By Mel Brunker
6 weeks to go!
Well, time is flying by, and I am now in to the final training block before I get to tick doing an Ironman off my bucket list. I am hoping that I love it and it won't be my first and last.
The training has been going fantastic, my coach has pushed me beyond some mental and physical boundaries that I had put on myself without realising I had, all to do with training volume, training under fatigue, and hitting some new Personal Bests (PBs), which is very motivating! I am absolutely loving the training, the varied sessions, training with other crazy triathletes, but also loving the sessions I do alone too.
This last weekend, I competed in the 70.3 Port Macquarie Ironman. More to use just as a training race, but also trying to push myself and hit some PBs if I could. The lead up has been fantastic! Normally I tend to go into a race like this feeling a little over trained and injured, but this time around, I am pretty much injury free. I have had a few niggling injuries over the last couple of months, but have learnt to listen to my body a lot better, and having a coach manage them properly, also making sure to include some dietary supplements to keep healthy, Rose-Hip Vital being a major part of that regime.
Doing a race 6 weeks out from your goal race, I think is really importantNo matter how many races you do, things go wrong, and generally once it has happened once, you won't do it again! I always seem to do stupid little things every time I race. Back in February I did Husky Long Course. In that race, I completely forgot where I had racked my bike, so coming out of the swim I wasted so much time running around trying to find my bike! So on Sunday just gone at Port Macquarie 70.3 I was very careful to know exactly where my bike was. In this race, it was run to the row where the Porta Loos were, then run down to the big tree..and there my bike was! I did have other issues though, my wetsuit zipper was completely jammed, so I had to ask someone to help me unzip itthankfully she obliged! This race threw some pretty bad weather at us. It absolutely poured raining for the end of the bike leg and pretty much the whole run, was the first race I had done in such bad weather, but I am glad in a way, if it rains when I do the full distance, I can draw on this experience, and know that I will be fine in bad weather..
All in all, I had a great day out on course, I beat my last years time by about 25 minutes, ran my fastest half marathon time ever, and managed to come 8th in my age group despite having one of the worst swim times I have ever done.
So now, next stop is Ironman Cairns! I have no idea how I am going to do what I just did on Sunday twice, so for now, a big training block coming up, then my big day!
Stay tuned for more updates from Mel offering her tips and experiences on her journey to her bucket-list event Ironman Cairns! You can follow Mel on Instagram @mel.brunker and read her last blog post about her tips and tricks for managing life and training here.
