The Big Bang before Ironman

Just finished my last week of training for Ironman. In total, I did about 340km cycling and 45km running. Probably my highest mileage week ever. This is how my week unfolded:

Monday - 10km run.
Nothing much to report. Just a fairly decent 10k from Taman Tun to Damansara Heights and back. Finished in approximately 58 minutes.

Tuesday - 1 hour swim
Went to Sri KDU pool with Adrian and was introduced to coach Peh. Didn't take any coaching from him then but went ahead and swam for an hour. Plan was for a non-stop swim, but stopped many many times. Probably covered about 1.7km, lost count of the number of laps after a while.

Wednesday - 16km run.
Ran from my mom's house in Damansara Heights to Taman Tun, made one loop in the park then back to Damansara Heights. Nice, easy pace. Finished in 1h42m.

Thursday - 193km ride
Did the Fraser loop with the mutant monkeys. What a ride. The first two climbs (Genting Sempah and Gap) were long but easy to manage, the last two (Ulu Yam and Batu Dam) were real bitches. They were short but steep and under the scorching sun, they were not a lot of fun. Ever get that feeling of just wanting to throw the bike into the longkang? Well, I did while going up Batu Dam. Good thing I couldn't find the longkang...

Friday - rest
Was supposed to do a brick in Putrajaya - 50km bike, followed by a 10 or 20km run. But I was so knackered after Thursdays ride, I decided to sleep in instead. And had Nasi Kandar for brunch. Yum.

Saturday - 145km ride
The Classic Broga Loop. A ride many fear. 140+km across 4 climbs. We decided to make it 5 climbs by going through Bukit Hantu a.k.a Stairway to Heaven from Batu 14. Took this ride way easy. I've done this one before and climbing up the 14km Perez reverse when your legs are knackered isn't funny. In a way, I'm glad I decided to wait for Senn to fix Jaja's flat coming into Lenggeng. If I had followed the mutants, I would have probably blown up during the climb. As it was, I managed a nice easy pace. And when I got to the climb, I managed it with relative ease, not even having to engage my lowest gear. Of course, the stop at the waterfall midway was welcoming.

Post-edit: The Broga debate still remains unresolved. Senn found reverse to be the tougher loop and based on this particular ride, I'll have to agree. More on that in another post.

Sunday - 20km run
Perhaps not the best of ideas but I woke up early anyway to finish off my high mileage week. I ran from Bukit Aman to Hartamas and back, incorporating that small loop after Petronas around the playground. Not as many people running this time around. I suppose it's because of the CNY break. Finished that in about 2h18m, then went to Kampung Baru to tapau Nasi Lemak Mak Wanjor.

Monday - I'm in pain...
My right calf is in terrible pain. Sunday's run definitely not a good idea. I've been limping since last night. I guess this is good practice for the day after Ironman, when we'll all be limping! Thank God it's time to taper. Hopefully, after a couple of days rest it should be ok.

Now, there's nothing to do but hope and pray that whatever training (or lack of) I've done will be enough to take me through Ironman. I'll still do a couple more rides and runs but they will be short and easy ones, just to remind the legs of what they're supposed to be doing. My next scheduled run will be next Thursday (21/2) morning, covering one loop of the Ironman run course. Anyone game?