When I first saw the race ready phase I thought how am I going to get through this, what's Jordan thinking ? Where's the recovery week? But week by week trained my way through and got it done, by the time I got to the last big weekend (160 km tt 30km run) I was sure I was going to struggle but put in surprisingly good sessions to finish off the block ...
By time time race day come around I wasn't feeling fatigued or tied but at the same time not feeling fresh either . Just feeling normal I would have said ( looking at this post race) That the 2 week taper/recovery was spot on. ... Swim : plan, stay out of trouble don't over do it , concentrate on form the entire time. Result , I got it spot on , felt great out the water and was happy with the time ...
Bike : plan was 205 - 225 , basically taken from my 160 km tt and backed up by a dodgy ftp test , but was confident this was spot on and would allow me to execute my moto for the day "ride for show run for dough" . Had a great ride , stuck to what I wanted to do , didn't get caught up racing or doing what others were ( going hard up the hills and easing off on the down) , was happy to let others pass on the hills , most I went back past on the flats or downhills ...
Finished the bike feeling better than expected. ... by the time I start the last lap I was running well again really well. ... As the kms get less I just kept pushing more and more all the way home , and over the last 3km just making sure I held on and completely emptied the tank ! What a way to finish, still get emotional thinking about it. ...
Overall the run looks great 5:50 ave first half 5:40 ave second half , last 10 km faster than the first 10 km , finished bang in the middle of my range! ... But I'm sure the more conservative approach to the swim and bike leg was what set me up to be able to turn around the run the way I did. Just to mention whilst sitting in recovery chatting with other competitors catching my breath etc , when I turned my phone on and saw where I placed I nearly fell off my chair !
I can honestly say I had a great day and the conervative approach that Gerard is always promoting became crystal clear and I don't see Ironman so daunting any more after this race for some weird reason, even though it is.
Hi Jordan, had a better than expected test week ... Really happy with were I am .
