It feels quite surreal now. After nine months of training, there’s just one week until the race itself.
I thought it was about time I had a look at the race guide. For myself but also for those coming to support on th day itself. I’m pretty comfortable with the swim. It’s a two lap course at Pennington Flash, Wigan. as it was at Staffs 70.3 last year it’s a rolling start for myself and all the other age group athletes. It starts at 6am in a continuous stream through a controlled access point, which is perfect because it won’t be a washing machine scrum of a mass start. Hopefully I’ll get clear water as I’ll be starting with other swimmers of the same speed (you line up in groups of similar swim times). I’m aiming for around an hour for the 3.8km. The one thing I need to make sure I do is eat well before I get in. The last long swim I did at Six Hills I started to get hungry towards the end. I don’t really want to be feeling like that next week otherwise I’ll be eating like a horse on the bike.
The bike is a little bit hill, but that’s ok. I’ve done a lot of hill working in preparation so I’m feeling good about that. Having decided to use my TT bike I’ve been checking everything works. I’ve also got a couple of spare tubular tyres, a CO2 canister and nbeen swotting up on changing them if need be. I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen. Fingers crossed.
As for the run, that’s going to be a lottery. My legs have felt good on all of my long runs so far so as long as I don’t go too hard on the bike and eat my own body weight in my superfood cake, I’ll be sorted. The big unknown is the weather. It could well be hot, so I’m just going to have to take it easier if thats the case.
I’ve also been thinking why I like training. I know some people do it for weight loss, to look good or to eat what they want. But I just love it. Probably sounds weird but it’s true. I like the afterglow of doing a long session. It’s addictive. People get their kicks out of other stuff, but that’s mine. Maybe I need my head read.
Bring it on.