The hay is in the barn...

I meant to write this on Sunday as a celebration of the official end of training. In some ways it feels like the race has come up fast, but in others it feels like I have been training for this race forever. I can't believe I started thinking about this race in November. Well, I've actually been thinking about since I crossed the finish line last year.

This year I really proved to myself that I can and will improve and I'm not always going to be at the back. I had some great races at the St Albert 10 miler, Mother's Day 10km, and Coronation tri, and one not-so-good race at the Hypothermic half. I always thought I couldn't train more than 3 or 4 times a week, but when the coach gave me a schedule of 6-7, I learned to work it in to my life. I feel ready for the Great White North half ironman this year.

I've had people predict finishing times for me that range from sub 7 to 7:40. I know my initial goal was to finish under 8 hours, but realistically I've trained really hard for this and only taking off 18 minutes would be a disappointment. I'm not going to follow my watch on race day, I'm going to do exactly what I did at Coronation, keep my HR in the right zone, give it all I have and see where I end up.

My thoughts on having a coach...
The best decision I ever made! Having a coach has allowed me to relieve myself of the stress and pressure of deciding whether I was doing the right amount of training. Before starting with my coach he told me that I'm paying him to design my program, so I can't argue with him about it. At first I thought this was going to be really tough because I was so used to researching my own programs and trying things I agreed with. But once I accepted it, it was easy - just follow the program and trust it. He was always great with explaining why we were doing things a certain way, or what the benefits of a particular workout was so I didn't feel like I was just following with blind faith. I think the results I've seen this year already show that this program has worked for me. I am definitely converted to training by HR and time over speed and distance. Training for this race took a lot of dedication. There were many workouts I didn't want to do, but finished anyway. I was always dedicated, but being accountable to someone else made it easier for me to dedicate myself to the schedule.

I haven't dedicated kms to anyone, or done any sort motivational plan for race day. I know I'll be reflecting on the training and how far I've come while I race this year. The funny thing about an A race is that you spend all of your time looking forward to getting done so you can have a rest, and then when it finally gets here you feel like you don't know what you're going to do with yourself when it's over. I do have a promised break and vacation ahead before I pick the next big goal.

In case I don't post again before race day, thanks to EVERYONE that has supported me, trained with me (specially Anna for sticking with my schedule and yelling at me to slow down when my hr was too high), my coach, and of course my family that has given up many hours with me while I trained and stayed in on Friday nights because I needed to rest before those killer Saturday workouts.