Wednesday 9^th February

Since my last blog a few weeks ago I started my build up to Ironman NZ. Actually I shouldn’t say started as I am always training and have had the race on my mind since the second I crossed the line at the previous year’s race. Probably what I should say is “since my last blog I started my final 8 week specific Ironman distance preparation training block”. So I am sure you’re wondering how it’s going and if I am on track for Ironman NZ in what’s now a little over 3 weeks away? Well I will be perfectly honest with you and say it has been one of “those build ups”.  If you have trained for lots of races you will know what I mean. Sometimes you get those build up that go effortlessly, you don’t have any problems, you wake up every day and don’t feel any fatigue, every piece of equipment that you use runs perfectly anyway you get the idea, I often like to say it “flows” . On the other hand you get the build ups that don’t “flow” and unfortunately that’s what’s happened to me this time around, it just hasn’t been “flowing”. One to two weeks ago I started to get some pain in the outer side of my left knee which was diagnosed as some tightness in my ITB.  This has become inflamed at the insertion point at my knee which hasn’t been ideal but also having this problem has created a domino effect and sparked a few problems in my right leg as I was compensating for the pain in my left leg.  I basically favoured my right leg because my left leg was sore and loaded it in a way which has, like I said sparked up a couple of problems. Anyway am I worried, ABSOLUTLY NOT. I have been around this sport long enough to know that a few hiccups in the final weeks of training is not the end of the world. In fact I have seen on more than one occasion that sometimes it can be a blessing as it actually forces you to back off a little which only means your fresher on the day and in an event that last 8-9 hours being fresh is the key to being able to dig deep inside yourself and produce your best result. So my goals for the remaining 3+ weeks is to first get my left knee sorted and to iron out the couple of other little niggles I have got going on. Secondly try and aim to get through a few key training sessions and lastly I aim to have a problem free taper over the last 10-12 days. At this stage I am very confident I will be on the start line, come March 5^th.

I will check in again before the big day with positive news I am sure that my knee is 100% and I am ready to go, until then if your training for the Ironman good luck with the final few weeks.

James