Exceeding Personal Expectations

This week has been an unexpected one of results. The over-riding factor was that I used every available hour to ride or swim – two areas that required immediate attention in the next five weeks.

My training preparation has been based on a 3-on-1-off approach; that is, three days training followed by one day of rest. This seems intense enough yet spares my body of depletion and fatigue. I kept my sessions short and intense, with interval-rides on consecutive days. Same mileage but done with more speed and power, stretched over two or three days. I also did short bricks of run-swim, or swim-ride. Just this evening, I rode for about 75 minutes worth of intervals, with warm-up and cool-down. I did one hour of swim drills at midday, before work, and that was one training load off my mind.

Tomorrow morning, I intend to do a moderate 21K at 5 minute/K pace – just to keep my run-legs reminded. Can’t wait for Sunday – my double-century ride on my roadie. I will ride 200K with Hui Koon on Coastal Road; we should be doing about seven loops of the 30K circuit and rehearsing race-day nutritional needs. Most of our feeding will be done on the bike, with Gatorade as the main source of fuel (plus Power-Gels, Power-Bars, et al); that is also the official racecourse hydration system. Incidentally, Hui Koon and I engage the same coach, Craig ‘The Fox’ and all three will meet up at Ironman Western Australia on 5 December. It should be a memorable event for me, with personal expectations of a PB in the 11-hour range. The week should end in the 15-20 hour total training range.