Rest day - on the golf course

I managed to combine business, rest and golf all on the one day.  My first 18 holes of golf this year and it was great fun.  However I forgot all my ironman training and didn't take water or nutrition on the course so I was slightly dehydrated and hungry when I came off - still won the money!  When the ironman event is over I will cram in three medal rounds to retain my handicap before the season ends but today was fantastic seeing the course in brilliant condition and enjoying the company of my friends.  A slight change from the loneliness of my current training regime but that's the only way I can be prepared for ironman!

Big Bike Ride

Today almost didn't happen as I didn't get to bed till 2.45am as my son missed his bus from T in the Park and I had to pick him up!  The my daughters alarm went off at 5am, she was away on a sleepover, so I had to get up for that.  So when I dragged myself out of bed at 11am I wasn't feeling refreshed or motivated to get on my bike but my coach had underlined how important this session was.  It was a milestone in my cycling - 6 hrs and 140km in very testing conditions, wind gusting up to 35 miles per hour almost made me turn back as I was nearly blown off the road on a few occasions.  It was dangerous but conditions improved and this would be my longest and last big ride before the event - character building!  I will continue cycling in the run up to the event but the mileage will be less.
Ironman is an an interesting concept in that the first time I will swim 2.4 miles will be on the day, same with the 112 miles on the bike and same with the marathon.  In addition I will never have put them together at that distance before - a real challenge.  That's why each training session is so important.
So tomorrow is a rest day and having had my steak, pasta, veg and milk I am dressed in my compression clothing to help my recovery while I watch the footie!

35 days and counting

The weather changed the programme today, I trained indoors with a 90 minute turbo bike session.  Sweated like a pig and had to take plenty of fluids, so good practice for the 30 degrees in Copenhagen. I also received my new training programme for he next two weeks and it involves a lot of work.  Next week is concentrating on cycling although I will get in another open water swim in Loch Lomond and also an easy run.  The following week I am going training in the heat and will be focusing on my running with regular swimming.
Today my middle son Ali decided to enter the kids triathlon in Copenhagen which will be his 1st.  He's a good middle distance runner so I'll be working with him in the pool and on the bike when I get a spare minute!  Putting the three disciplines together feels weird at first so we'll see how he gets on.  Now going for a "cat nap" as I prepare to pick my eldest son up from T in the Park at 1.15am and cycle fr 6 hours on Sunday!

Double Dip

Today was a double dip - 7am 2,100m at Tollcross followed 12 hours later by my first ever open water swim in Loch Lomond, 900m.  I swam with my pals from Athelite Triathlon Club in both sessions and it was particularly good to have them at the Loch.  Deep, dark, cold and choppy water to start with means you have to confront your fears and concentrate on the job in hand.  What a beautiful location and I think it will become a regular for us - you don't get scenery like that in a swimming pool!
All set for my busy cycling weekend and I will start my recovery while watching the world cup final on Sunday night.

Mental focus

Last night I was studying my bible "Going Long" - it's about training for Ironman.  My training will start to taper / reduce in a couple of weeks but that doesn't mean the work stops.  I have to make sure my "mind" is focused for the event and ready to adapt to the conditions.  A couple of key questions were posed; why are you doing it? What would it mean to achieve this goal?  As I was running my 10km this morning a 6am I used the time to focus on those questions.
There are a couple of answers to the first one; to raise money for a fantastic cause that friends and family have benefited from - Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres.  If you know anyone suffering from Cancer then get them along to Maggie's, it's a special place.  Everyone knows someone who has suffered and I was delighted this morning to read that Jennifer Saunders had won her battle against breast cancer.  The second answer is I wanted to do something that stretched my physical and mental capabilities.  In training for Ironman it has taught me a lot about myself and opened up a whole new world - who knows what's next but one step at a time.
As for what it would mean to me to achieve this goal well I don't think I will really know the answer until it's complete.  But I think it will prove to me that you can achieve whatever you want as long as you have the desire, a plan, support and dedication - there are no short cuts.  Between now and the event I will continue to prepare my mind as everyone says 50% of Ironman is down to your mental strength and focusing on the first question in the darker moments will get me there.  Thanks for your continued support.

Blowing the cobwebs away

Following yesterdays early morning swim, I was knackered by the end of the day.  You are told to "listen to your body" and mine was saying it was still tired from the weekend so I had an early night.  I also had a long lie, 6.15am, and didn't go on my bike 1st thing as I wanted as much rest as possible before training.  Today was a busy with a lot of meetings and travel so when I got home I wasn't really looking forward to 1.5 hours on the bike as I could happily have had my dinner.
But every session in the run up to the event is essential so I went out on a sunny but very windy 1.5 hour ride.  I don't normally train at this time of the day but  really enjoyed it as it blew the cobwebs away (almost blew me away at one stage with a side wind!) and refreshed me.  It's not a long session, really just meant to keep my legs going in preparation for the heavy effort at the weekend.  Now I can enjoy my dinner and watching the footie with the family.  Early run tomorrow so another early night.

Getting there

Back in the pool this morning and knocked out 2,000m in an easy session - I never thought I would say that!  As this is a recovery period from the half marathon distance I ran on Sunday (after a turbo bike warm up) it wasn't meant to be a hard session.  The lane was busy so plenty of flying arms, legs and waves to avoid but I'd better get used to that as the swim start in Copenhagen will have at least "waves" of 400 people starting at the same time.  Depending on which wave I am in I may end up in the middle which would not be a good idea as fists and feet do make contact.  This week I am planning to have an Open Water swim but it will depend on the weather which doesn't look great.