Under normal circumstances this time of year is exciting, races have been entered, in fact the first two would’ve been under my belt – the Crest RR and the Ike Saul RR. The Crest was cancelled last week due to The Beast from the East crippling the country. In fairness I didn’t enter it, last year’s event was a massive wake-up call to my climbing ability (or lack of it) and made me question my whole winters’ training and forthcoming season. I didn’t enter The Ike Saul either, I would’ve taken part in it this morning as my training isn’t Road Race designed – it’s all about steady state, Ironman Pace, Tempo, Threshold….never beyond that, never Road Race “200%” pace. So, I decided to give it a miss. In fairness I envied my Team-Mates (Harley & Titch) going there today but I knew it would be difficult to survive the race, let alone to feature in it.
So instead it was a 3:40 ride in the rain with Gentry & Nickers. The 76 mile route was an old route we used to take several times throughout the winter but this was the first time we did this for several months. Taking on Southwold, Leiston, Saxmundham, Framlingham (coffee stop), Peasenhall, Walpole, Halesworth, Beccles and home. The average of 21mph+ definitely took it’s toll as I had a nap this afternoon!
Instead, and against all common sense I’ve entered a Road Race at Lotus next weekend. These events usually are 27mph for just over an hour…this one’s for nearly two! And adding to this all the local “big guns” are attending and some semi pro’s from further afield, making this a matter of survival for as long as I can. This is a far cry from the TT’s I have planned – first one being the Good Friday 10 near Harleston and a few sprint tri’s just to get the juices flowing. April’s pretty much booked up so it’s nearly time to put all that winter effort and box-ticking to good use. Of course it’s all about that big event in October but let’s have some fun on the way. Suzy just picks one or two events each year which is ok, but, I’d just have endless sleepless nights thinking about the training going into one event so I just race each weekend to de-sensitise me from the race preparation and trying to avoid the nerves on the day when it matters.
Onto the weekly round up…..
Swimming: Annoyed that I missed one of last week’s sessions I did it this afternoon. Not one of my best ideas as I was empty from this morning’s ride. But I still did it. Total for the week was 3600m so happy with that.
Running: I’m getting faster, well, when I say that what I mean is Suzy has set the training faster! In fairness I did say the speed sessions were getting easier so it’s progress. Only 14km this week but I know that’s going to change soon, next week in fact, when I go to 4 sessions each week.
Cycling: 8hrs of cycling. About 270km and a lot of that near threshold so I can’t complain.
Weekly Stats: TSS-706. Fitness-81. Fatigue-106. Form- -3.