Do the Rest

It is a week to Busselton Ironman .I am excited but again Iam not. It will be my 4th Busselton race and familiarity breeds well familiarity. But never underestimate the race.Its flat but that throws up its own challenges.

I have had a very light week and overall it has been a very light programme that has suited me rather well.I have been sick a lot more this year .But there may be a number of variables that bring that about. The forced rest has been good.

Monday , I did a short 45 minute run in the arvo and then a straight 45 min swim .I managed a 2km swim and felt very comfortable .I did not go hard and the weather was great on Monday.

Tuesday , last hard ride but we did not do an hour on in Nedlands.Everyone did a draft friendly ride to the turnaround hard and than tapped back to start again . We managed 3 and I had my zipps on to test and hung onto Jamie ad Jason most of the 3 sprints. I averaged between 40 and 43kph for each of the sprints .It was short and sharp and there was no stress on the legs.



After the ride it was breakfast at Tiger Tiger. Wednesday was swimming with drills and sets .Did 2.5km and then at lunch time I ran a 1hour run at Yokine with 4 x 2min efforts.

Thursday was a 1.5hour easy ride and I rode to Nedlands and followed the Exceed  Tri club round the river. My chain came off at point Walter Road in Freo and I had to catch the group .fortunately Rod had gone off to drop his bag at his office  by the river and he found me and dragged me back . I was on my training bike and it was hard going . Once we grouped up it was a slow ride back to the city .

By Thursday evening I was getting a sore throat and on Friday I was down with another  bout of flu or cold.So I skipped my training and had a rest day.On Saturday I was feeling better and did my 2 hour ride down the freeway.it wasn't fast but I felt alot better at the end of the ride. Did hit the sand on the side of the path as I was busy looking at my garmin. Could have been a crash but managed to stay upright. Had to climb over a tree that had come down across the cycle path at mt Henry as well. But it was a rather normal gusty freeway ride .

I met up with the rest of the guys and Ross at Tigers . Michele , Alistair and myself got a special Rossco briefing for Ironman . Nice to get the dos and don't of race day retold. makes me revisit everything . I started my checklist and getting my gear together.

I will write a new nutrition plan as well . I will rehearse everything I have to do in Transition . (especially as I will be racing with my Garmin for the first time )

Cottesloe ..a lot busier this morning

On Sunday , felt alot better after the long nights rest and codral.The advantage is that with each bout of cold/flu the period of being ill has become shorter. I went down with Tony for a swim with Keith , Les and Trevor. Swam to Blue duck cafe from Cottesloe.my goggles were leaking so I got left behind but managed to catch up with Trevor.we then all tried to draft behind Keith but he was just too strong and everyone got dropped. I tried to stay on his feet but just could not .I was happy with my swim as I was able to stay on Tony's feet and feel very comfortable for all the period before I decided to try and jump onto Keiths feet as he pulled away. It was a short swim of 30 minutes but was good to be out for the last time in the Ocean  before race day.

Finally , a piece from Chuckie V I was reading and found very useful about resting but again in another of Chuckie V's enlightened piece he writes about the taper. it is more art than science and you have to have something to taper. I think I have got it right and this week I did :

swim 2.5hrs
run 2 hrs
ride 5.5 hrs
total 10 hrs

Do the Rest by Chuckie V