Having written my last blog whilst out in the middle of Majorca it’s easy to forget the minor details. I think I read it somewhere that your brain has over 40,000 thoughts in a day and only stores and ponders on about 2000 as it cannot hold that amount of information. It filters stuff for you, or else our brain would be approximately about 4 times the size of what they are already. I think I’m going through a lot of that at the moment by adding extra new podcasts, new books, new white papers on training methodology etc. A lot of it I listen to whilst out riding my bike, mainly in the endurance zone – in fairness anything harder is done to house or trance music to keep the tempo “upbeat”!
I recall a fitness guru doing a speech at a fitness convention I was attending about 20-odd years ago, saying that if I was to read a book or a white paper once a month, after two years I would be the most educated fitness professional out there – it’s only recently I’m starting to do this again (after retirement from my full-time fitness career) to work towards being a more knowledgeable coach. Adding into the mix the world of podcasts and Youtube videos and I have another realm of information I can sift through to learn new things.
The reason I’m reflecting on this at the moment is that I was sent a screenshot of a personal trainer/coach charging nearly £600 per month for his services! Yep – you heard that right – £600 AND with a minimum of 3 months commitment. I’m sure they are very good at what they do and they seem quite knowledgeable. And I guess, we live in a world of supply & demand and if people are prepared to pay that amount then I guess they’re worth it. But I do wonder why?
Anyway…
Last time I posted something I was in the middle of our Mallorca trip, just about to greet friends and acquaintances from Beccles Triathlon Club for their 5-day training camp. To say it went really well is a total understatement. Everybody enjoyed themselves and it’s safe to say it will be happening again. Many on the camp have come out the other side with a lot more confidence, whether that’s on the bike, in the sea on running. Some rode with me for those longer bike rides and Suzy took the majority of the camp to local favourites. The weather was kind and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Once we had waved goodbye to them, it was only a matter of a week before we would return to the UK to return “back to the grind”. So we made the best of things and headed out, ticking off boxes and routes & climbs both Suzy & I wanted to do before we came back. I headed to Sa Calobra on the penultimate day – committed to going under 40 minutes for the first time. In fairness I didn’t feel great at the start and just did what I could to keep the pace as hard as possible without blowing up, and it was only when I got back to the hotel & downloaded the days’ ride did Suzy message me to congratulate me for doing it – I was pretty surprised to be fair but happy knowing that on this trip I had PB’d up every climb on the island.
Back home and the weather didn’t follow us home – we were met to single-figure temperatures!
We came back on the Bank Holiday weekend so it’s safe to say it’s to be expected that weather is bad on these weekends.
A week later I was straight back into racing action – although my body still was a bit lethargic from the 3000k completed within the last few weeks abroad. The event was a 25-mile Time Trial – an “out & back” affair on fairly rolling roads. I started well enough but the anticipation of a slight tailwind on the way back never materialised and my head dropped and I was wishing for happier climates for the next 25 minutes. That being said I still managed a course PB and got 8th overall so I guess I have to be happy with that. The next few weeks saw a few 10 mile & another 25 miler where I picked up 6th & 8th places as well as course PB’s so again – I need to acknowledge those performances instead of whinging how I could’ve done better.
Fast forward to the weekend that has just passed and I headed to Nottingham Outlaw Half to take part in the Aquabike event – 1900m swim followed by a 90km bike. Knowing that I took my wetsuit to Mallorca and failed to go in the sea for the whole trip – I had fallen out of love with swimming. In fairness I don’t really like sea swims – the saltiness, the back of your throat being sore, the inflamed lips (is that just me?) – I prefer lakes and freshwater rivers any day of the week. And prior to Mallorca I had very little appetite going to my local pool to stare at the bottom for 30+ minutes.
But…Nottingham was looming so I had an opportunity to get in a local lake venue that had just opened up after a 7-year hiatus and I bloody loved it! Right – let’s get on it then (with two weeks to go)!
So, here we were, in Nottingham and let’s be fair – I had no intentions on being at the pointy-end of the race so I had already decided to get in the water at the back-end of my swim wave and just get through the swim to then enjoy my bike-part of the race.
Alongside me, there were 3 Hashtag Coaching athletes jumping in – two coached by me and one by Suzy, so there was a little bit of distraction (I think for the good) to allow me to concentrate on their preparations instead of mine.
As it turned out Suzy’s athlete had an amazing race, chipping off nearly 15 minutes off her Aquabike time. My two – one took over 30 minutes off their previous 70.3 time and the other, disappointedly had a rear flat tyre that couldn’t be resolved – however, her swim time had improved massively to go under 40 minutes for the first time – and not by a little – a lot – 36 minutes.
My race – well, I walked past the timing mat, sat on the side of the starting pontoon and dropped myself into the water slowly and just began to swim as if it was a midweek dip with friends. I had no intention of smashing it and gassing myself before the ride so I just kept a good tempo and amazingly came out in 33 minutes – my fastest swim at the event ever. I was 100% sure the course had been shortened.
Into T1 and I was frozen by the wind chill and all I could think was “I hope it warms up a bit on the bike”. Suffice to say it did, I don’t think the weather improved, it was just my effort and the adrenaline of being pretty fast on the bike that kept me warm or distracted at least.
Previously at this event, I’ve always gone off full throttle and wondered why I die in the 2nd half. This time, I stuck to my trusted numbers despite seeing one rider go past me pretty fast. Within 20mins I sailed past him and thought to myself “that would’ve been me in previous years”. I stuck to my number range and sailed past at least 200 riders not being past by one single person over the whole course to post a 2:16hr time – some 3 minutes quicker than any Nottingham time.
This, to my amazement, won me my Age Group and put me in 4th place overall out of over 100 competitors. Again – I sit here knowing there were points I could’ve gone faster but I have to remind myself that I actually won when I wasn’t even going for it. After Almere’s win last September I had given up on the idea of winning an Aquabike again – but here I was…
So….
The next few weeks are mental by anyone’s standard.
I won’t go into the complexities of it all by suffice to say my mileage might go up a bit in the next few weeks. I’ve a few events to take part in. This weekend a big ride, a couple of 10’s, a last-minute replacement doing the bike-leg of a 70.3 next weekend – Suzy’s doing the swim and her work colleague is doing the run so I think that will be quite chilled. There’s a big ride planned with a friend (I’ll talk about that in the next blog) and a holiday in California followed by another big ride (TBC).
The point of these big rides was to tick some boxes ahead of my Operation in Autumn this year, it’s no secret that I’m convinced something will go wrong in the Op and I won’t be able to ride my bike again, at least for a few years, so I set myself some big goals this summer and I’m trying to tick them off one-by-one before I go into hospital. That being said the consultant has now said the operation procedure has changed and it’s much less intrusive. It still requires them breaking my leg again to reset it but there’s no longer a need for an external fixator (a halo). Instead it’s all wedged and fixed internally so to avoid infection and he (the consultant) suggests it’s a quick turnaround and I”ll be back on my bike in no time – we’ll see. I’ve just had my CT scan to give the engineers an idea on how they are going to approach my surgery, and I’ve just filled out some paperwork online outlining my post-operative care so… I guess I’ll soon be given a date…
Speaking of dates, more than previous years, and I’m not sure why, I’m very aware that it’s my crash 4th anniversary in a few days. Like I said, I’m not sure why but I’m guessing it’s because I’m in a fairly healthy state at the moment both physically & mentally. Yes I have a gummy leg and I can’t run but on the Gand scheme of things I can ride a bike, I can swim, I can go to the gym, I’m heading a really amazing community in Hashtag Coaching where I celebrate every single achievement by any athlete, large or small. There also a new branch – Hashtag Coaching TT Club – several of us are now affiliated with Cycling Time Trials under the Hashtag Coaching banner and we’re already celebrating successes on & off the podium. A great bunch of people, including Suzy who’s announced doing the coaching staff – she’s already coaching a handful of people. It’s not about the money to be fair – it’s about helping people becoming better athletes, better people both physically and mentally – becoming more confident individuals throughout every aspect of their life through sport. The money just covers the platform we use and the insurances – I feel I’m drawing back to that £600 per month guy so we’ll leave it there…!
Onwards…!