10 days and counting down to the start of Ironman Canada 2011! Now officially into the taper zone with the goal to remain fresh and get rested for the big effort to come.
I hope the last few days of workouts are indicative of how things might go come race day. The last big bike effort I made this past Saturday went well. I completed 140 km in 5 hours. The day had a bit of everything. Headwind going west on the Devon/Calmar loop that Heidi sent me out on. Big downhill and big uphill. In the first hour of the workout I also had some difficulties with my right leg - tight quad/groin. Took a while to work that out but was generally OK until the end. Towards the end the balls of my feet really started to ache. Believe that had most to do with my ongoing recovery from running on gravel in my flats on the August long weekend.
This past Monday I had another couple of stellar workouts. Got in a 3000 metre swim. This included 2000 metre straight front crawl and another 1000 of warmup/strength work. Overall I was very pleased with the swim and it gave me confidence that I can do the distance in a time that I can be happy with. As someone said, I just have to survive the washing machine start again! On Monday night I had what I consider my best run ever! Not the longest to be sure, but the 10 km was full of energy, good pace, and really give me a good feel and confidence for the race to come - just remember that feeling and replicate on Aug 28!
The next week is going to be filled with some light workouts and the true focus is going to be on getting rested and mentally prepared. Getting my bike prepared too. Took it in on Monday for final tune up and getting a new chain, new ball bearings for the crank, new wraps and general tune up. United Cycle agreed with me that my average bike speed would probably go up by 10 km/h on average :)
More updates to come!
