A jam-packed week of training & racing saw me keep my mind off the big goal of the year – Barcelona. Every time someone mentions it I reply simply “it’s way off” but in reality it isn’t. I’m smack-bang in the middle of my build period and it’s becoming quite obvious this is a big thing!
The weekend saw us focused pretty much on getting to Holkham in North Norfolk for the Outlaw Holkham Half – a 70.3 in essence. My part to play in this was just to do a 1900m swim in a relay team – playing to my strengths many would say! Pete Dean – a Beccles Tri Club member was supposed to do the whole thing but for several reasons was unable to put the time into training and offered the swim & run to other club members – he would do the bike leg though and we were called Team Dean.
We (Suzy, Suzy’s mum – Cheryl and me) set off just after Saturday tea time and got to Holkham and Pete’s all-singing all-dancing super-caravan. I’ve always had a bitter taste in my mouth when it came to camping, I’d never had a pleasant experience previously so was a bit apprehensive about it. This put the record straight – it was brilliant, I’d even consider getting a caravan now! I think it had everything to do with the company.
After catching up with club-mate Liam, who’d somehow enrolled himself in the Elite start, a quick recce of the transition area, a BBQ where I nearly lost my eyebrows and a bit of banter it was time for bed and a 4:30am start.
Suzy was up early, she was officiating at the event all-day so had a 12-hr stint ahead of her. I followed and after a quick breakfast bar & a banana I was ready to play my part. I walked over to transition with Pete so he could show me where his bike was and after getting carried away with chatting to people the announcer said “10 minutes to start time” and I hadn’t even got my wetsuit on! After a quick fumble I was off to the start and ready to rock, Suzy was already at the start as she was trying to control the start area.
In I stepped……very soft ground underwater, in fact quite quidgy! It dawned on me very quickly it wasn’t mud at all – it was what everyone had been saying was there – duck poo!
Up to my knees in the stuff!
And we were off – I tried not to get carried away like Geraardsbergen and just kept thinking about my stroke and kept looking around to make sure I didn’t get trampled on. The sun was so low in the morning I couldn’t really sight well so I depended on others around me to guide me and it worked really well. Before I knew it I was out and handing over the timing-chip to Pete for his bike leg – my job was done – 41:30.
That was that – a quick coffee and catch up with Suzy and I was getting changed and riding home from Holkham Estate on the coast road all the way to Lowestoft – some 70+ miles. Unfortunately for me it was an easterly wind so headwind all the way home. Oh well -good training nonetheless.
The week on the whole was more of the same – ticking boxes and notching the small victories along the way – remembering it being about the journey.
Monday was a last-minute rest day – after Wildman I was pretty stuffed. My legs ached just going up a flight of stairs and my fatigue looked pretty high so I didn’t want to chance it and pick up an injury – after all there was an England game on the TV so it seemed almost a must!
Tuesday used to be Lotus, now that has finished I swapped round my Tuesday/Thursday sessions to let me do the Great Yarmouth 10-Mile TT on Thursdays. The 105 minute tempo bike session on the wattbike was as difficult as expected but not as much as it had been when I did the same session several weeks ago – must be getting fitter perhaps??
This was followed by a 30 minute run at marathon pace which was quite easy – I’m thinking it won’t be at the end of a 112-mile ride in a few months.
Wednesday saw an early morning swim at Bannatynes, 2000 metres in a 20 metre pool is quite hard to get your head round, I need to have a quiet word with myself when I think that open-water swimming is much better to get the distance done.
In the evening we were off to Bungay to do the second Bungay Black Dog 10k in the 3-race series. Last time I paced Suzy’s mum round to record her gold standard, this time I asked Suzy what her Personal Best was for this event, she said she was feeling tired and told me to run my own race. I started, as many do, a little too quickly, so I settled down to a steady pace I thought I could handle for the distance, after a few minutes people around me started slowing down after their fast first few minutes and I started to catch them up. It’s safe to say I overtook at least 70 people during the event and I think I went as fast as I could to record a sub-45 minute run – something I’ve never done before.
Thursday was my first opportunity to go round the local Yarmouth 10-Mile TT course. My plan was to keep it steady and pick things up later on but the strong headwind out to Bradwell saw me putting in a bit more effort in the first 5 minutes. Not being used to this level of effort was quite hard to take in – I guess if I keep trying at it i’ll get used to it. In the end I went round in 24:16 – only about 20 seconds off my best on that course – not bad for a first attempt.
As Monday was my rest day, Friday now became a training day – nothing much, just an hours’ run round my usual course during dinnertime.
Saturday was the usual Park Run with William & Suzy, but first I had to do 11km beforehand so I headed out about 7:45 to get it in and then finish it off with the park run which I did in 24:16. Again, I started slowly and then started picking things up towards the end although not overly killing myself as I knew Holkham the next day and the ride home needed some energy. William came in at 33 minutes again and said to me “I might need to run during the week if I want to go faster at these”…..FINALLY he understands!
Saturday afternoon also included a 1-hour turbo session just at endurance levels just to keep the legs ticking over.
Sunday – well that was Holkham.
A good week on the whole – no niggles, no missed sessions, all on track (famous last words) and I seem to be getting better at running – although my cycling needs attention, hopefully that’s what the 10 TT’s are for. I seem to be losing weight too – it’s either that or my Heart Rate strap has loosened a bit!
Training Peaks Geeks Time:
115 Fitness. 146 Fatigue. -17 Form.
925 TSS off 13hours training.
4100m swimming
260km biking
41.2km running