Not long now, the countdown to Ironman (Dec 5th) continues.
The training has really ramped up now. 9 sessions a week plus stretching and yoga. The rides are longer with Saturday being 5 or 6 hours backed up with around 4km in the pool. And it is starting to hurt. It's a good hurt but tough nonetheless.
Alison and the kids are being just awesome as they only see me fleetingly on weekends and in the evenings. My colleagues only laugh a little as I struggle up the three flights of stairs to my classroom.
This morning I was out of the house at 5.30am on the bike and I rolled into work a sweaty mess at 8.30am. Somehow I have to fit in an hour of running this evening as well.
The other guys doing Ironman with me are suffering as well but all in different ways.
On Monday night our club does a hard 30km time trial on the bike. Plenty of hills and a dead road add to the challenge. As did the four sessions over the weekend. Coach asks us to let him know what we're concentrating on for the time trial. Things like cadence, aero position, hill climbing and even remembering to drink. This week my two goals were ignoring my screaming legs and avoiding vomiting at all costs. It seemed to work.
You couldn't do this race without a Coach who knows his stuff and I am lucky in that respect. I just turn up to my sessions and do what I'm told. There's no point spending all this time and money to ignore the professionals!
You also couldn't do this easily on your own. The long rides and swims are made easier as our clubmates understand what we are doing. They understand why sometimes I need to swim at the back of the lane and simply hang on for a few hundred metres. They also understand that sometimes I need a tow on the bike! Last Saturday I had a nasty 30km section where two guys stayed with me and got me through it until my body decided to cooperate again. People will tell you that Ironman is selfish and it is. But it isn't something you can do on your own in my opinion.
Once I make it through tonight's run I get Thursday and Friday to recover for the weekend. %hr ride on Saturday morning, run in the afternoon. long course race on Sunday morning just as a long training session, easy run and an ice bath in the afternoon. Ouch.
And by the way, a Mars Bar has about 525 calories in it. My long ride last Saturday burned off 6 Mars Bars worth of calories!!
Bye for now,
DJ Rob
Rob: Quack,Quack,Quack,Quack,
ReplyDeleteJohn WTF. I told you to lay off the Saki. Now your not making any sense.
Great to hear that your body is holding up with the Ironman training. I do not know how you do it all - train, family, work. Hopefully I'll get to come out for a bit on Sunday morning. Good luck.
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