Is it down to the lake I fear? Yes it is. Too early - Saturdays don't need two 8ams really.
The lake was colder, greyer and greener than I remembered. I always think of still summer mornings with the sun in a wide clear sky, the lake like a mirror, and the water a balmy umpteen degrees. Today wasn't like that.
After 100m I could breathe. After 200m my goggles had more or less demisted. After 400m I had feeling back in my face again. After 800m I turned around the buoy and into a headwind that was whipping up a few choppy waves - coming back took 3-4 minutes longer than going out, and at times I was aware of the swell.
Still, I'm glad I went. There's something hypnotically satisfying about just swimming continuously, getting into a rhythm and not turning. If I could swim in a straight line it would be even better :) Today's highlight was the hot shower and the cup of coffee afterwards - bliss. Even though there weren't any biscuits left :(
Not a PB, but a year's best at last night's Broadland 5k. So just a little record (groan). Perfect conditions, not too hot and not too cold, quiet roads, lovely countryside, a little bit of up and down but nothing serious. If they hadn't said it had been organised quickly due to some problem with the old Wroxham venue, you'd never have known. Loads of marshals and the best cake stall around (not that I had any!).
I had a really good run, considering I did squats and lunges the day before - a warm up eased my stiff legs (more or less), then the race was comfortable and rock steady at around 5:30 for each km. Although it was chip timed, there was no start-line chip mat so the official results say 27:43. It was 27:21 for 'im indoors, who sped off in front for the first km, slowed up for the second, dogged my heels for the next two and then pulled away up the last hill. Sneaky bugger. I'm not going to the gym the day before the next race, that's for sure.
Despite the energetic dancing of the trees outside, I agreed to go for a bike ride with Clare and Marie. Definitely a bit gusty at times, but not nearly as bad as we feared, and the sun and lack of traffic at 4-5pm on a Sunday definitely made up for the headwind. A lovely social ride - 24 miles via Barford and Wramplingham.
Yesterday I did parkrun (number 9 for me), 28:28 which is a personal second best - ran without a watch, with mp3 player, just doing what I felt like and could have sworn it was much slower than that. So the result was a nice surprise!
Blogging has taken a bit of a back seat since the tri, but I am still here, honest... I'm not quite back into the full routine but I'm getting there. I've veered between a shocking run(-walk) and a great 10k averaging 9:20/mile. I've been out around the block on my bike, had a just-stretching-out swim which was nice, and returned to the gym (just yesterday, as my muscles insist on reminding me).
I'm aiming for a parkrun bimble tomorrow and the Broadland (previously Wroxham) 5k next Wednesday. If the weather's good, a bike ride on Sunday is on the cards too. It's nice having no particular focus, but it may also be my downfall if it means I start skipping too many sessions. I'll keep an eye on that.
My first sprint tri for two and a half years (!). The training I'd done was somewhat undone by a week and a half away from home immediately before the race, and it was a bit of a struggle at times - as reflected in my slow times for the bike and run, leading to a PW for the race. All of the newbies I brought along beat me fairly comprehensively, but I don't care. It was fun :)
The forecast heavy rain stayed away and instead it was pretty warm with a strong breeze. Nothing untoward apart from a minor gears issue while setting up, which was fixed with a bit of help from Alice's Andy. I did have to stop for a few seconds to be overtaken at the end of length 14 of the swim, only to then find myself stuck behind the guy. I've never had to let someone past before and it was kind of annoying especially to be then on his toes, but at least it was only for 2 lengths.
Alice and I started in the same wave - she was mere seconds behind me out of the swim as she had to wait twice to be passed, but caught me about 1/3 of the way into the bike and then gradually pulled away, even on the main road where I thought I might make up a bit. However, a bit of faffing in T2 let me catch up with her again and we started the run together. Not that we were together for very long - I had totally leaden legs for the first mile, which in a 2-mile run is not great. It definitely added a certain something to have someone else so close though.
Barney and Rom also did brilliantly, with Barney only just over the hour and Rom around 1:03.
Now to get fitter and bounce back at Waveney 2... hopefully a good summer will see me improve on the bike. Or maybe even a new bike would help :D
Results: W1'11 {W2'08} (W1'08) [W2'07]
Swim: 7:57 {7:28} (8:01) [8:46]
T1 + bike: 41:43* {39:50} (40:02*) [40:47] *includes T2 as well
T2 + run: 19:15* {18:05} (18:12*) [17:57] *does not include T2
Total: 1:08:55 {1:05:23} (1:06:15) [1:07:30]
Overall position: 97/150 {61/114} (88/130) [72/115]
Women's race position: 19/48 {9/29} (10/31) [15/36]
Age group position: 3/9 {2/5} (2/7) [5/10]
Well, not quite. But after the (relatively) super speedy swim from my previous post, I got stuck into some much needed spring cleaning and DIY over the (for once, glorious) holiday weekend and didn't do any training. The following week saw a 2-day conference where I did at least get out for a 30-minute run eachmorning, just to keep myself ticking over.
I had reasonably high hopes for the field course the following week, and duly packed two sets of kit. Sunday morning saw a 5-mile walk, but on Monday I finally got out for a wander along the path by the Ley, and back up through the village, trying to make it back so as to be able to shower before breakfast at 7.30am.
Little word, "up". But Devon has steep hills, for a girl from the flatlands, and "up through the village" might as well have been the north face of the Eiger. Ouch. So, what turned into a run-walk was actually the last of my training, as the rest of the week saw me too tired to do anything in the early mornings that were the only realistic time to go. And I freely admit that spending a few nights at the pub over the course of the week might not have been the best way to spend a taper... but dammit, I slept well :)
So, there we go. Excuse-ducks all in a row! I'm not feeling as excited about the race as I could be, just because I haven't had full control over the past week, but I'm still up for it. More "let's give it a go" than "bring it on", but sometimes life gets in the way a bit and all you can do is bumble on. Let's see what tomorrow brings. The forecast says heavy rain!
Yesterday's run was truly rubbish, and I felt crap about it all afternoon. I had a long stressful day after that, and this morning didn't go much better. I wasn't even supposed to be in the office, really we get Thursday and Tuesday as additional closure days, but I had too much to do. I planned to leave at lunchtime via the pool, but finally hauled my arse away from my desk at 3pm. I nearly, SO nearly just went home, but my swim stuff was right there... I gave myself a swift talking to, ignored the fact that I hadn't had any lunch (I'd had a banana and my two remaining Graze punnets, hardly starving), and went up to the pool for at least a short swim.
Once in there, I realised this may well be the last swim I get before the tri, seeing as I am away from Weds 27th to Fri 6th, just 2 days before. So, time for one last time trial, even if I'm not feeling up for it - 2 slow lengths to check goggles and nose clip (pah), and then off.
It was hard going. My stroke felt scrappy, desperate even. I had to fumble my nose clip back on twice, and then dumped it in passing at the end of one length in disgust - immediately getting water up my nose. I was breathing hard, every 2 strokes almost, and it felt like my legs were not kicking so much as having some kind of fit. I knew it was going to be bad, but I forced myself to push on. "If you can't swim fast, at least swim strong" was what I was telling myself as I reached and grabbed on to the water in as big handfuls as I could manage, but it felt leaden and messy, not at all efficient or smooth.
I counted lengths all the way, determined not to mess up like last time. Four, I'm a quarter there... eight, that's half... ten, into double figures... twelve, that's three-quarters done... fourteen, come on, last two... push that last one all the way to the end... grab, stop the watch, squint at it... HUH?
7:46
7:46 !!
No way. Is there any way I could have miscounted, should have swum an 8:46? No. It felt slow but not that slow. So 7:46 it is. That's 10 seconds off - insane.
After that I did four recovery lengths in a state of shock (and exhaustion), and then chanced my arm with 5 x 25m sprints - all at 23-24 seconds. Another four recovery and I called it a day and went home. Still stunned.
So, a rough and scrappy, slow-feeling 400m - 7:46.
Goes to show you never can tell... sounds like the cue for a song :)
I don't know what I have done/am doing to my right hip. After running, it's getting quite stiff, especially if I then go and sit on my arse for a while like I do when I run at lunchtime. But it doesn't hurt as such, just feels like it needs a good stretch. Today my knees felt like they were coming out in sympathy, kind of creaky - often I just felt like I was running through treacle, pushing hard to barely move at all. Yet there were times when I felt I was running strong, if not fast, I was holding decent form and could just about maintain the pace.
Oh yeah, pace? Ha - not timed, not mapped, a few walks thrown in for good (bad) measure... maybe 35 minutes? This is not good. I have 2 weeks to pull this together, most of which I am spending away from home. Back to the spreadsheets I think.
Friday: Gym session. Up to 3x10x8kg on biceps, 3x12x15kg on triceps, 3x35s plank, and other Good Stuff. Listened to the last Now Show of the series, managed not to drop any weights while giggling.
Saturday: Riverside run from the Aylesbury Premier Inn. Rock and roll! Actually it was quite nice... wide, surfaced paths along the immediate floodplain of the Thame, a minor excursion up to the top of a hill (bump) to look at the voo (as they say in Norfolk), and then across the river to follow an older path all the way over to the Bicester road, and back again. Lots of dog walkers out, but no poo in evidence (hurrah). Only later was I told about the woman who was murdered down there not so long ago. Damn. I'd have gone faster if I'd known.
Sunday: cheering on Tally (and 34,999 other people) in the London Marathon. And just for a change, not walking 10 miles while doing it, which Mark was probably pleased about.
Monday: Campus run with Conac, didn't log time or distance, probably 3-3.5 miles @ 10 min miles.
Today: biked the Intwood/Ketteringham loop with Kerry, not really a training session as such but I did reach the heady heights of 55kph on the downhill between East Carleton and the Ketteringham monument :)
A bit early, they are only just coming out, but in a week or so this will be glorious!
3.5 miles (ish - there's more zigzagging in the woods loop than I can see from the aerial imagery) in 33:32 (so close...) = 9:32/mile, which is not bad for offroad. More to the point, it was pretty (but not as pretty as Monday when the sun was out and I went for a walk!).
The pool was quiet today, which was odd - I thought (school) Easter holidays would cancel out (university) Easter holdays. But no - I had a choice of 3 empty lanes. Perhaps the fact that it was BLOODY FREEZING had something to do with it (or maybe the pool suffered from the lack of bodies to heat it up?).
Anyway, 7 x 100 max (at uninspiring times ranging from 1:55 to 2:00) and 5 x 50m sprint (ditto, 55s to 58s). A guy got in with me and proceeded to do slowish front crawl, but I just timed the rests so as to keep out of his way completely or overtake him early on. When I moved to the next (empty) lane later, for the sprints, he was keeping pace with me doing breaststroke...
About 4.5 miles at Conac, with Jeanette and Emily and a few others. In the rain, but leading to a lovely sunset and, opposite, sunlit dark clouds. No idea of the time I ran for. Probably about 10 minute miles, but my pace sense is not the most reliable... Ah well. Call it a recovery run!
Same bike ride route as last week. One more companion (Kerry). Same lovely weather. Added in three sprints (High Ash Road, and two on the B1135) after realising that I only have this and the Easter weekend left to do any proper bike training. Eeek.
The sprints felt great... for about 30 seconds each time. Then my quads started complaining - gently whingeing at first, but moving into full on Monty Python Dead Parrot mode. I was wary in case I got cramp, but that never materialised, so I pushed on. No idea how fast I went for the most part, because my bike computer was being temperamental, but on the last (flat, straight, headwind) sprint I was nudging (and struggling to keep) 30kph. I think gym + parkrun + lots of cleaning isn't really the best way to prepare (so no housework for me before the race :)
First parkrun in yonks today. There were about 199 more people than in the photo above :) Glorious weather, not a cloud in the sky - perhaps a teeny bit chilly in the shade, but that's all to the good. Keeps me moving. The cool headwind along the only incline was welcome too.
No watch so no pressure for a particular time, I was just out to enjoy it and I did. Despite stiff legs and various other aches from yesterday, it felt good to run and I was steadily passing people all the way. I couldn't put a finger on a time while I was running, but judging my pace as best I could I thought I was in with a reasonable chance of a PB (previous PB 28:35). It turns out I knocked 43s off, running 8:58/mile to get 27:52. Wheeee :D
About halfway I looked back down the course as I rounded a corner and saw Mark (training regime: bugger all) about 20-30s behind me. For the rest of the race I expected him to appear over my shoulder but he never did, and I had the fun of watching him sprint finish with a bunch of other guys (it was the timekeepers I felt sorry for!). It's not often I beat 'im indoors in a race so clearly the training is paying off - although I have to say I won't be doing weights in the gym the day before the tri. Now I'm wondering what I could do on fresh legs...
