Yep, that’s right – 3 weeks and 3 days until I will be attempting to drag my ass around my first half iron distance race.
Prep is going well. That said, the 2 week Scottish road trip we went on at the beginning of July, just as I should have been really starting to ramp up the training didn’t help. I did a fair bit of mountain biking but nothing that would constitute a significant part of my training plan! That meant that my big training push was delayed by a couple of weeks – and I’m paying the price with the time I need to put in now.
Going to Morzine for a long weekend’s mountain biking at the end of July also didn’t help matters, but worth every minute! Off topic, but here’s a rather amusing head cam video of one of the many crashes I had that weekend:
The joys of full body armour, leg guards and a full face helmet meant that came away with just superficial damage. There was a hell of a lot of it (I was finding new bruises and cuts for days after we got home) but all superficial.
As I eluded to these ill timed trip haven’t been great for training. The last 4 weeks have really ramped up, and while I’ve been getting everything in that I need to, it has left me constantly knackered and without a spare minute! There is a light at the end of the tunnel though – once this week is out of the way my taper begins and the amount of time I need to put in pretty much halves. Then, it’s a case of staying healthy and not getting ill or injured for the next 3 weeks!
Last week was without a doubt the most exercise I have ever done in a 7 day period. For any ironmen and hardcore types this will probably sound like a walk in the park. Trust me though, for me it was very tough! So last week I did 100+ miles of cycling, 25+ miles of running, almost 2 miles of swimming and over an hour of core/strength work. I have had 1 day off training in the past 10 (although there have been a couple of recovery sessions thrown in there) and have 3 more days before a complete day off. Ouch!
All I can say is I hope it’s all worth it – and that in 3 and a bit weeks time I will be very pleased to be writing up my race report!
To motivate me through the last few weeks I’ve set up a Just Giving page to raise money for The MS Trust, a charity close to my and my girlfriend’s hearts. If anybody is feeling generous, all donations, no matter how big or small are welcome and greatly appreciated. You can donate here: www.just giving.com/andy-heaps
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