Less than one week!

This weekend marked the last training sessions of any real difficulty at all. From now on in, it's just very short spins and jogs to keep the legs going.

I bit off a little more than I intended to chew yesterday. After a two hour hilly ride the day before, I was looking for another two hour ride of about 55kms on flattish ground. I thought I knew just the ride – out along the Denbigh road, through St Asaph, and then hit Ryhl, Prestatyn and come back along the coast road.

The sun shone (for once) and it was a lovely day. But as I arrived in Rhly it was clear hat I'd misjudges the length of the ride. Another hour and, as I climbed a whopping great hill out of Flint, it was clear I'd misjudged the hilliness of this ride. So, 3 hours and 85kms later, I got home!

My legs ached and I was a bit miserable towards the end but this had more to do with my preparation than anything else – mentally, for me, a two hour ride is a short spin; anything longer is a bigger ride. Therefore, I'd not used chamois cream (and saddle soreness started creeping in), took very little water and nutrition out with me and no money to stop and get a Coke when energy levels started dwindling.

It was a bit of a rookie error but also something of an eye-opener. A three hour ride is really nothing to me – I've done it tens and tens of times before. It's easy – unless I'm expecting a two hour ride. It's about managing expectations.

I have to confess, I've let things get a little on top of me the past few days – thinking about times, what could go wrong etc. But I've decided to shed all that worry – it's a long race to carry stress around on the shoulders too! I'm going to manage my expectations – and my only expectation for next Sunday is that I'll do my best and have fun. Enjoy the ride! After all, how many people get to experience racing in an Ironman? If I spend too much time worrying about my average times up hills, I could miss the fun of taking part.

So, new attitude. Legs feel sore – so what, go get a massage? Weather forecast isn't great – no, but it is improving. It's a tough hilly course – but it'll be a beautiful one too.

So, six days and counting..!