3 weeks until my first tri of the season. How did that happen? I had been totally geared up for full on training, great diet, cutting down the booze, etc. Then, the school holidays arrived and it went downhill rapidly from there! I usually have a well planned training routine which goes along the lines of: drop kids at school, have a run/swim/spin/cycle, walk dog, fit in some work…
… However, over the two week holiday my training consisted of one evening swim – Andy (my very tolerant husband) walked through the door and I walked out. I’m not used to swimming so late in the day and it felt like a real struggle from start to end. We then took the kids to Devon for a week with my family, which was wonderful, but a challenge on the training front. I did manage 3 runs, which got slower as I ate and drank more. I’ve never seen hills like it and admit to walking up the steepest inclines I’ve ever encountered. That’s it! However, I’m sure the Devon hills helped because running on the flat is going to feel a breeze. I even managed to multitask and took the kids out on a bike ride while I ran along with the dog. Managed 3 miles in an hour due to an unplanned stop at the swings!
Yesterday the kids went back to school and I got back on track by joining my ladies tri group for a really full on training session. I believe ‘Fartlek’ is the term for what we did, or as Wikipedia describe it: ‘Fartlek which means “speed play” in Swedish is a form of interval training which puts stress on the whole aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise’. Boy it was tough and I’m aching everywhere today! We pushed ourselves and ran as fast as we could for one minute then had another minute recovery before repeating 9 times. Jo, our coach, explained that if we can manage just one session like that each week, it will gradually increase our average running pace. I like the sound of that and will try and incorporate it into my training, along with everything else.
My biggest news is that I’m the proud (and slightly nervous) owner of a fabulous road bike. I did a lot of research and eventually decided to go down the second hand route, hoping that I’d be able to get a better quality, higher spec bike, even if it had been ridden before. I came up trumps and through my well connected contacts (Jo and her bike shop owner friend) was put in touch with someone who had a nearly new bike which had done no more than 15 miles. The best news for me was that the previous owner was exactly my height, which meant that the frame was the right size. Honestly, I could nearly pick it up with my little finger and it feels like I’m riding on air compared to my clunky old mountain bike! I’ve spent far too long looking at it and now need to get out on it. Will let you know how it goes in my next installment, just hope I’m faster….
Comments are closed.