Hi Blog followers and welcome to another addition of my journey towards 3+2+1=Charity.
As you would of seen I had a refreshing break in Rarotonga which gave the batteries a chance to recharge, not just on the personal front but also on the professional front. Although I couldn’t sit still in Raro, as without training I become that twitchy guy who needs to get out and burn some energy, so I managed to do some training in Rarotonga as reported in last weeks blog.
This week I am back into training in the full swing of things. Coach Ray has increased my pace for training runs which a couple of hiccups by focusing on the previous training level has now got me in line with where Coach Ray wants me to be focusing on. Cycling appears to be coming along as does my swimming (when I signed up for my first Ironman in 2012 I didn’t even know how to swim). It’s funny how much one looks forward to a break from training, but during the break I couldn’t wait to get back into it fast enough.
Not really one to talk to much about personal medical, but under Coach Ray’s training regime my Blood Pressure (BP) is the best it has ever been. Hereditary ‘high’ BP is one thing you just can’t beat as those of you with a medical background will no doubt agree. But in my mid 40’s I was placed on permanent medication for high BP with a tablet strength of 20mg. A year ago they were dropped to a strength of 10mg and this week after a trial of a month or so they were reduced again to a lower strength of 5mg recording a BP of 118/70 for a 50 year old. The doc said, “Keep up the training man, it’s working” of which I firmly believe its Coach Ray’s guidance that has helped, when I self coached for my first couple of Ironman’s, not only did my finishing results say as much, but my BP was controlled but not improving.
After scrolling through the photo’s we come across ones from the end of Day 2 of Ultraman Australia. I love these photo’s on Day 2 as I am towards the end of the 281 km cycle, having cycled 140 km’s the day before after a 10 km ocean swim. The view along the sea front in Noosa, Sunshine Coast of Queensland is as good as it looks, never mind the hill that I am climbing as I am also aware the hills are coming to an end, but this area of coast line was the best part of Ultraman Australia, which we repeated for the Double Marathon on Day 3. The other photo highlights what Ultraman Australia is all about, crazy support crews supporting crazy athletes. These guys were amazing, and you saw all sorts of get ups out there on the respective courses over the respective three days.