“Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right.”
~Henry Ford
So I realised I was sadly lacking and despite doing an Olympic training plan I had a long way to go so upped the training.
Did a spinning class for the first time. Wasn’t sure what to expect but knew the purpose of me going was so I could cycle out of the saddle. I couldn’t. Pedalled really hard, sweated buckets, thoroughly enjoyed it and at the end, when everyone had left, learned how to get out of the saddle, was extatic.
Had a really productive rest of week and was really looking forward to a hard run with Alexia on the Friday but sneaked in an extra bike session and put into practice the standing up on the pedals and pinged my hamstring!
No training for another week which got me contemplating the state of my swimming.
I can swim breast stroke in a pool - not fast but pretty much forever. I can do crawl and my crawl has improved dramatically since I learned to breath out underwater (don't laugh! I've been doing it wrong for 40years!) Anyway I've had 2 open water sessions which have proved I can do 250m crawl however I cannot do breast stroke in a wetsuit. My legs come up and I basically end up treading water horizontally if that makes any sense. I'm expending a great deal of energy and not moving forward. If there was a local pool, where I could swim for an hour every morning I'd be able to increase my crawl distance over the next 3 weeks but without absolute dedicated practice 500m is too much to make up. Our local pool opens at 7. I've got to be back for 7.45 to get the kids to school so half an hour isn't enough. In a way you can blag the bike by getting off and pushing up the hill and the run by walking but the swim if you run out of puff you're finished!
So after much weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth I’ve withdrawn. A DNF is a failure a DNS is even worse but I can’t spend the next 3 weeks getting stressed to the moon knowing I’ll fail and then there’s the fuelling the can’t swim fire by putting myself more under pressure that I’d probably barely manage 25m.
So I’ve had my entry rolled over to next year when I will concentrate on my swimming and blast the distance.
The other thing is the Diva’s is full and there is a waiting list. It’s only fair to give someone who will finish the chance.
So then..it was suggested that Oswestry was on the same day. Great solution put all the training to good use and enter that instead.
So I put a little post on Wrecsam Tri’s Forum to say that I’d pulled out of the Deva’s and was taking the easy option of Oswestry and what were the courses like in comparison. Well… the Elite Bobby Edwards said Oswestry was tough, the World Number 12 Paul Williams said stick with the Diva’s and other people basically said the same. So I’m faced with a dilemma. So I ask the question how does it compare to the old Mold route and am told about the same.
I’ve been putting this little darling off for ages because, apart from it being horrendously hilly I’ve never been sure how long it would take and as you’re all well aware I have to be back for school. I did it this morning leaving at 7.55 and left the route for Mark and a note saying come and look for me if I’m not back by 9.30.
Was ready to turn around at the Ruthin Road roundabout but plodded on. Mark has always said to me I should have trained up that way. He said I'd only know if I was fit if I could get to the Swan. Well I did. Had to get off a bit after but soon got back on and then got off again by the Rainbow and then just after Loggerheads. I absolutely loved the lanes. I learned more this morning than I have since I started. I blasted the hills. Kept pretty much on the big ring and used the down hills to get up the other side. Had to get off by Eryrys school and another killer of a hill but then the wooshes back were amazing. Getting off 6+ times is ok in training but not for events so I'm giving Oswestry a miss. I'm so glad though that I considered it because it's forced me to do this Mold route.
Took 1 hour 43 minutes and when I got back Mark had put the bike rack on and was coming to look for me.
So now we have 9 weeks to Llanrwyst. I believe that course is a bit lumpy but it can’t be any worse than what I’ve done this morning. I’ve got 9 weeks to conquer 6 hills. Today was race distance so it’s going to be incorporated within the training plan. I need to formulate different training routes – there’s plenty around here. I think I’ll do what I have been doing the opposite way to practice steeper hills.
Three weeks after Llanrwyst is the Flintshire 10K. I’m still not doing much more than 5k. The plan is to increase it by 10% weekly and add some interval and fartlek sessions. (I absolutely hate speed work!)
The plan in the beginning was do not overtrain, do not get injured and not to get demotivated. Yes I’ve let all three happen but I’ve learned some very important lessons and will do my utmost not to let them happen again.
~Henry Ford
So I realised I was sadly lacking and despite doing an Olympic training plan I had a long way to go so upped the training.
Did a spinning class for the first time. Wasn’t sure what to expect but knew the purpose of me going was so I could cycle out of the saddle. I couldn’t. Pedalled really hard, sweated buckets, thoroughly enjoyed it and at the end, when everyone had left, learned how to get out of the saddle, was extatic.
Had a really productive rest of week and was really looking forward to a hard run with Alexia on the Friday but sneaked in an extra bike session and put into practice the standing up on the pedals and pinged my hamstring!
No training for another week which got me contemplating the state of my swimming.
I can swim breast stroke in a pool - not fast but pretty much forever. I can do crawl and my crawl has improved dramatically since I learned to breath out underwater (don't laugh! I've been doing it wrong for 40years!) Anyway I've had 2 open water sessions which have proved I can do 250m crawl however I cannot do breast stroke in a wetsuit. My legs come up and I basically end up treading water horizontally if that makes any sense. I'm expending a great deal of energy and not moving forward. If there was a local pool, where I could swim for an hour every morning I'd be able to increase my crawl distance over the next 3 weeks but without absolute dedicated practice 500m is too much to make up. Our local pool opens at 7. I've got to be back for 7.45 to get the kids to school so half an hour isn't enough. In a way you can blag the bike by getting off and pushing up the hill and the run by walking but the swim if you run out of puff you're finished!
So after much weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth I’ve withdrawn. A DNF is a failure a DNS is even worse but I can’t spend the next 3 weeks getting stressed to the moon knowing I’ll fail and then there’s the fuelling the can’t swim fire by putting myself more under pressure that I’d probably barely manage 25m.
So I’ve had my entry rolled over to next year when I will concentrate on my swimming and blast the distance.
The other thing is the Diva’s is full and there is a waiting list. It’s only fair to give someone who will finish the chance.
So then..it was suggested that Oswestry was on the same day. Great solution put all the training to good use and enter that instead.
So I put a little post on Wrecsam Tri’s Forum to say that I’d pulled out of the Deva’s and was taking the easy option of Oswestry and what were the courses like in comparison. Well… the Elite Bobby Edwards said Oswestry was tough, the World Number 12 Paul Williams said stick with the Diva’s and other people basically said the same. So I’m faced with a dilemma. So I ask the question how does it compare to the old Mold route and am told about the same.
I’ve been putting this little darling off for ages because, apart from it being horrendously hilly I’ve never been sure how long it would take and as you’re all well aware I have to be back for school. I did it this morning leaving at 7.55 and left the route for Mark and a note saying come and look for me if I’m not back by 9.30.
Was ready to turn around at the Ruthin Road roundabout but plodded on. Mark has always said to me I should have trained up that way. He said I'd only know if I was fit if I could get to the Swan. Well I did. Had to get off a bit after but soon got back on and then got off again by the Rainbow and then just after Loggerheads. I absolutely loved the lanes. I learned more this morning than I have since I started. I blasted the hills. Kept pretty much on the big ring and used the down hills to get up the other side. Had to get off by Eryrys school and another killer of a hill but then the wooshes back were amazing. Getting off 6+ times is ok in training but not for events so I'm giving Oswestry a miss. I'm so glad though that I considered it because it's forced me to do this Mold route.
Took 1 hour 43 minutes and when I got back Mark had put the bike rack on and was coming to look for me.
So now we have 9 weeks to Llanrwyst. I believe that course is a bit lumpy but it can’t be any worse than what I’ve done this morning. I’ve got 9 weeks to conquer 6 hills. Today was race distance so it’s going to be incorporated within the training plan. I need to formulate different training routes – there’s plenty around here. I think I’ll do what I have been doing the opposite way to practice steeper hills.
Three weeks after Llanrwyst is the Flintshire 10K. I’m still not doing much more than 5k. The plan is to increase it by 10% weekly and add some interval and fartlek sessions. (I absolutely hate speed work!)
The plan in the beginning was do not overtrain, do not get injured and not to get demotivated. Yes I’ve let all three happen but I’ve learned some very important lessons and will do my utmost not to let them happen again.
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