So unfortunately August was a similar month to July, it was tough and didn’t go to plan. We’ve all had them, months that nothing seems to be right, the wheels kind of just fell off. Again this month my training was off, still lacking clear direction (even though I have a very thorough race plan for the rest of 2017 & into 2018), my life was out of control and simply just overwhelmed me! So it was time to make some big decision and subsequently changes, which I will write about another time. Following lots of soul-searching and long reflective discussion with my amazing (super supportive) wife & family the changes have started and I hope that I can get every facet of my life back on track and under control.
So let’s not waste any more time, grab a coffee and stop for a quick moment to reflect and review my July training activities. This is all about celebrating milestones, being grateful for the time and appreciating the sacrifice. In August I trained on 23 out of 31 days, training for 28.5 hours for the month, which is well under my desired 10 hours per week. We are now at the end of Winter, and the weather is starting to improve, the morning are getting lighter, it is warmer during the day, but still cold in the mornings.
During August I entered (and attempted to finish) the following Strava challenges:
Running:
- Aug Distance Challenge – complete 80km finishing 75,079 of 142,288 participants
- Aug 10k Race – Complete five times, my best average pace was 4:50min/km, finishing 23,761 of 158,041 participants
- Aug Half Marathon Race – I didn’t complete this month.
- Aug Climbing Challenge – 695m/2,500m, finishing 55,530 of 85,357 participants
- Aug Oakley Radar Pace 100 Challenge – only completing 80km/100km, finishing 55,125 of 98,126 participants.
Cycling:
- Aug Eurosports International Ride Challenge – completing 379km/30km finishing 80,137 of 153,495 participants
- Aug Climbing Challenge – completing 3,823m/8000m finishing 118,314 of 177,076 participants
- Aug Gran Fondo – 100km was my longest ride finishing 110,911 of 198,708 participants
- Aug Distance Challenge – complete 423km finishing 114,989 of 216,102 participants.
I love that these challenges give me something fun to watch and monitor during the heavy loads of training. During August they provided the perfect motivation to get out there ticking over the k’s and hours trying to maintain some consistency in my training.
The following is a summary of activities for Aug, surviving was the goal:
The following little chart is from my excel spreadsheet I use to track volumes & hours, it helps me stay on track for my annual goals, also providing a good summary of the monthly total:
August was still a struggle, but as with life there is always lows and highlights worth celebrating. August was no different, with fellow head coach at Starfish Tri Athletic celebrating a birthday with a trail run at Daisy Hill followed by a breakfast at IKEA.
August also saw me travel back to my home town for the funeral of my Uncle and God-Father Lyndon. His death came as a huge surprise to the entire family, being only 53 is far to young to be taken from his wife and twin boys. It was a tough day but the legacy this man leaves behind is truly inspirational and something I would be very happy to have when my time comes. Lyndon was the owner of a freight company that operated all over Victoria & parts of NSW, he was an avid golfer and keen camper/fisherman. He was a salt of the earth, hard-working man, that was always happy to have a chat whenever I needed it!
As with all things, the low of traveling back to Victoria for a funeral was hard, but it presented an opportunity to celebrate his life with the entire family, cousins and all. It’s a very rare nowadays for us all to get together, and while this is not the occasion we would like to be catching up, it is lovely to see everyone again.
Given I was in Shepparton for a Saturday, I took the early morning opportunity (before the funeral) to sneak in a parkrun. I’m very sure Lyndon wouldn’t have minded, as he respected and supported any adventure or achievement the family wanted to achieve.
When you’re struggling to find your mojo in life a NEW BIKE helps. So in order to try to snap the negative spiral I sold my Trek Madone 5.2 series aero road bike and purchased a new Cannondale CAAD12 aluminum road bike. This thing is amazing to ride, light, responsive and ohhhh so smooth.
In the shop waiting to be picked up!
The maiden voyage up Mount Gravatt Mountain
With Ironman 70.3 Sunny Coast at Mooloolaba only 1 week away, I am a little panicked by how unprepared I am, but am going to lean on the base of two Ironman programs already complete in 2017, take that confidence and keep a smile on the dial all day long! Hoping just to get to the finish line in one piece and use this as the launching pad for an epic 12 week run into Ironman Western Australia in Busselton in December.
If your racing, I’d love to see/meet you at some stage over the weekend, so please don’t be shy, come and say g-day. I live to race, and while this day is going to hurt, I’m going to have an absolute ball hurting myself! Let’s kick this season off with an epic weekend on the Sunny Coast!
If you ever have any questions please reach out, I’m only a message away.
If you’re not active at the moment & need some inspiration, follow me on Strava, Instagram and like my facebook page and let’s get back out there swim, bike or running. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a blog post from me! The biggest regret we can have in life is to not TRI!
Till next time build consistency, keep smiling and live to Tri!
SO, YOU WANT TO BE AN IRONMAN? 
Nice round up of the months activities – I also beat myself up over my training schedule but I think as triathletes thats just how we are wired. Good luck for the remainder of the year.