THE MIGHTY JO CARREL: Big Jo Training Feb 14

SWIM

2 x squad
2 x sea swim

I am sad to report that I this week I didn't wake up and be able to swim faster.
Had a bit of a shocker at the Thursday swim but conditions were not favorable for Little Muppets but I managed to stick with my togs girl who has gotten away from me in the last few races which is good news. And I won a Future Dreams swim DVD which I will tuck into my bed with me and hope to learn to swim better via osmosis before the 5th of March.
A little crew of us went for a nice swim in the dark on Friday morning, dark tinted goggles was not really a smart choice but I somehow manged to swim straight towards most of the buoys without being able to see them.

BIKE

Time: 14hrs14
Distance: 381km

Whoa!! It was a big one. And so it should be 2 weeks out from IM so I'm not sure why I was so surprised when I added it up.
Much better Sunday effort in the long ride department and was able to hold a decent power the whole way through. Saturday's ride was a bit different to normal and was a bit of a hold on for dear life scenario and I'm proud to say that I held on and even saw the front once or twice (well maybe only once...).
So I think most of the work for IMNZ is now done, next weeks ride won't be quite as long but not ready to slack off just yet.

Patching tubes on a Saturday night like a good little Ironman. In my undies.

RUN

Hmmmmm. Despite my 99.9% certainty that my new hip pain was not bone related my medical team was not so convinced. It was a bit head-in-the-sand like of me to think that pain in the same hip would be unrelated and as the days wore on the and the flexor/adductor pain wound down I was left with a familiar aching deep in my hip.
All is not lost though. I did a 1hr45 pool run (I kid you not) as my last long run and will just saving my hip for the day and see how we go. Last time it settled down pretty quickly week by week and this is only a slight niggle (still no hop pain) so another 2 weeks off and we should be right as rain. I always knew it was risky lining up for Ironman so soon off the back of a stress fracture but IMNZ only happens once a year and I didn't want to have to wait.
But don't worry Mum, I won't do anything silly on race day. We don't want a repeat of Kona and the 4 months of no running so if it turns out to be a long walk home at least I gave it a go.

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