Race day tomorrow.

All bags and bike checked in. Sitting in the premier inn watching the tour. There's a few days activities to fill in when I get back. Worried the hip may not hold out but more relaxed than I've ever been - it'd great when not looking for a good time.

Ella and George get here soon. Getting here yesterday was the right thing to do - got to bed at 7pm for 12hrs sleep.

Rollers

30min - just to keep mobilised. Starting to get things ready. Have decided not to have only have Ella a George and Mum there - just too difficult to have all the family.

My bike tools arrived today - too late (needed them on Sunday)  - tried the master link pliers out it reduces that 2hour Sunday job to 30 seconds!!! - I thoroughly recommend them (Park tool MLP-1.2)

Run

5km - the aim was to do 10km but at the 2.5km turn around I thought there was no advantage for me at my current level. Will leave the suffering until Sunday!

Massage

Did some work on my right obturator for what it's worth.

Had a phone call from a friend to say i'm in a triathlon magazine this month. Either triathlon plus or 220. Must have a look. 

Weigh in 76.8Kg

Swim 1.5km - easy pace just 300m at end at 65 strokes a minute

Day off today - no kids for a while! Did some long awaited DIY - changed a tap, went to the tip etc, Exercise wise thought i'd have an easy swim.

Just changed the countdown timer - it says on 5 days left.

Sorting out nutrition now - luckily found enough old packets of this and that so I don't need to buy anything. Don't think i'll be needing any manufactured sports Gels etc, again (I can always hope).

Fairly amazed about the weight - got down to my target without the fuss of previous years. Didn't obsess about it, ate what I wanted and only weighed myself once a week. This really has demonstrated that 30-60min of exercise a day and sensible choices can get it done.

Treated myself to a couple of bike tools - well I don't spend money on anything else right now.

1 Week to go

Cycle 50miles

With a week to go it was time to get the bike sorted out - so maintenance in the morning and then test it out in the afternoon.

All the jobs were due to the change to a compact set up (smaller chain rings on the front)
1. Change back cassette - i've been looking forward to this as I have an old one that costs over £200 new and it just sits in a draw.
2. New chain - this always makes me nervous. Is it too short / too long when you commit to it there's no going back. It took me 2 hours to get the master link to come apart. So straight onto wiggle once it was done to order the proper tool for next time.

The jobs went well - tested it all out on a ride to Rob's house 25miles away. A quick game of cricket with his son Rafe. Tried out the new Kask Bambino hat - not bad.

So approx. half an ironman cycle - should be able to do double that next weekend. A bit of a swim and a long walk and it's done.

Germany Argentina tonight. 

Rest day

The taper continues - Ella in London, i'm looking after Will and Rory. Rory screams for at least 50% of the time - it is hard work on the ears. Will's swimming lesson in the morning then took them for a cycle in the cargo bike. So not "rest" at all. Thought about doing something when Ella got back but watched football instead.

Rest day

Well this is turning out to be a real taper - lots of rest. In the past chasing a good performance I would be doing lots of shorter speed work so it doesn't feel like a taper at all. I'm looking after the kids tonight after a 10hr day with no lunch break at work. Ella has gone down to London so it's daddy day care tomorrow. What with the hip and family life there is no way I will be doing another Ironman - just hope I can make it round next Sunday - i'm more unsure than i've ever been.

Swim

About 2.5km 60mins ish

Swam in London - just near Oxford street - a bit of a hidden gem. Killed some time till it was time for the train home. Quite congested at 6pm, became better later.

Rest day

A busy few days ahead - train down to London this evening. Had hoped to have a nostalgic run when I got there but it was delayed. Didn't get in till midnight.

Rest day

Long day today, no energy - decided to watch the football. Germany 7 Brasil 1!

Weigh in 68.6Kg

Swim 3km

Easy pace as 4 sets on 30 seconds rest. Felt easy - goggles letting in water. Another purchase needed.
I've only been getting on the scales once a week but did cheat yesterday - I was 67.6 yesterday - somehow i've put on a Kg in 24hours. Sometimes I think it is tissue swelling after running i.e. water. There always seems to be a big drop in weight 48hrs after doing a high volume day.

Rollers 30min

Run 10km (65min)

I had planned to do a lot more today - more out of habit than anything. As usual lots of distractions - went to a water park in Telford with the kids in the morning. Then finally got round to the bike maintenance - Having slept on the crank problem I worked out a way to get them off without the special washer - I just undid the bottom bracket and that had the effect of pushing them off. Very pleased.

So changed the bottom brackets and chain sets over. I have created a shimagnolo bike or does campagmano sound better. The 30 mins on the rollers are with this new set up - it seems to work just fine - it's now a compact as well so I have some better gears for the hills.
These jobs take a long time though.

Forgot to say I got a kask bambino hat on ebay yesterday £140 which is pretty good providing it hasn't been crashed. I sold my other aero helmet.

The run went really well - very slow but relatively pain free which is a massive improvement. Just 4 times that for a marathon.

Rollers 150min

Lots of jobs to do at home and wanted to watch the start of the Tour de France. I have a friend Monty who is doing the whole thing for charity a week before - he's around 1/3 of the way in now - see "the fullmonty" on Facebook.

So basically 10 lots of 15mins. Spend some time fixing the drum brake on Ella's commuter bike. Then took a look at what I was going to do in terms of changing the cranks over. Had a go on the time trial bike just in case but there is no way I can keep the position for 112miles this year. Discovered the special washer for removing the self extracting crank is missing - so trying to work out how to go about that. It's always like this before a race suddenly a million things to do. I always say I won't leave it till the last minute next year but that never happens - and this is the last!

Swim

30mins easy

Rollers

60min - hot and humid today so little energy for much. Put a load of shims in the shoes to see if it made any difference. The right leg is pretty fixed in its abnormal movement pattern.

Behind the scenes i've been looking into how to address the wobbly crank. A replacement is £500 which I can't really justify. It seems however that you can mix and match campagnolo and shimano equipment to some degree - see www.drivetraincalculator.com so I plan to take the compact crank off my time trial bike and put it on the road bike. Just need to work out the gear ratios now (see sheldon brown)

Brick

Rollers 30min

Run 8 Km

Probably the best run yet. Maybe something happened after the massage - we talked about my previous strength and conditioning routine and i've started to do it again. I'd like to think it's making a difference. 

Massage 

Rollers 30min - after the massage to see if anything had changed. Moved the saddle up to where it used to be - I figure it's easier to bring my leg up and through if I give it more room.

Swim - 3km

1250m x2 on 30sec
250m x2 at 60 strokes a min and 65 strokes a min

Swim was great for the confidence - did the 1250m at a really comfortable pace. Had loads left for the last 250s.

There's a few bike issues I need to sort. I wanted to use the time trial bike but there's no way I can keep the position. The road bike has a wobbly crank - I used it last year but need to sort it this time - it's only a matter of time before it goes. It's just difficult to spend the money it deserves when I don't really need top of the range stuff anymore - not much time to research though.

Weigh in 68.6 Kg

Rollers 2 hours

Did this in front of the TV - I could see the reflection of my legs and notice the asymmetry. Put a few shims in the right shoe to see if it would help - seemed to do the trick. I think all that turbo time taking away the balance component of cycling hasn't helped.

On call tonight and Will's first day at school so rushing around with all of that.

3 weeks to go

Rollers

45 min when got back from weekend away.

Run

9km down to the M25 and back. Very wonky hip stuff going on - great that I could do it though. Seems to get very slightly better each run - such a shame though I used to love the feeling of flow when running.