18 days to go until race day
76kg (after dinner and a bottle of water)
I know that I said that I would be more regular with my posts but work continued to be full on for the month of November and to be fair, I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life. Add to that me trying to spend time with my family and throw in the hardest month of training so far and you have a pretty busy period.
I am determined though to do a countdown for the last nineteen days before race day so be sure to tune in on a nightly basis. Here is a quick catchup on what has been going on for the month:
- Bog Challenge: At the start of November I competed in the bog challenge. Now if you remember correctly, the bog challenge that I completed in July was when I fractured my foot so I had nervous feelings about this race. I finished with no injuries except for the normal scrapes and cuts and 14 minutes faster than I have ever completed it.
- 2km swim time trial: About three weeks ago I completed a 2km time trial. I hate time trials as I seem to always go to hard in them but I was determined on this one to take my time an really see how I was feeling and the relaxed state seemed to work as I completed it in just over 35 minutes, a new personal best.
- Ocean Swim: As the weather has warmed up slightly we have begun doing our ocean swims again. This was the first time that I had been back in the sea with my wetsuit on and the 1.5km swim felt good. Looks like all that training I have been doing is starting to show itself!
- Bike Crash: Last weekend I wanted to complete a mini half ironman by completing a 3 hour bike ride and then complete a 21km run. All was going to plan when I got up at 5:00am last Sunday and left home on the bike by 6am. I would hopefully be back and finish the run by 11:00am and spend the rest of the day with the family. 23 kilometres into the ride I eat a banana and to wash it down I pull my drink bottle out of my drink holder whilst sitting up on the bike with my hands on the top of my tri bars. As I yank the drink bottle out of the holder it hits the top of one of my tri bars knocking the handlebars. I lose control of the handlebars, and try to regain but to no avail. All of a sudden I know that I am going down and before I know it I am slapped on the ground on my back. I open my eyes and my back is killing me. As I gather myself, whilst lying on the road, two good Samaritans pull over to assist after seeing me crash. They help me lift up my bike and check I am okay before heading off. As I sit on the side of the road I assess the damage. The bike is fine except for a little bit of damage to tape on the handlebars. My back is killing me, in fact I have landed square on my tailbone and feel like I have badly bruised my lower back. I check the rest of my body and find no other damage apart from some damaged equipment including my smashed glasses, broken GPS and a helmet with a big dent in the back of it. The worst however is the fact that I am 24 kilometres into a 80km ride. Do I ride home or do I keep going and finish. I decide to complete the ride with my back killing me. I make it home and tell my wife what has happened. I go upstairs and pull back my bike top and find out why my back was hurting so much as shown below.
Unbelievably, that was my only injury and although it actually does not look that bad, the internal pain is still aching as I write this blog.
- Bike and Run (2nd attempt): Yesterday the long awaited long ride and run that I wanted to do last weekend was planned again. This time there was no bike crash however there were two flat tyres. I made it home though feeling pretty good and begun my run into town. Due to the delay that the two flats had given me I was running a little late so only managed 16 kilometers before finishing up. I was starting to hurt near the end of the run but on race day including the swim, there would only be an extra hour of pain before it was all over. I have certainly gone longer than that before so I am not too concerned about what will happen.
Last thing. I picked up my race suit on the weekend so the last of my kit has been purchased. Taurange, look out cos here I come.
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