Planning for 2017 and SUTRI aquathlon

After feeling too tired to run on Monday, I arranged to meet my running buddy on Tuesday… but fate conspired against me and I didn’t make it, so I was pleased when Teri said that she could run on Wednesday.

I drove over to The Common and did a gentle warm up whilst waiting for Teri. Annoyingly, my Garmin 910XT is terminally ill and the buttons have become unresponsive, so none of my warm up was captured 😦

It’s been a while since Teri and I have been able to go out for a social run, so I really appreciated it. I hope it wasn’t too bad for her as she listened to me talk non-stop for almost 40 minutes, whereas I was not a good listener (sorry, Teri!)

It would have been possible for us to stay entirely on the flat, but after we’d done the first part of our run, I thought we might as well tackle the hill – at least I knew there’d be a downhill afterwards.

Teri had brought Lulu (her dog) with her, which meant that we had a couple of little breaks. However, I’m not used to running with a dog, so I would pause every now and again whilst Lulu stopped to sniff something as I was worried that we would somehow lose her. Luckily, she is a well-behaved dog, so she always came running after us.

By the time we got back to my car, my Garmin was saying that I had done 5.8km. I was a little tempted to jog up and down to make it say 6km, but I know I had run at least 200m before my Garmin started, and I needed to get home.

In the evening, we met a group of friends from Tri Club at a local pub. Everyone who came along is considering doing an Ironman or a half in 2017… and there were quite a few others who are interested, but were unable to attend. A large group of STC people have entered Ironman Austria, which sounds lovely, but I think the logistics of travelling overseas with a young baby might be too much for me. Fortunately, Ironman Weymouth is unlikely to sell out, so I can make a decision much closer to the date about whether it’s a realistic goal. It’s not too difficult to find accommodation, plenty of my friends would be able to come and support and if I’m not ready for a full Ironman, there is a half taking place simultaneously. [Unfortunately, I’ve now heard that Ironman haven’t yet confirmed that there will be an event in Weymouth next year, so fingers crossed!]

Yesterday evening, I marshalled at an event for my other Tri Club – SUTRI. An aquathlon had been organised at the local lake for Freshers. It consisted of a 300m swim and a 2.5k run. I’d have loved to have taken part, but I’m not sure that my wetsuit would fit me, and I was afraid that the water would be too cold. (I was right to think that as it was a chilly 13C/55F – brrrr!)

Stu and I arrived at 5:30pm, but there weren’t many people around. During the day, quite a few people had dropped out. The main group was travelling by public Uni-Link bus. Unfortunately, they were travelling at rush hour and as it is the start of the academic year, the first bus that arrived was full, so they had to wait for another bus.

Eventually, it was agreed that there would be two waves for the event – the people who were ready at the lake and a second wave for the people who were stuck on the bus. This was mainly because the light was going and a long section of the run route is tree-lined, so it’s quite dark even on a sunny day.

I was marshalling at the first main turn. I took a camping chair with me as I wasn’t sure how long I would have to stand for and I get faint if I stand still for too long. The chair turned out to be unnecessary for two reasons: firstly, I was right by some picnic tables and secondly, it wasn’t long before the athletes came past.

I was sitting down when I saw the first runner, so I jumped up and got into position. It was only as the runner got very close that I realised it was Stu. I’ve not seen him wear the lovely tri top that he got at Ironman Copenhagen before. He was looking strong and relaxed… but I was too flustered to take a photo – oops!

When the tail runner came past, I asked him whether the late arrivals were going to be allowed to run, but he didn’t know, so I figured that I had better wait and see.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before I saw a girl in a trisuit coming in my direction, shortly followed by some lads. At the back of the pack, Stu was doing another lap as tail runner.

I picked up some route signs and cones and headed back to the start, arriving just as the final finisher came in.

A quick look at the results confirmed that Stu had won the event in 15:49. He had hoped to be quicker, but I think it’s harder to push yourself when there are no athletes around you (the faster people were mainly in the second wave). He also had a problem in transition as the zip on his wetsuit broke, so it took him quite a long time to get it off. (If anyone can give any recommendations for a man’s wetsuit, I’ll pass them on to Stu. He’s a strong swimmer [58 mins at Ironman Copenhagen – 3.8k]. He’s about 5’8″/173cm tall and weighs about 135lbs/9st9lb/60kg. He currently wears a 19 Rogue).

After the aquathlon, we stopped for a little while to talk to people from SUTRI and other friends who were arriving for a ‘Glow in the dark’ swim. It looked like a lot of fun, but was also a reminder that it’s the end of the open water swimming season here. I hope that by the time May comes around, I can get back into my wetsuit and will be able to join in the fun again.

 

Planning for 2016 and some new kit

There are so many exciting things happening in the next two weeks that I’m going to have to work hard to find enough time for blogging.

Exciting thing number one is a new training location taking shape – there will be a sneaky glimpse next week, but you’ll have to keep following if you want more than a peek! The other excitement is a week dedicated to warm weather training 😀 There are also just eight days left until the end of the Tri Club Merit table – I’ve given it my best shot, but I think it’s too late for me to do much more – fingers crossed that I manage to cling on in the top three as Ian’s not going down without a fight and probably has a few things up his sleeve! Also there are only six days left until voting closes in the Blogging Edge 2015 Awards… and they’ve given me a lovely icon to display on my blog.

My training has been a bit mixed up this week, but I’ve been busy planning, so it should all fall into place soon.

On Monday evening, I went to STC’s swimming session. We did a lot of technique work with fins and then we had to work on our swolf scores (stroke count and time for 50m). I’ve been working really hard on my stroke count and was pleased to be able to consistently swim under 20 strokes per length, with many lengths at 16 strokes! We had to count our swolf three times – I managed 85, 87 and 86. We were told that we should improve each time, but I think I was reasonably consistent 🙂

On Tuesday morning I went to the SUTRI strength and conditioning session with Coach Olly from Solent Athlete.  We did loads of lunges.

That’s me on the right with the green shoes carefully studying Olly’s technique ©Olly Drew

We also worked on what I would call ‘dishes’, but Olly calls ‘hollow holds’ – fortunately, we’re not made to do dish/arch rolls, which I used to find tough at gymnastics. The last part of the session was 6x 2 lengths of walking lunges. It sounds easy, but by Wednesday afternoon my legs were in agony!

Thursday morning’s session was based around deadlifts, which gave my achy legs a rest. I really wanted to do well, but (like on Tuesday) I felt really light-headed and faint, which isn’t great when you’re trying to pick up heavy things. I didn’t feel too bad after the session, but my arms and shoulders have been a bit tired today.

I really love doing the SUTRI training sessions, even though all of the others are so much younger and slimmer than me – it’s definitely a motivation for me to train harder. I’ve put in an order for some kit, so that I can represent the team at parkrun and other events. I wish that I’d had more opportunities to join sports clubs at uni as I might be so much healthier now if I’d been sportier 15 years ago.

On Thursday evening, Liz ‘parcels from America’ Carter came around with my new SOAS kit. It felt like Christmas. I ripped open the parcels and admired my goodies.

I still want to get the run tights in Sunset Cliffs and Barcelona Nights and would love to have the Sunset Cliffs cycling jersey. I’m wondering whether more items will be released in the Aquarius collection soon – I’m sure I saw some tights on instagram… and a crop top… and a totally awesome bikini. That’s all the incentive I need to get my nutrition plans back on track.

This evening, Olly and Sam came around to help me plan my races for next year and also do some general training planning. I’m still waiting to find out whether I have got a place in some popular races, but I know what my main events are. Probably the most important weekend for me will be when I tackle the Long Course Weekend in Wales.

I agreed with Olly and Sam that I’d post my general weekly schedule as it helps to keep me accountable:

I’ve also been talking to LRR about a possible return to coaching, but it’s all going to depend on whether I can complete an assessment day… unfortunately, there aren’t many and most of them are a long way from Southampton 😦

I’m also excited that I’m going to be trying out some indoor cycling with Brightside next week. I don’t really know what to expect, so watch this space!

Finally, I’ve managed to find a few minutes to watch things online:

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Another hectic week

It feels like all of my posts start with an excuse about how busy my week has been, and this week is no exception. Hopefully, I will have more time for blogging in a month’s time when the season winds down. Although if Ironman were to have their way, I’d be entering another couple of events this year!

Tuesday started with a great SUTRI strength and conditioning session with Olly from SolentAthlete. We did some technique work and deadlifts. I really appreciated the mobility drills as I feel like my joints are seizing up :-S

© SolentAthlete

This was followed by another session on Thursday morning where we did plenty of box squats. Olly described the final section of the session as “a tasty posterior chain workout”, which was rounded off with foam rollers and stretching, which felt like torture, even though I know it’s good for me!

© SolentAthlete

On Saturday, I took part in ‘Tim Wilks Day’ with Southampton Tri Club. It is a fantastic event that is held in memory of a triclub member who sadly passed away shortly after finishing a local triathlon. The committee did a brilliant job organising it and I was grateful to the volunteers for supporting us. The event consists of a 400m timed pool swim; a 10 mile time trial and a 4km run in the New Forest… however, transitions are not timed as the events take place in different locations.

I had a bit of a panic when I realised that I would be sharing a swim lane with my other half as I was expecting him to finish about 2:30 ahead of me and I hate the pressure when someone starts tapping your feet. We had a chat with Donna, the timer for our lane, and agreed to have half a lane each so that I wouldn’t get in Stu’s way. I predicted a 9:30 swim time, so was pleasantly surprised to finish in 8:42. I tried to swim at a steady pace, and I wasn’t too exhausted when I finished, so I think I could go faster.

I was really nervous about the bike section. I’ve done time trials with the Embrace Sports crew in Portugal, but I’ve always known exactly where we were going and it has definitely been for fun, rather than a timed event. However, I’ve done a reasonable amount of cycling recently, so I thought I’d be reasonably fit. I said to Stu that I reckoned 35 minutes would be about right for me – I finished in 35:05, so that’s pretty close… but I didn’t realise that in order to get that I’d have to wheeze for the entire ride. It was so uncomfortable. I probably should have stopped and used my inhaler, but I didn’t want to waste time. It also inhibited my cycling – spinning made me wheeze more, so I had to keep grinding away in the big ring.

The 4km run course was on an attractive forest trail. It was well-marked and as someone at the back, I had plenty of people to follow.I started out feeling quite comfortable and with a good cadence, but when my watched beeped at me at 1km and I saw I was running at 4:44/km, I knew it wouldn’t end well. I kept doing the best I could, but was gradually slowing down and others passed me. I was so relieved when I saw Sonia and Claire along with a group of others. I put on a terrific sprint finish… only to find that the group were some random ramblers and that there was still some way to the finish – doh! The ladies were simply there to direct me. A few minutes later, I finally saw the finish, but I had nothing left. It took me 21:27, which was very slow, but at least there’s plenty of room for improvement next time!

Today, I took part in a new sportive organised by Red Skye Cycle Tours. Stu and I chose to enter the Great Oak 70 mile event, which started just after 8am. I was really surprised that only about 10 people had entered the long distance, and only 7 of us were there at the start. We headed out as a group, but after a few miles, one of the women headed off on her own as we were cycling at a social pace.

It was quite chilly, but I’ve learnt from my last two bike rides, so I started out with a SOAS jersey and shorts teamed with arm warmers and knee warmers. I think it would have been good to have worn a buff, but I soon warmed up, so I know I made the right choice.

Although I was unfamiliar with the start location for the ride (Holmsley), there were sections of the ride that I was really familiar with. It was also clearly marked, so I didn’t have to worry too much about following the route on my Garmin. Sadly, someone had removed one of the signs, which had confused some other riders. It’s such a shame that there are so many cycle saboteurs in the New Forest area – they are clearly unaware of how much income this popular pastime brings to the local area.

I had thought that we would get to the rest stop after 35 miles, but when we had gone that far, I was warned that it would be another 6 or 7 miles before we got to the rest stop. Fortunately, we were doing well with spotting Hampshire’s ‘big game’ – we saw wild cows, horses, donkeys, pheasants and even a herd of pigs. I’ve only seen one wild boar whilst out cycling previously, so to see a herd of pigs running alongside the road was great.

By the time we got to the rest stop, I was flagging. Fortunately, the rest stop was really well stocked. I had a banana followed by a granola bar and plenty of jelly beans. I knew that at some stage, the sugar rush would wear off, but hoped that it would be enough to get me through at least 20 miles. I also picked up a pineapple flavoured energy gel to pick me up later and get me to the finish. Unfortunately, we found out that the female cyclist had not made it to the rest stop ahead of us, so we hoped that she hadn’t got too lost.

There were some tough headwinds during the ride that really sapped my energy, but I was determined to finish. I was also struggling as my chest was really aching after yesterday’s time trial.

The final section of the ride included some busy roads. The major road towards Bournemouth currently has some road works, so lots of cars are taking an alternative route near to Matchams. Some fo them were driving at crazy speeds, which was a bit nerve-racking. We also got stuck in a traffic jam.

Most of the ride had been overcast, but in the last hour or so, the sun came out which was lovely – there’s nothing better than cycling in sunshine!

Finally, the campsite came into view. The six of us cycled under the finish archway together. Woohoo! My first podium finish in a cycling event and top 10 overall 😉 (Sometimes it’s important to be selective about the stats you use!)

End of Red Skye Sportive

We were offered a variety of hot meals, which is always a great way to finish an event. Several of us sat down and ate together, before heading home. I felt exhausted, but pleased I took part! My friend, Jules has also blogged about this event – please do read his post.

Several of my friends have been taking part in running races today – mainly 10 miles, half marathons and marathons. It looks like they all did really well… but I don’t think any of them set any world records, unlike Jessica Bruce. This amazing lady has set a new record for running a marathon with a buggy, completing Abingdon Marathon in 3:17:52. I’d be happy with a time an hour slower than that! More about this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-34551782

Finally, I saw this video earlier this week. The stereotypes in it made me laugh so much

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My longest ever swim (and a cold dip in the lake)

It has been such a busy week, so far, so I think tomorrow may be a rest day.

On Monday morning, I had a cross fit session with SUTRI for the first time in a few weeks. There were only 4 of us there and Olly made it quite a relaxed session, with a lot of stretching. I was amazed by how flexible I felt, but I think it may have been down to the super-painful sports massage that I had on Saturday. We did 40 dead lifts (in 10 minutes). I started out with a relatively easy weight and finished at 55kg as I didn’t want to over-exert myself. We also did a lot of wall ball, which I’m terrible at – I think I’ve got a lot of muscle imbalances and throw in a wonky way, which makes me feel self-conscious, which makes me even worse.

I went to STC swimming at 7pm and decided to stay for a double session. A problem with my parking permit meant that I started a bit late, so I was really pleased to be able to swim 3750m. It is by far the furthest I have ever swum (I’ve only swum 2000m or more 12 times, with my longest ever pool swim being 2250m and my longest open water swim being 2.6k. I would have liked to have swum 3800m (as an iron distance swim is 3.8k), but at least I have a goal for another week.

On Tuesday evening, I went to the STC track session, but there was no coach and the others who had turned up decided that it should be a hills session. We did just over 6km with much of it up and down golf course hill, which is a particularly tough hill at the best of times. By the end of the session, I was feeling better, but my legs were tight to start off with. Thanks, Donna for choosing the session!

Lakeside © Try Tri

After coaching yesterday evening, tonight’s session was my first swim in the lake. Unfortunately, a series of accidents and football traffic meant that what can be a 20 minute drive at the right time turned into over an hour and three-quarters 😦 A;though I had been told that the lake was a balmy 17C, I decided to start off wearing my new bootees and orca vest. I have to say that they both worked brilliantly, but my fingers were very cold and my face was freezing. Fortunately, my breathing took much less time to calm down than last year. I did one rubbish lap (mainly doggy paddle!) and then a full lap of front crawl, but the sun was going down and I didn’t want to get colder, so decided that that would be enough for today. Hopefully, the lake will be warmer next time and it won’t take me as long to get there. Stu arrived earlier than me and managed to swim 2 miles!

One good thing about the lake is that the old changing rooms have been demolished, so there are new portacabins, which are really cosy (although the shower temperature still fluctuated between very hot and icy cold). I also felt a bit safer as my NOWCA wristband was scanned in before I started swimming and scanned again when I finished, so hopefully there won’t be any bodies drifting around in the lake!

It’s also been a week when a lot of my friends have been signing up for marathons – Paris, Bournemouth, New Forest and Brighton have been particularly popular choices. I’ll enter the ballot for London next week, but if I don’t get a place, I’m OK with that. I’ve not received any emails about my mysterious free place at Lisbon Rock’n’Roll marathon, but I don’t think it would be sensible for me to add it to my training schedule. It’s really hard being picky about what I will/won’t do. I’m really tempted to do a 5km swim at Stithians Lake in Cornwall on 19th July – it’s the day after I swim around St. Michael’s Mount, so I’ll be in Cornwall, and that seems like a good enough reason to enter!

My first triathlon of the season is on Monday: May Day Tri. Stuart is in the first wave of the day at 8am and I’m in the 4th wave at 8:30am. I’m in a lane with 3 blokes aged 30-45, which seems to be a competitive age, so I’m hoping that I’ll be OK. Some of my friends are much faster than me and they’re in later waves, so I’m not sure how the waves were allocated. In the afternoon, my niece is taking part in her first triathlon, so we’ll stay to cheer her on, which will be fun. She’s a brilliant swimmer and is in her school cross-country team, so I’m sure she’ll be able to hold her own.

What I’ve been reading this week:

• Bike Washing Machine combines cycling with laundry
• Self deprecation and the female cyclist
• Exercise brings me friends, happiness and health. It’s not about losing weight.
• A list of don’ts for women on bicycles (circa 1895)

Finally, following the perpetuation of unattainable physiques by Protein World, it was refreshing to see this fantastic video by my favourite female endurance sportswear brand SOAS:

We Are SOAS from SOAS_RACING on Vimeo.

If you watch closely, you might see a familiar face at 1:20!

Round up of my first week of a crazy year

I’ve set so many goals for myself that 2015 is going to be a crazy hectic year.

I’ve already got back to some training, but I can’t train outside on my bike at the moment and I’m also not back to swimming yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of running. I’ve also been trying to inspire new runners and have been focusing on healthy eating, which is really hard when people keep bringing in to the office boxes of chocolates and biscuits that they didn’t eat at Christmas. I swear that I’m based in an office full of feeders, but I’m resisting them all! I tracking my progress with healthy eating using Giveit100. Follow me at: https://giveit100.com/@tamsynsmith/hdhzbl My terrible videos are also appearing on Instagram, as that seems to be the easiest way to upload them to Giveit100

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Monday: 10k tempo run with LRR
• Tuesday: 1 hour spin with SUTRI (and my first ride on a real bike since before my op! I’m now allowed to commute to work on my bike again, thank goodness!)
• Wednesday: Coaching LRR – which involved doing some squats and some light jogging with some new/returning from injury runners
• Thursday: This was #run2workday. I didn’t feel I could fit in any more running, so I led my first workplace beginners’ running group session. Two of my colleagues came – one of whom is a relatively experienced runner who has had a couple of years off and the other who is a complete novice. The day started with torrential rain, but by the time we went out, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous. We had a fun jog/walk session and I appreciated the opportunity to leave the office and get some fresh air – I must do it more often, as I’m spending too much time at a screen these days.
  In the evening, I did a 5000m track session with STC. I started out way too fast, but settled down for the second 400m. I was a little way back from one of the guys who swims in my lane, and finally managed to catch up with him at about 2.2km. It was very windy at the track, so I decided to tuck in behind the other runner for 200m to try to conserve energy. It was my slowest km, but I think it helped me in the end as I was feeling tired before I started. At about 4.8km, Donna caught up with me, but I think he shoelace came undone, so in the end, I didn’t have anyone to sprint against. Hopefully next time there will be a few more runners who are my pace or slightly faster so that I get dragged along. I’m hopeful that I can get another sub 25 minute 5k time again soon.
  When I got home, I received an email from RunKeeper:
  I’m not really sure that I deserve it, but I’ll take it! 🙂
• Friday: This was rest day… and I was so glad that it was.
• Saturday: I started the day with a parkrun. I love going, but I know that I’m going to have to swap some runs for swims this year. I might alternate until I’ve done my half marathon in April, before switching to swimming almost every week. I was feeling quite tired after Thursday night’s track session, so I didn’t push too hard and was pleased to finish in 26:37.
  
  In the evening, I made some ‘addictive sweet potato burritos‘… only, I didn’t really make burritos, they were more like tacos as my tortillas were a bit small, so I didn’t fold them up. I liked the recipe and may try them again.
• Sunday: Today was the first of the Marafun training runs as part of the build up to Southampton Half Marathon. We did an 8.64km run at a 5:33/km pace (but Stuart threw in some killer intervals). I was tired, so it felt hard, but I know I can do this. Chris was out in town filming the runners – I’m wearing the turquoise calf guards in this video:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1574997442718965

I think next week will be equally busy, especially as it will include my first race of the year: Stubbington 10k.

I’ve run Stubbington 3 times before:

• 2012: 53:03
• 2013: 55:14
• 2014: 55:17

My 10k PB is 51:06 set at Eastleigh in March 2012. At that time, 25:33 was my PB for 5k, and I know I’m faster than that now, so there’s hope that I might be able to squeak a PB at Stubbington (or at least stop my downward trend!)

What have I been reading this week?

• Freeplay – a free online endurance sports magazine for women.
• Why open water swimming is the trend of 2015

This infographic on cycling equipment:

Overall, this week it’s been a relief to have a gentle introduction back into my exercise routine.

Catching up, CrossFit, Ironman Dublin 70.3, Marafun, stir-fry and Santahampton.

I’ve been so busy recently that I’ve not had enough time to blog. I hope that I can find more time in 2015 – I think that perhaps I need to be more productive in my lunch breaks. As I’m struggling to find enough time, I’m trying to add more frequent social media updates:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tamsynsmith
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/tamsynmsmith/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatgirltoironman

One of my aims for 2015 is to focus a little more on my diet and nutrition. I’m good at sticking to a training plan, so I think I need to be as rigid about what I eat to try to stop me from making unhealthy choices. I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve… more will be revealed later.

I’ve been busy for several reasons – one of which is work, but the main one is that I’m trying to get back into regular training, so that it’s not too difficult for me to pick up my half marathon training in January. I’m also desperate to get a 5km PB before the end of the year as I feel like I’m making some progress with my running. I’m also back to Run Leading/coaching with Lordshill Road Runners. I now regularly help Ben on a Wednesday, which is great. It means that I get a rest day in the middle of the week whilst helping other people to achieve their goals.

A month ago, I blogged that I had achieved my best ever race pace. Later I looked at my run on Strava and was surprised to see how well it ranked against my other runs:

I know that I’ve run 1 mile faster than 7:32 (my PB is 7:27), but I’ve never run 5k in under 25 minutes! 🙂 This is great as it means that I’ve a little hope that I might get a 5k PB before the end of the year.

I’ve also been doing a lot more training with SUTRI. I’ve regularly been attending Tuesday night spinning classes. They’re quite different from what I was used to at Bournemouth University. I used to do 30 minute classes and these are an hour, but I don’t find them as challenging – I think this is because I’m fitter and now ride a bike every day. The music is also very different from what I’m used to.

I’ve also been going to SUTRI strength and conditioning classes which are led by Ollie at the local CrossFit box. CrossFit seems to be a Marmite activity, as it divides people into those who love it and those who hate it. The lovers enjoy the group mentality and camaraderie about working with others to push yourselves to the limit; the haters point out the extreme risks that are taken in some gyms where the instructors have received minimal training and rhabdo is common. What we’re doing is a modified version of CrossFit that is tailored to triathlon. Also, I’m confident that the coach knows what he’s doing and isn’t going to get anyone doing multiple reps of an exercise that they don’t understand with a weight that’s too heavy for them.

So far, I’ve been to three strength and conditioning classes. The first one was the day after Gosport Half Marathon, so my legs were a little bit tired. We did a whole range of things that I’ve not done for many years including some pull ups using rings and some squats… lots of squats. There were squats with a medicine ball, squats throwing a medicine ball and just plain squats. I’ve no idea how many squats I did, but the next day my legs hurt and by Wednesday I wondered whether I would ever be able to stand without groaning again!

In my second class, the focus was on inversions. This was much safer territory for me. I stopped doing gymnastics in 2008, but muscle memory means that I still know how to do a handstand. We did a variety of handstands in groups of three and also had to walk up the wall into a handstand position for me. It felt good as I knew that I could do it. We also had to balance in crow position (from yoga). I used to spend a lot of time doing various balance on the beam and have practised this position in yoga, so it was something that I knew I could do. I felt great when the class finished and was pleased that I did not ache afterwards.

Last week, my friend Roelie came along to the class with me. I’m significantly older than the other participants, so it was great to have a friend who’s not in her early twenties to train with. The focus of the session was using kettlebells. A few years back, I did a kettlebell workout with my karate instructor, Sean, but I’ve not used them since then. We spent quite a bit of time working on doing a Russian/Turkish get up (as demonstrated in this video). We also had to do knee-lifts, which involved working the lower abs by raising our knees to our chests whilst hanging from a bar. We had to do this in sets of 10. My biggest concern was whether I’d be able to reach the bar. Some of the taller blokes could reach up and touch it with their hands, whilst I was hoping that I would be able to jump high enough to reach it! Fortunately, I managed it, but it’s a long time since I’ve done anything like that, so my hands didn’t like it!

The only frustration that I’ve had so far is that each class seems to have some burpees in it. Unfortunately, my low blood pressure means that I’m not allowed to do burpees as I always end up fainting. I’ve been told to do the burpees slowly, but I’m not convinced that it has any benefit for me and just makes me look like I can’t do them 😦

On 24th November, entry to Ironman Dublin 70.3 opened for people who had pre-registered. Stuart and I were fortunate enough to get places, along with three of our friends from Southampton Tri Club: Suzanne, Huw and Steve. Unlike Weymouth, I won’t be able to train on the course in advance, but I’m more confident now and I’m hoping that I’ll head into HIM training on the back of some successful half marathon training. My aim is to finish in under 7 hours, which will require me to improve on all disciplines. I think I wasted a lot of time in T1 at Weymouth and my run was poor, so they should be easy places to lose some time.

On 29th November, Rob and Stuart agreed to pace me at parkrun. I had several aims:

• Beat my fastest time at parkrun this year (25:45)
• Beat my Southampton parkrun PB (25:12)
• Beat my 5k PB (25:08)
• Finish in 24:59 or faster

I’ve blogged about how it went – I didn’t achieve all of my goals, but it was my 3rd fastest ever parkrun and I’m confident that with some consistent training and a healthy diet I’ll get there.

I’m now running again with Lordshill on a Monday evening. The pace of the groups is a little inconsistent at the moment, so it’s not always easy to work out which group to run with. I was dithering about joining Stu’s group (Group F) for some sprints when I was asked to help out with Group D on Monday. I agreed to tail run, which was probably a good decision. Before we started running, Teri got me to pose for a quick photo with James who won the Best New Male Athlete award by Southampton Tri Club. Teri humorously referred to us as the ‘king and queen of tri’ – I’m not sure I’m at that level yet, but I’m still proud enough to keep polishing my trophy!

Celebrating my tri club win with James, who was awarded best new male

After running, I headed down to swimming. It had been cold outside, which meant that the pool felt warm for a change… the pool at The Quays is always really cold! It was a tiring session, but it’s always hard to swim for an hour when you’ve already done an hour of strength and conditioning, an hour of running and have spent nearly an hour commuting by bike!

On Thursday evenings, I’ve been running at the track with Huw from STC. He’s a great coach – I find him very supportive and motivational and I love running on the track as it has such a lovely bouncy surface. This week’s session was 600ms. We had to jog/walk/recover for 200m before running 400m at 5k pace followed by 200m at faster than 5k pace. I managed to do six reps before calling it a day. It was a tough session, but I know that it’s what will make the difference when it comes to getting a 5k PB.

On Friday evening, I did a 750m swimming time trial that I’ve blogged about. It was tough!

Yesterday, I didn’t go to parkrun. I’ve been considering having laser eye surgery for a while, so I booked a consultation for Saturday afternoon. I was not allowed to wear my contact lenses for 24 hour beforehand, which meant that I couldn’t do parkrun as I cannot run with my glasses on. As an alternative, I went swimming with STC. I knew it would be tough as it was only 12 hours after I finished swimming with SUTRI.

I hardly ever swim with STC on a Saturday morning, so I had no idea who would be in my lane or what I could expect. Fortunately, it wasn’t too busy and the other people in my lane were not significantly faster than me. I was quite proud of myself for managing 4 lengths of butterfly (my previous best was 1/4 length). It wasn’t great – I’m quite surprised none of the lifeguards tried to save me – but I didn’t drown. Sadly, Garmin thinks I was doing freestyle… but at least it recognised that it was a swimming stroke! I should probably admit that I had fins on… But I also had to do another 4 lengths single arm without fins, at which point I nearly died! Afterwards, we went for a hot drink with some of the others swimmers. It was so difficult to recognise people without their swimming hats and goggles on!

On Saturday evening, I made a lovely dinner: sesame, honey, ginger and tofu stir-fry.

Sesame, honey, ginger and tofu stir-fry

It’s based on an old recipe that I had for cabbage stir-fry.  Ingredients:

• 1 chopped clove of garlic
• Small piece of chopped ginger
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• Some sesame seeds (I used a mixture of black and white seeds)
• Any stir-fry veg (I used mangetout, red pepper [capsicum], baby corn, spring onions [scallions], broccoli spears and a red chilli
• Tofu

It worked out really well 🙂

Today has been a busy day. This morning, Stuart and I ran up to The Common for another training run with the Marafun crew. I dithered a bit, but went into the 9 minute mile group again. If I’m going to get a PB then I’ll need to manage faster than that pace on race day!

After we finished the group run, Stuart and I ran home, where I made some spirulina smoothies.

This afternoon, we joined Coach Ant’s fun run: Santahampton.

We arrived a little late, but it was easy to see where we needed to go as there were plenty of people out with costumes on:

Arriving at Santahampton

The local newspaper had sent a photographer and also a journalist (who turned out to be one of my former students. I love it when I hear about my people I’ve taught doing well).

Coach Ant briefed everyone about the route, and then we were off.

Ant starting the run

I jogged with some people that I know – we were at the back, but that was fine as it was a fun sociable event. I really enjoyed having a chance to say hello to people that I know.

Afterwards, we were all rewarded with a mince pie.

Ant with Sandra and her huskies

My favourite Christmas elf – Liz and her medal.

Secret Santa (aka Rikki)

Papping the photographer – a quick snap of Jules

How’s your week been? Have you got any festive runs scheduled?

Missing in action

I’ve been so busy recently that I’ve failed to post. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get back on course this weekend, but I’m too tired to post much tonight.

This evening, Stuart and I went to a SUTRI swimming session. It was a 750m time trial. I realised when I got there that I’ve never timed myself over this distance, and I’m not sure I’ve ever swum 750m non-stop in a pool before (I’ve swum further than that in a lake or the sea, but that’s easier as I’ve always had a wetsuit on!)

My PB for 400m is 9:30, which is what Coach Peter timed it as back in April. (We did 400m twice that evening, and I managed 9:30 and 9:32, despite it being the day after Brighton Marathon). I used this as the basis of estimating my time for 750m. I assumed that I should be able to do 750m in just under 19 minutes, which would allow for my fatigue by the end of the session.

We did 200m as a warm up, but I realised that some of the slightly slower people who I’ve seen on previous Friday nights were not at training this evening – eek!

Stuart set off in the first wave of swimmers. The coach, Ollie, said that he expected everyone to finish in about 12 minutes. There are lots of really fit young guys, so even though Stu is a strong swimmer, he was one of the slowest people in his wave. I think he finished in about 11:30. Aaarrggh! It did not bode well for me.

The swimmers who had just finished were chatting to each other by the side of the pool. I could see Stu chatting to Kat, so I went over to them. Kat commented that I looked nervous and I said that I was and that I hoped I would finish before the session was scheduled to finish (9pm).

Everyone lined up, ready to dive in… but there was not way that I was going to subject myself to that (I’ve not dived in since last year), so I got into the water. I decided that I would just have to do the best I could and not stop. After I got in the water, I started my Garmin, so that I would not have to fiddle with it when we were told to start, so the time I recorded isn’t exactly right.

As usual, I set off far too quickly. I knew it was a pace that I could not maintain and I struggled to control my breathing, but I knew I had to otherwise I wouldn’t complete the 30 lengths.

After about 8 lengths, I managed to get into some sort of rhythm, but my breathing was still very ragged. I tried to calm down and think about the advice that Huw would give to me. I knew that he would tell me not to try to inhale as much, and not to move my head as much, so I tried to act on that.

Finally, I knew I only had 4 lengths left to swim. I could hear Kat shouting encouragement, but I tried not to speed up too much as I didn’t have enough energy left. (Last night I did a tough track session with Huw, so I was feeling tired).

When I got to the final 25m, I gave it everything I had left – 28s. My overall time: 16:48 on my Garmin (so a bit faster than that).

It was definitely better than I expected, but not nearly as fast as anyone else. I need to make sure that I swim more often as it is still definitely my weakest discipline 😦 My average pace was 2:14/100m, which is significantly better than the vast majority of my swims, but it’s not good enough. I kept reminding myself that I have done a half iron swim in challenging conditions, but I felt incredibly self-conscious and wished that I didn’t have as many people watching me. Now that things are getting back on track at work, I’ll aim to go to SUTRI swimming sessions on Tuesdays after spinning. That will mean that I swim with STC on Mondays, SUTRI on Tuesdays and SUTRI on Fridays. I will also swim with STC on alternate Saturdays… but I might postpone that until after I’ve got a 5k PB at parkrun!

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What I’ve been reading this week:

• Cycling over the Pyrenees with one leg. Really interesting BBC article about Christian Haettich.
• This bottle turns air into water as you ride your bike. What do you think of this innovation?
• Norway has the world’s first bike escalator. The easy way of getting up a hill with a bike.
• An open letter to my high school cross-country coach. This is a really interesting article that espouses the benefits of being part of a sports team.

What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again…

We’ve had torrential rain here for the last few days, but things are starting to look positive. There’s even some sunshine on the weather map for tomorrow 🙂

Monday

The day didn’t start well as car problems meant that I missed out on the strength and conditioning session that I had been looking forward to. I was so gutted about it – I hope I manage to book a place for next Monday’s session, although I imagine that I’ll be tired after Gosport Half Marathon. I didn’t have to rush straight to work as I was booked in for a ‘flu jab. I’ve never had one before as I’ve never counted as an ‘at risk’ category, but my asthma means that I’m now someone who may be more seriously affected. I really hate needles and have fainted quite a few times when I’ve had to give blood, so I was a bit concerned about it. Fortunately, the nurse at my doctor’s surgery is lovely and it didn’t take too long, although I had to sit still for a few minutes afterwards to ensure that I didn’t keel over!

On Monday evening, I agreed to take Ben’s group at my running club… however, this group consists of the fastest runners in the club. They are seriously fast. Their warm up jog pace is my flat-out on the track PB pace. Of course this meant that I wouldn’t be able to run along with them and shout encouragement, and it’s a bit cool to stand around for an hour, so I got on my trust hybrid bike and cycled  around with them. Their main set was 6×1 mile reps at HM pace, which was a comfortable slow cycle for me. It was quite nice to be able to encourage them and I also got to see lots of the other runners who were out training.

After finishing off the LRR session, I cycled to the Quays for tri club swimming. There were only three of us in the lane, but I was by far the slowest one. My left arm (where I’d had the injection) was feeling stiff and tired and it was another impossible set – 12 x 25m off 30s. I decided to ignore what we’d been told to do and just did my best for each length before having 5s rest. We also had to tread water for 2 minutes with our hands behind our heads. I’m not sure whether I was doing it wrong, but it felt quite easy. Bizarrely, I received more praise from the coach than I’ve ever had before, even though I didn’t really do much!

 

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I went to the SUTri spin class. It was the first time that I had gone to a spinning class for two years and my first ever hour-long class.When I worked at Bournemouth University, I used to love going to lunchtime spin classes, but for reasons of time and cost, I’ve not been to any classes since I left BU. I remember that when I started going to classes, I found them completely exhausting, so I was a little concerned about how I would find an hour-long class. Fortunately, all of the time that I’ve spent on a real bike, whether commuting for work or triathlon training, has paid off and I did not struggle with the class. I liked some of the tracks that the instructor played, but I didn’t find the class as motivational as ones that I’ve been to in the past with lots of recognisable recent dance tracks with lyrics. There was also less variety than I’m used to, but I still think it was good and want to go again.

Last week, I went to the SUTri swimming session on Tuesday evening and I am planning to go again, but I had another commitment on Tuesday evening. Recently, Stu and I had a photoshoot with the lovely Sue and Jules from http://www.julianporter.com/ On Tuesday, we went to have a look at the photos that Jules had taken and decide which one we wanted to have printed and framed. Jules has written a blog post about it… it includes lots of the images that he took: http://julesandsue.co.uk/2014/11/lordshill-road-runners-shoot/ If you are in the south of England and need a photographer, I’d recommend getting in touch with Jules and Sue.

 

Wednesday

I really love running on the track, so I was looking forward to the Lordshill track session on Wednesday evening. The weather was pretty miserable, but I think it’s important to train in all weathers as you never know what race day will be like. Ben did quite a long warm up and technique session before the main set started. We were tasked with running 200m at 5K pace +10 seconds, followed by 200m at 5k pace. Ben had worked out how fast we should do each rep according to our PBs – I think I was meant to do 200m in 1:10 followed by 200m in 1:00… but I thought it was 200m at 5:10/km followed by 2oom at 5:00/km, which less of a variance. In the end, I did 200m slow followed by 200m fast, which wasn’t really what we were meant to do. I’m not very good at identifying my pace and I couldn’t read my watch. I think I should have probably relied on my lap button more. I’m not sure whether I did 12 or 13 laps, but it took me just under 26 minutes, which wasn’t too bad.

Garth and Graham at Vankru Cycling shared this fantastic video from Ritte cycles:  http://rittecycles.com/ritte-bicycles/the-rider-diaries-a-chance-encounter

The Rider Diaries: A Chance Encounter from Ritte Bicycles on Vimeo.

Make sure that you watch it to the end!

My next project…

This week has been so hectic. On Monday, I was hoping to be able to go running, but I ended up having to get my phone fixed, which took a lot longer than I had hoped. Fortunately, I was able to make the 8pm swimming session.

There were just two of us in the slow lane, which was nice. Unfortunately, the main set was 12x25m off 30s. This is the kind of set that I hate, as it’s something that is simply unachievable. I can swim 25m in 25s… but that’s a single length swum to the best of my ability. I can just about manage 29s lengths consistently… but I need more than 1s of recovery between them. Although I am willing to be challenged, I find it incredibly demotivating to be given an impossible set to swim. It took a lot of strength not to get out of the pool and leave the session.

At the end of the session, we were asked to swim 400m. I started behind the guy in my lane, which was beneficial as with a bit of effort I was able to draft him, however, after four lengths, he pulled over, so I had to continue swimming on my own. I picked up the pace a little bit and realised that I felt OK. I was also starting to pull ahead of my lane-mate. I decided to continue picking up the pace to see how far ahead I could get of the chap in my lane, but didn’t feel that I was pushing too hard. I was really surprised when I checked my watch at the end to see that I’d finished the 400m in 8:56. It’s the first time that I’ve timed myself over the distance since April, when I did it in 9:30, so I was pleased that I have improved. I’d really like to time myself for an all-out effort as I reckon that I could do it in 8:30 now.

On Tuesday, I booked to go to a SUTRI spinning class and was really looking forward to it. I love spinning, but the last time I went to a spin class was over two years ago when I worked at Bournemouth University. Unfortunately, the evening did not go as planned as my car refused to cooperate and I arrived at the Jubilee Sports Centre 5 minutes late. I walked past the room where the class was taking place, but I couldn’t see a spare bike and I couldn’t face the embarrassment of walking into a full room. After a few minutes of crises and debating just going straight home, I decided to wait in the reception and then join the 8pm SUTRI swimming session.

At about 7:55pm, I went into the pool where I could see a few people gathering at the deep end. One guy was wearing shorts and t-shirt, so I figured that he might be a coach – at last, I got something right. I explained that I had no idea of the format, so I was told that the first lane was mainly mixed drill sets, whereas the other lanes were focused on endurance swimming, with people doing 2-3k per session. I know I’m capable of swimming more than 2k in a session… but then I saw people starting to dive in. I can dive, but only just, so I decided to go into the drills lane.

I did a 50m warm up, by which time more people had got in – there were 12 of us in the lane, which is more people than I’m used to. We did various drills that I’m used to, such as ‘fingertip drag’ drill and ‘catch up’ drill. It was tricky swimming in such a packed lane, mainly because I couldn’t swim slowly enough. Overall, I thought that it was a good start for me as it gave me confidence.

On Wednesday, I led a hill training session with Lordshill. I would really liked to have joined in, but it’s not really possible when coaching – especially as there’s such a wide ability range in the group.

My mum, aunt and cousin came to visit from Cornwall on Thursday. My mum brought my latest project with her – my dad’s bike. It’s a Raleigh Olympus that dates back to about 1977, so it’s older than I am. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do it up and cycle it in Japan. If that plan doesn’t work out then at least it should help me to develop my bike maintenance skills.

Raleigh Olympus bicycle

At the moment, the bike isn’t fit to be ridden. My dad passed away on 23/06/02, so the bike definitely hasn’t been ridden for over 12 years and I would imagine it may have been a few years before then that my dad actually last rode it. I have lots of memories of my dad taking me to playschool on this bike – I had to sit on the crossbar! I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get the bike out on a stand in the garden tomorrow and give it a basic clean. Then I’m going to start with the wheels. I need to buy more tyres and innertubes and need to remove the rust from the wheels.

In the evening, all of us went to see Wicked, which is on at the local theatre. I really enjoyed it, although I probably needed an earlier night.

Yesterday, we went up to London to view the poppies at the Tower of London. It is a really clever idea that has clearly captured the public’s imagination. However, many people seem to be under the illusion that the poppies will magically disappear on 11th November and it was also half term, so there were huge crowds at the Tower.

My mum and two of her four sisters

This morning, I was Run Director at Southampton parkrun. I think a lot of the local students may have been out at Halloween parties so the event wasn’t as busy as it can sometimes be – there were about 515 runners. None of the very fastest runners seemed to be there. I’m wondering whether they are saving their legs for the Lordshill 10 mile race tomorrow!

Final aquathlon of the season

This week has been so busy:

Saturday: Lake swim followed by a run (and then a bit of cheering the junior triathletes at Lakeside)

Sunday: 40k bike ride followed by a 30 minute run

Monday: 1 hour of swimming with some challenging drills

Tuesday: 1:06 on the turbo trainer

Wednesday: 70 minutes of intervals… on my own… in the dark – autumn is definitely here 😦

Thursday: Aquathlon time!

I also signed up for the Uni tri club (SUTri) yesterday and met the president. I’m hoping to join in with quite a few of their training sessions in the next few months and am particularly looking forward to spinning as I’ve not been to a spin class since I left my old job in September 2012.

It is so sad that we’re at the end of the open water swimming season. I know that some people swim outdoors all year around, but I struggle with the cold, so I don’t think I’ll become one of those people any time soon… unless I emigrate to somewhere warmer. (Apparently the water is 26 degrees C in Mallorca at the moment!)

Stu and I headed to Lakeside for the final aquathlon on the season. I wasn’t feeling well and was struggling to breathe this afternoon, so I was feeling a bit nervous and started wondering whether I should drop down to doing the short distance. In the end I decided that I would do the long swim and see how I felt on the run. It’s a two lap run course, so I figured that I could stop after 1 lap if I were struggling (although everyone who knows me know that I would be more likely to crawl 2.5km than drop out of a race).

Swimmers entering the water © TryTri

As usual, I didn’t get in the water early enough to acclimatise. Fortunately, it didn’t feel as cold as it did on Saturday, and parts of the lake were surprisingly warm.

Lining up for the start © TryTri

We all lined up for the customary wave before the start. My partner, Stu, is in the foreground looking directly at the camera (with red bands on the sleeves of his wetsuit). I’m just a tiny head in the background!

As soon as we started, it seemed as though only the really good swimmers had turned up as within seconds, I could see swimmers way out in front. My breathing was ragged, but I decided to focus on having a good time and try not to wear myself out too much before Sunday’s triathlon.

I realised that there were some other swimmers near me, but that they mostly had on white hats indicating that they were doing the short distance.

My goggles steamed up, but I didn’t have any problems with leaks and I maintained front crawl throughout the swim. There were a few other swimmers who were fairly close to me who ended up doing a medley of crawl and breaststroke. It was a bit of a battle between another lady and I, but as we completed our second lap (out of 2.5), I managed to surge ahead.

It’s become apparent to me over the last couple of months that my wetsuit no longer fits. I’m not sure whether that’s because I’ve lost weight or changed shape or because the wetsuit has stretched. Anyway, whatever the cause, it now tends to fold up on me and fill with water, which isn’t much fun and I can’t imagine it does a lot for my streamlining. As I’ve only one triathlon and a triathlon holiday left this year, I’ll live with it, but definitely need a new wetsuit before I do more open water swimming.

Finally, I got to the exit, where I could hear Ben shouting encouragement. I couldn’t see much, but assumed that he was pointing his camera at me, so I thought I’d better look cheerful.

A quick thumbs up and smile that the swim was over © TryTri

Look at all of those fantastic wrinkles in my wetsuit… at least that’s what I hope they are and not rolls of my flesh 😦 © TryTri

Stu was doing the race as a relay (with Jez running for him) as he has a leg injury, so he was in transition when I arrived. I asked him to pick up my belongings when I’d finished, stripped off my wetsuit, put on socks and trainers, put in my contact lenses and was off. It definitely wasn’t the fastest transition – laser surgery had better save me at least a minute!!!

My breathing had calmed down a bit, so I tried to pick up the pace a bit on my run, but my Garmin decided to give me crazy data that kept fluctuating, so I couldn’t rely on it to tell me how fast I was going. I saw Jez go flying by on his second lap, followed by two men and a female runner. I felt great on the first lap, but I think I slowed on the second lap as I was starting to tire. I heard another running catching up with me, but I just couldn’t pick up the pace enough to stay with her and didn’t want to over-exert myself.

My final thoughts were that I needed to ensure that I finished well. My finish photos from Weymouth look truly dreadful – I don’t look happy that I’ve finished, I just look saggy. I sprint for teh line and tried to keep my head up whilst waving my hands in the air. Unfortunately, Ben didn’t quite capture my moment of triumph and it’s a bit blurry, but I’ll take it 🙂

In the final results, Stu is placed first, but he was in a relay team (although he reckons that he could have run a similar time). I still need to work on my swimming (and hope that a new wetsuit has a magic effect), but I don’t think my run was too awful.

I’m a bit sad that it’s the last aquathlon of the season, so I’ll have to console myself by entering some of the TryTri duathlons over winter.

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