Sunday nights are great. The work’s been done for the week, Monday’s a rest day. I’m counting down the things I have to get done before I leave for Hawaii on the 29th September.
Apart from my coaching committments, I have one more major workout to get done. My endurance/fuel efficiency workout next Sunday. It’s a 200km bike with a 26km climb in the middle of it, and a 30min run off the bike. It usually works out to be an 8hr day. It’s always a great day sharing the experience …

The 100km time trial is one of the best tests we have for Half Ironman and Ironman performance. A shorter time trial may show how fast you are but the concentation skills needed for a long race in tough conditions need to be learned. The best place to learn these skills is doing something tough enough to test the mind.
The course we use is west of Brisbane over rolling terrain. It has some hills, some flat, often wind, and in winter it’s cold enough for full finger gloves and shoe …

Why is it that the day after a big session, you get out of bed and feel pretty good. The next morning it feels like the night was too short. This morning (Tuesday) was like that. I looked in the mirror and Keith Richards was looking back. 4.30am is too early to have to get up sometimes.
It’s six weeks to go and even though I’m tired right now, it’s all good. I’ve had a productive week of training last week. I managed to fit in 4hrs swimming, about 12km, 7hrs …

I’ve cautiously started my program again now the “Man Flu” symptoms have eased. I’ve had a great run of health for three years, hardly a sniffle. It’s amazing how sensitive to any symptoms we become after a cold.
My Sunday workout was going to be a test of the strength of my immune system. We did a two hour bike followed by a two hour run. I had done a 4,000m aerobic swim set on Saturday, no change in symptoms. I still had a little bit of a tickle in the throat.
Sunday’s …

We’ve all heard how serious a “Man Flu” can be. It’s the new pandemic for 2010. Far more serious than a common cold. Only seems to affect the males of the species. The females seem to have an immunity which allows them to go on with normal duties, cooking, cleaning, caring for others, without the devastating symptoms suffered by the males.
A strong healthy male can be struck down overnight, rendering him a sniffling, shivering, mess. Totally unable to do any of his normal daily chores like cutting down forests, killing …

My past weeks training has been right on track. The Sunday workout was the planned 4hr aerobic bike followed by the 10 x 2km repeats. Having a positive experience in this workout really depends on having a feeding plan and sticking to it.
The 2km repeats are done on a time base, just like a swim set in the pool. At this stage I run mine on a 10min time base. In the early ones when I come in the the feeding area at the start finish, I waste no time. …

Ten weeks out from the big day in October, I find myself in good health, 3 kg lighter than last year on race day. I’ve purposely lowered my body weight to make training easier and hill climbing on the bike a lot easier.
My weight reduction plan was simple. I only ate fish and vegetables for two weeks. I ate as much as I could fit in. For two weeks I had no wheat, no dairy foods, no rice, no animal protein, no trans fats, no saturated fats. To give a …

B-B-B-Bring it on, we’re ready!
I’ve had the most frustration week of trying to make contact with the rest of the world. I’ve spent too much time at the internet cafe. First it wouldn’t recognise my USB with all my addresses on it. Then Sandy forgot her password, we both have e-mail addresses on the same account. She kept trying every different possible password (her computer at home remembers it for her). Anyway the short story is, the e-mail provider got sick of all the attempts to log on and shut …

This week has been a lot easier than the previous one. We’ve started to drop the volume of training. For the first weekend in a long while Sandy and I have had a smaller Sunday workout than our squad. The bulk of the squad are training for the Western Australian Ironman in Busselton in ten weeks.
Yesterday we cycled three hours aerobically, it was a fun ride with about twenty five of our club mates around the Bay loop. Down along the waterfront at Wynum and around to Wellington Point and …

This has been my biggest week of training in this build up. Nineteen hours. All aerobic, except for a few sprints in the pool.
I am tired. Sandy and I did a big mid week bike ride of just under 200km with a 30km climb in the middle of it. We were in the saddle for nine hours. Probably wasted an hour with water, toilet stops and a coffee at the top of the mountain.
We finished the ride in better shape this time than last time we did it. On Wednesday …