Week 26 of my build up has flown by and it has felt a bit like being in limbo! I'm now just a week out from race day so the training volume has been down a little but some of the sessions have still had a decent snap in them! At times I have to admit to feeling a little cheated by my programme - you know that race day is close so things will be easing off but then you get a big kick in the pants from a hard interval session and you begin to wonder if the taper will ever come! Finally I feel like it has arrived.....a complete day off training today which has been a bit of a novelty and the perfect excuse to get out of town and escape the hype of downtown!
Stats for the week placed me out swimming 14kms, cycling 250kms and running 40kms! There are now countless athletes out on the course - Alii Drive is packed with cyclists and runners - the Queen K is heaving with bike bling and some very very serious age group athletes! Friendliness factor is now close to zero - no smiling or waving from the majority - just a cursory glance as they check you out to see if you look like you have got what it takes! Belinda and I have started to play a game called 'your age group' - if someone is looking smoking hot in training we try to beat the other in assigning them to their age group - today on our drive out to the beach it was getting pretty exhausting - every second sentence was 'your age group'.....lots of girls looking smoking hot!
I've made it out to the Ironman buoy twice more since my first visit! I haven't seen any dolphins this year so it was awesome to finally get to see them on Saturday morning! Le Ann and I were taking a little rest at the 3km mark when a kayaker shouted 'dolphins'....there was a large pod right underneath us and then some riding out on the surface doing a few tricks! It was only when my fingers and toes started to go numb and the shivering started that I realised how long we had been watching them for! Consequently the last 1km back into the pier was a little bit slow!
This week I've really had to firm up my race plan and think tactically. I'm still not 100% sure on what my race outfit is going to be! Slight trauma this week discovering that my swimskin is now not race legal thanks to some recent changes made to the rules! The swim here in Kona is non wetsuit because the water temp is too high but it is legal to wear a swimskin over your race gear. The swimskins now have to contain no rubberised material so Blue Seventy and TYR seem to be the only companies that have managed to get something out that complies with the new rulings in time. Consequently the skins have a price to match $250-350 US dollars (ouch) and they are in short supply.......hard to justify spending so much money on something that you will wear for one race only. I have a few options open to me - I could just swim in togs or buy a super tight tri suit without pockets to chuck on top of my tri gear - swim coach Ally B has a speedo fast skin which is lycra and legal so I'm trialling that tomorrow in the pool to see if it fits snuggley enough over my tri gear to get the desired effect - or I could try and get my hands on either brand of swim skin available at the expo.......second ouch!
Race week is going to busy with our Team meeting, Parade of Nations, Race Brief, Gear check in etc so I will keep you all a bit more up to date with my movements as race day begins to descend..... 6 sleeps and counting!!
Stats for the week placed me out swimming 14kms, cycling 250kms and running 40kms! There are now countless athletes out on the course - Alii Drive is packed with cyclists and runners - the Queen K is heaving with bike bling and some very very serious age group athletes! Friendliness factor is now close to zero - no smiling or waving from the majority - just a cursory glance as they check you out to see if you look like you have got what it takes! Belinda and I have started to play a game called 'your age group' - if someone is looking smoking hot in training we try to beat the other in assigning them to their age group - today on our drive out to the beach it was getting pretty exhausting - every second sentence was 'your age group'.....lots of girls looking smoking hot!
I've made it out to the Ironman buoy twice more since my first visit! I haven't seen any dolphins this year so it was awesome to finally get to see them on Saturday morning! Le Ann and I were taking a little rest at the 3km mark when a kayaker shouted 'dolphins'....there was a large pod right underneath us and then some riding out on the surface doing a few tricks! It was only when my fingers and toes started to go numb and the shivering started that I realised how long we had been watching them for! Consequently the last 1km back into the pier was a little bit slow!
This week I've really had to firm up my race plan and think tactically. I'm still not 100% sure on what my race outfit is going to be! Slight trauma this week discovering that my swimskin is now not race legal thanks to some recent changes made to the rules! The swim here in Kona is non wetsuit because the water temp is too high but it is legal to wear a swimskin over your race gear. The swimskins now have to contain no rubberised material so Blue Seventy and TYR seem to be the only companies that have managed to get something out that complies with the new rulings in time. Consequently the skins have a price to match $250-350 US dollars (ouch) and they are in short supply.......hard to justify spending so much money on something that you will wear for one race only. I have a few options open to me - I could just swim in togs or buy a super tight tri suit without pockets to chuck on top of my tri gear - swim coach Ally B has a speedo fast skin which is lycra and legal so I'm trialling that tomorrow in the pool to see if it fits snuggley enough over my tri gear to get the desired effect - or I could try and get my hands on either brand of swim skin available at the expo.......second ouch!
Race week is going to busy with our Team meeting, Parade of Nations, Race Brief, Gear check in etc so I will keep you all a bit more up to date with my movements as race day begins to descend..... 6 sleeps and counting!!
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