This weeks Stats:
- Swim: 17,500m
- Bike: 275km
- Run: 27km
- Training Time: 20.5 hours
Following a big week of endurance sessions over the holiday I was really looking forward to getting into some speed work with only four short weeks to go until Geelong 70.3. Unfortunately, torrential rain over the first four days of the week limited the ability to open up the throttle. Tuesday’s hill repeats were a little treacherous; descending repeatedly down Watson’s Bay Hills in the heavy rain. The rain was still around during Thursday’s interval session in the park which meant the focus was more on strength work rather than speed.
The rain also had an impact on this week’s run session. Coach Spot decided to move the usual Tuesday track session to the park which was a refreshing change. Luckily, the rain doesn’t have as much of an impact on run sessions as it does on the bike session. I was happy with 4 solid 2km efforts at 4:30 pace as I continue to manage a by ankle impingements. Unfortunately, a stubbed toe meant that I didn’t get to enjoy Thursday’s run session in the sun, once it finally emerged, as much as I would have liked. I took the rest of the week off running in
the hope that the rest will allow me to get back to running without discomfort next week. It would be nice to go into a race with full run fitness for a change!
The sun kept shinning all the way through to the weekend which meant there would be plenty of fun in the sun. Without having to keep fuel in the tank for the usual Saturday run session, I let it all hang out on Saturday morning’s 40km TT. The first 20km (2x 2flat laps/1Hill lap) was in the 53/11 gear ratio followed by another 20km in any gear. I wanted to see where I was at, so went right after it with my first 10km taking 14:53 and the second 14:49. Unfortunately, pushing that hard in such a heavy gear was alway going to catch up with the second 20km taking 32:10 for a final result of 1:01:52. That’s around 2 minutes off my best from last year but given it was my first speed session on the TT in a month I’m pretty happy with my starting point for the year. Sunday was the usual long ride day and I was under instruction to stretch the legs a little. The long rides 
the week before were a blessing and despite blowing up in the TT yesterday I got through the 123km right on four hours, even with 1500m of climbing.
By far and away the best session this week was Saturday’s surf/swim session at Bondi Beach. The surf was still pumping after the stormy weather earlier in the week, however the water was remarkably clear with all the run off already disappearing. We spent over 90 mins racing out in the rips and charging back in on some big surf. There was plenty of carnage but it was so much fun. It was also a great chance to give my new 2XU Project X X:3 wetsuit another hit out. Coach Spot once again put himself in the firing line, taking one hammering after another to get some awesome action shots!
With five weeks down things are really starting to ramp up. The week ahead will see more speed sessions in the pool and on the bike. Hopefully I can get my feet right so that I can get some quality running in, for confidence more than anything.
davidjflanagan 