Summery
Very simple i am turning 40 next year and the world 70.3 world champs are for the first time in europe and i need some intermediate goal to get ready for the real goal.... i want to go to hawaii 2016 (and certainly not just to fill up the numbers for both events other wise i am not going to wast my money)
Reality
When i started to train a bit more serious last april - apart from staying fit and keep the weight down - It was maninly becasue teat there is still a little matter... I one day decided to break 9 hour in an ironman when i had not even done a swim bike or run race . To cut a long story short despite many travel interuptions cycling around the world. in 2005 i did break the 9 hours but I never got any satisfaction from it as it wasnt a good race . So I would like to rectify this and be happy about the perofmance with a good race .
Since then i have realiced that times and ironman really dont matter much, so it would be about placing in copmetetive races but much more importantly as I said i want to be happy about my performance.
ANyway, to be fair I do not know if I will be able to push myself CONSISTANTLY and while 'back inthe day' I was happy to train on my own ,its a fact that i dodnt have this motivation anymore. So i will have to built a structure to recognize that. At the same time I have much more experience...
So the CONSISTENCY will be my biggest struggle and there is a very high chance that it will fail. At the same time in the last few weeks I have started to become a bit more serious ( its tough really tough right now) and last nights run i giess for the first time in 3 years a serious run session ,and loved it .
I also have to admit I loved every second this year the hour before and during the race at the hell of the west. Its was absolute torcher but I was totally in the Zone and under the race day circumstances I could not have gone faster ( bare a small lapsus of coencetration for 1 min or so at the 4 k mark in the run) .
I wasnt really in shape ( dodnt get me wrong i wasnt unfit either but I have done one swim and bike and run session in the last 2 weeks that i rate the best quality sessions of the year and they were not that great either )
Fortunately I do understand that I dodnt really want to train its more I want to fisnish something I started long time ago i am not to sure if thats enough at the same time but I aslo know i can take more rest than i did back then . So there is pors and cons as always in live ;-)
the other issue....
a few weeks ago i was on a race entry side and i could not get myslef to enter. i mean i spend about the same ammount of money including the flight for travelling 3,5 weeks in turkey than 1 race wants me to charge jsut for the entry ) ........So that will be something i need to work on ;-)
The structure ( a very lose one as it will change anyways)
1 i will have to suround myslef with a few people to train with.
the swim I have already kind of sorted out by swiming with tango friday morning.
for the run iam planning to run every 2nd week with one of my athletes and find a lunch time running session ( is trintiy still on ?) .
the bike intervals will be in a way the hardest as i have to do them during the day and it will be the hardest to set up .At the same time the most crucial session as this is were i feel short 10 years ago
(up to here its non negotiable if i dont get that done it will not work)
I selfcoached myself to sub 9 ironman and i have always said if i was to do it again I would want to work with a coach or the very least with an advisor for a 2nd opinion . (when one gets motivated than one makes mistakes and while most of the times i wont be motivated enough, there will be key blocks i have to be in the zone and for those I will need an smart advisor ( one of my ex atheltes would be brilliant for it and i losely asked a while ago) or an coach. Anyway its something that I should have in place by now ...
At the same time right now the most impotant thing is to get myself into the right frame of mind to train again and built a routine and a set up to do that. as it would not be fair on coach/ advisor to start only to realice that I dodnt have it what it takes. (its bllod frustrating whne that happens and ii would not prefer it to somebody else )
Apart from one small niggle I do think that i could get myself in the best overall shape ever for october 2016.
I tend to train best in places i dodnt know by heart ( travelling was always my no 1 passion so this is something i have to try to incorparate into this i and will want to do 2 weeks abroad to keep me stimulated .
RACES
As for races I would like to qualfiy for the 70.3 world in an early 70.3 race than do tri an mhi, built in 8 or so local races mostly wednesday races as training sessions like last year
i love the the fact i can do a duathlon in the phoenix park where i arrive 15-20 min before race start warm up done cycling there and then race ) FIngal was also a great race and the wicklow aquathon are supperbly orgniced and so was belparks new aquathon.
kilkee and tri an mhi as a serious races. than 70.3 worlds or the lost sheep and an fall ironman most likely barcelona to qualify for hawaai. this year for the first time ever thought i want to go to hawaii. my exceitment for the 70.3 worlds went already a bit back as expaliand earlier so we will see
conclusion
I have never written a blog and i am sure there is people better suited to write blogs than myslef . Part of the reason i would like as i want to show beginner atheltes what is really important to become good.
It not an unkonw fact that i think that most boarides focus too much on the noise and not enough on what really matters to actually train.
please dodnt be offended if this goes against your principles you dodnt have to read this .....
its not that much about talent ( of cours it helps)
its not so much aobut gear ( and of course that can help too)
and to be fair its not even so much aobut training (dodnt get me wrong here structure of training is important, but what i really try to say here , when i had no idea about training but had my heart in it , i was faster than now)
why
first its aobut being willing to start being hungry to improve and challenge yourself there has to be a mission.
and you do not get into this if you feel a new gamrin 920 will make you train ( that usually works for a few weeks and then ....)
its important to set up a structure that is challenging yet manageble ( iam totaly ok that i chant even train the way i want right now i just dont have it but every week it will get a bit better )
then do it again and again and again . of course vary it but ironman racing is boring so you need to be able to deal with boring training.
and later on it will be aobut the icing of the cake ( in my case a power meter i consider to use 3 times a fornight ) and potentially a new (2nd hand ) bike. and ther e might be a few other things i might try.
though even though iam not sure if I will be able to do what I say I will at least try and by march i have to make a decison where iam am and how i feel when the training will really start .
so maybe this blog will 'shame' me a bit more into training and maybe some people can learn something and if somebody has constructive feed back than I could learn something.
or maybe it will be very soon stopped... but at least i will have given it a shot.