Pretty Tough week!

This week has been great! I recovered from the crap cold (although still had one nostril clogged up each morning), pasted it back to my wife Michelle...shame is so snuffed at the moment....no whinging either unlike me....itrs true, us blokes are real whiners when we get sick....hopless!

Anyway, this week was my always going to be pretty heavy as next week is my recovery...meaning I am probably going to do at the most, 1 session a day, and even that will be done with 'recovery' in mind. I must say, the coach Rollo is building the right sessions for me. I thoroughly enjoy each one he sets, and look forward to seeing what he has in store for me in the week ahead....which is why I already know this week is a recovery. The thing I am loking forward to this week is the HR test I missed 2 weeks ago (because of the cold)...its going to be interesting to see if anything changes in my HR zones, not that it matters much. I think Rollo feels I run too fast during my LSD runs...but my HR has been pretty low of late, given the pace I have managed. I am certainly starting to feel confident that completing the Iron Man, within the time frame I am hoping to is achievable. After watching the real deal and the pain and effort it took back in April, I was doubtful, but I think I am building my core strenght quite nicely under Rollo's guidence and, this week, I even had a dream about me running through the finishing chute......not had one of those before...I think about that moment all the time when I run.....inbetween thinking about my girls (all 3 of them), work, wondering how the other boys are going....how the hell Vlad did it so well, how am I going to get through the ride (this is my weakest leg of the 3 by a very long way, and I think the hardest mentally as well)......but I do, I try and picture me getting of that bike, running, and going up that chute...I am sure all triathletes doing the Iron Man do this when they train, they woudl have to....its such an epic race for everyone, including the pro's....they might have heaps more time to train, best equipment etc, but they push their bodies for the entire 8hoursish to points us age groupers probably could not imagine....just watch a few of the Iron Man Dvd's and see how they hurt....pretty incredible that anyone does this race actually!!

Well, back to this week, and its has been a really good one. I missed my wednesday swim session, but of the 3 disciplines its the one I can afford to miss every now and again...I did another couple of turbo trainer sessions, on tuesday adjusting my bike to fit me better (rollo will help me really get it set up right this coming week with the aerobars), an early morning 16.5km run before work on Thursday and a really tough and enjoyable swim session on friday morning!
I had to switch my training sessions around this weekend which meant it was all on my own again, I better get used to this for the Iron Man as I think there are long periods during the race when you are out there on your own, cycling through or just trying to get through the run....well, I did hill repeats again up Mooney, and then a just under 2hour undulating run this morning...the legs are knackered to say the least. both sessions were quality, the run once again felt great, and if I work the pace out, it was around the 4.45 per km, for a hilly training run is pretty good for me....Rollo did insist I run to the top of certain HR zones so it was a challanging run and the hills around Gosford are quite tough to.

So, in summery :

Swim - 6km (missed a session0
Cylcing - 2.5 hours on the TT plus 3.5 hours on road (just under 90km including hill repeats)
Run - 60km

Looking forward to the reduced work load this coming week, although I might be raring to get going again by mid week no doubt.

A special mention must go to Allan (aka: ALM - Angry Little Man) for a PB at this weekends Gold Coast Marathon....he finished in 3.25ish, which is really a great effort....well done my son!