Phase 1: 20/10/14 – 14/12/14,
1286km, 94hrs 46mins
Well the first 8 weeks of my Outlaw training plan have been completed, and I (but maybe not my wife) would say they’ve flown by. That’s not to say it’s all been easy. Counter to my massive enthusiasm preceding the start of training, there have been times when getting on the kit and heading out for a run, or hitting the pool on a Friday (the hardest session of the week for me for some reason), have not been the easiest, but this was predictable and as everyone who trains for a sport knows, you generally feel all the better once you’ve completed it….especially earning the extra food consumption.
I was planning to write a post a week, and then a month into training, but I was struggling to find a theme to centre it on. However, it’s now become very clear what this should be, and it follows a similar theme to that at the end of my training in Sep 2013 – Support.
Being able to rack up the km’s and hours wouldn’t have been possible without keeping in touch and having the support of others, whether it be through simply following others on social media and Strava, making time to fit others into your training (or sometimes squeezing your way into theirs), seeing and getting words of encouragement from other Striders on Tempo Tuesdays (including being picked up off the floor after a fall), and having a great boss who’s very understanding of what I’m putting myself through.
Most importantly though I already wouldn’t have gotten this far without the patience and support from my other-half, Kate, who’s kept me fueled, dealt with the additional washing load and not moaned (too much, but justifiable when she has) when I’ve had to improvise with fitting training in (the low point has to be at 8:45pm Friday night swim). She is an excellent Ironman Widow.
32 weeks to go until race day, but so far so good.
Thanks for all your words of encouragement and advice, and I hope you all have a good Christmas!
Foggy morning cycle around Warwickshire – the first with my fellow Outlawer-to be, Mr Shaw.
Although it initially felt a bit weird writing a blog post which was about resting rather than racing or training, leading up the Kenilworth Half-marathon three weeks ago I was starting to feel the effects of not taking enough time off at the end of my 2012-13 season, and I was not going to make the same mistake in September 2014 as I did in 2013. I’d learnt my lesson that rest and recovery is important and easily overlooked.
I therefore made a public commitment to rest for 4-6 weeks, and avoid any swimming, cycling and (much to the shock of some of my Spa Strider friends) running during that time. Well, almost three weeks to the day from beginning that commitment, I can honestly say (apart from cycling the 2 miles to work, and a bit of holiday surfing) I’ve done that, and for the most part it’s been a good thing (apart from the pseudo-weight gain, especially after a week in North Devon (photo below) eating pancakes, ice creams and fish and chips on the beach).
I’m getting hungry and excited to start training again, whereas three weeks ago I could almost have paid someone to hide my trainers.
After a bit of reading (reading about tri over my rest period was allowed) I came to realise that starting an ironman training plan in 3 weeks time with zero preparation and warm up, was probably going to be a bad thing, so from today I’ll be hitting the pool and the pavements to remind my lungs and legs what’s needed to move my reasonable-sized frame.
So if you see me thrashing around in the pool or bent over double somewhere around Leamington, don’t worry, that’ll just be the payback of a good rest.
It’s been quite a week in the Spa Strider triathlon camp, including the beginnings of the main reason for me starting this blog.
Firstly, congratulations on Dan Fleming (pictured) for completing the Vitruvian this time last week (ok, 5 hours earlier). Like my Challenge Henley Half last year, this has race has felt a long time coming. You survived, nothing more on your body broke, and I’m sure you’ll be tempted by another middle distance race soon.
Although I’m into the last 18 hours of my 2013/14 season, this week effectively kicked off my 2014/15 season with entries into both Raceway’s Avenger and then, the big one, the Outlaw. After the worries 24 hours prior, entry took my 2 minutes to complete and there was no Challenge Roth-style dash and sell-out of places. Two years ago I never thought I’d be entering an iron-distance race but I can’t wait to get started…after I’ve had a nice rest after tomorrow’s Kenilworth half.
It’s going to be an interesting (in many ways) 10 months, and one I’d like to share via this blog, as well as helping to keep in touch with those I might see a little less of. Given the abundance of tri blogs out there, I’ll do my best to keep it entertaining!
Right, off to continue the pre-Kenilworth Half Marathon carbo-load……