Heading into my final week!

I can't believe that my final week of training is finally on me!  I'm soooo excited :) 

We've arrived at Dayton Manor Theme Park yesterday, and are now just an hour away from the race venue, I think the fact that I can just relax now,  spend time with the family and have fun helps, I feel incredibly calm about the whole challenge ahead of me lol that may change nearer the time :)

Thoughts on the Training

I'm really happy with how's the training gone;  swimming has been difficult but swimming the distance and feeling comfortable with it has dispelled the fears of the distance but that said,  I will be happy when I'm out of the water.   I'm looking forward to the bike,  lol hope weather forecast is right, it's forecast for 60-70 partly cloudy and no wind!  Again,  the run has a few concerns but doing 17 miles and feeling very strong at the end has helped but this is such unknown I have no idea how I will feel as the run progresses. 

My race plan is a case of using a mixture of perceived and heart rate measures especially on the bike;  even if it results in my bike split being slower than I hope for :)

My nutrition plan is all set, I'm planning on setting my watch for every 15 mins to remind me;  especially on the bike and there are so many feed stations on the run that frequency is not a problem.

Now it's final week taper time; and really time to chill and enjoy;  lol Stuart was right heading away this early is perfect :)

Final Couple of Big Sessions

Last week I started my taper on the bike discipline but I still had unfinished business with the swim and run disciplines but at the beginning of the week I did Spinervals 13.0 again on tired legs after a big brick the day before but once I got into it I felt great and recorded my best ever ride of this dvd despite increasing the trainer tension a little bit;  I know my bike is ready especially after covering the distance the previous week and feeling great when I did an hour run after.  Then following that up with a massive pb on our 10 mile TT last Thursday of 27mins, average speed 22.2 mphs.

I still had reservations about both the swim and run disciplines.   So last Friday I went and swam the distance at our pool starting at 7am; I had a gel and around 4oz of water before,  after the previous nights TT I knew I was going into this dehydrated; I really didn't know how it would go as I've had difficulty fitting swimming in, only 1 or sometimes 2x a week and only covering around 2k the majority of the time,  but I needed to try it;  I was hoping for 2 miles in the time I had but unbelievably I swam the whole distance in 75 mins (now this was my A goal had everything gone to plan in respect of training).  I'm so so happy and relieved.   I know the lake is nice,  it's man made so not too deep therefore should warm up nicely by the 7th, but more importantly its clear, sightings is easy as you swim 2x lengths and about 200m across, basically the buoys are your guide and with an awareness of the turn for the width :)

I've had to box clever with the run;  with a flair up of my old injury early May I could not risk the 3 hour runs so instead I stuck with 2 hours but kind of like intervals; not intense as I used my base pace as a float;generally around 6mph and then did the intervals on the Runervals but not as intense as specified by coach.   Last Sunday was my last long run and I was hoping to manage 2hrs 30 mins for it but it would depend on how I felt,  no point in risking anything at this stage.  

To say I'm happy is an understatement, I used Irongirl Runervals all 3 workouts and repeated workout A at the end.   I love this Runervals and for anyone new to interval work its a great starting point,  I started and went for a base pace of 6.2mph (the intervals were set at my base pace of 4mph which I've been using for my sessions;  think this may need revising!) the idea was to use this as a float between intervals as this was a long run but as I got into it I felt great and using my normal base pace I hit all the intervals at the pace I was meant to;  didn't need to adjust as in previous long runs.  Workout B was the same format but at a float base of 6.3mph, C at 6.4mph and repeated A at 6.5mph.   All intervals were done of my previous base of 4mph as per coach.   Something that was tough not so long ago on an individual workout. 
To sum up lol this long winded explanation (I hope it makes sense) I covered 17.3 miles in 2 hrs 35 mins.  I took 5 miles times and progressively got quicker on each one to finish with the last 5 miles in 42 mins.

More importantly I finished this full of running.  

I'm now into my taper and lol a 50 min run today felt great and very short.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement;  you are awesome :)
And thank you for taking the time to read my blog :)