Road to Kona ... hopefully via Fukue town and Goto castle

Hello. Hello.

It's winter here (it actually *was* winter here on Saturday ... frost at the south end of Melbourne ... a little cool on the fingers and toes on the morning ride), so I'm building the base for next summer. The plan, as it stands now, is to do Ironman Japan in May 2006, and hopefully do it well enough to qualify for Kona. Failing that, hopefully I can convince Triathlon Canada to let me represent my country in the Long Course worlds in Canberra in December 2006. The goal for Japan is to be roughly around 10hrs, but from what I've heard, that is rather optimistic for that course. Lynn is also going to ramp up to Japan 06, so bring on the carbs! So, we'll do a couple half ironmans and long course races throughout the Aussie summer and put the finishing touches on in the fall.

I signed on with Mitch Anderson as a coach. He's a pro at the age of 29, has a degree in physio, currently in med school, and has had the best bike split at Kona at least once, maybe more. Finished in the money there last year. And, if the results of a few other guys in the club are any indication, the *formula*, as they call it, works and works well.

Here is roughly a week in the life of Ironman base training:

MON:
-3 laps of Kew Boulevard (1 lap =~ 13k)
(hilly, intensity bike workout ... ~50k)

TUES:
-2000m swim -- drills, 50% non-free
-60min run
-weights

WED:
-swim squad (~4200m)
-50k bike

THU:
-20 min run (am)
-30 min run (pm)
-weights

FRI:
-swim squad (~3800m)

SAT:
-long bike (~100k)

SUN:
-75 min long run

Totals:
~ 200k cycling
~ 35-40k running
~ 9k swimming

Some things you might notice: *no* days off. But, I have Sunday afternoon and Monday morning off, which is equivalent to a day off (~ 30hrs), plus it opens up Sundays for checking out Melbourne with Lynn. The transit system here has the 'Sunday Saver', which costs $2.50 and you can travel all day, in all 3 zones.

A few tidbits of the philosophy: high volume of low intensity (e.g. 5-6 overdistance 200k rides in the 12 weeks before IM with low HR), encourage decent lipolysis rates by fasting the first hour of the long ride and long run, double run days, weekly open water 4k swims (summer).

No P3 ... yet. Still pondering.