Well it's been a funny old week in Konaville! My week got off to a bit of a slow start training wise which I put down to my epic cycle up to the top of the course! I was able to complete all the sessions at the correct pace and intensity but I was finding it hard to get out of bed despite lots of early nights! Thursday rocked around and I had my hard interval bike session which I have been doing on my windtrainer in the exercise room of the condo complex. Half way into the session I was really struggling to hit the power targets that I have previously managed to hit and 10 minutes from the end I decided to give it up as a bad job and retreat to the condo - I had tortured myself enough for one day! A frantic meltdown email was sent to Tony who then adjusted the volume of my training for the end of week and who thought that perhaps the heat load on my body was starting to take it's toll a little - now comes the best part - I was instructed to crank the air con up in the condo on my day off from training on Sunday and chill out - in the literal sense! Whoop Whoop!With a day in the air con in sight Friday and Saturday felt a little more do-able! We had a hire car on Friday so I was dropped at Waikola Beach Road so that I could do the top part of the course! So whilst Hannah and Tania managed to blag there way into the Hilton complex at Waikola and enjoy the super sized pool complete with waterfall I took on the Island headwinds once again! By chance I happened to take on the winds on their worst recorded day in the last 4 months! Gusts across the course were recorded at 60mph - those were the ones that quite literally blew my bike across a traffic lane and then blew me back to the edge of the coast line. Three miles out of Hawi as I was hanging on with all my might to keep both myself and my bike on the ground I passed a group of cyclists on the opposite side of the road - 2 minutes later I had a guy who introduced himself as Rob was at my side - he instructed me to 'turn around' and join the group! He told me it wasn't safe cycling and I needed to be in a group in case anything bad 'happened' - I wondered if it could really get any worse but so scared by his last statement I made an about turn and joined the back of the group! There I got stuck alongside Martha - an American girl who was quite literally sobbing into her handle bars and proclaiming that she was going to be blown off the cliff to which Rob replied 'Martha shut up - Laura weighs 20 pounds less than you do so if anyone is going over it's her!'.........gulp! Needless to say I made it back to my pick up point in one piece and waved goodbye to Martha, Rob and Co! Very relieved to see Tania, Hannah and Colin the hire car making their way towards me.....chilled diet coke at the ready :-)
Today I woke up with a sore throat and banging headache - so despite being in the warmer climate of Hawaii I have still managed to pick up my usual race week bout of tonsillitis!! I'm still baffled as to why without fail before a big event I score a bout of tonsillitis on my taper but on the up side it explains the nuclear meltdown on Thursday! Usually it only lasts a couple of days so I am confident I will be in tip top shape again by Saturday - I know that I can relax with the knowledge that the work is done now - so it's time to 'Hang Loose' as they say here!
Next week will be busy with the race week preparations! Registration is on Tuesday followed by the Team New Zealand meeting and then the parade of nations in the afternoon. Thursday is race briefing and Friday bike and transition gear check in which will mean a couple of days preparation getting everything sorted for Friday - you don't want to forget to put anything in those!! I kicked off the race week preps with a bike wash/shower - videos attached :-)
The support crew preparations are currently in full swing! Hannah and Tania are currently making posters on the living room floor with the usual catchy slogans - 'Harden Up Iron Princess' and 'My Nana Can Run Faster Than That' to name just a couple!
Right time for some more chilling in the air con............
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