Cycle

40minute easy cycle - pretty happy with position - no changes made. Felt comfortable, could spin well. If anything just needing to mentally think keep left knee from drifting in.

Packed all the transition bags - not much difference from last year - see the link above. To help make my transitions fast I don't have much in the bike and run bags. Consequently there is a lot to have in the white "street wear" bag at the start.

Ella and I have had a lot of help this year and we are very grateful. George is staying with my Mum and Bill and will be coming up on the day of the race. At the hotel Jane and David (Ella's parents) are being brilliant and can take Will off our hands which really helps with everyone's stress level.

I had to go to the compulsory race briefing at 5pm - everything was similar to previous years. The only thing of note was the organiser saying there was the same amount of climbing on the bike course as going up Everest. Ella pointed out to me that he was probably confusing feet and metres.

In McDonalds afterwards (not for me!) a canadian competetor was buying a big mac - this was to go in his special needs bag! His plan was to have it 80miles into the bike course tomorrow. It was his "secret weapon".

Made my drinks up today as well.  

Carbo-loading in the morning - the best protocol i've found is 6g/kg of carbohydrate in divided doses over 4hours - this keeps your insulin levels high for the duration. It would probably be better to have done this a day or two before after a session with a bit more intensity??? The remaining 4g/kg of carbohydrate  (to make the recommended 10g/Kg) comes from normal diet.
I wimped out and had 300g instead of 400g - no real reason - just such a diversion from normal to get all those calories down.

Cycle

1 Hour - easy pace. This was meant to be a rest day. The program says "do not train" in big capital letters! I had to check out the position though as there's been so much chopping and changing. Took one wedge out of the left so now have the same on both sides angle wise and a 1mm shim on the left.

This is as boring for me to write as it is to read!

In the afternoon we drove up to Bolton and registered. It was amazing this year to get it done early without the crowds of people around. In recent years i've tried to follow the advice and get in and the expo early. At the first ironman I must have gone for a whole day.

There was a free bike mechanic available. For some reason I was nervous asking for the bike to be checked over. I've done all the work myself so it could have been fear of being found out for not doing a good job??? Anyway the desire to make sure it was OK over rode the ego.

Cycle

Went for a 2 hour cycle in the Cheshire country lanes. This was longer and had more intensity than i'd have liked but I still haven't managed to get the position right and it is starting to get very late in the day. Ended up with a 1mm shim and 3 wedges on the left, 2 wedges on the right.

The rest of the day has been spent looking after the boys and attaching the speed sensor to the bike, indexing the gears, tightening the screws to the torque settings etc,

Cycle

50km with 4 x 4min to race pace.

Did this round Regent's park with some stops for the usual tinkering with the position.

There was a 2km swim down for today with 8x1min race pace intervals. We travelled up North so had to miss this one.

Cycle

1.5hrs with some 30sec high rpm for mobilization

Run


Off bike - 35mins with 6 x 60sec at 10km pace on the same recovery

Had a massage this afternoon - I was reminded that my left leg appears 1/2cm shorter than the right. This is probably the reason only one leg at a time feels like it's in the optimum position. At least there is an explanation.

Time to start packing.

Rest day

Took it easy and started to pack. Went for Sauna for 30mins - just in case the weather will be hot but looks unlikely.

Cycle

80km aerobic with 5 x 4km at fast pace

Have a sore throat and some stomach upset so ditched the run after. This was meant to be 13km at IMP.

Did this on the road with full bike set up. Got the Allen Keys out as usual but really felt like getting towards it being spot on.