I guess it would be amiss for me to write something at the moment without mentioning Wimbledon. It struck me at the start of last week that it is exactly high my lifetime ago (15 years) when I was first a ball boy at the Al England Club. They were great times that I remember fondly, but its incredible to think just how long ago it was!
Murray mainier has of course hit once again, and rightly so I think. He’s number 3 in the world after all and so has a genuine chance this year. His game the other night finishing at near 11pm (I was long tucked up in bed) was an epic match by all accounts and shows a real maturity in Murray over the last 2 years; both physically and mentally. The funny thing is though, that listening to a phone in on the radio the following morning on “if Murray could win Wimbledon” I had to switch off with frustration at the “British” mentality to knock and undermine our successful sports people. Caller after caller, focussing on the negatives, saying how he’s not “like the top players”… err… excuse me, but isn’t he NUMBER 3 IN THE WORLD, I’m pretty sure that MAKES him one of the “top players”. It never ceases to amaze me the speed with which people in this country are prepared to put forward their “expert” opinion and how more often than not, it’s NOT a positive one in support of our sports stars. Somehow I doubt the same would happen in Australia or the US.
Anyway….
Last week I spent some time visiting some sick relatives up in the north of England. I took the turbo and trainers so I could still train of course. However a small gluten issue (not sure from what, but possibly some fruit squash) meant that from Wednesday through to Sunday I probably averaged about an hour a day of training and about 5 extra hours a day of sleep. It really does have this much of a dramatic effect on me. However, at least I was able to train even if just a little, most days. With my first Iron Man less than 2 weeks away this is less than optimal preparation though. I was really looking to have my last really solid weeks training and clock up close to 4hours a day instead of a measly 1. Then on Monday, I woke up feeling terrible. A head ache, joints aching and elevated temperature meant that I had to take the whole day completely off too. More frustration…..
Talking about all of this with Chrissie though it was good to be reminded that some times you just have to take what you can get and “bank it”. It is what it is and nothing you do can change it, so just get what you can out of the training and accept it. Last week this meant as little as 45mintues on the turbo before I had to get off with exhaustion; but that’s 45minutes more than nothing. A good saying I once heard says “some days are pebble days and some are star days. One is very plain and feels like not very much and the other is amazing and makes you feel awesome – however both are made from the same thing (rock) and can have the same effect of your fitness and ultimate performance”.
Thankfully yesterday saw a really good solid days training, including 2hours on the turbo with some hard efforts in there… oh and it was 38ºC in the sun lounge whilst doing this session and I felt fine – that’s a good sign. The run off the bike in this session was at my goal IM effort and though a little slower than I’ve done in recent weeks, again I’ll take it and “bank it”.
With IM Switzerland now only 12 days away that’s all I can do. Nothing I do now will improve my fitness before the race, but I can certainly jeopardise my race day fitness by doing too much or the wrong thing. Hopefully I’ll get the balance right, it’s a heck of a long way and I don’t want to leave my best performance in the training log rather than on the roads of Zurich.
