running – Page 4 – The Jilted Triathlete

Holkham Training – Week Three

This week has been a very mixed week. As much as my fitness is improving – Coniston 14, general rubbish sleep and being busy has wiped me out this week so I have barely stuck to the plan – on the plus side though – I’ve found some cycling mojo again and seen major improvements in my CSS time. I’ve also managed to be relatively sociable – a committee meeting, a trip to the cinema and a evening at my mates, eating and generally chatting.

Swimming – 2500m – A very short week swim wise. Literally just due to tiredness but still. I did my CSS test with a mate on Thursday night and surprised myself to be honest, I wrote about it midweek – see here if you’re that interested! Apart from that, there isn’t more to say – the swim doesn’t worry me – although getting round in a good time would be rather nice! Swimming at my local lake started this weekend but it is too cold for me at the moment!

Cycling – 45.7km – This has been the bigger thing for me this week – I ended up having to take the summer bike off the turbo to go and pick my car up from the garage on Friday as I knew my other winter bike wouldn’t fit back in my car with mudguards. It’s first time I’ve ridden my summer bike this year on the road – and it really brought back my cycling mojo – I’ve just been so down about my own cycling and lack of over winter. It was only 12km to the garage but I managed to hit some of the speeds I was in the summer – peaking at 24mph through Elvington – short, sharp blast – proved I could still do it! So on Saturday, after work, I managed to get myself out on the bike for a 20 mile loop around home and really enjoyed it. It did help that the sun was shinning to be fair. Just glad to be finally getting myself back out.

Running – 5km, Ok this is really poor, even by my standards. I was going to run post committee meeting on Wednesday but I was just so tired. This week has really got to me and my general enthusiasm has waned. I’m not worried and just putting it down to general tiredness.

I’m really looking forward to next week though – I have only one private tutoring appointment as opposed to three and because I worked Saturday, I am off the day job Wednesday as well as Thursday. Hoping the Easter holidays will provide a little bit of quiet and rest as I won’t be working bank holiday Monday either. Hopefully next week I will be able to stick to the plan a bit better – and possible up my protein and sleep! Oh and actually doing some strength and conditioning work – might be wise!

Coniston 14 – PB!

It was a PB – just! Half marathon distance – 2:35:54 – official race time – 2:45:41.

Coniston 14 is a road run – around Coniston in the Lake District. It was this or Keilder Night Sky and I missed out on a place (my own fault) at Kielder. Regardless, Coniston 14 was going to be another solo road trip and another epic.

Alarm went off at 5.30, I hit snooze. Finally dragging myself out of bed, sorting kit, sorting the car and eating breakfast, I was out of the house for 7.10am. As is normal on such road trips, the music was loud, the mood high and second breakfast awaited at Scotch Corner Services. A routine/ritual that signals road trip!

I rocked up a little later than intended to Coniston – made things a bit more rushed than I would have liked but to be fair, there was only me to sort so wasn’t really a big deal. Parked up, got myself sorted, went to the loo, had a chat to some other ladies in the same queue and wandered up to the start line – still wandering up when the whistle went – although my plan was to start near the back and just plod it out.

I’ve decided I need to get more familiar with looking at the profile of races – this will become clearer in a minute. I was expecting the second half to be harder. In the car driving over, you drive part of the course and there was a little voice in the back of my head whispering ‘what the hell have you signed up for?!’ Undulating. That would be one word for it! Before the start there were a few frantic texts out to friends along the line of ‘arghhhh” and ‘wtf have I signed up for?’.

The first four miles – well. They were both awful and hard and great all at the same time. You only need to look at the elevation to see why but it was constant up and down – then it got better but for the first 4 miles I really did wonder whether I would make it round. My glutes started twinging (another reminder that I need to do gym work!) first. I really did worry.

Then suddenly I found a bit of run mojo and I found some sort of pace that was comfortable and I started to enjoy where I was and what I was doing. Wonders will never cease, and slowly the miles started to tick by. Don’t get me wrong, my feet were not particularly happy – but around the mile 9-11 mark, I had some really good chats with different people and at mile 10-13 I ran with a chap called Tim, another cyclist from Lyme runners who was selling his track bike – Coniston was his longest ever run – we walked a huge hill – see photo of the elevation, but ran back down and into Coniston – where I left him to get to the finish.

What did I learn though while running this course?

Running can occasionally be enjoyable. I could probably have pushed harder too.I need to run more hills – and do some strength work.
Tailwind Nutrition in my water (I wore a running vest – not many did but it was so worth it) – it’s awesome. Top running fuel – no bonking or major hunger pangs at the end – really impressed me – as I have mostly used it on the bike. No bad guts either.
I miss running races – I haven’t really done many for a while – but it was nice to be out with others running!
Local, smaller events are usually better (this isn’t anything I didn’t already know!).
The Lake District makes for fab races!
I can actually run a hilly half marathon.

Slightly sore and uncomfortable – all the marshals and the course were fab – lots of support and cheering – and possibly one of my new top fave races – although not knocking CTS Northumberland off its perch!

What was even better – I knocked about a minute of my half marathon PB – and on a hillier course (Brass Monkey = flat – but I had barely trained for it). I am really looking forward to Edinburgh half marathon now!

I just need to get the cycling sorted (my epic road trip home involved picking up a new bike….)

Holkham Training – Week One

So first week of my half-iron training done. I’ve included an introduction – so will be a longer blog than maybe normal but seeing as I’ve few readers and this is mostly for my benefit – meh!

Training plan background and general introduction

I am following the plan from IronFit Triathlon Training for Women by Melanie and Don Fink. Why? Because it was the Be Iron Fit plan that the ex had followed for his IM training and it had worked for him and after a year and a half of it, I had a good feel for it. The Half Iron plan from the book follows a similar layout to the Be IronFit one to be fair so the routine is one I am used to. I am also using TrainXhale to map my training and record it (as well as Strava and Endomondo – I like stats). My base in terms of run fitness and swim fitness have been pretty good. My cycling has fallen by the wayside a little – but it’ll come back. I always worry more about my running but the cycling is creeping in a little. Regardless – going back to the ‘plan’ – The IronFit book has three levels of plan – complete/intermediate/competitive – I’ve looked at the intermediate and the competitive – and used a combination of both to make my training plan – the main differences between the intermediate and competitive were longer brick sessions, an extra bike session and longer swims. I know where I can tweak according to other plans. I have also taken on an extra day at work.

General issues

Beyond training – I struggle to eat properly at the start of the week due to work commitments. Last Sunday after a long run, I tried to be mega organised – I came home and cooked enough food to feed an army. Well, ok maybe a little bit of an exaggeration but certainly enough to get me through the start of the week. This has proved to be an absolute godsend and worked really well. I ate well and felt better for it. Until I scoffed my face at work with too much cake and sweet stuff – I need to be careful NOT to over eat on the premise that I am training more and need fuel. It doesn’t work like that!

I also need to find time to actually chill out, rest and do other things beyond triathlon – hard when I am in the middle of renewals, had Members’ Day to organise and a business to run (which I really need to get on top off and advertise more!). I managed to find some time this week and despite being tired, binge watched some ‘Nailed It!’ on Netflix. I also managed to be sociable and went out for tea with a friend I haven’t seen in years.

Anyway – on to…

Training!

57512105325__b2990fc6-3e7f-444f-bf82-045dc4bf38bd — Recovery! Chocolate milk is just the best after a long slow run!

Swim – 3 swims, 5.65km. Well, I still have the same niggles I’ve had for ages, didn’t quite get the distance I wanted either but think I may need to reassess my swimming and when I swim as quite often my pace is all over the place. I’m not worried though. Swim is swim. Nothing else to report!

Bike – 2 x Turbo sessions – 48.52km – One session was the 4wk FTP Booster Wk1 Day 6 Tempo with Accelerations and the other was literally 75 minutes of spinning/endurance. Nothing to report – I really need to get out on the bike. The second session nearly was – it was after being at Members’ Day all day and the faff of getting lights and kit out just did not appeal despite the weather.

Run – 2 x Treadmill, 2 x Runs – 35.9km total. Did my first long slow run (lsr) in a LONG time on Sunday (before I actually started my plan on Monday) and it was actually really enjoyable. I can’t believe I’m saying that about running, although I always did prefer a LSR to sprint and tempo sessions. Sore feet (blisters by the end) but all in all – good. It was also my first solo lsr too. 14km. I’ve managed to keep the running up through the week – I’ve been aiming for Zone 2 runs on the treadmill and considering Wednesday night’s club session – it appears to be kicking in. Friday’s treadmill session was same pace as always but my heart rate average was 142 – so I know it’s definitely kicking in! My LSR today was 10 miles/16km – which was against the plan but I have a 14 mile race (Coniston 14) next weekend so thought I better get some miles in! Again, sore feet about 12km mark but slightly faster average. By end of March I will be on my longest ever running month. My mojo is slowly coming back.

Overall

I managed to keep to the plan this week – I even got in a stretch session at the gym and my normal yoga session on my rest day. Today’s LSR though did remind me that I definitely NEED to get in my strength and conditioning work as my glutes were complaining a bit today. I know there will be weeks and days were my motivation is dire and I may need to catch up on rest/be sociable but looking ahead, beyond this (and acknowledging it – Long slow work will be most important) my bigger concern is May as I am away a lot and will really have to think/consider how I am going to get long rides in. I’ve some time to think about that, but for now, I am happy that for the first time ever – I have ACTUALLY stuck to a training plan! Heres to the next fifteen weeks!

CTS Northumberland – Race Day Review

This is my all-time favourite race – and the only race I have done three times on the trot.

Coastal Trail Series Northumberland incorporated 4 different distances – 10k, Half Marathon, a Marathon and an Ultra and takes in the beautiful and scenic Northumberland coastline. It is so well organised and enjoyable that I keep coming back!

I drove up in the morning – as always, meeting my mate at the services and driving up in convoy. A cold and foggy start changed as we headed north and the sun burnt off the fog and the skies cleared. I always feel happy in Northumberland, although driving across from Beadnell to Bamburgh, I felt a bit choked up as memories from last year flooded back. I knew there was a bit of a risk this happening but on the whole, it was good to be back.

Parking up at the bottom of the Castle, walking up and registering, I was a little gutted that we weren’t inside Bamburgh Castle like in previous years (I later found out why – no Warden to let us in, and the stables were being converted into a bar!). The sun was glorious and as it was so mild – I decided to run in capri pants and t-shirt.

The briefing was long and thorough and because the buses were running late, I did get cold waiting to get bused to the start however, once down there and once running, I knew I’d be ok. It is genuinely the only time my mate has seen me smile before a run! Much to her amusement.

The start line was nearer the harbour this year (making the course 400m shorter with alterations to the finish line) but we didn’t have to wait as long on the start line to get going. I will point out now that anyone who has read recent blog posts or follows the Twitter feed, I spent two weeks very ill and did very little training for 4 weeks. Unlike last year where I actually trained! Regardless I wasn’t nervous, I just enjoy this race as a run.

We set off and my pacing wasn’t too bad. I know the area quite well and knew what to expect. People say running on sand/trail is harder – and it is, but somehow I seem to enjoy it more and run better. The first half of the race went well but there is always a but. After the checkpoint at Seahouses, I could feel the familiar feeling of burning on the ball of my right foot. By the 7k point I was really feeling it. I knew there would be a blister and I knew where I had gone wrong. I’ve been using Tri-slide (this is so much better than body glide) with my road trainers due to ongoing issues and didn’t need them with the socks I was using and neutral shoes. By 8k I was wishing I had a Shotblok or something just to eat, like last year. I don’t normally for this race but going at lunch time I was hungry by the time set off. What was most glorious about it though was just running the race, in the sunshine, in February in a t-shirt!

There was no major disasters or anything – I felt a bit sick – I was definitely working. The last 600m has always been horrific and nothing has changed. The race photos were actually pretty cool and I was smiling on them. I was glad to finish though – I always am!

The fish and chips with mates at the end was just the icing on the cake!

The Peer Pressure Run

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself” Jim Morrison

Even to the point of being a whinge bag about running – and randomly ramble about cycling. I have the best mates.

I know we aim to teach children not to bow to peer pressure. In some respects, I suspect the behaviour of my mates wasn’t really so much peer pressure but active encouragement by reminding me what races I have planned and that I really should be running. Three separate friends today, when I mentioned tonights club run, told me I should go as I debated staying home.

I bowed to pressure and went to run.

They were right, I do need to run more. Most of my races this year (that are booked) are actually running races. This is to keep me running as without it, I would likely sack it off but as it is, I have a half iron to do and so run I must.

I shall be the first to admit that my routing isn’t settled yet, or not as much as I would like, and my running mojo since the illness, is not yet back to the levels they were at before Christmas. Mojo lost. In general for training.

My mate, who was running the session, told me me I looked miserable all the way round – and to be fair, I probably was – but I suppose it was nice to actually be out, running, on a treadmill. I have lost my mojo with training in general recently – after having 3 weeks off, it’s the process of getting back to where it was feels like hard work.

On a more positive note, I’m planning on getting. a week pass for the leisure centre when I go on holiday (one of my favourite pools – with twilight swims!) and I’ve bought some new books to take with me.

Training Review 2018

Last Christmas (I gave you my heart…)… sorry, couldn’t resist, especially after the year I’ve had!

Let me start again.

Last Christmas, I got a free glittery notebook from Cath Kidston with an order. Being a
former teacher, I love a good notebook and unhealthy amounts of stationary. I had itchy feet to write in it – but what? I left it to the side until one day, I decided that I was going to keep a physical, rather than just digital record, of my training year.

The cover of my new compendium definitely reflects my love of swimming!

Inside it was entitled; ‘Rach’s Compendium 2018’.

In it contains a review of 2017 in terms of distance and time for swim, bike, run and yoga, as well as a record of races, body statistics (yes – weight and measurements of all sorts body related – big drop in the summer), books read, goals (I achieved none of them!) and a monthly overview. In the monthly overview, I noted anything in particular the stuck out training wise, note on injuries, who I rode with, sportives – anything that took my fancy. I managed to keep it up – although at the back end of the year this has trailed off a little bit. Its a bit like a training diary but looking backwards rather than looking at what I have planned.

I want to carry this on, so I have a new compendium for this year – it is still glittery but slightly bigger. I will be using this alongside trainxhale.com and Endomondo (as well as Strava – but I don’t use Strava quite as religiously).

So what are the final results for 2018? Has it been a good year training wise?

2018

It has certainly been an interesting one.

My swimming this year, screen shot from just before I hit the 160km mark on New Years Eve.

When I look at my stats – overall, 2018 has been a good year training wise. The stats are also a good representation of what has gone on in my life. In particular, my swimming stats. I have struggled over the last 18 months to get to the bottom of my swimming injury and resulting tightness. Swimming has also helped me meditate/switch off and help me recover from a horrible break up, my endurance is just about back, I just need to work on my speed). Cycling too – being dragged out to Time Trials in the aftermath of the break up brought on my cycling no end – in fact, if anything, the break up has massively contributed to me becoming more focused on me, my training, and doing what I want to do.

So distance wise – what have I done?

Cycling – (including turbo kms too) 2468.25km

Swimming – 160km

Running – (including treadmill) – 438.85km (considerably less than last year)

Total time across ALL activities – 14 days, 20 hours and 18 minutes – give or take.

When I reflect back on this, I am very conscious that a lot of this has lacked focus, so yes I have put the hours in and I have made a lot improvements (especially in terms of cycling), but I think I can do better.

I have done so much in the last six months because it has been all about me and doing what I love. I’ve probably pushed myself harder too. Reflecting on the year is rather good, as I know that with a focused training plan and getting in some decent base training, I stand a good chance of making some good improvements next year. I need/want to mix up my training, as doing the same thing won’t help me get better. I need more sessions where I push myself out of my comfort zone, but equally I need more sessions at lower intensity. Put basically – I need to keep mixing it up.

I am not sure what my biggest achievement sporting wise has been this year – but the two things I am most proud of I think involve my swimming come back and my new love of Time Trials and desire to improve and get better.

Targets and Goals for 2019

I do this every year and rarely meet any of them – or give up the ghost a bit but… if I write them here, in 12 months time, hopefully I will be able to tick them off!

Swim more than 160km
Get my CSS down to 1:55/100m or less.
Sub 30 minute 10 mile TT (I was VERY close this year)
Improve my average speed on the bike.
Cycle at least 2000 miles, if not more.
Run 1000km.
Run a sub 28 min 5km
Run a sub hour 10km
Learn to look after my bikes better!
Enter a CX race

2018 has been a rollercoaster year – roll on 2019 and the start of something truly epic!

Looking forward to 2019

I have to say, I am rather excited about 2019, and looking forward to waving 2018 goodbye. I cant say I have had the best year ever but I have definitely had an interesting and emotional year.

2019 will be something epic I think.

I’ve started to get some routine back with my training – this is definitely contributing to my current happiness and wellbeing. I’ve done two big weeks of swimming without any major back issues, even nudging 20k running this week over three runs and managed to go out three nights on the trot. My base training is starting to show results and I am feeling positive and motivated (long may this last – however, like all things, I know there will be highs and lows). I read a quote about every action being a small step towards that elusive looking goal. Holkham is my A race, and Coniston End to End swim in penciled in. These are my two main goals – with the aim of getting a reasonable decent time and enjoying them.

I love chatting about training and future plans with friends and comparing notes, pencilling events and debating what to do to help support my training. Coniston 14 is one such event, at the end of March. A friend is trying to talk me into doing some crazy 24 mile run/walk thing in February and another friend has talked me into doing a bed race in June. Edinburgh running festival has been mentioned as well as a few Epic Swims up in the Lakes (excellent training again…). I am so excited about what is to come and figuring out what I am going to do – maybe boys will have to take a back seat for a while!

Ultra inspiring!

If you haven’t heard of Nicky Spinks – go look her up. She is amazing and inspiring and ever so modest about her achievements.

I recently went to see a talk given by her at a local running club event. This is the second time I’ve seen her, and I had an idea of what to expect. There was the usual background story of her childhood and how she ended up running, as well as more recent stories relating to her more recent triumphs such as the Double Bob Graham in 2016. She also won The Ultra Tour Month Rosa this year.

I’ll admit I would rather do an ultra than a marathon (I think it’s a mindset thing) but I’m not sure I could go this far – I love swimming so much more, but when looking for inspiration, I don’t think that matters – it really is all about mindset, perseverance and everything that goes with it, regardless of the sport. Inspiration can come from anywhere so…..

If you need inspiration – she’s a definite candidate for fulfilling that role. Far be it from me to tell you all about her exploits and amazing achievements – go and look at her website here.

Hills, hills, hills

‘Running hills breaks up your rhythm and forces your muscles to adapt to new stresses. The result? You become stronger.‘ Eamonn Coghlan

This quote feels like it should be about my life – the last few months have been an uphill battle to some extent, finding myself again and working out what I want in life but thats all to deep for this time of night!

Training! That’s where it’s at. I’ve been a bit lax recently, it being ‘off season’ so to speak but I am starting to find my mojo again I think.

I swam this morning – 2.5k in 58 minutes – which I was quite happy with. Arm/back isn’t too sore at the moment, and nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. That was a silly o’clock alarm.

Tonight I ran. I very nearly didn’t go but sitting on my backside isn’t going to get me any better so I dragged myself up and out of the house to meet other club mates for a run – hills, hills and more hills, with some drills thrown in for good measure! This is my third hill rep session – next month the focus changes but as you can see from the picture, this run is starting to trend faster. As anyone who trains know, actually seeing progress makes such a difference to attitude and thought process. Hills and drills are clearly paying off. Its motivating to actually see progress and feel it too. I ALMOST enjoyed running tonight.

Talking of motivation, I am off to a talk by Nicky Spinks tomorrow night – I am all for looking for sources of inspiration and mojo! Should be good. Ive seen her before but she’s done so much since too! Looking forward to that one!

I have a real love hate relationship with running and having September off was amazing but equally as much as I moan about running, I make a rod for my own back – I do run better though when I a) run with others and b) commit to running with others – its makes me go and do it.

IBIZA! Part Two – The Holiday

Six days in Ibiza supporting friends racing did mean there was some free time to mooch about. If you read Part One, then you will, if you hadn’t already realised, that Ibiza is in the process of closing down for winter. We were staying in San Antonio. The closing parties of the clubs on the island had been the first weekend of October and many of the remaining bars and hotels were. gradually closing up. Some of the bars and hotels that were open on the Sunday were, by Monday, closed and boarded up.

With Ibiza slowly winding down, we were not sure what to expect. Ibiza isn’t world renowned for it’s culture as such, so we made the most of chilling and a bit of exploring. Many books were read! So, what did we do?

SUP – Stand Up Paddle boarding. I messaged one of my friends who was out on the island for same reason as me and asked him if he fancied it. Turns out he was. So Monday morning, we both found ourselves on the south coast of Ibiza SUP’ing. There was a group of about 10 of us in total and we could not have asked for more glorious conditions. This is the third time I’ve done it but this was definitely one of the most amazing locations – crystal clear waters, beautiful bays and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It was also very quiet, a few boats dotted here and there but overall, very little. Peaceful and chilled, with a little bit of exploring and some caves to wind through. If you ever get the chance to SUP in Ibiza – it is worth it. It wasn’t expensive either although one of the things I noticed compared to the UK – lack of form signing and buoyancy aids.

Ibiza town – my friend visited some of the museums but wasn’t really impressed – lots of little shops and definitely the hub of the island – rather enjoyed my cocktails in Hard Rock Cafe too! The old town, and the castle, really are beautiful and the views are amazing. You need to be fairly fit though to get to the top. Well connected with buses too (which are so cheap – they are subsidised and busy).

Boat cruises – we did the ‘Sunset cruise’ with one company but it wasn’t really sunset when we got off – it was a three hour cruise to the west coast of San Antonio and around some of the smaller islands. It stopped at one of the popular family beaches to drop off/pick up some people but it also stopped in a beautiful bay so people could get off and swim. Was rather annoyed I didn’t take my swimming costume but hey ho. It was really lovely to be out on the sea and seeing the island from a different perspective.

Swimming – one of the highlights for me personally was swimming in the sea. Along a lot of the coast line, there are areas cordoned off from boats and shipping to allow people a safe area to swim in. Monday night I got a text from one of my friends who said that she and a few age groupers where going to go and swim and would I like to join them. I was hardly going to pass that up! I’ll admit – I could have swam without the wetsuit but in one respect I am glad I did as it gave me an insight into just how buoyant you are in the sea, with a wetsuit. Twenty minutes later – 1km OW swam. Fastest OW swim in a while. Although swimming with the speedy age groupers reminds me that I’ve still some work to do!

Run – I did my first run outdoors for a while early on Tuesday morning – and what a place to run! Sun already shinning and plenty of areas/space to run safely around the bay. Five kilometers in the bag!

Aquarium – My friend (who has 0 interest in racing/sport) and I walked round to the aquarium. Apart from the slight novelty factor of it being in a cave and there being a poor injured turtle in there, cant say I was overly impressed, however…. the walk around the bay to get there was lovely. I was tempted to do some geocaching while I was there but thought I’d best not subject my friend to that!

Would I go back?

Yes. Yes I would, but I would definitely hire a bike and cycle – a lot. I was quite envious of my mate cycling about everywhere, even though it was really hot! I would swim more and definitely hire a car. I would also go more in season – even though it would be a lot busier – just for choice of places to eat/visit and I would get myself round to Cafe del Mar and watch the sunset properly! I would also choose a better hotel. Would I stay any longer than I did? Probably not but then it isn’t a long flight.