This week was a bit of a milestone for me and training for Ironman. The hi-light being getting around Bells Line of Road for the 10th consecutive week, in less-than-ideal conditions. I'd have to say it doesn't get much easier, and I still get dragged around by The Animal for most of the ride.
The week started with a sleep in Monday (as is becoming fairly routine) with an easy swim set after work (only did about 1.5km).
Tuesday AM was the first long tuesday run I have managed (Australia day the obvious exception), clocking over 20km and meeting up with the other BMMC boys for the usual Tuesday am run around Sun Valley. Not sure of the kms exactly but I made sure I ran over 2 hours.
Wednesday morning got a solid swim session in, 3.5km.
Friday AM swim 4km, ride 90km with The Animal and The Bro in search of some hills. Got them all except Bellbird, so we did Hawkesbury twice. That evening was a twilight club race with Panthers Tri Club. In extreme weather conditions I felt pretty good for the initial run (changed to duathlon due to electrical storm) and on the bike, putting some distance into the guys that normally run me down. Unfortunately the heavens opened on the second lap and we cancelled the remainder on the bike, heading out for the 5km run to finish. Struggled a little with this one, as I tend to do, but managed to finish fairly strong. Enjoyed it thoroughly though. Thanks to Scam for putting in the hard yards standing out in the downpour.
Saturday AM started as usual, far too early, with me heading down to Penrith to join the PIS guys for a steady ride and run. Didn't get very far, as the decision was made to postpone the start of the bunch ride. The Animal and I headed out by ourselves to do Cobbitty, and ended up riding up to a group that had dropped back after a number of flat tyres. Joined in with them and eventually caught the rest of the bunch by the time we got back to Mulgoa. The rendezvouz was short lived, as The Animal succumbed to a flat tyre also - as tends to happen after so much rain. We headed back and then slogged out a hard 20km run off the bike. Not a flat 20km by any stretch of the imagination. I took it easy, trying to focus on maintaining the kind of pace I feel I could keep over 42km. A little slower than I would like, but the previous days training had been tough. Was quite shattered after this, so I skipped the wetsuit swim.
Sunday was wet AGAIN, but headed out a little later to meet at The Animal's and embark on yet another 160km loop of the Blue Mountains. Had to wake The Animal from his slumber and convince him the join me. We got around safely, feeling pretty good under the circumstances. That afternoon was a Swim to make up for the previous days absence. Felt strong in the pool, in no small part to the 500ml of sugar, caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng I have come to know and love. I figure Sunday I can get away with it.
Capped off another decent week of training, and probably the last adventure around Bells Line. Possibly some more to come, but for now its au revoir to Bells as I prepare for Huskisson in a week and a half. This is the Long Course Championships, which are close to half ironman distances. This should be a good barometer for how the training is going a month out from Ironman. It would be nice to come into a race without an injury, but a calf niggle at the moment is threatening. Hopefully some massage and physio will do the trick as I really can't afford much time off.
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