2 WEEKS TO GO

Run 80mins
New trainers - asics ds racers - maybe pushing it on the lighter less support option but have been making the move over the last year in this direction, will see how it goes.

Rest of day spent tidying up job application and a cardiac department BBQ.

Added a few things in the drills section, also a bit about pace here

Heard a good rule last night about what pace to go at.
For ironman, look at your heart rate or power for a half ironman race, find the average - this should be your ceiling during the race, ease off if you start hitting this (should be 73%FTP)
Similarly for a half ironman do the same with your olympic race average etc,

I had decided that my heart rate ceiling should be 144 from the turbo. Looking at the half ironman data the average is 143 so i'm sold on this.

Never hit your Vo2 max power/heart rate in the race.
Professional cyclists visualise the race as having a box of matches, and every sprint/chase/blast up a hill burns a match. They know how many matches they have in "their" box and aim to finish with at least 1 or 2 matches left. When they have run out of matches they sit in the pack and pray no one attacks. This is what is going on in the tour de france. With ironman you want to get off the bike with a FULL box of matches.
- I have never managed to ride this intelligently - it means; back off on hills, don't chase people, use whatever easy periods you can get (coasting etc), apply your effort to where you get the maximum reward i.e. no point bombing down hill for and extra 2miles an hour which costs a lot and delivers little extra. The power profiles of tour de france riders (hard to get hold of as they are very secretive) shows the winners cycle the least!!! conceptually that is very hard to get your head around.

This all sounds great but i've yet to be so mechanical, I need to read this the day before.

Plan for the week

Mon: Swim - drill
Tue: Brick - high cadence adaptation turbo, Run 15km with 5x3min 10km pace
Wed: Brick 2hrs bike with 4x5km at olympic pace, Run easy 10km, (swim threshold)
Thur: Run 12km with 10x60sec 10km pace
Fri: Swim 3.3km with 1.7km race pace as intervals
Sat: Run easy pace 15km
Sun: Brick, bike 90km easy with 5x4km at low threshold Run, 13km IMP (comfortable pace not too hard), optional swim 1-2km easy pull.

This is what the coach said about this week;

Here's the whole taper. I think this is the best option for getting you to the line in good shape while being fresh at the same time.
 
Tried to cover everything and I am confident that if you lay it down you'll have a good race so don't be afraid to let fly this time - you should have enough in the tank to come back even if you get into trouble - be confident that you've done enough to reach a bit further down than normal but of course don't blow either.
 
Work on your mind in the taper - no seriously - just try to get into a calm state of mind and be open to all possibilities in the race and before hand. It's better to have a still mind that is blank rather than a negative one, take a leaf from the buddest book and meditate.