Some frustrations but excitement for the London Marathon 2013!

  So I suppose I had better write a post before one of my biggest events this year, the London Marathon on Sunday. Apologies for the lack of posts for nearly two weeks, this is merely because there hasn't been a lot to say, although I bet the length of this post will disprove this. The combination of post-race blues and being on night shifts meant that my training has not been as intense as before. On the Wednesday and Thursday after the Andover Triathlon I went spinning and swimming before working overtime night shift. This worked well on Wednesday but it didn't go so well on Thursday. The spin session did not set a good tone for the rest of the weeks training. Firstly I turned up late so I rushed to find the only free bike there was and then it went down hill from there. Now I am not normally disrespectful to any instructor that I have when spinning as I know it must be a tough job to structure and gain enthusiasm from a class. However, today I did not enjoy or like the instructor or her session. For anyone who hasn't done a spin class we basically all follow the instructions given to us in regards to where we position ourself and how much resistance to put on the bike. There are many positions which put simply are seated or standing hill climb and seated or standing sprints.When standing these positions vary from positon 1 which is standing vertically, to position 3 where you lean over the farthest handlebars. As well as that there is also the hover position where you stand hovering over the saddle keeping your body still and only using your quads to spin the bike, the slower you are the more control you have. Many instructors use a scale of 1-10 whereby you put the resistance up to your own personal ability in line with what number they shout. After years of doing spinning I have witnessed many people spinning way too fast for the resistance and pain that they should be in. Although sublimally this annoys me I know they are only cheating themselves and always give myself a good workout. So when the instructor said level 7 resistance, that to me is pretty tough, meaning it is nearing a struggle to keep the wheel moving especially at a high RPM (revolutions per minute; this figure shows up on the bike computer the faster the RPM the faster your speed). What was frustrating me was that even when at this level the instructor was unrealistically telling us to put the resistance up by a whole turn (the resistance is turned up and down with a small knob underneath the handlebars which you turn clockwise to increase and vice versa). Now, one full turn is a lot of resistance especially on top of the level I had it on originally and she continued to shout out these demands. I am not meaning to sound arrogant by saying that no one in that room would've been able to keep up the pace they were at if they were on my resistance (unless Bradley Wiggins or Mark Cavendish was there without my knowledge). That is not me saying I was the fittest there by any means, but after trying to keep up with her insistent up on the resistance I was hardly moving, which made me look like I was struggling in comparison to the others surrounding me. This wasn't a damage to my ego as I do not mind going slower as I know I was being true to myself by starting at the correct resistance scale, but it was very frustrating which angered me. Throughout the session I felt like I wasn't doing a good session and that was even more annoying. Despite this I still came out of the class wet through with sweat. The unrealistic resistance measures carried on for the whole session and I could not wait to get out. As soon as the music slowed down to have a cool down I was off the bike and ready to go swimming (something that didn't make me popular with the instructor). I didn't have the time (or want the time) to stretch with the class.

  Furthermore, a comment she said during the class also annoyed me. She asked the class whether anyone was doing the London Marathon. Despite not seeming to get along with her I raised my hand. She either wasn't looking or expecting to see a hand in my direction and noticed just one hand in the air. She wished him luck and then singled another person out who must've looked like they weren't dying like me and asked if he was doing it, to which she said he should be. What type of comment was that? I shouldn't let such a silly thing get to me the way it did but I felt it as a little dig. Just because I was struggling from her ridiculous resistance increases does not mean I'm not fit enough to do a marathon just because he looked OK.
Maybe I was just having a bad energy day and was struggling more than usual and am being pathetic, but I certainly will not look forward to her being my instructor again. Needless to say, she put me in a bad training mood.
  Swimming that night with the Tri Club however went great. I was in the open water pool, normally where I struggle to keep up but not tonight. I thought I was going to struggle with the little amount of food I had had for dinner and the frustrating spin beforehand but managed to constantly be on the persons feet infront. We did 2000m that night made up of 10x200m (8 lengths). After that I went to work until 6am.

  I mentioned about eating little that night, this consisted of a piece of steak and some potatoe wedges, equalling 510 calories. I burned off over 1000 calories. I was in calorie debt as I like to say. This may seem good for the weight loss I was inevitably want but not good when I need to put effort into my sessions. I did not intend to have this little amount of food but after sleeping after a night shift I wake up around 3pm, leaving me a mere 3 hours to wake up, shower, eat and digest my food before heading to the gym. This is something I have found tough all week. When working I just have a cup of tea and a chocolate bar to get me through the night and havesomething when I wake up like beans on toast. Not a particularly nutritional athlete enriched diet.

The DW crew: I am at the front in the orange kayak

  After a whole weekend of night shifts I then went kayaking with some of the people taking part in the DW canoe race. Dan unfortunately couldn't come as he had a firefigher course. I nearly forgot however as I was sleeping from a night shift and was only reminded when I looked on Facebook and saw someone had commented confirming meeting times. I loved being out on the water paddling. One of the participants in the DW race crew, Sheona and her husband Paul, has a lovely house in Bourne End right on the river and owns some single kayaks and a canadian canoe that can hold three. I went out in a single kayak similar to what I learnt to kayak in. We paddled upstream (towards the wind) for about 45 minutes and got back downstream in about 5 minutes. I tried out the canadian canoe and that confirmed that I definitely do not want to be doing the event in a boat like that, I felt too high and would not be comfortable being in that position for over 24hours. The only thing I was annoyed about is that I didn't wear my wetsuit as would've gone for a swim too. We ended our first kayak session with a lovely hot cup of tea and a chat, no one as of yet is put off doing the event. Thank you Sheona and Paul for your help and hospitality!

Me trying out the Canadian Canoe

We were meant to be going that way!

 

 

 


 



 

  On Monday I had a night off, but was working nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so stayed awake all night whilst Dan went to bed to not ruin my routine. I was due to go spinning on Monday but was suffering from a migraine so I unfortunately had to cancel those plans.

  I also have to mention the Boston Marathon disaster on Monday. I cannot express my disgust at whoever is responsible and my sympathy to anyone who was affected by the bombings. It obviously did bring questions in regards to the safety, not only for myself but also for my spectators, at the London Marathon. This did really worry me the night after the attack and it is still playing on my mind. Working in news definitely does not aid this. I have had many people ask me whether it has made me want to pull out and others who have said, please don't get yourself blown up (I'm sure they mean well with that comment). However, after reading all of the triathletes and sports people I follow on Twitter it was evident that we cannot stop running as that is giving the terrorists what they want. Jim Lynch is an runner and author who has completed 91 marathons and finished a marathon in every US State, his tweet was "The best thing we can do right now as runners is keep running strong and proud. Remember those that lost their life or was injured". So I shall run proud on Sunday and will be wearing a black ribbon to show my support for Boston.

  So I am upto the present, Thursday night, my last night shift for another month. Although my training has not been intensive I have been tapering for the London Marathon, maybe not quite as much as I would've liked, but I know that I am well rested as I do not feel tired all the time and that can only be a good thing from how drained I felt in the previous week. I also blame my smaller amount of training due to being on nights and because I have felt the effects of post race blues. After every race I get excited about training more to make me faster but then when the euphoria ends I go on a downer and it takes a tough kick up the arse to get my motivational head on again. With going straight into night shifts and the crap spin instrucor I had no kick and just let myself rest. I do not feel too awful as although I began to then get down about losing a week of training, I think my mind and body needed the break and in the grand scheme of things one week is not going to see all of my fitness disappear is it? The idea of this blog was to show the highs and lows of training, this is just one of the many lows that will occur until June 2014.

  Well to celebrate the end of my night shifts I shall be kayaking tomorrow with Dan, something I am so excited about. After that it is a busy weekend in our favourite city London where I am catching up with some great friends. Some of whom are going to support me and some of whom are competing. I hope the next blog is a more cheery post about a personal best in my marathon time! We are staying at the Savoy on the Saturday night and at the Ritz on the Sunday (which is a short stumble from the marathon finish) which all adds to all the excitement. I said to Dan today that I am starting to get the nervousness and excitement of such big event. I even said I am excited about starting the race, Dan's reply was "I bet you won't be saying that at mile 20", ever the optomist! Wish me luck!