7 Days To Go

Just one week until show time. The forecast for Shepparton next Sunday is mostly sunny and 25 degrees, which is practically perfect for me. The wind is not predicted to be too much so it has the makings for a good time. I think I can perform as well as anyone in the heat so if the sun has some kick during the run I’ll be happy.

After having a good end to my rest week by doing another solid long ride and 8km treadmill run today with 7km @ 18km/h, the body is feeling fresh and strong. My best session was a swim on Friday. I just did 2km but I wore my wetsuit in the pool. Although, I was very warm, I performed about 10 x 100m at, what felt to be, slightly below race pace yet I was doing each 100m repetition up to 10 seconds faster than I normally do when pushing hard. This meant a few things, a) the rest had done its job, and, b) the wetsuit makes a massive difference to my speed in the water through creating a more buoyant position and having a sleek outer layer to cut through the water. It gave me a lot of confidence for the race.

The next 6 days will consist of some short, sharp sessions across all 3 disciplines as well as some weights to remind my muscles of the strength and power they possess.

Monday is just a swim. A solid 3km with some efforts performed over 200m with paddles and a few 100s at race pace. I will do a 10 – 15 minute core workout directly after this.

Tuesday will be my last hard run which I will do on the treadmill to reduce the impact on my joints. I will do a long warm-up with about 15 minutes spent on drills and dynamic stretching before jumping on the treadmill for 3 sets of 2km @ 20km/h and 1km @ 15km/h. I will follow this with a weights session consisting of Push-ups, chin ups, swim specific stretch cord exercises, deadlifts, swiss ball hamstring curls and single leg squat jumps.

Wednesday, I’ll start with a ride on the indoor trainer including 30 minutes of alternating single leg pedaling and 45 minutes of higher cadence in a light gear. Afterwards, I will run off the bike for 5km at a steady, below race pace effort.

Thursday will start with a light ride for 60 minutes, then, it is back in the pool for my last quality swim. 3km again with a long warm-up. 10 x 50m above race pace and 12 x 100m at cruising pace, all with approximately 30 – 40 seconds rest in between.

Friday, things will really wind down with another light ride for an hour, followed by a gentle 4 – 5km run.

On Saturday, I am going to ride for 30 minutes before I drive to Shepparton. At the race site I will do a short jog with a few drills to loosen things up before I have a short, practice swim in the lake. And, that’s it. The day after will be race day and all of the hard work will be tested in a big way. Both physical and mental.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Dallas on his stellar performance at Ironman 70.3 Mandurah today. His first half ironman was done in 32 degree heat and he completed it with flying colours. Some terrific signs for the future which I am hoping he will look to take advantage of and continue on in other long course triathlon events. It really helps me to remember how to tough out a race when the going gets tough. A half marathon in 32 degrees after 3 and ½ hours of swimming and cycling. Now that’s mental toughness!

Great work mate!