18 May 2014

Big happenings and big decisions... - by Jyrki

A long time since the last post. Now it felt like the right time to continue.
We have been home from Mallorca for a week now and I have been pondering on some things regarding my life...

Mallorca Ironman 70.3
In Mallorca we attended the Mallorca IM 70.3 race. There was 9 of us from Oulu, from which 5 were competing in the race.

We came down to Alcudia on Thursday the 8th of May.  First I assembled my own and my wifes bikes and then we took a small test ride to check that everything is working.
On Friday we went down to the Ironman Expo area to enjoy the atmosphere :-) It was really great being here at last. We have been waiting for it, and training for it,  for a long time.
We took care of the registration for the event  and then we checked in our bikes and transition bags. I even had some time to take a hair cut.
On Saturday we woke up at 5:45. We had some quick breakfast and headed out for the transition area at 6:50. The girls in our group had their start at 8:00 but my start was not before 9:15. So I had plenty of time to even cheer the girls when coming out of the water.



The swim went amazingly well. I was thinking that I should be out of the water in 40 minutes.  My time in the end was 35:49 which was a huge surprise to me!
I started the bike quite hard. I was doing around 35 km/h for the first 22 km. Then we hit the climb...
In the end my average speed was 32.5 km/h and I am very happy with that.
The run part was really hard. Flat, but extremely hot. Close to 30 C. I targeted an average pace of 5:00 min/km. My time in the end was 1:50:36 which makes an average of 5:14 min/km.



Great time on Mallorca! We will definately go there again.

Decision...
I have now been training for, first the Joroinen half triathlon 2013 and then the Ironman Mallorca 70.3 2014. I have done it on my own without any real target more than to keep fit. I have been very happy with the results.

2 months ago I decided to hire a personal trainer/coach. We started with Lasse Seppänen 5 weeks before IM Mallorca. There had been some time already when I was not sure anymore on what kind of exercises I was supposed to do. Now I got some help with that.
I also started to think about what I could accomplish if I really set my heart to it... I am not a young guy anymore, I will turn 47 in September :-)

On the trip to IM Mallorca I started to think about my life. My kids are 12,13 and 16. The older ones live with their mom. I really do have enough time to put into training. I could try to see what I could accomplish when I grow up :-) I discussed this with my wife and we came to the conclusion that it might be something to try.
Kona in age group 50 - 55? That would be cool... ;-) Maybe not possible, but why not try...

On my easy 90 min Nordic Walking in the woods today I happened to stumble upon my coach. He was on an easy MTB ride. We had a long talk and it seems that we will start planning not only for Ironman Kalmar 2014, but also for the next 3-5 years... :-)

I will be updating this Blog with issues regarding the target made public here today! Niina will also update here training as well.

- Jyrki

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