After the wedding in Malmo, we moved to Copenhagen on the Sunday evening. I’d organised to do a couple of days work with the local team before heading home. Made sense as we were there anyway. We checked in to the hotel and then caught the Metro in to the City centre for a walk around. It’s a great City. We had a wander through the main streets to Tivoli before heading to the harbour area of Nyhavn for something to eat. The atmosphere was really nice, it was good to relax.
On the Monday evening after work we went for a meal with the local team at a restaurant in Tivoli itself. It’s basically an amusement park with all of the usual theme rides, but it’s in a really nice setting.
We took Lily along. There was no way she was going to sit still in her high chair. She’d decided to walk for the first time that day in the hotel. V had sent me a video during the day of her walking up and down the hotel room. She’d only got on her feet and collapsed after a couple of steps up until this point. Now she was full on walking and loving it. The change was quite dramatic. Clearly there is no stopping her now. Watching her is pretty amazing. It must be quite a feeling for her to be able to get up and totter about.
I did some strength and conditioning exercises in the hotel later that evening and then went for a six mile run the next morning. I’d found a route on a previous work trip that took me through a park not far from the hotel, so I did that one again. We flew back to the UK on Tuesday evening.
Wednesday was a one hour interval ride to work in the morning, with 2 x 5 minute harder bursts. I then did a short 2 mile brick run off the bike in the afternoon on the way back from work. Friday was a two and a half hour bike ride. Shorter stuff all designed to keep the legs ticking over.
It feels odd to be dialling back now on the training. It definitely feels as though the end is in sight. It’s got me thinking about life after Ironman. It’s quite daunting in a way. I’ve spent so long training for the race that I’m in a weird state of mind where I can’t wait for the day to come around but can’t imagine life without such an enormous goal after it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m going to miss being on a bike for six hours, but I’ve loved having a defined training plan. I think I’ve got a slight insight in to what it would take to be a full time athlete. I’m not saying I could have done this professionally (I really couldn’t have, I’m nowhere near good enough. Not in any one of the disciplines), it’s just nice to get a taste of it. Well, it is for me. I’m pretty sure it’s not for those around me. They must be sick to death of it.
Roll on race day.