Laying it all Down



Sunday by the River 1 May 2011

 The week has rolled by quickly ,particularly as I had 2 days of no training partly as a result of work and meetings and just needing a short recovery.I skipped my Thursday ride and it was probably the right thing to do. I felt a lot better on Friday and had a good swim session. Did a 500m warm up with the Pb with 100m medley.then 300m of swim with breathing at increasing strokes up to 8 . The 4 x 200m building to fast and 100m x 2 and cool down of 300m .Altogether 2.4km.

I ran in the evening along the Swan river and really felt comfortable even though it was an easy run ,I did run 1km at 4.56pace and the rest around the 5.10 minutes pace. But I never felt it was hard.

Saturday 30th April was my lazy long hard ride .it was 160km on the flats . I started off really early.Left home at 4.20am and got to the meeting point with Rod a good 10minutes early. We then took off to meet Rob and then on to Fremantle and round the River to the Narrows Bridge where we joined the exceed group and rode again back to Fremantle and round the river to Shelley and back through Curtin University to the Narrows where we left them and Rod and I rode back via Fremantle again.I had been round the River 3 times .It was a cold day and I had my arm warmers out for the first time. Rod dropped me at Cottesloe as i could not keep up. I made my way back and about 5km from home got a puncture from a 1inch nail on the road. I managed to change the tire but the 2nd tube blew as well and my inflator would not work.I had no pump so my trip ended prematurely at 159.4km I got a lift home and a cyclist and a driver both stopped to see if I needed help. That was nice . I managed to keep up for most of the ride and the legs did not feel too bad. I ran when I got home and did 6km at about 5minute pace. It was a good last session.





It was a good quiet day for the remainder of the Saturday.

Sunday , I was feeling lazy but I did get out of bed and swam at Cott. It felt comfortable and the ocean was nice and calm. Fairly large groups were out for the last swim before the Busselton Half.

I got my programme for May from Ross . Lots of words of encouragement and a short quote:

On that I will leave you with my favorite saying at the moment.



“ I didn’t come here to wear tread off my tyres, I came here to lay it down”


Craig Gordon 24 hr Solo World MTB Champion 2006






Ross

After the long hours of training , I am as prepared as I will ever be. Lots more to learn and develop but at this point I know Iam as prepared and a lot stronger than I was in January. I am encouraged by the weight I am at and although I have a few more kg to lose ,it has always been a slow process for me. Even my strength in all disciplines has been improving at a  slow and steady rate.

Ultimately , the major lesson in any IM race is know your own capability and pace ,pace and pace. The only other minute details are nutrition and equipment .I have done all my rides with less than optimum, nutrition but I have a fairly good idea now of what I need to consume and subject to the weather I should be able to manage that .