Made it !!!

I am now an official athlete for IMNZ 2011.

Yes I am now in Taupo & have registered for the big day. Have been for a swim in the lake & now just chilling out.

Soon it's the pasta dinner & race briefing but before then its feet up & rest.

Race number 932, Paul Miller for any ironmanlive watchers.

I have a small brick session to do Friday morning then the big day on Saturday. I don't have any great finish time in my head but in round figures, 1hr swim, 6hr bike & 4hr run, so anything around 11hr will be fine. The weather may play a big part.

14 Days

Just thought I would write some more.

Have had another great week of training & the size of the sessions are starting to decrease & you can really work on the quality. This week I had a great 1.5hr bike with an hour run off the bike on Wednesday & felt really good. Yes the calf's were a bit sore from the weekend but nothing to serious.

I also did a 4.4km swim on Thursday night which was great. Furtherest I have ever swam in the pool.

Today's Saturday brick had a 3hr bike & 1 hr run which also went really well & with 14 days now to go till IMNZ I real do think I am ready & just waiting now for the last few sessions to be done & getting onto the race course. Off to the Blue Lake for a 4km OW swim on Sunday, you gotta love the lake swimming.

The weather over the last few weeks has been amazing & I guess we can only hope for more of the same between now & race day. I know it doesn't matter for me doing the race but will make the day so much more enjoyable for you the spectator & with the new course changes & road closures I'm sure it's going to be great.

Will try keep you posted between now & race day.

Been missing

Well what a last few weeks I have had.

After having a quiet week after the Taupo Half it was then back into training again.

Then along came Xmas & a 2night trip for the family to stay at Arkles Bay Whangaparoa with my sister in-law & 5 nephews. We all had a great time & I didn't drink to much & managed a couple of runs.

Home from that holiday & straight back into training, with some good runs & a long weekend bike ride round the Rotorua loop from Tauranga.

New Years eve soon passed & we tripped on down to the Blue lake in Rotorua New Years day for a swim across the lake. Awesome swim.

Then we packed the car again & headed to one of New Zealands holiday hot spots Whangamata to stay a couple of nights with one of Kathy's clients. It also was the time of the Contact Triathlon so got to watch that. Another awesome time away from home. Did some more running whilst away.

I then had the normal week of long run & swimming then it was the Tauranga Half & I was a Technical Official for this event. Stinking hot day in the sun. The following day it was a long bike ride out to Matata & home, a good 168km.

My long runs were now getting upto about 30km & I was starting to feel really good about them.

Another long ride followed the next weekend then it was time for the annual family camping holiday. This was the make or break period for me. I had a very long bike ride & 3hr run to do whilst I was away. Could I resist the cold beers ????

Well for the record & drank maybe a dozen beers over 2 weeks, I also cracked a 3hr run covering 32kms & did a 227km bike ride to Whakatane & back. I also feel off on this ride on the busiest round about in Tauranga. Luckily the only damage was a bent rear wheel & bruising to body & pride.

The camping holiday had it's moments also having to cope with 2 Cyclone which blew across the Upper North Island bringing heavy rain & gale force winds. We survived them both to tell the stories..

Whilst on holiday I also managed some good runs & bike rides & enjoyed the fact I could just sit down & do nothing afterwards. No work, no long days standing!!

So for the month of Jan I managed 1000km on bike, 175km running, & 20km swimming.

After camping it was off down to Kinloch the following weekend for the Erin Baker standard distance tri. This was not a race just a brick at race pace.

I had a ball & really enjoyed my stay in Kinloch. I'll be back.

Now I have just finished a long weekend in Taupo training on the IMNZ course. friday saw me do a 87km bike in 2:42 followed by a 21km run in 1:45. Was absolutely stoked with this.

Saturday was just a 4km swim in the lake 1:20. Then Sunday we covered the whole bike course & I managed 5:53 & did a 3.5km run off the bike.

Had an awesome weekend training & am feeling really good about where I am training wise with only 19 days to go.

Will try & write some more before the day.

This is a very short brief of the last few weeks but that's all life allows at the moment.