"Perfect structural condition"

I can assure you that in no way does that post title refer to me at the moment - but that is the plan! I've been following an interesting thread on Trannies about preparing for the Hawaii IM (purely out of interest). One guy who recently qualified was asking how, and when, to start preparing for it given that the race isn't until October. Another poster recommended that before the 16 week training program kicks off in June that the next few months are spent doing things that we all often neglect (core / strengthening / daily stretching / good nutrition etc) so that by the time his training program kicks off he will be in a "perfect structural condition", able to add volume without injury. If you have been following my crazy journey for a while you will probably understand why this struck a cord with me. 'Injury' was my middle name until around 18 months ago. However I still do have a lot of weakness which need to be addressed. I have been working on my weaknesses reasonably consistently over the last 18 months but perhaps not as consistently as I should be. And this is a perfect time to me to focus on this before my running volume increases later in the year so that I can add volume without injury. So from here on, its all about working towards achieving a "perfect structural condition".

Anyhoo, enough babbling; on with the training-

Sat: rest day (!) which was spent spectating and cheering at Six Foot. Can. Not. Wait. until next year!

Sun: after getting home around 8pm on Saturday night, I had to be back at Katoomba at 7am on Sunday morning to meet the girls for another long walk. This time it was a recon of stage 1 of WildEndurance. 26.4km in 6:20 which included my first trip up Mt Debert and Taros Ladder ('ladder' being an interesting interpretation of the word), along spectacular Narrowneck, down the Golden Stairs, along the Federal Pass and up the Furber Stairs. Phew. Arrived back at the car to discover a man in a CR hat standing next to it! Turned out to be Melbournians Maggot and Brettsrun who had come up for Six Foot.





Mon: (much needed) rest day

Tue: bike (45mins steady state ride)

Wed: strength & core session in the gym

Thu: rest day

Fri: 3.5 hours of stair repeats, bush bashing, rock scrambling, naked men and chocolate with a fantastic group of Wild Women. I lurve these sessions; I wish I could do them more often. I also wish I had been wearing my HR monitor. Wanting to throw up after 45mins of stair repeats with an 18kg pack was a pretty good indication that I was near my max!

Sat: backed up with another 2:15 and 11.3km hike today around the Glenbrook NP (Gate > Euroka > Tunnel View Lookout > gate) this time with a 14kg pack.

Also dropped another 0.6kg over the last week which has me less than 2kgs away from my goal weight. Nice :-)

MTD:
Walk - 78.98k