The Countdown to London has Started

Our team uniforms arrived on Friday, so everything is starting to feel a little more real. Today is Monday, 5th August which means there is just under 6 weeks (40 days) till the race in London on Friday, 13th September (what could go wrong on Friday 13th). Elaine's one piece is shown on the left, while I opted for the two piece on the right. Being tall and skinny it is difficult to find one piece trisuits that fit. There was no opportunity to try on any of the gear for size before ordering, so we had to work out our sizes off the size chart, so I chose the safer option and elected for the two piece. The medium size pants fit well, but I could have probably gone a size small top. Further below on the right is a photo of the team casual gear that we will need to wear in the parade and possibly some other official functions.

Since the 1st August Elaine and I have been avoiding alcohol and sugary treats (like chocolate biscuits and icecream). Particularly cruel when one of our wine deliveries arrived on 2nd August. Alcohol and sugar inhibit muscle recovery, so hopefully our new stricter diet will help us get in more training hours without injury. And it will make our post-race holiday more enjoyable when our diet restrictions disappear.

Between now and London we have a Sprint Triathlon in the Labtrobe Valley and the third race of the Salomon Trail Running Series at Silvan in the Dandenongs. The Labtrobe Valley race is referred to as the Winter Triathlon. The swim takes place in the Hazelwood pondage that is kept warm by the power station (not sure if that is a good thing). This should provide excellent preparation for London, especially a wetsuit swim in fresh water similar to the Serpentine in Hyde Park. According to the Salomon race preview, the trail run at Silvan will be even tougher than Plenty Gorge. Difficult to imagine considering Plenty Gorge was the toughest course I have ever done. Apparently the Silvan course has a hill from hell that rises 120m over 1.1km.

Recently I've been on a bit of a swim focus, somewhat forced due to niggling soreness in my legs. In July I swam a total of 38km - my biggest ever month of swimming. I'm hoping to do similar in August, but with more running and cycling thrown in. With the Trail Running races my running form seems to be OK, but cycling appears to still be a bit off from my peak.

On Saturday we did the Club Ride/Run Repeats session. Elaine, Merryn and myself started with a 1 hour ride and 30 minute run, followed by 3 sets of 20 min ride/10 min runs - all up a 3 hour session. Stef, who is training for short course, did the 3 sets of 20/10 ride/runs (90 min session). This is the first time Elaine, Merryn and Steff have done the Ride/Run sessions and they all surprised themselves on how well they did. Unfortunately Stef had a minor bike accident - a gust of wind blew her over whilst stationery. But nothing serious and she should not miss any training as a result (but a nice bruise is developing around the knee area). Mark and Jen would have also done the session, but Mark was sick and Jen was away.

Special sessions this week are the Wednesday night swim with video analysis and a Saturday morning ride in the Dandenongs. Hopefully I'll also get a fair bit of running in, including a long run on Sunday.