Been a while since I updated the blog. Training's been sporadic. Trained quite hard for the Hampton Court swim and was really pleased with my result. 1.07 for 2.2m. 5 mins quicker than last year although that was only 6 weeks after collarbone surgery. Even so, am happy.
But, since, have had a lot on my plate and mind and it's all been a bit half-hearted. A DNS at 'Clash of the Tritons' aquathlon is not at all like me but it was miles away, childcare was proving a bit of an issue and it was 4 days before holiday. Lame reasons maybe but reasons nonetheless and I didn't beat myself (also not like me).
So, next Monday sees Thames Turbo Sprint which I'm hugely under-prepared for. Have ridden on the road once and that was for 7 miles to watch the Olympic bike test! So, am very much approaching the 'race' as a training session and hopefully the kickstart of better things.
It's all about motivation. I finally got round to doing my Ironman vid www.twitvid.com/5LMVG and, every time I watch it, I feel this deep urge to sign up for another. But 2012 Ironman is all about Chris in Austria so it'll have to wait.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
June 2011
Felt it was probably time to do a bit of an update. Been a busy few weeks and the training's been going pretty well. Have found a new lake in Shepperton which is only a 750m lap but it's very clear and warm and, as yet, still a bit of a hidden secret. Not doing anywhere near the distance I should be doing for my 2.2m swim in a fortnight but, I guess that's the danger with having done the distance before - that a bit of complacency slips in. Still, we now have a 'Concept 2' rower in our possession (to join our turbo and treadmill!) and I plan to strengthen the arms and lats on that when I can't get to the pool and also do the club swim on Wednesdays so feeling reasonably confident. The emphasis this season is on fun and no pressure so just looking forward to enjoying the race atmosphere.
Funny thing though, Ironman has started gnawing away again which is not funny. Last weekend, we went down to Sandyballs in the New Forest for the weekend to support Paul doing 'Forestman'. When we turned up on a grey and windy morning for the pre-race swim and saw the rudimentary-looking transition area, I wasn't envying him one little bit but by Sunday morning when the sun was coming up, despite a field of less than 200, iron fever began to take hold. Alice and I rode some of the course and the bit we did was mainly on empty roads with plenty of wildlife and it was great. Paul had a storming race and finished in a new iron PB of 12.36. Was also nice to cheer on Tim who I'd met on Twitter and to meet another Corinne from Twitter who was marshalling.
By Monday night, Alice had entered 'Challenge Henley' and then following Ironman Austria today and talking to my friend, Jo, who's considering entering when the applications open tomorrow, my head has started to turn to "could I?". But, no, I have to be sensible and I'm enjoying having fun with Dora far too much (and don't even get me started on work) to sign on any dotted lines for now. But, be warned any wannabe ironmans out there, whoever says "I just want to do one and tick the box".....no chance. It's like saying "I'm never drinking again" after a big night on the sauce........
Funny thing though, Ironman has started gnawing away again which is not funny. Last weekend, we went down to Sandyballs in the New Forest for the weekend to support Paul doing 'Forestman'. When we turned up on a grey and windy morning for the pre-race swim and saw the rudimentary-looking transition area, I wasn't envying him one little bit but by Sunday morning when the sun was coming up, despite a field of less than 200, iron fever began to take hold. Alice and I rode some of the course and the bit we did was mainly on empty roads with plenty of wildlife and it was great. Paul had a storming race and finished in a new iron PB of 12.36. Was also nice to cheer on Tim who I'd met on Twitter and to meet another Corinne from Twitter who was marshalling.
By Monday night, Alice had entered 'Challenge Henley' and then following Ironman Austria today and talking to my friend, Jo, who's considering entering when the applications open tomorrow, my head has started to turn to "could I?". But, no, I have to be sensible and I'm enjoying having fun with Dora far too much (and don't even get me started on work) to sign on any dotted lines for now. But, be warned any wannabe ironmans out there, whoever says "I just want to do one and tick the box".....no chance. It's like saying "I'm never drinking again" after a big night on the sauce........
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Back into the breach
Inspired by Jona's return to the blogosphere, I thought I would too and update on what's been happening since my life 'A' race 6 months ago.
Well, the first few weeks were characterised by eating, sleeping, drinking (particularly Mojitos!) and regaling anyone who'd listen about the race and the fact that I'd done it! Not only had I become an 'Ironman', I'd done it in a time I was truly proud of. The only other race I can ever recall not having any "regrets" about at all was aged 10 winning the Northants Cross Country title. So, it was huge. So huge in fact that I really struggled in those first few weeks and then months to work out where my training compass was taking me. I still ran and swam but the fact I didn't even unpack my bike bag till nearly February is indicative of where I found myself.
However, with the waistband of my trousers starting to get a bit snug and the general feeling that I didn't want all those months of training to go to waste, I signed up for another race - a sprint tri this time called the 'Speedy Beaver'. It was 'local' (or so I thought) to my Mum and it was different enough in length and intensity to bring me the impetus I needed.
Life remains a major juggling event with work pressures and responsibilities (in a good way) growing all the time, Chris away working on residential jobs and Dora growing up all the time and having more and more boundless energy. As a result, the focus was a bit hit and miss. Chris wrote me a training plan and, while I reckon I stuck to about 60-70% of it, I didn’t really get out on the roads cycling and the tempo run sessions were a bit neglected.
So, as race day loomed, although I was looking forward to getting race-head on, I did know that I wasn’t going into it quite as well-prepared as I could have been. I had also learned that the ‘Speedy Beaver’ wasn’t any old Sprint. Turns out it’s the National Sprint Champs and World and European Qualifier event. Whoops!
The night before the race I was at Mum’s and started working out logistics and was pretty gutted to realise that it wasn’t as local as I thought and that it could possibly mean a 2-hour drive to make race registration at 6.30am. A fitful night ensued and when the alarm went off and I looked out the window at the trees being blown sideways, the question of “what the hell am I doing” came readily to mind. To make matters worse, Chris was working and I didn’t want Dora dragged out of bed at that time so I would be doing the race unsupported.
When I got to Belvoir Castle and got out of the car, my mood didn’t improve. The grey skies and wind just kept reminding me of how different this all was to my last race. However, I was here and so I thought I might as well just get on with it. Registered and racked and then met one of my ‘Twitter’ buddies m_j_fisher and a friend, Lou who were looking a hell of a lot more ready and focused than I was!
Soon it was time to head to the start and the swim was as grim as it could get. There was so much silt in the lake that there was zero visibility and it was so cold and windy that there were practically waves. For the first time since my first open water swim, I start getting panicked and having breathing difficulties in the first few hundred metres. Talked myself through it and came out the water in around 13.40 which wasn’t too bad but then it was a 600m run uphill to transition which was a bit of a tall order.
Out onto the bike and felt OK with despite strong winds sa it was just a relief to get out of the boggy lake. Some people went past me but not as many as normal and I managed to keep a steady pace. I’d been warned that at about half way through the bike course there was a 3k climb and I soon found out that that was the case. Just took it steady and then surprised myself by overtaking a few girls on the hill – that hasn’t happened very often before! Felt really strong on the bike and clocked a max speed of 33mph at one point so was really miffed to come into T2 with a 46min bike split.
Out onto the run and immediately clawed back a couple of places before a nice hill set in which seemed to go on and on. However, worked as hard as I could and, although I knew there were loads of girls in front of me, I hoped that my run would do me justice. Back into the field and I could see the finish line and, as always, found a little bit extra to overtake someone. Came through the finish and knew that going sub-1.30 would be tight but thought I might just have made it. Queued up for my result and was quite gutted to find I’d done 1.31 but thought 19th placing at a qualifier event wasn’t too awful and, overall, I should be pleased with myself.
Remained so until the next day when I started studying the stats more closely. Found out I came 19th out of 20 and my mood nosedived. Although there are a number of justifications - I’d been focused on endurance for the last 2 years, qualifiers were likely to attract top quality, other pressures had interfered with my training plan etc – I still can’t help being my own worse critic. By Monday night, I had decided I was retiring from competition! My rationale was: what was the point of paying money to enter races, leaving Dora behind at dark o'clock to stand in a cold field only to then get a result I wasn’t happy with?
Everyone has been laughing at the suggestion ever since. And, of course, they’re right. I could no more give up training and racing than I could find any pleasure from space travel! Yes, we have disappointments - as with anything in life - but as I wrote in my first blogpost after entering the Ironman (and have somehow conveniently forgotten) “"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful".
So, am going to man-up, accept it, learn from it and get training for the next race! Have the Hampton Court swim lined up in July but then I think another Sprint is in order to exorcise some demons…
Well, the first few weeks were characterised by eating, sleeping, drinking (particularly Mojitos!) and regaling anyone who'd listen about the race and the fact that I'd done it! Not only had I become an 'Ironman', I'd done it in a time I was truly proud of. The only other race I can ever recall not having any "regrets" about at all was aged 10 winning the Northants Cross Country title. So, it was huge. So huge in fact that I really struggled in those first few weeks and then months to work out where my training compass was taking me. I still ran and swam but the fact I didn't even unpack my bike bag till nearly February is indicative of where I found myself.
However, with the waistband of my trousers starting to get a bit snug and the general feeling that I didn't want all those months of training to go to waste, I signed up for another race - a sprint tri this time called the 'Speedy Beaver'. It was 'local' (or so I thought) to my Mum and it was different enough in length and intensity to bring me the impetus I needed.
Life remains a major juggling event with work pressures and responsibilities (in a good way) growing all the time, Chris away working on residential jobs and Dora growing up all the time and having more and more boundless energy. As a result, the focus was a bit hit and miss. Chris wrote me a training plan and, while I reckon I stuck to about 60-70% of it, I didn’t really get out on the roads cycling and the tempo run sessions were a bit neglected.
So, as race day loomed, although I was looking forward to getting race-head on, I did know that I wasn’t going into it quite as well-prepared as I could have been. I had also learned that the ‘Speedy Beaver’ wasn’t any old Sprint. Turns out it’s the National Sprint Champs and World and European Qualifier event. Whoops!
The night before the race I was at Mum’s and started working out logistics and was pretty gutted to realise that it wasn’t as local as I thought and that it could possibly mean a 2-hour drive to make race registration at 6.30am. A fitful night ensued and when the alarm went off and I looked out the window at the trees being blown sideways, the question of “what the hell am I doing” came readily to mind. To make matters worse, Chris was working and I didn’t want Dora dragged out of bed at that time so I would be doing the race unsupported.
When I got to Belvoir Castle and got out of the car, my mood didn’t improve. The grey skies and wind just kept reminding me of how different this all was to my last race. However, I was here and so I thought I might as well just get on with it. Registered and racked and then met one of my ‘Twitter’ buddies m_j_fisher and a friend, Lou who were looking a hell of a lot more ready and focused than I was!
Soon it was time to head to the start and the swim was as grim as it could get. There was so much silt in the lake that there was zero visibility and it was so cold and windy that there were practically waves. For the first time since my first open water swim, I start getting panicked and having breathing difficulties in the first few hundred metres. Talked myself through it and came out the water in around 13.40 which wasn’t too bad but then it was a 600m run uphill to transition which was a bit of a tall order.
Out onto the bike and felt OK with despite strong winds sa it was just a relief to get out of the boggy lake. Some people went past me but not as many as normal and I managed to keep a steady pace. I’d been warned that at about half way through the bike course there was a 3k climb and I soon found out that that was the case. Just took it steady and then surprised myself by overtaking a few girls on the hill – that hasn’t happened very often before! Felt really strong on the bike and clocked a max speed of 33mph at one point so was really miffed to come into T2 with a 46min bike split.
Out onto the run and immediately clawed back a couple of places before a nice hill set in which seemed to go on and on. However, worked as hard as I could and, although I knew there were loads of girls in front of me, I hoped that my run would do me justice. Back into the field and I could see the finish line and, as always, found a little bit extra to overtake someone. Came through the finish and knew that going sub-1.30 would be tight but thought I might just have made it. Queued up for my result and was quite gutted to find I’d done 1.31 but thought 19th placing at a qualifier event wasn’t too awful and, overall, I should be pleased with myself.
Remained so until the next day when I started studying the stats more closely. Found out I came 19th out of 20 and my mood nosedived. Although there are a number of justifications - I’d been focused on endurance for the last 2 years, qualifiers were likely to attract top quality, other pressures had interfered with my training plan etc – I still can’t help being my own worse critic. By Monday night, I had decided I was retiring from competition! My rationale was: what was the point of paying money to enter races, leaving Dora behind at dark o'clock to stand in a cold field only to then get a result I wasn’t happy with?
Everyone has been laughing at the suggestion ever since. And, of course, they’re right. I could no more give up training and racing than I could find any pleasure from space travel! Yes, we have disappointments - as with anything in life - but as I wrote in my first blogpost after entering the Ironman (and have somehow conveniently forgotten) “"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful".
So, am going to man-up, accept it, learn from it and get training for the next race! Have the Hampton Court swim lined up in July but then I think another Sprint is in order to exorcise some demons…
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