Wednesday, August 31st 2011

naseba seven test #2

Day 6

Swim:  4,000 meters (1:00.31)
transition:  13 minutes
Bike:  123km (4:06)  fastest bike time this week by more than 20 minutes
transition:  about 10 minutes
Run:  30km (3:38)  half marathon split was 2:17, 8 minutes faster than yesterdays half marathon

total training time:  8:45

Comments:
Yesterday and today, Rania from Gulf News is here from Dubai.  She followed our training – today she was with us the entire 10+ hours, following in a car with a friend of Mario driving her. 

We started 45 minutes behind schedule because I forgot my wetsuit at my house.  I wanted to swim without it, but Mario said I had to swim with it.
Having a house boy in Dubai and a great personal assistant has made me a bit soft, and sloppy…. I need to be more organized on my own.
Mario was very annoyed.

45 minutes later than normal, I started….
My swim was easy, and I used it just to loosen up my legs, sort of a recovery type of swim.  Both my shoulders are dead … but its very easy to swim in a wet suit so I took advantage of the bouancy it provides and swam easy.  My time was fairly fast.

swim to bike transition was long because Mario had to change his tire twice … over this time, he told me that he would set a fast pace today and that I had to stick to it. 

The first 20km loop was tough because my legs were stiff and sore, and Mario kept on telling me to pick up my pace. 

Around the 40th km, something seemed to click -I was into the ride.
Mario yelled to me a few times over the ride that we were “smashing” our previous best time.   We rode side by side for a majority.
(I try not to draft behind Mario because in an ironman, drafting is not permitted.

Each time was the same, I rode well until the long hill … and each time we came to the long hill, I would die and my pace would drop dramatically.
We finished 20+ minutes faster than our other personal best, and 25 minutes faster than yesterday.

The run went ok.  I felt good, my knees didnt hurt and the weather wasn’t hot.  My first half marathon split was 8 minutes faster than yesterdays half marathon.

The last 10km was tough because a portion was down hill and going down hill hurt my knees.  The last 5km, my legs were like cement blocks.
But I did NOT walk during the 30 km run.

After we finished, I went back to the lake and sat in the cold water to ice my legs.  Also, at dinner I iced my knees 3 times each for 20 minutes each time.

Right before I got in bed, Peter Leo came up to say hello.  He had been downstairs with Rania, who interviewed him.

Peter said to me:  “I wont stay long because tomorrow is your last test day and you will do a full ironman…”

I didnt know that we were doing a full ironman tomorrow! 

Mario didnt want me to know until the morning.

Its worth mentioning that I have been getting faster and faster each day, but tomorrow is showtime.

if it was easy…

(I can barely keep my eyes open right now, and have fallen asleep a couple times as I try to write this blog – sorrry if its poorly written today)