By Michael Rand, personal trainer and triathlete.
This blog is a pre-race blog, following on from my 5 weeks out update. Now, the countdown has officially begun. This Sunday 3rd December is Busselton Ironman. If you have been following my journey over the last few months, you already know that this race is what my last 5 months of training has all been leading up to.
Training Update
Since my last blog it has been quite an eventful few weeks. The very next weekend, I had a fairly serious crash on my bike during a training ride. I had just fitted a new part to the front end of my bike, which ended up breaking during my ride causing my handlebars to come away from the bike and I crashed at about 30 km/h. I was able to get home and luckily didn’t lose too much training, however 3 weeks later I am still feeling the after effects, mainly in my elbow.
Over the last few weeks I have also started getting lower back pain while running. It turns out that I bruised my left hip during the crash which caused my hip flexor to tighten, so when I run my back now over works.
ABMMA PRO Recovery Support
I saw a physio about my pain, while also undergoing some more self-treatment using the ABMMA PRO BMT Device with the electro blade. I am concentrating on opening up the hip flexor will hopefully allow me to get through the race as best I can.
Pre-race Reflection
Sitting here after the last full week of training, I feel pretty good. I know I have done as much training as my body is capable of, given my job and the injuries I have encountered over the last 18 months. Will I go out and crush the race this Sunday? I would seriously love nothing more than to do just that. Will I go out and have a seriously miserable day? I really hope not. Will I fall somewhere in between those two outcomes and have a medium day? That is in reality, the most likely outcome – but if this is the case then I will be happy with all I have put into my performance and preparation.
As a 50+ athlete with a full-time job and a hobby that requires 16-20 hours of training a week, there is not a lot of energy left to do much else. When I am 2 months out from a big race I keep wishing the race was closer, as I get antsy and a bit sick of the daily training grind. Then when I am 2–3 weeks out (even with the perfect preparation), I start wishing I had another 3–4 weeks to get more out of myself.
Here I come, Busselton
Leading up to this weekend, I am covering the full spectrum of emotions. I am excited to race and get away on a bit of a holiday for a week. I am looking forward to catching up with friends that you only see when you are away at a race. I am nervous about doing well. I fear what the weather will do on race day. Last time I did Busselton it was 38 degrees and I was reduced to a death march to the finish line. I am, above all, afraid of failure and what I deem to be failure. Results and time are how we rate success, and that is daunting when you put yourself out there on a public forum and know you will have to put a brave face on if things don’t go your way.
I will arrive in Busselton with 4 days to go. Our 4 hour flight from Brisbane to Perth leaves at 9am, where upon arrival I will have to get my bike and hire car and then drive the 3 hours to Busselton. This will be a very long day. I will then have 3 days in the local area to both get used to the climate and ensure the bikes are ready to go, while doing a bit of light training.
Wish me luck.
Follow along with Michael’s race updates on Instagram at @mickrand_abmma
Other articles by author:
Countdown to Busselton Ironman with ABMMA PRO (Part 3)
Countdown to Busselton Ironman with ABMMA PRO (Part 2)
Michael’s Ironman training and recovery journey with ABMMA BMT (Part 1)
