So I've got my first competition this Sunday so I suppose I should really discuss my targets for the year. You have to have targets to give you something to aim for and I find they help me to track my progress and give meaning to my training sessions. I like the focus, but it does mean I sometimes push myself when I should be doing a less strenuous session. I suppose everyone is different and as long as I learn from my mistakes I should be fine.
Dorney Lake Duathlon on Sunday and its a 5km, 20km, 5km sprint. I have a rule of thumb I work to and that is I don't want to take more than 50% longer than the guy who wins in any race this year. That gives me a time of 1:36 which I should be able to do. My target for Sunday based on my training so far is 1:24, it's going to be hard, but if it was easy then why bother. When it comes to the full triathlon I'd love to complete the Olympic distance in anything starting with a two. Long term I have a goal in mind, but I'm keeping that close to my chest for now, I don't want to embarrass myself so soon.
Last year I ran the Reading Half marathon in a smidging under 2 hours which equates to around 9 mins per mile. This year I'd love to get that down to 8 minutes a mile, which would give me a time of 1:45. That would give me a time for the full marathon of between 4:00 and 4:20. If I could break the 4:00 mark I'd be so happy, but lets see how we go, that really is a stretching target.
Competition week means changing my diet as well so after Wednesday no fat, lots of carbs and loads of water, every pound will count when it comes to my tri-suit and I must remember to check the weather as well, I may need to take along an extra layer or two.
Week 3
Monday as usual is a rest day, but with a lighter week because of my comp on Sunday I'm eager to get back into some more training. By 6:00pm I remember why it's a rest day and flake out on the couch, contenting myself with a re-read of one of my back issue tri-mags and watching the TV. Just enough time to check over the bike and give the tyres a pump up before bed.
Spin Tuesday morning and then a run in the afternoon. 22.5 minutes for 3 miles today which is a full half minute quicker than I've done in the past. I was giving it a good go and this proves that I should be able to run 23 mins on Sunday reaonably comfortably and it shouldn't affect my ride.
Unfortunately I'm not a professional athlete so I do have to put work first from time to time. Wednesday involved 15 hours in the car and over 500 miles to cover so when I got home just before 9pm I was in no fit state to do any meaningful training so I didn't bother. Why do a rubbish session just to be more knackered and fed up with a poor time at the end. I'm off to bed.
A trip to head office on Thursday meant no early spin class, so rather than run in the evening I did an hour on the turbo trainer. Top tip for you, don't forget to turn the fan on. Jesus did I sweat, not pretty, but I put on the Iplayer and pedalled away and it was good to get in some miles while watching some documentary on the first crusade. Didn't start 'til after 10pm so I turned up the gear and shortened the distance. That's it for training now for the week. 2 days off and loads of carbs ready for Sunday. The weather looks a lot better for the weekend, hopefully no frost.
Rest day Friday was a bit frustrating as I couldn't do much of anything. Bought ANOTHER magazine and read that almost cover to cover. Checked the weather again and it looks good for Sunday, chilly but dry. Weighed myself again this morning and the change of diet has help me ditch a couple of extra pounds which is always good, well, putting them on again will be fun. The one problem today was the fact that I've spent half the day in the toilet due to the amount of water I've been drinking . Well it's all worth it, bring on Sunday.
More checks than a cheap tartan kilt was Saturday, bike check, clothes check, shoes check, hydrathion check, bounced cheque, directions check, car check and then recheck the check just to be sure my check met the minimum check standard. Check! Early to bed, Check.
Up very early Sunday morning, I didn't need the alarm as I was up and ready to go. Race day today so lets get going. Arrived at the venue in good time and after unpacking the bike and you guessed it, gave it a quick check over I headed over to the registration and did the business, racked the bike, checked out the lie of the land, exits in to transition and the basic course lay out, which the wife kindly pointed out was on the side of the registration tent. This left me plenty of time to get back to the car and get changed ready for the off. Then came the school boy error for the day and something to learn from for next time, yes, it's the toilets. Firstly I left my last pee way to late, yes it's the old "Is that really the queue for the smelly chemical toilets?" And secondly I didn't think about how difficult it is to wee in the bushes in my tri-suit, t-shirt and jacket. I did feel a little better as we were joined in the bushes by a woman in the same prediciment, we giggled. The wind blowing across the lake wasn't something we giggled about.
So to the race, the wind affected the bike much more than the run and the only real drama on the run was a dead sheep in the field next door. My time was good and I hopped on the bike and sped off, it was down wind on the outward part of the 6 lap circuit. The cycle was, as Motty might say 'a game of 2 halves', speeding like a pro down to the turn and struggling back into the wind very un-pro like. After the bike was done it was 2 laps on the run and home. As I left transistion my legs felt okay, I was totally shattered but nothing I couldn't handle, but my feet hurt from the bike shoes. Thankfully the pain didn't last too long and it was down to gritting my teeth and giving it a real go. The first lap felt slow but as I checked my watch on the start of number 2 the time was pretty good and this gave me a real lift. 12 minutes later I crossed the line and it was over.
Now I missed my target time by over 7 minutes, but i hadn't counted on the strong wind so I was actually really happy with the race. The first run was well paced, I wasn't passed by many people on the bike and I cycled past a fair few that had run past me earlier. On the second run I ran down a few more and not one person ran past me, I was completed knackered but the pace was good, only 20 seconds slower than the first run. Also I finish slap bang in the middle of my age group. Not a bad start to the year, even if I do say so myself. Next race 5 weeks and counting.
Training this week
Swimming - 0
Cycling - 1 hour
Running - 1.5 hours
1 Race - 1.5 hours
No comments:
Post a Comment