Race week for 70.3 Bolton - my first proper taper, dropping volume from Monday with just a bit of intensity Tuesday and Thursday to stay sharp. Andy came up on the Tuesday, which turned into a full day: physio, strength, an open water swim lesson, and some hill strides.
Physio and strength
The physio found a locked-up ankle joint I didn't know about, relaying up into a niggle I'd been getting in my kneecap on the bike - a classic triathlete problem, apparently, stiffness through the calf and ankle showing up somewhere else entirely. Otherwise, better range and better posture generally, which has been the whole point since episode one given how much time I spend hunched at a desk.
Then a proper strength session - mobility and foam rolling first, into deadlift patterns, hip hinges, lunges, real posterior chain work. We've split it into a home program and a gym one, mostly just to cut down how often I'm driving back and forth to fit it all in.
Open water, properly dissected
The swim session was the one I actually learned the most from. Down to a local river - windy, grey, typical Yorkshire - and Andy swam alongside me rather than filming from above, since the wind ruled out the paddleboard.
The drill that stuck: count how many strokes you can hold before you start drifting off a straight line. Started at 15 strokes without sighting - I was gone within about 10. Brought it down to 10, then 8, then found the sweet spot around 6 to 8 strokes between sights, which is apparently where I need to be racing. I pull harder on my right since I breathe that way, so left was always going to be the weaker side - something to keep working on bilaterally.
We also drilled turns around a buoy (give it a wider berth than feels natural, so you're not stuck doing breaststroke through the scrum when it gets congested) and a change-of-pace set through a bridge arch - 20 strokes easy, 20 hard - just to see if my sighting held up once my stroke rate and breathing went up. It did, which was the real win. Andy's seen me swim open water exactly twice now, and the difference from when we started at the end of January is apparently night and day.
Hills, then home
Straight from the river to a quick change and some hill strides right outside Andy's back door - 8 x 30 seconds with an easy jog down, deliberately short given it's race week. The point wasn't fitness, it was checking my posture held up under load: my upper back tightened up on the climbs, but flat and downhill it looked smooth. Apparently I'm running sub-40 minutes off the bike on key training days now, which is promising - the next piece is durability for the last 28 to 30km of an actual Ironman marathon, not just raw fitness.
Jog home with the dog, a good feed, and a well-earned coffee at Iron Tiger in Bramhope to round off the day. Physio, gym, open water in rough conditions, hill strength, and a proper catch-up - about as complete a final prep day as it gets. Race day next.
