Just Tri-ing: 9 Weeks to Kona

Total Training Duration - 20hrs 15min

Swim - 13.7km
Ride - 282km
Run - 83km

My legs are back after a much needed week of recovery.

But there was disappointment from the fan base. My commitments this week caused a delay to the blog being released on the usual Sunday night. Here's what happened...

Sometimes Facebook is awesome! Great post Chris, see you at the Tan.

And tonight (Monday night) I had my regular massage with coach Richard Squires at SYS. Massage is an important part of the training program (any training program). For me, no massage would equal no Kona. The body wouldn't hold up with the training load. That's how serious I take it. Tonight doubled as a race week tune up in preparation for Hazelwood next weekend. After a tough week the legs were tight and took a bit of work. Thanks Richard, see you in 2 weeks....Now time to do this blog....

The Week
It was intervals at the velodrome on Monday that snapped them back. 13 x 3 laps at Vo2Max. Last time I did this was type of set was after a 40km OD run and could only manage 7 reps. This time I finished the lot and did it with speed. Felt good on the bike and on the 20 minute run after.

It took a full week to recover from the Inverloch training camp. The weekend of Stirling's party food probably helped too (sausage rolls, sushi and chocolate cake).

Welcome back legs!

Tuesday morning I was back on top of swimming again.

Tuesdays run was a "Mona Fartlek" (named after Steve Moneghetti). Ran with Ryo and Nugget. Unfortunately Henry was resting his knee this week so wasn't running. Ryo took off early in the set so it was up to me and Nugget to pace each other. Felt like I wanted to spew on the last set, must have been the milk and muesli bar I ate beforehand. That combined with the hard pace with Nugget. Got right into the zone to the point where I ran overtime with a couple efforts without realising. Gotta remember to look at the Garmin!

It was back to the velodrome on Wednesday with more intervals. 8 x 10 laps at lactate threshold then 4 laps rest. It was hard especially after Tuesday's run. However, I felt strong and averaged 42.4km/hr over the 8 intervals. That night it absolutely hammered down with rain so caught the tram home.

Thursday swimming was long session - about 4.2km. Very tiring sets with changes of pace. Got through it ok. That night was the 'quality' run session - 7 x 5 minute efforts with increasing rest duration between. I was the only Hawaii athlete there that night so ran solo...except for the last 2 efforts when coach Foz followed me on the bike. He talked me through some running technique with some Hawaii emphasis. I was running hard so just listened. Felt strong on the run - like i could just keep going. Averaged between 3:40 & 3:48min/km over the 5 minute efforts. Finished up with 22.5km over 1 hour 42 minutes. A hard day's work. Didn't make it home for dinner, had to pick up a burrito in the city to smash the appetite.

On the train home I had 2 drunk guys wanting to talk to me about my bike. I just gave closed one word answers and typed this blog. So they decided to talk to each other about it. One guy explained to his mate that the bike didn't even had front brakes! Might want to look a bit closer....good, they got off...

Friday morning was the Ironman specific swim day - main set 40 x 100m on the 1:55. This allowed me 20 seconds rest swimming at 1:35 pace. Made it through quite well. The last 5 100's I cut back the cycle time by 5 seconds to 1:50. Nailed it! Finished up with about 5.5km. Hungry all day.

This Month's Strava Challenge - The Gateway

So far in August I have...

Run 107km = 603rd out of 12,997 runners
Cycled 351km = 11,344th out of 53,466 cyclists

The Weekend

Saturday we had 3 groups for the long ride. Main squad hit the Dandenongs for 1:20 repeats, London worlds had a flat ride on Beach Rd and for Hawaii it was Kinglake and Christmas Hills. It was just Steve Guy and myself from the Hawaii crew due to a mix of injury, boys weekend and one slept through his alarm. On the way out I lost a bolt from the front chain ring. Every time I put on pressure while on the small ring it bent and I dropped the chain. On the 3rd time I went into the gutter and my handlebars went forward. Lucky I had a multi-tool to do an emergency handle bar adjustment. I eventually sorted the chain out and pushed on. Steve owned the ride that day, he pulled away on the climbs and I struggled on the lumpy sections after Christmas Hills. Then he ran me harder than I wanted during the run off the bike. It was a rather uncomfortable day made more difficult with bike issues. Steve finished his run after 25 minutes which enabled me to finish at a more comfortable pace. Some days are like that - the legs I found at the beginning of the week were gone again. On the good side at least the sun was out making it a warm winters day.

It's not like Red Bear to miss a session, but judging by the FB messages the guilt set in. You really needed the sleep mate, take it!

That night we went out to Box Hill for Vietnamese. I ordered honey chicken but received lemon chicken. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I expressed my displeasure to the staff. According to Lauren my reaction was not one of my best moments. I was at the end of a tough day. I did eventually get honey chicken.

After a solo 60 minute bike along Beach Rd, we had a good crew for Sunday's run. We formed a bunch with Ryo, Nugget, Red Bear, Richard Squires and Graham Smart....Yes you read it correctly....GRAHAM SMART...at training! Ryo, Richard and Graham turned and headed back for a fast paced return. Nugget, Red Bear and myself went long - it was a 2 hour 25 minute run for us.

The wind was behind us on the way out. Nugget talked us through some Kona tips he learnt from his 2012 adventure. We ran out at 4:28min/km pace. The legs still hurt from the busy run week. We pushed harder against the wind on the return. The final straight after Catani Gardens was very fast with Red Bear taking out the final 'sprint' finish. The return pace was a healthy 4:24 with an overall distance of 32.5km.

The legs really needed the cold water immersion. I walked into the water with a skinny latte and the iPhone to keep me occupied.

A great way to end a long run

It was then coffee and hot chocolate time with Lauren and Stirling. Then off to the in-laws for dinner. The conversation was Kona as they are coming with us. Can't wait.