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22 May 2009

Week Three

It's been over a week now since I last 'posted' and can you believe it someone has actually noticed and pulled me up for this; my first fan! The wedding was amazing, a lovely setting, great food and good company, what more could you ask for? There was a slight downer on the way home when we realised that we had lost our train tickets and were forced by National Express to pay £107 each to get back to London. Don't get me started, a strongly worded letter is already on its way. Back to the training though and unbelievably I managed to get to the gym in our hotel on Saturday morning despite several obstacles, namely the bike running out of batteries (yes really), the running machine being made out sponge and a mild hangover.

Back in the real world and on Monday morning I had my first proper 'really can't be arsed' moment and am ashamed to say that I skipped the morning swim. Guilt and frustration were compounded when I realised I'd left my bike lock at home meaning no after work swim, doh! There are some days that I think are sent to test you and Monday was one of those days, everything seemed against me and for no particular reason I was in a foul mood. Then again in the grand scheme of things it could be a whole lot worse so I laced up my trainers and went for an easy run clocking up 65 mins; i-pod ran out of battery after 20mins aaarrrggghhh.

Swimming this week was enjoyable on both days and am beginning to feel slightly more fish like if that's possible. According to those in the know once you have cracked the fabled art of a perfect swim technique you don't move through the water as such it moves around you. Yeah right. Every time I try to focus on an individual part like the 'catch' or the 'in sweep' I find myself forgetting every other part and suddenly floundering mid length. Also if i'm honest I don't really know what those parts of the stroke actually refer to so I've decided not to get too worried and just try to keep everything as constant as possible, and just swim. Oh and you'll be happy to hear that I'm now pretty bloody good at counting my lengths. Small steps.

Another brick session mid week from cycle to run and bizarrely I absolutely loved it, what a weirdo! Thursday afternoon/evening was our work sales conference and after talks from the heads of department our surprise guest rocked up and it was none other than Bear Grylls! What an absolute hero. He was incredible and told the frankly epic story of his Everest summit at the age of just 23 where four out of the six of the group died. He's also just been made Chief Scout and has done so much in such a short space of time. He was very humble and passionate and had everyone captivated for an entire hour, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. We were shipped down to London Bridge for the evening do and treated to a great bash with Colin Murray as the compare. He too was great, didn't take himself too seriously and sung a hilarious song that he'd written about advertising on his mini guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ymSPOzS_0

Friday is the scheduled day off and so far I've been pretty good at sticking to that, today was no exception! Again this weekend i'm going to be away so training will not be possible. I'm off to Wales with Dad and pals to a secluded lake which we have hired out for a weekend of fly fishing. I did think about asking if I could take my wetsuit and have a little open water swim but apparently that isn't the done thing on a fly fishing trip.

14 May 2009

Training Week Two

So week two has arrived, after last week's slightly mis-judged hangover and a good few days of training I am more determined than ever to keep it going. This is all very well and good in theory but in reality it's a different story (hence the Thursday evening post).

So things started pretty well with a fuzzy head on Monday morning as I 'bashed out' twelve lots of 100m. You'll be pleased to hear that my counting has come on heaps this week and not only was I able to keep track of the lengths but I even managed to count strokes during every other set as instructed! To keep this number constant was my aim and without trying too hard if I'm honest I seem to have cracked a fairly steady pace ie. 22 or 23 strokes. Some ballistic Ironman hero is probably reading this and shuddering at the thought of so many strokes per length - FYI it is only a 25m pool.

As I haven't been swimming regularly for too long pool etiquette for me is still a little unclear so I tend to be as unobtrusive as possible, stick to the outside of the lane and get out of the way when necessary. I must admit though it seems to me that lane swimmers take themselves very seriously and take on an almost church like manner of austerity. Half way through our homage to the fast lane however the morning congregation were riotously disturbed by a loud and uncouth visitor. Swaggering towards the side came a large man in his early fifties complete with decent sized belly, grey hair and a pair of classic 1972 speedos. He swung his arms ferociously about his head, squatted up and down on the spot a few times and then with absolutely no warning whatsoever launched himself into the lane sending gallons of water into a tidal wave and narrowly missing an incoming swimmer. Now about 5 foot from the wall and with swimmers rapidly approaching he dunked his head and then reared up in a Pamela Anderson esque Baywatch slow motion style, flicking his head from side to side. Belly flopping from a standing position he hammered down the lane paying no regard to anyone or anything and causing quite a stir with all of the parishioners. I was glad this happened during my 30 sec rest between reps as there's no instruction in the plan to prepare you for such events. Added to that I was laughing so hard I nearly wet myself.

After such an eventful swim my run the next day was positively routine, a gorgeous evening and a good new extended route home from work but nothing really to write home about. Having previously worried about the cycling leg (no pun intended) I went for it the next morning and excitingly was required to try my first cycle/run combination. I think they call it brick training, or is it block? I'm not really sure, but I certainly felt every single step of it, in a weird and unnerving but also quite satisfying way, worrying that at any minute my legs would just give out and leave my teeth embedded in the running machine's guard rail. I really felt this one and it took quite a while to start feeling human again. Luckily work got in the way and lunch was on me before I knew it.

Then horror of horrors, that night we heard a huge smash and pikey kids had surrounded our driveway and were stealing our bikes from the side way having smashed their way through the gate. Luckily Jessica was tucked away in a cupboard indoors bathing in a light synthetic oil based glaze but our commuter bikes, along with several others from the other flats in the building are there. We could see them doing it and phoned the police only to be told that they were in the middle of a shift change so couldn't get to us right away. It's horrible and they are ballsy and just don't care and before we know it they have left with two bikes, fortunately only one is ours and not worth much, but it's a horrible feeling and very very frustrating. Maybe we should have gone down to confront them but after 3 days training on the trot I didn't exactly feel like superman and it would be too much of a risk with so many of them.

We got to bed late after dealing with the police and as I had community work the next day (not community service I might add) was unable to drag myself to the pool even earlier than normal. Instead I took my frustration and lack of swim out on patch of wasteland and half a tonne of top soil, all in the aid of giving something back to the local community and by the end of the morning we had created a beautiful new flower bed that I think the great Tit himself would be proud of. Digging, raking and the shovelling of soil it turns out is a pretty fantastic full body workout and I think to be honest should be part of every aspiring triathlete's plan. It'd need a better name though, perhaps something along the lines of a 'directional resistance and core stability' session. I think it has legs.

So now comes the bad part, tomorrow I am off to a wedding up north and not only will I miss cycling on Saturday but also a session in my weakest sport on Sunday, although I'm not as good at drinking as I once was, so maybe that will count? There's literally nothing I can do, apart from take my trainers and go running before the wedding, I'll let you know how it goes....

11 May 2009

Training week One

So week one started with a telling moment when like a fateful messenger from the sky e-bay delivered my second hand tri top with the seller's 'close fitting' description being worryingly spot on, perhaps I've made a mistake here....

Having signed up for the London Triathlon back in January I have so far been trying to put any serious training out of my mind, concentrating instead of doing bits and pieces here and there where it suits me, and as is almost unavoidable, favouring my strongest discipline. However those days of self flattering training are now over and it's down to the serious following of a rigorous three month plan.

As a bit of background to this blog I have always been a keen biker, predominantly mountain but more recently on the road as well. Back in October I bought Jessica (Trek 1.9) and can honestly say that it is the best thing I have ever bought, ever. Similarly I have always been a regular runner, enjoying the stress busting side of it as opposed to being super-competitive. Swimming is by far my weakest discipline and although I was once pretty decent, more than ten years ago mind, I have found that unlike falling off a bike it is actually quite easy to forget.

I have started my training 1 week early to give myself a few days lee-way should anything go badly wrong like swallowing too much chlorine, crashing my bike or more likely slipping over embarassingly at work and injuring something. I am also very aware from reading numerous other triathlon and running blogs along with having a full time job and getting married in early September that in the real world six days and fifteen hours a week training for a sustained period of time is nigh on impossible so it is with an open mind that I'm taking this on, and am quite happy being realistic ie. sacking off that extra Sunday workout. I thought if I kept track of my progress it may provide that extra stimulus.

Coming into week one I had just returned from three days walking in the Cotswolds and having clocked up 65 miles over 3 days my body was shall we say fairly sore and rather embarassingly I gave day one a miss. Not a the start I envisaged. Next up was a run and being a beautfiul evening Highgate woods provided the perfect backdrop for an easy cruise to some of my favourite tunes, followed the next evening by 55 mins on the bike in the gym where I sweated my body weight in liquid whilst watching two Andy Murray's in the making thrash it out on the tennis court next door. Things were going well and on day three I surprised even myself by making it to the pool just after 8am. I did my 'required' 6 x 200m with 40 second rest between sets but struggled to 'note difference between time versus effort'. Counting the lengths, trying to remember how to swim, breathing correctly and trying to stay out of the way of the resident 'nutter' ploughing up and down the middle of my lane sort of put this second on my priority list but I suppose could be summed up by "arms killed about half way through and was soon knackered".

So three days back to back isn't bad for week one and I was allowed a rest apparently, which I duly took and enjoyed a Friday night in front of the tv and Have I Got News For You. I guess on Saturday I made a classic rookie error by scrapping the 60-90 mins smooth cycling and bashing out a 54 mile round trip because it was such a lovely day. Mental note to self though, avoid South Mimms roundabout where m25, A1 and my tiny hidden back road all meet in a four lane anti spd-pedal hellish nightmare. Continuing in the rookie ways I went out that night for just a few beers, and Mojitos and got home at 3am. No No No. No training Sunday.

More to follow.....