Well I have registered for my next event the Sunshine Coast 70.3, also know as the Sunny Coast Half Ironman! I must be crazy, it been about 9 weeks post ironman and I am recovering from a bike v car accident (as I have written about previously) with under a month to go I am now in my only training block for the half ironman. My thought process is “I’ve got an ironman base, a half should be easy”! Let me tell you no event is easy. However with a limited preparation I will simply focus on re-building my consistency, post IM this was going OK, the accident slowed that down. I am now trying to do something most days, all be it a little short, but something most days.
Life doesn’t always go to plan and mine is no different. This blog was prepared nearly a month ago, drafted, proofed and ready to post on the same day as my accident! The original was a magic post detailing my eight week plan to the 70.3 ironman. Obviously I’ve now redrafted this to give a little insight into my final weeks preparation. I’ve also had a cancelled family holiday to Bali (thank you volcanic ash cloud) and all the associated stress of dealing with that. My amazing wife was able to plan an alternative week on the Gold Coast on extremely short notice, however the Gold Coast in winter is a far cry from Bali! That said the resilience shown by my family has been an inspiration for me and served as motivation to refocus post injury on the tasks at hand. Now onto my plan through to the half ironman.
I have always been very conservative and nervous about putting my goals out in the public arena for all to see. The fear of failure or not achieving those goals is the main reason. That said, my current personal best time for a half ironman is 5 hours and 45 minutes, not particularly / spectacularly fast. So this year on the back of my ironman base I am hoping to take almost 30 minutes off that PB and get as close to 5 hours as I can! Obviously with all goals there needs to be a plan.
So in a nutshell heres the plan, 3 weeks building consistency and a couple of days recovery or taper, sounds simple enough! To elaborate, give my recent struggles, I intend on doing the three weeks as a build each week. Trying to extend a little on distance and effort each week, so that my 3rd week is a pretty solid hard week. With a disrupted preparation, injuries and a particularly busy family life I am not confident that this plan will be sufficient to achieve my goal, but it may serve as a little kick in the pants I need for the rest of summer!
I am now also looking past the 70.3 to Noosa in November, where I need to be super fast! So stay tuned for the race preview, race review and of course a review of my run into Noosa only 7 weeks later.
In the mean time build consistency, keep smiling and live to Tri!
SO, YOU WANT TO BE AN IRONMAN? 