Week 31 - Finally! The Hard Work is all Done - The Taper begins

This week was a welcome week marking the first of 3 weeks of taper. The reduced mileage started but I still had to keep up a fair amount of intensity to keep everything sharp and finely tuned. The swimming keeps improving all the time and I am so happy about that. I finally had a swim with Julie managing to keep up with her so now this proves that I have improved and made a breakthrough in that discipline. I now went from 1 speed swims to 3. The first was when I was injured so could only go latida speed, losing a lot of time. The second speed is now my cruising speed which is faster and sharper with smoother controlled efficiency. The Third speed which I have just gotten is my racing speed. I can now hold this speed for up to 4000 meter which sets me up just fine for Ironman. Talk about that coming just in the nick of time. I should be able to equal or better my Ironman swim of 2005, I hope.

The biking as always is improving also now being able to maintain 31kph on some of my intermediate rides. I got a tuneup on my bike this week and got new shifter and rear brake cables put on. These are Noki cables of superior quality and gold to match my bike to boot. I also adjusted my seat again as it does not quite feel right but have to get this perfected in the next week or so as time is running out. I am bringing out both my training and race wheels just in case of the high winds.

The running is going great but lately I sort of feel a lump in the sole of my right foot. It does not hurt but somewhat uncomfortable. The new shoes are now broken in, the speed laces in and I am ready to go on this one. Last run was 24 kms and I ran that very well at a 5:15 pace. One more 18km this next week and that will be pretty well it except for a few short ones.

I have started to get my gear ready now as we are leaving in 6 days and don't want to rush at the last minute. I also have been experimenting re-locating my bike equipment such as spare tubes, co2 cylinders and pump and levers without that big pouch. Think I got it down now and more weight savings. I also have my medical this week to confirm how great a shape I am in but really because it has been quite a few years since my last one and might as well get it over with with all the blood test and such. Anyway, things are going so well that I sense too well! I am being so very careful now not to get injured or minimise contact with too many people in case I get a cold or something. Also taking less risks on the bike...aero on the fast rides for example. Will keep my mirror on till the last day. 11 days to go now!

Weeks 28-29- and 30 Time is a flying by.

With the increasing distances and intensity in the past couple of weeks, I have not had a chance to blog. Way too little time in a given amount of days I would say. So be it. But to summarize, after the 180K bike ride, I had an easy period in week 28 giving me a chance to rest, recuperate, re-energize and re-focus for the last couple of hard weeks left. I still had a long run of 32K. That run was not so great as I was trying to break in a new pair of shoes that day. Not too smart to start with a long run. The long and short of it was that I finished the run with very tender ankles from the stiffness of the new shoes.

The following week 30, the intensity stepped up again but since I was rested I merged into this hard week with little problems. The biggest news of all was that my shoulder was getting much better and my swims were so much more easier and at long last fun to be in the water. This week I also had a great ride of 120K and a long run of 24K that turned into 28K by mistake but whose counting. Everything is A OK.

The last hard week finally arrived and also completed that one feeling very well indeed. We capped off that week with a Tri relay with friend July and Darrell and myself with the anchor run leg. We all performed excellently that beautiful sunny day and I had a fantastic fast run. Our efforts for our team "The Cougar and Her Sugar Daddies" winning gold. 1 out of 1 in that category but who cares. Looking back at the results, we would have come tops in the mixed and masters category also. So we did ourselves proud. Even though my shoulder is so much better now I will keep my appointment for an ultrasound just to check it out and make sure my rotator cup is ok.

All the long hard work is now over and we now enter the 3 week taper phase. This phase will drop down the mileage drastically but Coach Al says the intensity still has to be there just to keep finally tuned and to keep the fast twitch muscles conditioned. 20 days to go before the big event! Yeaaaaaaahhh.......