WOW!, can’t believe I’ve come to be so busy lately. I’m 2 days from race day and the tapper weeks has been a busy one as well.
It all started with a day off on Sunday, which I used to sleep till 9 in the morning and get a lot of chores done so to have a cruizy week. Monday was a hard swim, and a hard run (the last big workouts), the swim went well, but the run was forced to stop due to a recall from my quad injury. Fortunately, it was only a minor scare and I although I haven’t run since, I know it won’t be a problem on Race day. Tuesday was a short TT, with personal best time. Then another swim on Wednesday (only 50min) and a bit of spinning to keep the legs in motion.
Those are the workouts, but the most important two things during tapper week are Rest and Stretching. It is never too late to stretch and there is nothing as too much rest. I’ve kept those two thoughts on the top of my list, and I am in great shape, both physically and mentally, so let’s talk about the race.
Wellington Oly distance race:
The venue and the swim
Welly is the city I like more in NZ, the place where I’d love to live. They say that you can’t beat Wellington on a nice day, but nice days are apparently the exception and not the rule. We are fortunate enough to have the marine traffic stopped for our race and we swim in the middle of the Lambton Harbour, the area is protected and there won’t be more than a moderate swell. I’ve had a mix of experiences in the past, from a power swim to an average-middle-of-the-pack paddle. The temperature is a big factor, and if it is not too much below 15 degrees air temperature we should be fine for a swim of around 20min.
The bike
This is the gamebreaker of this race. You either have it or you don’t. The course is an out and back that follows the coastline and clifflines of Wellington’s harbour and the mouth of the Cook straight. There will be wind blowing, the strength of that wind will influence the results big time. In my personal experience I prefer the wind to be moderate to strong, as although it is a bit of a pain when it is on one’s head, it is great aid when it’s on the tail. My calculations are that as I am not the strongest biker I’ll lose about 5% (2-3km/h) on the headwind to the top age grouper. But we’ll be only 2% apart on the tailwind sessions. That is thanks to my newly found leg strength-endurance. The cold factor won’t be a disadvantage, and the legs should fire OK.
The Run
It is very simple, flat out and back 2 lap course. Only 5 turns in the whole race (out of T2, turnaround, lap1, turnaround, in to finish shoot). We’ll be all getting off the bikes around the 60 to 65 minutes. At this time there will be a gentle breeze. The tactic for this session is to go as hard as I can. Hopefully I’ll be on the top 20% of the field and on a good day my run should prop me onto the top 10%. We’ll see how it goes.
It all started with a day off on Sunday, which I used to sleep till 9 in the morning and get a lot of chores done so to have a cruizy week. Monday was a hard swim, and a hard run (the last big workouts), the swim went well, but the run was forced to stop due to a recall from my quad injury. Fortunately, it was only a minor scare and I although I haven’t run since, I know it won’t be a problem on Race day. Tuesday was a short TT, with personal best time. Then another swim on Wednesday (only 50min) and a bit of spinning to keep the legs in motion.
Those are the workouts, but the most important two things during tapper week are Rest and Stretching. It is never too late to stretch and there is nothing as too much rest. I’ve kept those two thoughts on the top of my list, and I am in great shape, both physically and mentally, so let’s talk about the race.
Wellington Oly distance race:
The venue and the swim
Welly is the city I like more in NZ, the place where I’d love to live. They say that you can’t beat Wellington on a nice day, but nice days are apparently the exception and not the rule. We are fortunate enough to have the marine traffic stopped for our race and we swim in the middle of the Lambton Harbour, the area is protected and there won’t be more than a moderate swell. I’ve had a mix of experiences in the past, from a power swim to an average-middle-of-the-pack paddle. The temperature is a big factor, and if it is not too much below 15 degrees air temperature we should be fine for a swim of around 20min.
The bike
This is the gamebreaker of this race. You either have it or you don’t. The course is an out and back that follows the coastline and clifflines of Wellington’s harbour and the mouth of the Cook straight. There will be wind blowing, the strength of that wind will influence the results big time. In my personal experience I prefer the wind to be moderate to strong, as although it is a bit of a pain when it is on one’s head, it is great aid when it’s on the tail. My calculations are that as I am not the strongest biker I’ll lose about 5% (2-3km/h) on the headwind to the top age grouper. But we’ll be only 2% apart on the tailwind sessions. That is thanks to my newly found leg strength-endurance. The cold factor won’t be a disadvantage, and the legs should fire OK.
The Run
It is very simple, flat out and back 2 lap course. Only 5 turns in the whole race (out of T2, turnaround, lap1, turnaround, in to finish shoot). We’ll be all getting off the bikes around the 60 to 65 minutes. At this time there will be a gentle breeze. The tactic for this session is to go as hard as I can. Hopefully I’ll be on the top 20% of the field and on a good day my run should prop me onto the top 10%. We’ll see how it goes.
GOOD LUCK.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good taper and perfect thought process stretch and rest. Good thing the marine traffic will be stopped!!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck
-D