My Olympics...

Ten weeks from pretty much this very moment I will know once and for all if I’ll ever reach the World Ironman Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Although I feel like I’m going on a bit, in a ‘change the record’ kind of way, as the days rapidly tick by this really is the moment that the previous five years have all been about. In Episode Eight of Marathon Talk I talked to European cross-country champion Hayley Yelling about her running career and listened to how she missed qualifying for the Olympics, in what perhaps was her final chance, by 0.14 seconds. Most of the time in life there’s a chance to have another go and get something right, but every now and then there comes a single moment that is unlikely ever to be repeated. The 22^nd of May 2010 will for me be that moment, my final chance to qualify. If I miss out then, and it could easily be closer than the three minutes that I was short in Switzerland 2009, I will never reach the Big Island…. my Olympics.

Because of that I’m beginning to feel that my entire Ironman ‘career’ could well be defined there and then in Lanzarote and, aside from the issue of qualification, my current swim issues are really playing on my mind. From the very beginning of my Iron journey I’ve wanted to be strong across all three disciplines, to the extent of consciously putting swim / bike / run ‘balance’ ahead of overall finish time. Starting as pretty much a non-swimmer I’ve dedicated hundreds and hundreds of hours to building my first triathlon discipline to reach a par with my cycling and running… to the point where it typically provides my highest ranked split against the rest of the field (albeit more a reflection of the typical lack of swim focus exhibited by triathletes). I’ve always wanted to be a great triathlete and not a great duathlete who survives the swim, despite the knowledge that in terms of finish time, and therefore chances of qualification, my training time may have been better distributed with a bike / run focus. Frustratingly, as I approach what may well be that defining moment, some kind of nerve compression syndrome has meant I’ve averaged around 1,000 metres per week (compared to previous years of 15-20,000 weekly metres) for the last few months. Despite working really hard on it with a brilliant physio we just can't seem to turn things round and with less than 70 days to go I'm not convinced I'll get anywhere near my previous swim efforts. I'm currently estimating that it could cost me around five minutes into T1 however with my bike and run fitness getting stronger every single day I'm actually confident that I could turn such a deficit around and still break the ten hour barrier (my predicted MINIMUM performance to qualify). BUT... more than the time 'penalty' I'm really struggling to deal with the fact that in what might be my final official Ironman I'll be 'surviving' the swim and hammering the bike & run. On top of that, I really really love swimming and can't have enjoyed a single swim since way back in 2009.

Still, on a positive note... a really relaxed yet very hilly 22 on Friday night (2:44 - average mile 7.29 - av hr 140) suggests that my running is pretty much on par with this time in 2008 (when I went on to run a strong 2.49 in London) and with 98 hours in my cycling legs over the last six weeks I'm pretty close to turning my 'what seemed like a lost cause' bike fitness into something resembling that required to break 5:30 on the toughest Ironman bike course in the world. 

Before I sign out this week, well done to my amazing wife who despite something of a psychological 'speed wobble' on Saturday managed to turn things round at this morning's spaghetti junction of a half-marathon (see today's pic) and battle through the wind to get within a minute of her all-time half-marathon pb... 

See you next week...

T