The first 50km bike ride

This week, I did something that any triathlon magazine will tell you absolutely not to do: I doubled my bike distance.

People who know about training for endurance events say to maintain the 10% rule, which means only increasing your training distance by a maximum of 10% each week. Naturally, I have ignored this advice and went from a PB of 25k on the bike, to a new record of 51km. I must say, this dramatic increase in distance does have its consequences, which I will get to shortly.

Having decided to take to the roads for a bike / sea swim session this week, my training buddy and I ended up riding 50km over the course of 2 and a half hours. Sadly, our sea swim never actually materialised because someone forgot their goggles (me) so we went for a bike/run/bike sandwich instead and squeezed a short beach run in too. Pretty enjoyable as it goes and the views from Aberffraw Beach are quite incredible:

Now, if anyone ever tells you Anglesey is flat, my quad muscles will attest to the truth. The hills (whilst not utterly brutal) came thick and fast, meaning we climbed nearly 400 metres during our ride, some of which is on the route for my next race: the Sandman Triathlon (gulp).

With just over 3 weeks to go, this bike session had me wondering what on earth I’ve signed up for! The route we followed was hilly from the word go, and just keeps going up up and up (although on the way back, I think it goes down down and down, which could be quite good fun).

The bike ride came to a rather pathetic conclusion. Only a few miles from home, my legs had given up and I couldn’t go any further. I decided to put in an SOS call to my girlfriend, who duly rescued me from a supermarket car park (my hero). After a bowl of pasta and the Great British Bake Off I was off to bed. The next day, stairs represented a significant challenge to my tired little legs.

Now for the moral of the story. Today (2 days after the bike ride), the gf and I went for a trail run on the same beautiful beach and into the forest beyond it. After nearly 7k, my left hip flexor decided to check out of the party, leaving me with a pretty twingey muscle for the rest of the day (and who knows how much longer).

Basically, this week I’ve learnt the hard way that when triathlon magazines advise you not to increase your distance by more than 10% each week, you should probably take that and ride with it.

Now for the frustration of resting an injury only 3 weeks before my event. Here’s hoping it clears up soon!

Moving house and training…

…turns out these two things aren’t at all compatible!

Everyone says moving house is really stressful, but they don’t tell you how utterly tiring it is. I’ve had almost a week where my training time has consisted of packing boxes, packing more boxes, moving boxes, cleaning floors, unpacking boxes, dusting furniture, hoovering, mopping, unpacking more boxes…

My legs feel tight and itching to run, but the rest of me feels physically drained. While I’ve had a week off training, the house move has taken its toll and I’ve made it to the weekend feeling exhausted.

I know the best thing is to rest, but I can’t help but feel disappointed that I’ve lost a week of training but don’t feel rested at the end of it. Hopefully a few days of downtime and a light recovery run will see me through, then next week I can get back in the saddle (literally).

On the plus side: the new house is just lovely!

Rookie triathlete lesson #1: eating properly

One of the things I’ve found most challenging about triathlon training (aside from all the exhausting exercise) is how dramatically it changes the way you have to eat.

Not too long ago, the main components of my vegetarian diet were crisps and orange juice. It’s fair to say I didn’t really pay much attention to that area of life.

Once I started training 5 or 6 times a week however, it quickly became apparent to me that fuelling properly is the foundation of any success I might hope for. Sounds obvious, but in practice this means having to plan meals around training sessions (adjusting for the session’s intensity, time of day, its duration, and  – most importantly – whether something sits nicely in the stomach while swimming…).

If I’m honest, I’ve found all this planning intensely annoying. It’s easier at the weekends, but weekdays can be a nightmare.  I’m still trying to get enthused about early morning exercise (hmmm) but in the meantime if I’m planning to train after work, then I have to make sure I’m eating something of the right carb / protein / fat ratio at around 3pm. This is difficult when I’m in meetings or haven’t brought an endless supply of snacks to work (which is usually the case as my organisation skills haven’t quite caught up with my exercise ambitions).

I have experimented with snacking later in the day as another option (dates and apples are a good last minute fuel) but a quick hit of glucose and fructose only gets me so far. Anything involving slow release carbs needs to be taken on earlier, and that can be difficult as I’m usually unable to whip out some oatcakes in the middle of a committee. Although, maybe I’ll just try it one day and see what happens.

Several times during my 6 months of training, I’ve got to the end of the working day and found I haven’t eaten enough, which leaves me feeling totally spaced out and unable to complete my training session.

I’m hoping all of this is something I’ll adjust to, but as a newcommer to this sport, I can’t believe how HUNGRY I AM ALL THE TIME and how much of a faff it is having to organise eating around exercise.  I can also bid farewell to such delights as the cheeky 4pm cake (doesn’t taste so nice when it’s regurgitating on you while you’re pounding the pavements).

It’s certainly been a learning curve!

Sandman sprint goals

Header photo credit: http://www.sportpicturescymru.co.uk/

My main reason for starting this blog is to keep myself on track with goals and training and the suchlike, so I guess a good place to start is to outline what my goals are!

As a beginner, I’m not about to set any sprint triathlon world records, so please don’t expect to be blown away by my aims just yet…

For those of you who don’t know, a sprint triathlon is usually a 750 metre swim, then a 20 km bike ride, finishing with a 5 km run. The Sandman Triathlon is a shorter 400m swim (but taking place in the sea, so no less challenging for me!), followed by an 18km cycle and then a 5km run through the sandy Newborough Forest.

THE GOALS!

Swim goal: 400m in 15 minutes
At the time of writing, this isn’t a particularly SMART goal because I’ve never completed a sea swim before and have no idea how well I will fare. However, I’ve got some supported sea swims planned for the coming weeks, so I’ll be able to revise that goal based on some actual experience of (hopefully) not drowning in killer waves.

Bike goal: 18km in 40 minutes
This represents a slightly quicker speed than I achieved in my first triathlon, but the distance is 7km shorter than my first race, so I think it’s achievable.

Run goal: 5km in 30 minutes
Originally, I was hoping for the same as the run time I achieved in my first tri (27 mins). However, having a glance through last year’s results makes me think that could be a little ambitious as not many people finished the run that quickly. The route for the Sandman run is more undulating and challenging than my last race, so if I can complete in 30 mins, I’ll be happy. Watching the video of the 2013 Sandman Triathlon, I’ve noticed a rather large sand dune at the end of the run route (how cruel!) so I think I need to make allowances for that!

Looking at last year’s finishing times, achieving this should put me in the middle of the pack somewhere (allowing 5 minutes or so for the two transitions), and I would be over the moon with that result.

Writing this post has got me looking forward to the event and excited about the prospect of completing it (hopefully in the above times!)

So, now onto the business of achieving it!

Giving this a go

So it might be because it’s late at night and the ill-advised coffee I had at 6pm is keeping me awake, but I’ve decided to start a blog about my experiences as a newbie triathlete.

After completing my first sprint tri in July (the fantastic women-only Deva Divas organised by Chester Triathlon Club), I’m now on course for the rather more hardcore Sandman Triathlon (sprint distance only for this year!) in September. Have I bitten off more than I can chew in 12 weeks?  I’ll certainly find out on the sands of Newborough Beach…

I’m hoping this blog will keep me motivated and also help me track my progress (something I’m not especially good at).  I’ll try my best to make it interesting, and who knows, maybe it will even get one or two people into triathlons…