Final build

One final big week before the taper. As much as I enjoy training, the long hours and the post workout fatigue is slowly taking a toll on my body. So I'm glad to have made it this far and looking forward to the taper.

The week started with a 25 minute recovery run on Monday following the big weekend. Tuesday I did 90 minutes ride in King's Park, and recovered in the afternoon with an easy swim session. Wednesday I rode again, for 2 hours to Shelley Reserve and Point Walter. In the afternoon I did a 45 minute run in the neighbourhood.

I swapped Thursday's morning session to another day as I had an early morning meeting. In the afternoon I swam with a main set of 4 x 800m varying with some fartlek efforts, pull buoy and paddles. Friday morning I ran for 80 minutes in King's Park. The temperature is beginning to rise as summer is closing in on us. I recovered with another easy swim session in the afternoon.

It was a hot one when I did my long 5 hour ride on Saturday. I think the temperature rose 10 degrees in the second half of my ride. The slight headwinds made it tougher too, and my return journey took an extra 15 minutes. I had to cut short my brick run to 30 minutes as I was going to be late for our lunch appointment. The rest of the group were having a training camp down south and raced Bunbury Classic the next day. I couldn't go as Li-Ann was flying off to Singapore that night. She'll be away for about 10 days, but being the wonderful wife she is, she cooked up and stored plenty of food so my nutrition will be well taken care of in these crucial weeks.

On Sunday I only had a 75 minute ride, which I went to Sorrento Beach. I joined Dennis Tan and NCTC for an open water swim but the water was so choppy and I gave up after swimming a few hundred metres. In the afternoon I ran for 2.5 hours, my longest run this build. My pace was much better compared to the last weekend, I clocked 33.2km, averaging 4:31 per km.

The volume will reduce in the coming weeks but still keeping moderately intense. It's important, more so than ever, to keep my nutrition, rest and recovery in check. And as Bill told me in his email, keep out of trouble!