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…
