Race week - Day 2

Another day closer...

Not much to report today. I rode this morning and then off to work, picked up my bike from its final service and finished off with a short run.  Had a nice roast dinner with mum, dad and Lisa ...delicious :-)

Next on the agenda was packing...

I'm heading down to Busselton tomorrow arvo and will get into 'racemode' for the days leading up to the race!

Race week – Day 1

Finally… race week is here!

My journey to Ironman WA started 12 months ago, when entries opened and closed within 4 hours. This is the race I have been in awe of since I started competing in triathlon 5 years ago and to be only 6 days out from race day… let just say I am excited!

Over the next few days I will write a daily blog in the lead up to my Ironman debut.

Monday is a recovery day in my program and today has not been different.  The morning started with a swim set, which the ironman athletes in the squad had a modified version of.  The main set for me was 4x100 descending, followed by 6x100 max efforts with lots of recovery.  I am feeling great in the water (just in timeJ) and came in between 1.11 and 1.15 for my max efforts.  

It was then to the office to get out as much work as I can.  It is always a busy time being the end of the month at work and it doesn’t help having other things on my mind!

A massage was on the cards in the evening with Tony Bence.  I have been seeing Tony once a week for the past 7 weeks and it has really helped with getting me to race week feeling good!

I dropped my bike into the bike shop for the final race turn up - photos to come!

I started getting my race gear ready last night and with that came the first of the nerves…good nerves!

Cheers,

Andy

Bunbury Classic

Last weekend I competed in the Bunbury Classic (an Olympic distance triathlon). It was my first race since May and I was very excited to be racing again!  I will give a quick recap of my race and where I am at leading into Ironman WA.

The 1500m swim was split into two laps.  I had a good start in the swim and tried to find a nice rhythm into the chop.  There was a big group that reached the first turning buoy at the same time however everyone was calm which was nice!  I managed to separate myself from the group on the way back into the shore and turned onto the second lap... heading out was hard and slow and I struggled to get into a rhythm.  I swam the last half a lap shoulder to shoulder with Johan and we exited the water together reasonably well placed.

Johan and I finishing the swim

T1

A quick transition and out onto the bike for 6 laps.  It took my legs about a lap and a half to get going and once they were firing, we were moving along nicely.  Johan and I stayed together for the ride and worked well taking turns at setting the pace.  I do most of my bike training with Johan so it worked well as we both know how each other ride.  We kept the race high throughout the bike and averaged 41.2km/hr.

On the way to a 41.2km average!

A quick T2 and off for the 10km run

The run was okay... I knew it would not be fast given that fact I am about to race an ironman, but I felt strong for the 10km which is what I wanted! I cruised home and finished with an overall time of 2.03.54, 6th in the open category.

I am happy with how the race went. I got exactly what I needed to out of it in preparation for Busso (now 7 days away).

I am now well into my taper (this report was written a week after the race) and I am feeling great. Yesterday was the last Saturday ride before the race and I had a nice ride with the athletes from Eclipse Fitness that are doing Ironman (& Lisa!) We did a 90km loop with a coffee stop which was a nice change and I had a short run off the bike (the last brick!).  This morning we all had an open water swim and another coffee - you can tell it's taper!

Almost there!

Looking forward to getting down to Busselton on Wednesday evening and relaxing for a few days before the race.

In other exciting news... Lisa and I are buying a house! It will be ours at the start of the new year!

Cheers,

Andy

The last long run :)

Well I am happy to say that I have made it through the last long run of my program to Ironman WA. It was a tough one, mentally and physically but I made it.

A big THANK YOU to Lisa for once again following me on the bike with water, nutrition and words of encouragement (sorry for being a little grumpy).  

A couple of images for the last long one:

The first 20km of the 36km were a struggle, but I managed to get it together in the second half and finished off strongly.

I am slowly getting all my gear sorted for the race and it is making me very excited and very nervous.  I will be racing the Bunbury Classic (Olympic distance race) on Sunday and will then begin my taper. 

20 days to go!

Bike for busso

A few images of my bike, almost ready for Ironman WA - i will not be riding on the wheels on the bike here, I will be on Schnell wheels (disc on the rear).

  I also recieved a package from LSD Sports with my new cycling/racing gear! Thanks Tony & Cam.

30 days to go!

Another boring blog title... But today is November 4. We are now 1 month out from Ironman WA. 30 days.... Tomorrow I have a big day on training to get through and Sunday will be a total recovery day.

Tomorrow will be a key session to ensure my nutrition is dialed in. I have tried and tested my nutrition over my long sessions in the past few months so tomorrow will be the final test.

Exciting times!

Good luck to Mark, Tom and Caitlin who are all racing Port Mac 70.3 & to Scotty and Vince who are racing ITU world long course  champs in Vegas.

The anaconda adventure race is on this weekend in Augusta. This is the first race in 5 years I have missed! Good luck to everyone competing!