Scouted out the bike course on the weekend. Did a couple of laps of the 37 or so mile course (the race has 3 laps plus a bit at either end). Started at six am to avoid the forecast heavy rain (thankfully the BBC forecast go it wrong as usual). Half asleep, and used to the speed bumps we have for hills in suffolk, I made the mistake of using my usual aggressive tactics for tackling "hills" by hitting the hill at full tilt, straight out of the saddle, big chain ring. Normally this is ok. Less than a minute or so, and I am shooting over the crest ... except the hill did not finish. So ... half asleep, I am a quarter of the way up the hill, in big gear no mans land. Talk about shock to the system. Thankfully, when I finally managed to drag my sorry arse over the top of the first hill, it was largely flat rolling with a tail wind down to Dorchester. It was looking good again, so back into a big gear, TT style to the Dorchester turn off, and on to the C road up the giant. I then proceeded straight into a headwind, and an almost entirely uphill stretch to the top of the giant. I am guessing it was atleast 5-6 miles worth. I must admit, I was questioning the wisdom of doing the UK Ironman at that point! Thankfully, the second lap was somewhat easier with a slightly less crazed, sensible, calm approach, the hilly sections are not so bad, although not overly quick, and the 14% downhill off the top of the giant is damn fun. I was coasting downhill on my slower road bike at close to 50mph!
All in all not a bad idea trying it out before the race, as that was one surprise I did not want on race day.
Last big session tomorrow ... the brick session from hell:
Bike (5 hrs) ...
- 30 mins easy warmup
- 40 mins steady paced riding
- 20 mins big gear 3 min repeats (1 min rest)
- 40 mins steady paced riding
- 20 mins high cadence fast 3 min repeats (1 min rest)
- 40 mins steady paced riding (see a pattern forming here ?)
- 20 mins fast 5 min repeats (1 min rest)
- 40 mins steady paced riding
- 20 mins hard
- 30 mins easy
run (90 mins) ...
- 30 mins easy
- 30 mins steady
- 30 mins tempo finish
... and die :-)
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