I spent a couple of hours this morning reading the Desert Half Ironman website and working on my race plan for this coming Sunday's race...I know, a little excessive, but maybe the race will seem short after all the consternation. The website says something about it being "the toughest half ironman in Canada," but I somehow managed not to hyperventilate after reading that part. The race plan was written after swim team (which was a good workout, most of the hour I had my own lane) and before going out for some hill repeats on the bike. After thinking about the race all morning and researching the weather report (looks like 90+ degrees all weekend in Osoyoos), I felt like I'd done the damn thing (again, evidence that imagery works even when you don't want it to) and my legs weren't so enthused about hammering up a bunch of hills. The weather is great, though, and I rallied and went off to Interlaken. I forgot all of my HR monitors (crap), but I know what the 150s feel like on the bike and I'm sure I hit the right range on all the hills. I kept hitting the lap timer on my watch for each hill/recovery without worrying about the exact times and I knew that (a) I was in the 3 minute range on each one but (b) that I was sort of starting to fall apart after a couple of them. Sure enough...the splits supported what my legs said. I contemplated doing just 5 hills...then 6...then thought what the hell, I'll do 7 for my head. Since there are "7 bitches" on the race route besides the mountain pass (well, 14 actually, as it's an out-and-back on Sunday), I thought it'd be nice to have the "I've prepared for this" thought during the race.
I'm sure by the end of the week, I'll be twitchy and feeling the taper, but I'm not quite there yet.
Summary of bike:
4ish miles warm up
7 x Interlaken hill (about 2-2:10 min recovery between each) :
2:58
2:56
3:o3
3:05
3:08
3:10
3:11
Did about 6 more miles after the hills since it was so nice out and I had time.
17.8 miles total
1:23:24
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