Zurich Day 2

Its now the start of my second full day here in Switzerland. Body clock has now adjusted enough to the time differences. Was able to sleep till just after 5 this morning which I’m happy with as its the time I have to be up by on race day. Just little things like that can make race day that little more comfortable to manage.

Yesterday was my first session here, a nice easy run through the old town of Zurich and then around the lake on part of the Ironman Zurich run course. Clocked up 12km total with a 2km effort in there just to open up the legs and to help them remember how to run fast. This is the  longest run I will do until I toe the start line in Zofingen. Went out mid arvo which meant it was fairly warm compared to what I’ve been training in. It was around 23-24 degrees with the sun out which was ideal. Did this just to help with some of the adaptions to the slightly warmer weather here. Below are some pics of the views that I had to deal with.

Today is my last “big” day training with a nice leisurely ride around Lake Zurich on the cards with a few little efforts thrown in to keep the legs awake. For tomorrows blog I’ve got a bit of a different idea compared to my regular updates so will be interesting to see how it plans out.

Until next time
Hopper.

Checking In From Zurich

Well its currently 3:30am here in Zurich and I’m wide awake thanks to good old jet lag! Its Been around 2 and a half weeks since I last posted on here. A bit has happened since then. The build phase is over and the tapering has started.

The final last 2 weekends of training went well although not exactly to plan. One thing I’ve learnt  over the years and expected a whole lot better this time around is that its very very very rare that a race build goes 100% to plan. When things have popped up I haven't panic this time around, just excepted it and move on. Just because something doesn't go exactly to plan doesn't mean that you cant still tick the boxes that's required. For me this build has been less about hitting X time or Y intensity and more about how the session is executed.

That's it for now. Updates will be a bit more regular over race week. Will be posting pics and maybe some videos from training sessions over the week leading into the race. Have a nice little run planned for later on today.

Until next time
Hopper 

Quick(ish) Update

Its been a while since I’ve updated here so time for a quick update. Been plenty of training done and a few test “events” thrown in for good measure.

Its now about 3 and a half weeks from Powerman Zofingen and all things are going well. Everything a slowly falling into place nicely. Trainings been nothing ground braking or radical just solid, honest and hard work. There has been plenty of great sessions, and there has been just as many bad but still meaningful sessions. Add to that a few big multi day blocks and you have my race build. Just been a matter of taking each session as it comes and get the job done as best as I can, something I let get to me mentally in the past.

I made a big commitment with myself when I first moved to being coached by Xavier to change my attitude towards training mentality and the way I would race. This change hasn’t come overnight and is still not quite 100% there in the execution but i’m getting close. It all came about with a few different chats with X about where I was and what he saw. Having that input from someone external made the choice that much easier to make the change by having the emotion taken out of it. I really feel this is starting to pay off for me.

Well still around 2 more weeks to tick off the final few boxes in this build till its taper time.

Until next time
Hopper