Aug/Sept Training and Shavings of Fe
Lessons from August
The ‘no excuses’ plan worked. A print-out of my training plan for August sat on my bedside table in the Dominican Republic. Midst swimming with sharks, cocktails, delicious food and wonderful family holiday mood, it did not go unnoticed. Neither did it interfere in any way – but it DID get done. The intervals and the long runs made their way onto the beach without hardship – just lots of sweat, a bit of hard work in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. The work paid off. Although I firmly believe my already slow running pace is getting slower and slower, the effort and time on feet was enough to see me through to the end of a summer’s racing injury free, with two more ultras and some sections of another half ironman in the bag. What more could one ask?
Other lessons:
Injinji socks: Not for me
Tailwind Nutrition rocks! http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/
Shavings of Fe to round off official summer training
And so to finish off September … a half-ironman swim and run, organised by the amazing ‘family’ that is BTRS http://brightontriathlonraceseries.co.uk/
I have no idea of swim times. I am simply very proud that I managed another half-ironman swim without drowning. My new wetsuit feels fab in the water. Unfortunately, there is no engine attached but since one of my many MANY Ironman fears is the ability to complete the swim, I am heading into winter very satisfied that with the incredible support and help from the BTRS group I can safely cover at least half the distance. PROGRESS!
The run? Well, thank goodness it was a little bit faster than the last one but I’m still holding onto the theory that I’m getting slower rather than faster. This was further fuelled by the fact that I’m pretty sure I was close to being lapped by one Simon Barry – who’d started the swim at the same time as me but then did a wee 56-mile bike loop before the run. There is just no point in despair, is there! That actually really made me laugh!
Not sure of my official time. My watch said 2 hours 31. End of October I am going to run this same course in under 2:15. End of.
I wimped out of the bike this time. My head’s still recovering from the High Peaks race – at least, that’s the excuse I gave myself. Pretty sure it was an excuse and I shouldn’t have got away with it but I did. In the spirit of the weekend I wanted to do the bike miles on the Friday at the very least. I managed 35 miles. Left it too late in the day and I’d forgotten to attach lights to my bike. Just plain lazy, really (yep – I was too busy reading my book lol). What really scared me though, was that I finished my race, had some stomach problems so came home and crashed for a couple of hours – and all the time I was watching the clock and thinking ‘The Ironman athletes are still out there’! Truly, honestly, crazily scary. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the swim and run … but I wimped out of the bike – and all I can think is that in less than a year’s time (a lot less) I need to do that bike loop – AND THEN DO THE WHOLE LOT ALL OVER AGAIN!!! Oh. My. God. 9 p.m. 10 p.m. 11 p.m. and there were Ironmen still running! It was totally inspiring to watch the raw determination and mental strength. WOW! There really was nowhere to hide and it was very humbling. But boy, did that scare the crap out of me lol How to match that? Where to find it?
Yikes, I say. Yikes. Eight months to find some answers.
Huge thanks to Brighton Triathlon Race Series yet again for another incredibly emotional event. The energy of these inspiring athletes only serves to feed me with dreams and ambitions of my own.