This is what you say in Kona when all the work is done. All this week, I've been waiting for Sunday to roll around, as this marks the end of my ironman Oz work load. Now it's time to rest and taper, sort of. I say sort of because after much consultation, I've decided to take a bit of a risk and go into the race leaning on the side of unrested rather than rested. I got plenty of great advice, but it was Bree's words to go with my heart and instinct that helped me make the final decision. Looking back on the past five weeks of training, my best days have been when I was feeling a bit tired or during a heavy training load. Also, in the past when I rested a lot, I ended up feeling really sluggish on race day. So, I'm going to take a gamble on my ironman and do somewhat of a reverse taper. I'm going to rest early on (Monday thru Wednesday) during race week and add more volume Thursday and Friday, to shock my body and remind it of the task at hand come Sunday. Cross your fingers for me. The ironman build-up this time around has been so easy, meaning no mental or physical fatigue. In fact, I have yet to have a day where I feel like crap, which in a way, scares me even more because I want that bad day to come and go before the race. Yesterday, I opted to do the less rest thing and run 30K (18 miles). The legs felt great even though I had put in 400+km (250 miles) of riding in the three previous days. Simply put, things were just kopasetic! My legs were running 4:20 per km pace (6:58 per mile) but my mind was telling it to slow down. Today, on my last knockout of training, my faithful training partner from the last four days, Peter, was there to push me again. In fact, not since Tom and Maria Monica and Chris Randall have I had such a consistent and steady training mate. Thanks Peter! Riding with Peter, I was reminded of all the physics I learned in college, specifically momentum. Momentum is what keeps you moving once you get going. Just in case you need a refresher, momentum is a product of mass and velocity. Because of Peter's tree-trunk sized legs, once he gets his velocity going, he just keeps moving, or I should say HAAAAAAUUUULING AZZ! I'll post a video of our rides and you'll quickly realize that I pretty much just saw his backside for the past four days. Madam Pele is still vacationing on the Gold Coast because once again, Peter and I rode through wind and rain yet again. I took a video but somehow it got erased, damn. Once again, kopasetic. Then it was off to Piccolo coffee shop (owned by TdF rider Bobby McEwen) for a cappuccino and banana bread with honey yogurt, a bit of ritual for us after our rides. Kopasetic! Then it was a 3000 meter swim and guess what? Kopasetic! Tomorrow, I have an early swim, take Kopasetic (that's the new name for my Kuota bike) in for an overhaul, and play tourist, my first day doing so. And later that night, I have a date with the Aussie Resort hot tub that I've been eyeing the past 10 days. I'm not a big hot tub guy but damn it, I'm going in. Pau Hana!
Before I sign off, I have to pass on my latest discovery. Coconut Milk Yoghurt! I try to minimize my dairy intake but I really really like greek yogurt, and well, Coco Yoghurt tastes just like greek yogurt. The label says it's a product of Australia but I'm hoping that I'll be able to find it back in the states. Anybody know if this is the case? I know, I'm such a freakin' yippie (that's a hybrid of a yuppie and a hippy).
This is what you say in Kona when all the work is done. All this week, I've been waiting for Sunday to roll around, as this marks the end of my ironman Oz work load. Now it's time to rest and taper, sort of. I say sort of because after much consultation, I've decided to take a bit of a risk and go into the race leaning on the side of unrested rather than rested. I got plenty of great advice, but it was Bree's words to go with my heart and instinct that helped me make the final decision. Looking back on the past five weeks of training, my best days have been when I was feeling a bit tired or during a heavy training load. Also, in the past when I rested a lot, I ended up feeling really sluggish on race day. So, I'm going to take a gamble on my ironman and do somewhat of a reverse taper. I'm going to rest early on (Monday thru Wednesday) during race week and add more volume Thursday and Friday, to shock my body and remind it of the task at hand come Sunday. Cross your fingers for me. The ironman build-up this time around has been so easy, meaning no mental or physical fatigue. In fact, I have yet to have a day where I feel like crap, which in a way, scares me even more because I want that bad day to come and go before the race. Yesterday, I opted to do the less rest thing and run 30K (18 miles). The legs felt great even though I had put in 400+km (250 miles) of riding in the three previous days. Simply put, things were just kopasetic! My legs were running 4:20 per km pace (6:58 per mile) but my mind was telling it to slow down. Today, on my last knockout of training, my faithful training partner from the last four days, Peter, was there to push me again. In fact, not since Tom and Maria Monica and Chris Randall have I had such a consistent and steady training mate. Thanks Peter! Riding with Peter, I was reminded of all the physics I learned in college, specifically momentum. Momentum is what keeps you moving once you get going. Just in case you need a refresher, momentum is a product of mass and velocity. Because of Peter's tree-trunk sized legs, once he gets his velocity going, he just keeps moving, or I should say HAAAAAAUUUULING AZZ! I'll post a video of our rides and you'll quickly realize that I pretty much just saw his backside for the past four days. Madam Pele is still vacationing on the Gold Coast because once again, Peter and I rode through wind and rain yet again. I took a video but somehow it got erased, damn. Once again, kopasetic. Then it was off to Piccolo coffee shop (owned by TdF rider Bobby McEwen) for a cappuccino and banana bread with honey yogurt, a bit of ritual for us after our rides. Kopasetic! Then it was a 3000 meter swim and guess what? Kopasetic! Tomorrow, I have an early swim, take Kopasetic (that's the new name for my Kuota bike) in for an overhaul, and play tourist, my first day doing so. And later that night, I have a date with the Aussie Resort hot tub that I've been eyeing the past 10 days. I'm not a big hot tub guy but damn it, I'm going in. Pau Hana!
Before I sign off, I have to pass on my latest discovery. Coconut Milk Yoghurt! I try to minimize my dairy intake but I really really like greek yogurt, and well, Coco Yoghurt tastes just like greek yogurt. The label says it's a product of Australia but I'm hoping that I'll be able to find it back in the states. Anybody know if this is the case? I know, I'm such a freakin' yippie (that's a hybrid of a yuppie and a hippy).
2 comments:
Nice work man. All of it is done now. You know the drill, now its all just about maintaining and sharpening. Get after it!
Awesome job. Definitely follow your heart - you know what is best for you!
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