Almost done

This week has flown by. It has been a pretty successful week from a training perspective. Today was an epic day. My 2nd and final Race Rehearsal brick session. It went something like this...

Had a sleep in (5:30) as I didn't fancy wearing my tri suit in the forecasted 11 degree air. Hit the road at about 6:10 and headed south for the end of the freeway bike path. The pacing plan was the same as 2 weeks ago. 32.0 km/h for the 1st hour and then lift it up to 34+ by the end. The legs didn't feel real flash early, or in fact for the 1st hour or so. the forecast was for SE'ly winds - and that was indeed the case. I think they increased in speed over the next couple hours too. I got the 1st 30k done at about 31.2 It was hard work. I passed a small group just past Roe Hwy turn off and one of them was Marko! He caught up to me and we had a brief chat. Then I kinda cut him off a bit and accelerated away. I was trying to sit on 34 by now. I past a fair few people and started seeing others on their way back. Lots of IM'ers out there! Before I knew it I was at Safety Bay Rd and turned in to the servo for a quick pit stop. 58k @ 32.8k. I was behind on my nutrition and hydration, so I made a conscious effort to pick that up a bit. It had started to warm up a bit now and the clouds had all but burnt off. the next bit is the tough bit mentally - 32k out and back on some super flat long straight bits down to the end of the path. I couldn't wait to get to the half way mark. The head wind was pretty awful now. I got down there in 57min. Stopped for a few seconds and then headed back.

Wow! The wind was so good coming from over my right shoulder! I love a tailwind. I was sitting on 40-44km/h most of the way back to Baldivis. So the avg for that 32k was 39.4! It was fun. The legs were feeling pretty strong and I was flying! I made another quick stop at the servo, refilled my bidons etc and headed back out to the path north bound. The breeze now was in that phase when it changes from SE to SW, so it died off a bit. All this fast riding started to effect me now that I hit the small undulating terrain. The next 18km were completed at an avg of 37.4. I still felt pretty good, but some fatigue was creeping into my legs now. The sea breeze picked up a bit but had a fair bit of westerly in it and so was a cross wind at times. I was passing people all the time, but by now the numbers were thinning. I kept pushing and when I hit the Narrows my overall avg was 34.9. I was spurred on by this with visions of glory to be had on Dec 5!!! The bit from town home was pretty slow, due to having to stop and cross road etc and then the sea breeze became more of a headwind as I headed west through Floreat past Bernie's house etc. I finished it off with a blast along Weaponess and hit 180k just before I crossed Scarb Bch Rd in 5:10hrs. Home and of the bike in 5:12. So overall a 34.7 avg. I am pretty stoked with that. Especially since there were quite a few small hills to ride and 90k of headwinds. But I still had to finish it off with a 10k brick run.

How would the legs feel now? Well I soon answered that question as I headed out and down to the coast. They felt pretty damn good - all things considered. I ran up the coast to Mettams Pool with a honker of a seabreeze blowing me along. Turned around in 24:34 and then had to push into the wind. My legs started to feel pretty tired now. I went for a gel, but to my disgust I had one that was definitely off. It was a bit fermented like. It was gross. So no more carbs for the trip home! I felt good, but could just sense, as I ran up the big hills from the coast to home, that my legs were slowing down a tad. The terrain is way different to race day and I haven't tapered, so thats OK. Finished in 50:35. So just over 6 hours of exercise and about 4300 calories burnt! It was a bit of an epic. Glad to have that one in the bag. A new PB for 180k too!

Last night I went to the pool after work and did my 3rd and final 3.8k non-stop pool swim. I was very pleased to have knocked a minute off last weeks time. So my times for these swims (with pull buoy) were 1:09, 1:08 and now 1:07. Things are headed in the right direction...

My long run this week was down to 1:30. There was a good chunk of work in it though (2 x 20min) Which felt very easy compared to 2:30! I also did an interval run and ride. Both went well. Full taper now kicks in for the next 13 days as I wind it back. I will probably do an ocean swim tomorrow morning with Scott. As I haven't tried the wettie on sim the Busso HIM in May!