Have had an absolutely frantic week at work and thought I might be coming down with a sore throat, so haven’t done any exercise since Monday: is this what they call tapering down? Used the time to “carbo-load” instead (some sensible pasta, as well as some not-so-sensible flapjack and chocolate).
Also had a minor panic about the swimming hat situation. The one provided by the organisers is compulsory, but I remember reading an article in Runner’s World a couple of months ago that suggested wearing two (with goggles in between) to avoid losing the goggles at the chaotic start of the swim. The fact that I will probably be flailing around at the back of the pack escaped me this morning, so I popped into town on my way back from a meeting to pick up a hat from Total Fitness. I don’t know if I have an abnormally large head or just too much hair, but I can’t actually get the thing on my head, let alone achieve that streamlined pro look.
For good measure, I also grabbed some elastic laces from the tri shop on the basis that “every little helps” when it comes to transitions: even if I fall over as I try to extract myself from my wetsuit, at least my shoes will go on quickly.
I’m irrationally worried about the bit before the race and there is very little information from the organisers so far. I guess we find out when we register early on Saturday morning. What needs to be put where? How do I lay out my kit? Is there somewhere to leave warm clothes for afterwards? Should I put Lucozade and Jelly Babies with my bike or wherever I end up leaving my bike before I set off on my run? What if I get a puncture? It’s all so much more complex than a marathon when you just lob your kit bag in a bus and pick it up again at the end.
Having just packed my things into the car, I’m now feeling more than a little apprehensive. It doesn’t help that, when I casually mention it to people for the first time, they typically look slightly taken aback and say how brave I am. Brave or stupid?
Filed under: bath sports and leisure, south coast classic triathlon, tri challenge, triathlon
I kept my word to myself yesterday, and ran my favourite route around Bath’s Skyline. You can join the trail about half a mile from our flat, so the total run is about seven miles. Unfortunately, the first two miles are uphill with barely a break. Once you’re up high though, you are rewarded with stunning views and the route takes you around the city across fields and then back down through woodland. It can be muddy although, thanks to the recent spell of warm weather, was fairly dry yesterday. It’s also quite steep here and there, so you need to watch your step. I tend to try to stay light on my feet on the steep bits so I can adjust my weight if needs be.
Yesterday afternoon, Talan and went for a leisurely bike ride along the canal. The tow path wasn’t built for road bikes, so I took my old mountain bike instead. It was like getting into a tank after exiting a sports car. We did about 6.5 miles, stopping off at The George in Bathampton for a pint along the way. Cycling behind Talan in his handbike is quite amusing – most people have never seen one, so he gets a few stares.
Pootled off to the gym this morning. Was only going to do some resistance work, but warmed up on one of the spin bikes and decided to keep going for about 45 minutes. They’re much truer to a real bike than the exercise bikes you normally find in a gym, and I like using music to dictate the tempo with which I ride. I’m an unashamed pop tart when it comes to gym music, and this morning’s highlights were Republica/Ready To Go (fast seated sprints during the chorusy bits) and Bodyrockers/I Like The Way You Move (climb out of the seat).
Now I’m back at home with a good post-gym smoothie to hand (put a banana, big tablespoon of peanut butter, some natural yoghurt and a splash of milk in a blender). Try it before you go “bleurgh”…
Filed under: bath sports and leisure, great north run, south coast classic triathlon, tri challenge, triathlon
I’ve had a little twinge in my lower back for the past couple of days. I’d like to say this was a result of over-training, but the reality is that it had something to do with going karting with a crowd from work on Wednesday evening. I should have gone for a run or swim yesterday evening after I finished work, but decided a cold beer in the garden was preferable.
So this morning, it was time to have a go at a mini-tri in the gym. Simon, the PT, volunteered to do it with me – at least the cycle and run bits – and monitored my heart rate and RPE (rate of perceived exertion). As I understand it, the RPE should theoretically correspond to the heart rate – although I think mine was a bit out of synch. I haven’t figured out why my heart rate seems so much higher than other people’s despite putting in roughly the same amount of effort. It’s quite normal for me to cycle comfortably at 170 and run at 180 – when 80% of my max is about 152. If anyone can explain this in simple terms, feel free to comment.
Anyway, we did 30 mins on the spin bikes and 30 mins on the treadmill. As always, it was good to cycle and run alongside someone else. We also did a mammoth stretching session, which I needed. I’m pretty flexible but there are a couple of tight spots in my back and glutes.
Next stop, the pool for a short swim. It was full of small children and Dads, but they were mostly playing around in the flumes, so I did 30 lengths of crawl (sooooo much nicer than in the sea) then sat in the jacuzzi thing which was great for the back. Then, just to avoid taking the whole thing too seriously, I took a ride down the flume with the kids. Marvellous fun.
So, one week to go now. I think I’m ready – at least to complete it. I won’t be breaking any records timewise…and I’m still slightly worried about coming last. Simon says I should taper down the training from here, but I think I’ll attempt a half-decent run tomorrow: it’s only five weeks until the Great North Run…
I’ve been taking the proverbial out of my tri training partner, Phil, for falling off his bike on the odd occasion as he gets used to using cleats. This came back to bite me on the bum (and knee and elbow) last night when, as I was standing completely still on the pavement with my right foot locked into its toe clip, I somehow managed to catch the front wheel on a paving slab and fell – seemingly in slow motion – flat on the floor. A car was passing at the time. Phil wasn’t around to witness the event, but laughed quite a lot when he arrived.
However, he got his comeuppance about six miles into the ride when his chain fell off, he couldn’t get his feet out of the cleats (again) and also fell – seemingly in slow motion – flat on the floor. I laughed so hard, I nearly fell into a hedge.
Anyway, after these incidents, we managed 16.25 miles around Pangbourne, Upper Basildon and Ashampstead and Theale – not bad for a school night. Average speed was 14.4mph, top speed 32.2.
Filed under: bath sports and leisure, south coast classic triathlon, tri challenge, triathlon
My cycling and running training took a bit of a backseat to the swimming last week, so I started my day with a spinning class. I was the only person who thought that it might be a good idea to get up at 7am and fling my legs around in circles, so it was just me and the instructor, Laura.
She is one of those gorgeous girls, whose perfectly applied makeup and straightened hair remains in place at the end of the class. I am not.
After 10 minutes, there was a puddle of sweat under my bike and, by the time my hour was up, my bike was nearly afloat. Laura was barely glowing.
I’ve now got a dreadful headache because I haven’t drunk enough water this morning to replace the lost fluids. I found, during marathon training a few years ago, that Lucozade was the only thing that would stop me getting headaches after long training runs – tastes pretty vile but does seem to rehydrate you quite quickly and replace all those lost salts. I’ve put some on my shopping list.
Managed to get out of the swim on Thursday in favour of a sail on the Dart with Talan and Rhonda (another sailing novice) to Turnaware Beach where we had a picnic with the others. It was a gusty day, which made being out on the trapeze a slightly scary experience. One particularly severe blast of wind pulled one of the hulls about four feet out of the water with me standing on it. Being roughly nine feet and four inches above the water at 15 knots is exhilarating as well as petrifying. I honestly thought we were going to flip the boat. Happily, we managed to sail back to Restronguet Sailing Club without further incident.
Yesterday, I headed down to Gyllyngvase Beach with Martha and Rhonda for a proper open water swim. Rhonda has done a couple of sprint triathlons before, but never in the sea; and the expression on her face as she paddled in was similar to the one that I must have been wearing the first time I tip-toed into the Creek last Saturday. The water was colder than in the Creek, but I was able to see the bottom which was strangely comforting. We stayed in for about 40 minutes, swimming up and down the beach between the lifeguard flags.
Luckily it was quite a calm day, so I was able to practise breathing on both sides. Rhonda seems to think that breathing on one side (my right) is causing me to swim to the left of whatever target I’m trying to head towards. This theory was born out by an attempt to breathe on my left side only which caused me to turn 180 degrees without realising. Obviously I need to be able to breathe on both sides, about every third stroke instead of every second – more difficult that you’d expect in cold water.
I was thinking about a few loops of Pendennis Castle on the bike after my swim, but the girls suggested tea and cake at the Gyllyngvase Beach Café and that was infinitely preferable.
Anyway, we’re leaving Restronguet today to head to Newquay for a wedding. I’m immensely glad that I’ve had the opportunity to practice swimming in the sea before the event and very grateful to Martha for making me do it almost every day for a week. It’s way more difficult that I’d anticipated – you probably need to put in twice the effort that you would do in a pool – but I’m hoping I’ll be able to manage it on the day. I’m just worried about coming last now…
I timed the swim today: 33 minutes in total, (about 16 each way with a minute’s breather at the pub). Not good – on the basis that 1,500m takes me about 35 minutes in the pool, our swim to the Pandora and back is much less than a mile. How depressing.
Still, I think the grimy water might have youthful properties. I was asked for ID as I tried to buy wine at Asda in Falmouth. It made my day.
It was an overcast and drizzly day in Cornwall today, so we had a very lazy morning, a pasty and a potter around Falmouth, then caught up with some friends for a cup of tea. Before I knew it, it was high tide and therefore time for the daily swim. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
The first bit is definitely the worst. Even in a wetsuit, it’s extremely cold. I can’t seem to hurl myself in like Martha does; I just dither about on the edge for several minutes feeling miserable. Once in with my head under and my body acclimatised, the swim out towards the Pandora isn’t too bad. Martha takes the lead and we use various boats as incremental targets to crawl towards.
Today, we stopped at the pontoon and said “hello” to Mark and a couple of friends. There were also some kids pulling crabs out of the water on bits of string which was a bit disconcerting.
The way back is horrible, against the current and the wind. It’s not even half a mile, but it feels like three. It might actually be more like three because, try as I might, I can’t seem to swim in a straight line. I identify a target in my line of vision and swim in what I think is a dead straight line – but the next time I look up, I’m about 45 degrees off the target. I end up zig-zagging along, doing twice the distance and feeling knackered. I didn’t realise just how useful those lines were on the bottom of the swimming pool.
Anyway, back home now – showered and dressed with a glass of wine to hand. I can’t even taste the seawater any more. Mark’s cooking a Thai beef curry and I’ve made a cheesecake. This is why I exercise…
Yesterday Talan and Clive were off to have a go at racing the Dart as part of Falmouth Week. I helped them rig up and launch, but decided that sitting around all day waiting for them would be a bit boring so made the decision to head out on the bike instead.
The South Coast Classic Triathlon cycle course involves 12 fast and flat laps along the seafront in Eastbourne, so I thought I would try to replicate this. I parked the van at Gyllyngvase Beach and worked out a three-mile circuit along the front, up and around Pendennis Castle, back round the other side and along the seafront back to the van. (Not exactly flat, but fairly fast down from the castle at least).
Then I cycled eight laps of it.
And – just to offset the large wedge of cake that I felt sure I would need to eat afterwards – I chucked the bike in the back of the van, and ran off on wibbly legs to do one more lap on foot. Here are the split times:
- Lap 1 – 14:01 (took a slight detour the wrong way up a one-way road and got told off by the Coastguard)
- Lap 2 – 11:17
- Lap 3 – 11:30
- Lap 4 – 11:29
- Lap 5 – 11:37
- Lap 6 – 11:55 (feeling a bit knackered by now)
- Lap 7 – 11:31
- Lap 8 – 11:38
- Transition – 1:21 (put bike in back of van, remove helmet, take swig of water, take deep breath, start running)
- Lap 9 – 29:06 (barely able to put one foot in front of other)
After heading back to the sailing club, demolishing a bag of fudge (pure sugar), a cup of tea and a big slice of carrot cake, I helped the boys to de-rig and headed back to the house. At which point, Martha suggested a swim. I could have cheerfully killed her. I put up a fair amount of resistance, but she was very persistent and I gave in eventually. We went just half-way to the Pandora and back…then came home and drank two bottles of wine.
The Sausage Suit performed excellently despite appearances. Very comfortable with just enough padding to absorb the worst of the bumps on the bike, but not so much that I felt like running and swimming in a nappy.
It’s Falmouth Week this week, and Talan’s planning to race in the Regatta with his mate Clive, in their 18-foot catamaran dinghy. We decided to take it out today for a little practice. The whole process of getting it out to the water is quite lengthy, especially since Martha and I know nothing about rigging it up.
We managed it eventually and headed off across the Creek with Talan at the helm, Martha and I as crew. We were soon zipping along, with us two girls leaning off the side of the hull, dipping our hair in the water while Talan did the driving. Jolly good for the stomach muscles.
After a cup of tea at Restronguet Sailing Club, it was back to the house and out for a second swim. This time I donned my wetsuit. And…actually…it wasn’t so bad. The water was still cold, murky and tasted foul, but the wetsuit gave me a bit more buoyancy and, more to the point, a little bit more confidence. We swam over to the Pandora and back again, mostly crawl, and a lot quicker than yesterday.
It’s compulsory to wear a wetsuit for the South Coast Classic Triathlon, and I wanted to see if my own one was going to be up to the job or whether I’d need to buy a tri-specific one. It was fine actually – not too restrictive – so I think it’ll do. Getting out of it at speed so that I can hop onto the bike could be amusing to watch, but maybe I’ll just take my time over the transition. I felt quite woozy when I’d finished today’s swim and not at all like leaping onto a bike.
