The home stretch

My lunch post the 2 hour run today, at Harvey's. Had a coupon for buy one free get one free burger! 

Well not quite. But I've done all the big workouts and the taper officially starts tomorrow... with a 3km swim set in the morning. I'm glad I got through the big weeks in one piece. My right foot was a bit of a worry for the past two weeks but the swelling is almost gone and I can run normally now. There is still some very slight tenderness when I apply pressure but it is definitely on the road to recovery and should be in top shape when race day comes.

I scored a PB at the weekly Splash N Dash (1.6k swim 5.2k run) on Wednesday. Timed at 46:34, slicing off 2.5 minutes from the first one I did. My swim time was just over 24 minutes - it's been a while since I've clocked a 1:30 per 100m average! On the run, I chased those in front of me until I've overtaken them and cruised the remainder just to be cautious with my foot, so I felt really happy that I was still able to get a PB. Coach Sheri said I still need to work on my technique and biomechanics for both the swim and run. Yes, she's one tough lady but that's how I improve.

With my usual Ironman training buddies going into taper already for Ironman Mont Temblant, which is a week earlier than my race, I only had Pete (who just finished Steelhead 70.3 a week ago) for company for Saturday's ride. I rode out to his place which took an hour and we did 2+ hours to Fingal and back, before I rode back home. Had a decent ride but the headwinds were pretty strong, hence my average was just under 30kph for the 120km. Did an hour of brick run after, my stride wasn't as smooth as I liked but still did a good pace at 4:40 per km average.

Sunday's long run was only 2 hours (I had 3 hours the past two weeks). It's amazing what a difference it makes, both mentally and physically, to one hour less to do. I started my run at about 9am, as I was watching the live scores for our Malaysian badminton hero, Dato' Lee Chong Wei playing against China's Lin Dan in the World Championships final. Unfortunately Dato' Lee was forced to retire in the deciding set and Lin Dan claimed his 5th title. Still, Chong Wei deserved a pat on the back and it must have been heart wrenching to lose the final that way.

Anyway, back to my run, the weather stayed cool despite my late start and there was a period of overcast in the final 30 minutes or so. I did 3 laps of the 8+km loop around my neighbourhood and managed to clock 25.4km with an average of 4:43 per km, much faster than the last two weeks. Had lunch at Harvey's and then did an easy swim after to recover from the run. Did 2 sets of 2km - one swim, one pull buoy. I was burping root beer and hot pepper throughout!

Li-Ann comes back this weekend. I'm missing her dearly. Even though quite often, we're engrossed in our own worlds at home, I do enjoy her presence and just physically being with her. It's nice to return home after a tough workout and have her fuss all over me, have my food ready and giving me massages to loosen up the knots in my leg muscles before I sleep.