It’s been a seriously “interesting” week this week. As the blog title says one minute I was “up” and feeling confident my training is heading in the right direction, the next there definitely was a “down” where in a space of an hour it all crashed around me and I was contemplating whether I would actually make it to the start line this weekend , let alone Barcelona in 5 weeks’ time!
Thursday was the definite roller coaster day. I had planned on going to Fritton Lake after work and get in the water to keep the momentum going after 3000m at Ely on Sunday followed by 2000m in the river behind Beccles Lido on Monday night. I planned on doing 3 loops of the 750m course and going home ticking that box, instead I pushed the limit a bit and did an extra lap and then 1-lap of the short 400m course, with a little movement in the swim I ended up doing 3500m – only 300m short of the Ironman distance I’ve been building up to. To say I was happy with that was a bit of an understatement – with only another 6-7 minutes swimming I was on course to go sub 1:30hrs which was always my intention. A quick shower, get in the car and go home and then all of a sudden…..PAIN.
It looks as though the cold water had irritated a nerve in a dead tooth I had capped years ago, I was debilitated and actually couldn’t drive! I stopped several times and in the end I got home in absolute agony. Suzy came back from running club about 20 minutes later to find me in a heap in the bathroom crying with pain. In no timer at all this was unbearable for her and we were in the car to the local hospital for pain relief. As I wasn’t critical and my condition was not life-threatening I was definitely “back of the queue” and eventually was seen to at 4:30am. During this time I was pretty emotional on whether I could actually carry on training – well if I can’t eat without pain then I was stuffed! A pretty large over-reaction looking back but Suzy warned me of this “Ironman Training” and what it does to your mental state.
In the whole time I was in the A&E department it was clear they were understaffed, the receptionists on numerous occasions did not respond to people collapsing or being sick with any urgency – maybe it’s me but I couldn’t see anyone suffer and turn a blind eye but these guys had it off to a T!
Anyway, knockout painkillers in-hand we set off home for some sleep. Just over two hours later whilst I was still drugged up and in deep sleep, Suzy was calling all local dentists to get me an emergency appointment – the majority of the answers was in one or two weeks’ time – when she told me I was amazed. How on earth can dentistry not be urgent? What do people do? Do they just eat pain killers for two weeks? Looks like the NHS has some work to do in this area for those in urgent need.
Luckily, my old dentist had my records and had a last-minute cancellation so I was in that morning and the offending tooth was pulled right there. I was reprimanded by the dentist as “this is what happens if you don’t see us for 4 years”. He might have a point but I recall 4 years previously I spent several hundred pounds on my teeth only to have caps fallout some two weeks later. At the time I thought “what’s the point” so never went back….until now.
Suzy had to go into work whilst I fell asleep on the sofa and slept the whole day. When she came back she too was wiped out and in fairness it took her the next three days to catch up.
With that nightmare over and done with it was time to get back to ticking boxes then!
Monday, although my usual rest day was changed to an evening swim session in the river at the Beccles Lido. I have got used to heading against the tide for 25 minutes to then come back in 12-15! This session was no different although there were only 4 of us on this occasion.
Tuesday was my new day off as I had an appointment with Kirstie – my sports therapist. Along with the “eyeball-bulging” pain she inflicts on me from time-to-time we do chew fat and put the worlds to right. The word “therapy” can be taken in so many ways during this session. I come out repaired, rejuvenated and focused on what needs to be done. I seriously don’t know why there are times when these sessions are missed for months at a time – they are vital. I MUST CONTINUE.
Wednesday was a double day session – an AM and PM session, both with equal intensity and length. In the morning I set out from home before breakfast on a 10-mile run around north Lowestoft. Then to work. Then straight to the gym and the Wattbike loomed for a 2-hr set at tempo slightly above half-ironman effort. After an hour the wheel fell off and I had to take little 30 second breaks every now & then to mentally get through the next hour, but I did it and that box was ticked.
Thursday – well that was the swim and the subsequent time spent in hospital!
Friday – write off 🙁
Saturday started with a repeat of Wednesday’s 10-mile route which then ended with my 30th Park Run. Just to put some icing on top I ran home, taking a bit of a detour totally just under 2 1/4 hours – exactly what the plan wanted me to do. In the afternoon after another small nap I did a pre-race “opener” session to see if my legs were ok to go to the race in Mildenhall the next day. They were “ok”. Not “pinging” but “ok” so I decided to race.
Sunday was the Mildenhall Triathlon Sprint + event. As there was no open water swim the 25 metre local pool was used to do 600 metres, then the Olympic distances of 40k and 10k were on the cards for my “ok” legs to handle. Suzy was booked in to do the Sprint but she opted out earlier in the week. Keen to “train in a race” I was intent on putting a number on my back and getting on with just another training session.
Subsequent to my last blog there were many of my good friends who commented on me racing each & every week and they were concerned for my mental state and being injury-prone. I do understand all that but as I said in my social media replies – it keep me sharp and focused when I put a number on my back. Or else it’s just another training session. I understand it’s an expensive way to train leading towards Barcelona but it’s one hell of a year already. My medal rack is getting quite crowded and I have an extensive selection of swim hats! (Waynes World Quote – “extensive selection of hairnets”)!!!
Joking aside – Don’t worry guys – I do listen to you and I have reigned the race efforts in….a bit.
These events always make me nervous, you race to win but there’s that part of me to just tick boxes – it’s a constant argument in my brain at these events. I was so nervous I ended up miscounting my swim laps and did an extra lap – completing 650m instead! I didn’t know this until I downloaded my data from my Garmin 🙁
Swim done, now time to play on the bike! I had heard this course was fairly flat and therefore fast so I was keen on keeping the power up the whole two loops – that I did and I also took the single lap and double lap KOM’s on Strava. I came in, put my running shoes on and then set out to just jog round the course.
Weirdly enough I set out quite slow but as the event went on I picked up the pace and ended up doing the run leg in 45-minutes. That’s quite impressive for a big lad like me – nothing compared to good friend Carl Prewer who went round in 35 minutes, I mean that’s RAPID! He got 4th overall.
In the end I did the event in 2:01hrs, which if you think if I did a proper 1500m swim I would’ve got a sub 2:30hr time which is a big benchmark in Olympic Triathlons. I took 10th place overall and 3rd in my age group so happy with ticking boxes and getting a top-10 in a “longer than sprint” triathlon so pretty happy overall.
What a week!
Training Peaks Geeks Section:
Fitness 117. Fatigue 143. Form -20.
Total Time 11 1/4 hours. 942 TSS.
Swimming 6180m. Bike 180km. Running 51km.