Diary of an Ironman seven weeks to go

I’ve had a busy week and I’ve skipped straight from nine weeks to go down to seven weeks. Once we get into single figures it drops down fast.

My last week’s training was uneventful after my health event. I managed to get in 12hrs training, five of those hours was racing the Capricorn Half Ironman at Yeppoon. We drive up which takes eight hours either way.

In our busy lives, my wife and I don’t get much time to talk, so these road trips are eight hour conversations, motivational talks, race analysis etc. We don’t mind the long drive but it can be tiring after a hard five hour race.

In the week before the race I had finished a long run with a bit of a sore calf muscle. This affected my race strategy some. My plan was to “smash” the swim, “smash” the bike and jog through the run sparing my calf too much pressure.

The race starts nearly two km up the beach from the resort. The whole field walks up the beach to the start. It’s a great race and is organised well.

I’m always suprised by how many athletes don’t carry water on the long walk up the beach. My wife and I drank a litre of water on our walk each. I like to take two caffeinated gels 15min before race start and wash them down with the remainder of my water. We then go in and warm up.

I always start each important race with a brand new pair of goggles. Nice clear lenses so I can have good vision throughout my swim. I’ve found good swims come from strong concentration and clear vision. We visited Craig and Lyndal at the Aquashop stand at the expo on Saturday to pick up two pairs of goggles. That’s one more thing we can check off our list.

The caffeinated gels help me maintain my concentration and a high arm turnover rate. Lots of athletes gradually lose their arm turnover rate over a 2000m swim, even worse over an Ironman swim.

We both had good swims. The time taken for the swim is a small part of the day, but if it goes well. It sets you up mentally for a good day. Psychologically it’s much better to be out front riding away while your competitors are still in the water. Urgency here is important, not rushing but a feeling of controlled urgency.

On the bike, strong concentration is critical to a good time. I use constant self talk to maintain my focus. It’s amazing how many triathletes lose focus on a boring, windy, rough surfaced course. I’d say there were a lot of guys and girls who were there for their first attenpt at this race who will not be in a big hurry to come back.

I had a strong consistant bike, so did my wife. We both had the fastest bike splits in our categories. The work we’ve been doing for Hawaii is “on track”.

Sandy placed second in her category, to a very good runner who fortunately will not be in Hawaii this year. I won my category by 26min after jogging through the run leg. My calf was no worse on Monday after the race than it was on Friday before it. I just didn’t want to hurt it and cause a setback in my Hawaii preparation.

I have to thank Jeff Murray, one of the athletes who I coach on-line. Jeff is a massage therapist and sports injury expert. He’s based at Tweed Heads. He gave me a bit of attention on the Saturday before the race and some good advice which helped a lot overnight. While he was at it, Sandy came up with her aches and pains and had a little treatment as well. It was a bit like a doctor at a party, with everyone describing their health problems to him.

Another thing which I am sure helped my sore calf get through the day was my Compressport socks. I wore them all through the day and all afternoon after the race. I even drove back to Brisbane wearing them. Rudy, the Compressport man at the expo told us that the thigh compressors will be available soon (as worn by Beck Keat and Belinder Granger at Roth last month)

I have had a very tired week, the legs have been empty. My balls are great (I’m sure some would be wondering how the “boys” fared after a hard race)

This weekend we time trial up O’Reiley’s mountain. It’s a 90min ride out to the base and a 26km time trial up the mountain. The guys are excited, it’s a chance to record an early season time to work on as the season progresses.