T'was the night before Ironman...

and I'm exhausted. Good thing I'm not racing. Still cheering for a grand total of 17 hours needs a fair stock of endurance & energy, something I'm lacking right now. I made it to Port Mac only one day behind schedule thankfully. I've spent most of my time working & studying since I got here but I've managed to get out for a ride, a swim & some time at Cold Rock. Yes, I've got the priorities right ;-)

Mon: my busiest day of the week. Up at 4.30pm to study before work & then I'm not normally home before 10pm due to swim squad. However I left swim squad early due to a slight niggle in my shoulder. Nothing serious; just a few tight muscles I think. I'm not particularly surprised given that I've been spending far too long hunched over a desk in the last few weeks & haven't done a solid strength session in a month or two. 1km

Tue: headed to the gym before work for some sekrit training & a few back exercises to help relieve the pressure at the front of my shoulder. No pilates; home from work too late.

Wed & Thu: surely sitting on my butt either at work or in the car constitutes exercise....

Fri: up early for a visit to the gym for an upper body strength session before driving up to Port Mac where R & Mini Mango had already settled into our apartment (they arrived on Thursday).

Sat: dragged myself out of bed just in time to inhale a slice of toast and ride from Flynns Beach along the IM bike course to the race HQ in time to see MiniMango before the start of the 5km fun run (she & R had left while I was still in bed). After her race, I got back on the bike & rode part of the IM course, back up Pacific Drive, along MFD & out of town. I turned around once the rolling hills of Port Mac flattened out past the golf course & headed for home.

Matthew Flinders Drive has been a real mental struggle/block for me. For those who haven't seen it, it is a very short but sharp 2 'stage' hill. After the first short, steep climb, you turn right into a side street & get a (short) reprieve before turning left for the final (and slightly steeper) kicker up to the top. Before I arrived in Port, I honestly still wasn't sure whether I was going to attempt it. But when I arrived here on Friday afternoon, MiniMango told me that she had ridden it yesterday. She's 14 & rides her bike about once a month. Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! So I decided to take it on, (trying) to stay strong mentally, break it into the 2 stages & trusting that I had ridden uphill for much longer than this little pimple. And I did it! I was a bit ugly but I got there. I would have loved to have seen my HR at the top but unfortunately Garmin Electra wasn't picking it up today. Yah me! 70mins. 25.57km

Much of the day was pretty standard for IM-eve: perving on bikes, catching up with friends, visiting the expo and eating at Cold Rock. At 3pm, MiniMango & I headed to Flynn's Beach for a swim with TA & Gnome, Owly & Miners, which turned into a short swim & lots of splashing about in the waves talking ;-) Throw in a bit of work & a quick visit to the CR dinner & it was a lovely day. At the very least, I'm all carbo-loaded for tomorrow's uber effort ;-)

MTD:
Swim - 5.5km
Bike - 157.2k