Work, recovery and tough training

  So it has been nearly a week since my last post so here is the update (sorry if it is rather long, I will start doing them more frequently to avoid this). After the success of my new triathlon club swim session on Friday I decided to go along to the run session the following morning. The run consisted of hill reps up the aptly named 'long hill'. The whole hill was 1k and along the route markers were placed at 800m, 400m, 200m and 100m. The idea is that you run to the top and back down, to the 800m and back, 400 back, 200...etc. This then makes it 5k and you could chose to do as many laps of this as you wanted. It was great as everyone runs at their own pace yet you still see everyone along the route. This is unlike some run groups were you do one mass route and the weaker runners feel demotivated after being left for dead at the back. The tough hill does take its toll and the pain in my knee had started to re-surface so I stopped with the few runners that were there at 5k and had a chat (seemingly always about triathlon) before heading to Chesham town for coffee.
  The coffee reward was definitely the best part of the session! I stupidly forgot money but Gill, one of the members helped me out and I got a lovely skinny latte - thank you Gill! (I promised I would return to repay her the favour). It was great to chat to the members, I could see my new triathlon friendships forming. Although the after session meet up isn't a compulsory triathlon chat, the majority of our conversations are triathlon based. This is something I am really loving about being part of a club that all have the same mutual interest. I went home feeling really pleased about everything and really glad I decided to finally try a tri club out.

  The rest of the day was spent watching the rugby and having a well earned treat night with some wine at Dan's parents. I was intending to cycle to my grandads again on the Sunday but my bike was still suffering from a puncture and by the time I got home it was too late. I felt guilty as I didn't want to let him down, but it just wasn't viable. I vow to do it as soon as I can.
  I was back on night shifts from Monday so tried to catch up on as much sleep as I could during the day. I also felt the full effects of the cold that Dan had been carrying for a week. It was not the best thing to be going into night shifts with as I felt drowsy, but on the other hand I was unable to sleep anyway due to struggling to breath. At work my shift buddy also had the makings of a cold so we both felt sorry for ourselves together. We also agreed that we would rather be throwing up for 2 days as opposed to feeling like we did (I still stick to that now). Due to the nature of night shifts it is difficult to do any training as by the time I get home at 8am I sleep until 3pm and then only have 3 hours before I have to leave again to go to work for the night.

  On Wednesday I started training again. I started of with spinning where there were some very obnoxious women who nearly made me say something when as soon as the instructor was out of the room began to diss her session and her voice. I wanted to say to them you do it better then or do it alone, but refrained. If I wasn't alone I may well have done, but I think my face said it all. Straight after spinning I met up with the tri club for another swim session. This was a lot tougher than Friday night but it made me push myself. The main set consisted of 3 sets of 5 x 100m sprints in a chain. Basically, the person in the front of the chain swims for 4 lengths within 1min50 then they go to the back. The next person in the chain takes over at the front and so on until the person who started at the front is there again. This was repeated 3 times with the timing for the 4 lengths reduced for every set. The hour yet again flew by and before I knew it it was time to get out.

  I still had Thursday off before my next night shift on Friday so it was a good day to get some more endurance training done. I finally decided to sort my bike out and get on the turbo trainer. I took some lessons from Dan, fixed the puncture ALONE and got the bike set up on my Tacx. (Please excuse the Ironing board, this is a make-shift garage in the second bedroom/utility/gym).

Me in turbo action (not particularly flattering)

  Along with the trainer there was a DVD of famous bike courses throughout Europe including some of the Tour de France so I wanted to check that out when on the bike. But the disc failed to work with my computer. After downloading some extra software I could only play the odd clip of someone's view of cycling around France which was in silence so I decided to go to plan B. I had bought the film 'Running the Sahara' in preparation for a turbo session. I heard about this movie when I was editing it on a film editing course and kept meaning to buy it. I thought it would be a great motivational film to watch when I am training. It is the story of 3 ultra-runners who decide to run the 7,500km across the whole Sahara thus meaning they had to run 2 marathons a day for 80 days. A patch on what I want to achieve but motivational as to what the mind and body can do. I cycled through the whole 2 hours of the film and felt the full effects after. It was sweltering in the room meaning I was drenched (not a nice thought) which made it even more knackering. I felt like I was doing Bikram Turbo (I could be onto something there), or training for a hot climate event. I need to get some more motivational DVD's for these sessions such as previous Ironman events or any other courageous individuals who take on ridiculous challenges. If I don't manage to get these before my next turbo session I can always rely on my newly bought 220 Triathlon magazine that I treated myself to. This has a list of 15 different workouts I can do on the bike. Although I feel that £4 is a lot of money to spend on a magazine (I used to begrudge Dan for buying his 'Men's Health' at this price) I can see that it is worth it. It is not like a 40p 'Chat' magazine that only lasts 10minutes full of trash about how "My mum ran away with my husband" and "The boob job that botched up" which I admit is a great read to pass time, but it cannot compare to the hours you can spend reading 220 Triathlon. It is full of pages of interviews with elite and amateur triathletes and Ironmen as well as having reviews of kit and lists of training programmes and sessions that are invaluable to me (although obviously highly boring to anyone uninterested in triathlon). I have considered subscribing to it, but still struggle to fork out for it.

  Anyway, after my very sweaty affair on the turbo I had next to no time to get showered and head off to some open water swimming. It would be the first time in 7 months I would get my wetsuit out! I was excited as I love swimming outside, however I was worried about the lack of fuel (food) I had taken on before going due to being in a rush. I put some sports caffeine tablets in my water in the hope that would see me through the session well. It didn't. I had the worst swim I have had in a long time. My cough and cold that were still lurking within me came back with a vengeance. I thought as I felt good in the indoor pool yesterday I would be fine today. However, it is a lot different when breathing in the cold outside air as opposed to the warm inside air. I couldn't get enough breath when swimming to accommodate coughing and needing more oxygen in order to carry on at my normal fast pace. Again we were in a chain, the main set today being 11 x 200m. I couldn't get a rhythm which affected my pace, my mind and my technique. I was getting more and more frustrated as the lengths went on. I managed to finish the session but it was a massive struggle. I know that my cold was holding me back, but it was a worry to find it that tough.

  This week was meant to be a tapering period (reducing my exercise in preparation for a competition) so I was ready for the Bath half marathon on Sunday. Basically, I just haven't run for a week. However, I have still tried to make myself feel fit enough by doing my other disciplines. I know I'll be fine on Sunday, I just hope that I have done enough resting so that my knee doesn't flare up. Coping with that pain for 13.1 miles would be a struggle, but I shall try and put that thought to the back of my mind as I believe a lot of pain is mental. I hope I do not find the race too hard as that would really demotivate me. A half-marathon is meant to just be the finishing leg of the half Ironman! However, one of the members reminded me that I will be a lot fitter by then and that as this is my first competition of my journey to June so it doesn't matter. Everything I do is a personal fitness journey so at the end of the day race times do not matter as long as I can hand on heart say I did my best.