. It was fairly warm and I do tend to suffer in the heat. I think last time it was pretty cool and stormy weather. Oh well, it is what it is.
Friday
Another swim only day, but I cheated and went for a short run with the dog before breakfast...just to turn the legs over. So 4k in 20'. The swam at lunchtime at Bold Pk. Had a lane to myself for most of my swim and it was a gorgeous day to in the pool. MS: 3 x 300, 6 x 100 @ t-3 pace (=1:39/100m) and 6 x 50 as 25 sprint, 25 easy. Total 2.4k. Felt pretty good. Tried to eat a little more today, in prep for Sat ride. A little carbo loading practice. I think I have not been eating enough lately, both off and on the bike. So I am consciously trying to rectify the situation. I have lost a little weight and have seen 80 and 81kg's on the scales recently, so I am at my fighting weight already, with 8 weeks to go!
Saturday
4hr ride, solo. The 2 other Amigos are away this week and so it was a good opportunity to do a little work on my own. I decided to skip RW as my prelude and just do my own thang from home. I got going at about 540am and went down the coast to Freo, round the Sth side of the river to the Fwy and then down to the Roe Hwy path. Headed east on that to Welshpool Rd which was just shy of 2 hrs, so had to ride a couple kays up the road so I could turn around right on the 2hr mark. Then reversed that all the way home. As I was coming down through Pt Walter on the way out, 4 guys blew past me at the bottom of the hill in a loose group, but then slowed down on the flat. I was sitting on about 35 or so and so passed them all pack. They then sat on all the way to the Majestic hill, suckin wheel. I shook them off then and went on my merry way. For snack food I had lollies (raspberries), biscuits (pillow biscuits), Shotz bars and 2 mini Picnic chocky bars (mmm) plus 3 bidons of drink. I made an effort to eat regularly and it seemed to pay off. The Picnic bars were a great. A nice change. (Thanks to the kids show bags!) Anyway, I did 3 x 20' efforts, with a few minutes break between, at about z3-4 pace. Then solid IM riding for the trip home. Got some great efforts in at a real solid pace. I was pretty happy with how everything went and felt strong all the way home. I even managed a -ve split by 40 seconds! I got home, did a quick change of clothes and dragged the dog around for a 4k brick. Avg pace was great - 4:38. I literally had to drag the dog the last half though. She suffers in heat more than her master! Her tongue is about 25cm long when she is hot!!! So I finished a 4:18 session in really good shape. I am sure that the nutrition was the key...
Sunday
What a big day in sport! Ironman World Championships, Bathurst and Rugby World Cup... The highlight for me was definitely Ironman. Craig (Crowie) Alexander taking out his 3rd title and breaking a 12 year old course record was unbelievable! Then another Aussie, Pete Jacobs, coming 2nd and breaking the marathon record was pretty cool too. As for the chicks, Miranda Carfrae came 2nd to Chrissie and broke the womens run record in the process and nearly mowed her down...very exciting stuff. What a fantastic race, so much drama, so much suffering and so much human spirit overcoming... I caught a little bit online before I went for my ride and considered, briefly, watching it all, but with about 2.5 hrs to go I couldn't really justify it.
So I rode down the coast again, RTR, down to Mt Henry and onto the Shelley foreshore for a 90min out & 90min back. The weather was a bit dodgy looking, but the sun was shining. I headed into a SE'ly which made me feel the fatigue in my legs from yesterdays effort. Then I noticed the road was a bit wet and then it went very dark all of a sudden. Next thing the road was extremely wet and there was a lot of water and puddles everywhere. I had just missed a massive downpour but got pretty wet regardless. The wind and wet road made it most uncomfortable. After about 20min, the road dried up and then the clouds blew through, as I got down to Shelley. I turned around right on 1:30hrs and had done nearly 47k. I pulled out my phone and had a quick look at Twitter and saw that Crowie had won IM. Very cool. The return trip was a little bit easier as I had some wind assistance from the SE'er. I kept eating and drinking, even though it was still pretty cool. I pushed (ABP) and gave it a bit all the way up the coast. When I got back to Scarb Bch I had taken my avg speed from 31.2 at the half way mark to 33.4km/h. So I ended up with 94km in 2:56hrs. Felt pretty good too.
Summary:
Swim - 7.2k
Ride - 262k
Run - 23k
Time: 12:00hrs
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