Matty White

The road to Kona

It has been a great 7 weeks here in Boulder Town and it is starting to get pretty lonely here with a lot of the big hitters already in Kona for their ironman prep. I decided to hang back here for another week because the weather is still warm, I feel really comfortable here with a great host family, plus my wife really likes it here with great hikes and things to do while I am out training most days.
On a personal note, my time here has been great with some of the best training blocks I have ever done, plus I have had some great people to train with. The same guys are here as last year and I have been doing a lot of training with Dirk Bockel, Tim Berkel and Tim Reed plus a few longer rides with Crowie and his group. Recently the Shimano Australia crew arrived in town and we took some great shots on one of our long rides with Crowie, Tim and myself all being Shimano athletes so am really looking forward to seeing the great shots from Paul (Robbo) Robertson.

I leave for Kona on the 30th of September and really cant wait to get back to sea level and the big island. Vegas 70.3 gave me a lot of confidence especially after coming off such a big training week, I felt amazing on the bike and my swim was where it should be, even though I shut it down once I got my penalty I took a lot of confidence away from it and got back to a huge few weeks back in Boulder and have not felt better physically and mentally.

Away from the bike we have been going on some cool hikes up in the National Park which is about 10,000 feet (see attached photo). Colorado is such a scenic place to live and train it really takes your breath away and I mean that literally as some days I really struggle to breathe at this altitude.
As for training I have included a few weeks of mine leading up to the Ironman and this is what I have been doing pretty much for the last 8 weeks, I have a lot of people ask how I structure my training as I am self coached, so here it is:

Monday: Ride 3hrs, Swim 3-4km, Run 1hr
Tuesday: Rest Day – easy swim 2-3km
Wednesday: Trainer Session 3hrs (4x20min efforts) with 1 hr run off bike, swim 3km
Thursday: Long Ride 5.30-6hrs, swim 3-4km
Friday: Long Run 2.15hr, swim 3km, Run 1hr
Saturday: Long Ride 6hrs, Run off bike 45 min
Sunday: Long run 2.30hrs, Swim 3-4km, Ride 1.30hr easy spin
As for Sponsorships things have been going great with Shane from Cafe of Life looking after me in Boulder this year with all my Chiro and massage needs. Also its great to have my new Merida firing on all cyclinders fully decked out with Shimano Di2 and C75 wheels which I will be running in Hawaii. I hope to make another big sponsorship announcement in the next few weeks so stay tuned. I will check in again once I am settled into life on the big island post ironman.

Matty