Inches

"On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's what gonna make the difference between winning and losing. Between living and dying. I'll tell you this, in any fight, it's the guy who's willing to die who's gonna win that inch."

Any Given Sunday

It's been a week of reflection; starting to train again and beginning to think about the next 6 months in a realistic way rather than in a dream way; sitting on a beach and thinking that I'm just going to drill myself for half a year and then AG podium in Kona.

It's the nitty gritty, the inches, built into any programme which makes the difference between success and failure. Failure is rarely spectacular, more often than not it's being just a few minutes of target pace, just one or two positions from where you wanted to finish, the difference between what makes a race a success of a failure is normally very small. I know I can train hard but I'm at a point where there simply isn't 30 minutes to slash out of any one discipline. I posted a pretty decent time in PE (assuming I'm in ~5:05 bike condition) so finding the extra 15 -20 minutes I need to achieve my goals in Kona comes down to inches, and only when they are all tallied up is there the possibility that their sum will make the difference between success and failure.

• On the swim I will be starting proper coaching on a weekly basis for 6 weeks in an effort to reduce my losses in the non-wetsuit swim.
• On the bike I will begin training with power in an attempt to improve my FTP and also my pacing in the bike leg itself and hopefully run a quicker marathon.
• On the run it will be more of the same (miles mean smiles) but with the addition of a track session once a week and hopefully some more long bricks when race day approaches.

I'm excited about the next 6 months but there will be no quick fix, I'm going to have to fight for every goddamn inch.

Later...