Hello June. And Ironman Cairns.

Well, that happened quickly.

Just a moment ago, I was getting my May training mojo back.. and now it's June, and Ironman Cairns is only a week away.

I'm so excited that this race is nearly here... I'm nervous and curious to see how my body races after an abbreviated  program since Ironman Melbourne.

What's happened since my last blog post?

1.  I did the QUT Classic Fun Run. It said to wear a costume, so I pulled out the Wonder Woman costume that you might remember from the Three Peaks weekend and the RunLikeCrazy marathon. And what's more, I set a 10k PB.

They said to wear a costume. No need to ask me twice.

2.  I did a 180k weekend on the bike (120 and 60) and did a 34k double run day.

• I rode 80 of the 120ks with a friend and then got rained on for most of the remaining 40ks by myself. Good for my mental preparation, right? 
• I was pretty stoked at running 34ks on a work day. I look pretty happy at the end, yes?

Last double run to and from work. I'm killing it!

3.  I felt, well, not very good on my longest ride (150ks) and resorted to this at a servo stop.

Coke and chocolate. Training food of champions.

4. I ran the river loop at a pace I'm pretty stoked with. (7.03min/km average pace, 6:57min/km average moving pace).

5. I haven't swum as consistently as I would have liked, but to back up the 4.7 at the Noosa Blue I've done a 4.2 and a few swims of at least 3ks. I've felt good in all of them. It'll get me through just fine.

6. I'm happy to admit, I've slept in a few times too. From the time I decided I would do both of these races, I wondered whether backing up would be hard. It has been. But not that hard. I've needed to listen to my body a bit and I haven't always done every training session I've intended. But at this point, I feel like backing up has changed by my body and my mindset, hopefully permanently. I'll reflect on that in a future post. This one's already full!

What does this mean for Cairns?

I think it means I'm ready.

This week I will stretch a lot. I'll do a decent swim, I'll do a core session, and I'll probably do another short brick session. I'll fly to Cairns and do a short practice swim in my wetsuit, and on Sunday I'll race as hard as I can.

I've decided that my main goal for the race is to set a run PB. I am hoping to crack 5:30, which is about 7:45min/ks. I think this is possible even walking the aid stations as I plan to.

Bring it on.