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!