Time will tell,

but it’s time to race and get an indication.

One of my main objectives as an athlete this season is to race the ironman distance in Challenge Roth in July. I’m inspired by the vision of finishing sub9 hours. I know it’s a true challenge, but the thought of it gives me motivation for training.

Now – everybody understands that finishing an a race over 3.8 k swim, 180 k bike and a 42.125 m marathon run does need a whole lot of preparation in many aspects – no matter what your desired finish time is. But I sometimes get the impression that some train too much in their strive for the finish line, and instead they end up injured or simply drained mentally and physically. Maybe not just because they train too much/hard, but more because they rest and recover too little in comparison to the level of exercise. I’ve commented on this before, but now I realize that I’ve actually trained less than 9 hours/week since the beginning of this year, and this in order to finish a full IM-distance sub9.  When I check my stats this is what I see:

This means an average of less than 9 hours/week Jan-April. In fact it’s just less than 8 h/week and this includes a 10-day training camp in Spain in April…In Jan-Mar I ad up to 4-6 h/week. The figures in December is incorrect since I switched to register my training on Garmin Connect during December, but the rest should cover the time I’ve trained almost completely.

This is when I ask myself: Is less then 9 hours training per week enough to finish an Sub9 ironman? I admit that I’d happily added a few more hours/week, and I hope to get some longer runs and bike sessions during May and June, but the figures are facts, so maybe (just maybe!) I’ll make it in Roth and hopefully then I can serve as an inspiration to others who struggle with a constant stress over the fact that they never are able to train according to the training plan they have (which sometimes is a little bit too inspired by full time pros when it comes to training load, but not in terms of rest and recovery). Well – as mentioned; time will tell, literally, whether I’ll make it in time for the Sub9 mark in Roth or not.

For now – its time to race! On Sunday I’ll race for the first time this season when I start in Powerman Denmark/ITU European Duathlon Champion. The distance is 10 k run, 60 k bike and another 10 k run. It’s a lot shorter than a full ironman distance, but still I regard it as an indication on whether my training has been efficient, i.e. did the precious time I invested pay off? I sure hope so and I’m really looking forward to racing on my new super bike – Argon 18 E119 TRI+ delivered by Lasse Bike Tyson i Kungsbacka. The bike is ready – that’s for sure. You can follow the race on this link:

http://live.ultimate.dk/desktop/front/index.php?eventid=2870

My BIB/Race no is 725 and my AG starts at 8.40.

Wish you all happy training and racing!

/Calle