342 days to go!

It's been an interesting week.  My physio has provided me with some hope for my foot.  Strengthen the foot arch and it will help protect the lisfranc injury.  I discussed my list of events I want to complete over the next 4 years and we agreed better to cross train and set a goal for next year rather than take on an ultra which would involve more running.  Boosted with this news, and having discussed it with my wife and my coach, I "pushed the button" and entered the Frankfurt Ironman which is also the European Championships! 3 July 2016 - in 342 days time!

I choose this event because team ATHelite are entering a large number of participants so for once I will be training with my team mates working towards the same goal - I am so excited!  But that's the easy bit.  The hard work will start soon enough.

Training for an Ironman takes a lot of planning, hard work, blood sweat and sometimes tears.  But you've got to enjoy the training  due to the time I will be investing and the first goal is to get to the start line, hopefully injury free.  That's easier said than done.  Even getting to the startline leaves a number of challenges and you want to avoid on race day so there are no guarantees of success.  What I do know is getting back to fitness will feel fantastic.

Having set the goal my attitude changed instantly.  This week I have run three times with my coach and am feeling good but I've a long way to go.  Yesterday I went out with the "big boys" and we went on an 80km + ride that I hadn't done before.  2 big climbs with equally steep descents but the weather wasn't as forecast and it poured down.  This made the conditions tricky especially on the descent.  I was getting dropped on all the hills and the group waited for me to get back on.  The "chimp" was trying to discourage me but all I did was think back to my biking fitness a year before Lanzarote ironman and what it was like at the event.  I've been here before, I know what I need to do and I'll be designing the training programme with my coach and then executing it.  342 days may sound like a long time but it's not.  I hope you follow my journey and of course I'll be raising money from Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres which will also motivate me.  The journey continues.

 

Out of sync!

5 years ago I set up this blog to act more as a journal for me as at that time, I had no idea where the journey was heading (and still don't).  It was so that I could look back on the journey to ironman which at the time seemed an almost impossible task.  If you go back far enough you will see I was completely bricking an Olympic distance triathlon because it has a 1 hour cut off for the 1 mile open water swim.  I was full of apprehension and people were telling me I was mad to attempt it.  I completed the swim in around 35 mins (can't remember the exact time) and when I finished the race I knew I had so much more to offer hence completing my first ironman the following year.
At the moment I have no races lined up although I have the 50 mile Strathaven cycle to look forward to - more cake stops than gels!  In September I am going cycling to Majorca for 4 days so in effect that is a goal i.e. get my cycling miles up so I don't keep the other cyclists waiting at the top of the climbs!
But I'm out of sync with my fellow club mates who are still in the middle of their season.  Today I got back in the pool which was long overdue.  My club mate is training for the 10k River Dart swim I did last year so it's almost pointless trying to follow him round the pool as I couldn't keep up.  I made up my own set, worked on some drill and didn't kill myself in the pool as it's been a long time - I felt great afterwards.
Over a post training coffee we got talking about Ironman results as three of our club mates had just completed different ones last weekend.  You can't compare times on different courses or even on the same course in different years - conditions and terrain vary.  But we reflected on my Lanzarote ("where normal limits don't apply") Ironman time of 12hrs 35min and came to the conclusion that was the race of a lifetime, which I am exceptionally proud of.  It's not the Ironman event everyone wants to do because of the wind, hills and heat.  However that was 3 years ago and time moves on.
The reason I mention this is because a large number of my club mates have entered Frankfurt Ironman in July next year and again, I am out of sync.  I would love to be part of that group training for the same event but can't risk entering until I know the position regarding my foot.  I'm seeing the physio tomorrow and hopefully this will lead to some action that might give me a positive outcome.  In the meantime I'll remain out of sync with my club mates but need to stay focused on small goals which act as stepping stones to my recovery. 

Give up said the chimp

Having not run in a while I went out for a lap of Chatelherault with a friend who wanted a nice easy run - just my kind of running.  It had been a while and it was so good to be under the trees when the rain was on.  But by the end I realised how much I'd enjoyed a jog with no pain.
On Saturday there was only one group out and while a few were tapering for IM, the rest were pushing the pace.  I was determined not to be dropped but it didn't take long when we hit the first significant hill and off the back I went.  Enter the chimp. "what are you doing out with these guys, you're going to be dropped on every hill?"  "You could cut off here and head back home" Why are you doing this you're not training for anything?" "Dropped again they must be getting fed up waiting for you, just head home!"  So 3.5 hours of listening to the chimp wasn't much fun but it's something that happens to all of us, especially when we are struggling.  I cope with it because I think it's part of my mental training regime and in endurance sport it makes the difference between success (still breathing at the end and not in hospital or a morgue) and failure - refer to the wording in the brackets!
The following day the chimp and I went out for an 8km trail run.  Going out on my own (and chimp) was a mistake and I had to work hard again ("nobody would know if you walked" - I would and that's what counts).
But the fitness is creeping back and once Tollcross opens again I'll be back in the pool - lot's of hard work ahead in that department!  As for the chimp, I've sent him on holiday because he was exhausted at failing to get me to quit!  To paraphrase a well know "doper", pain is temporary....failure is forever.

Choose your training partners carefully!

Having enjoyed some pain free running I'm afraid it's back.  Not too bad but when walking I am aware of it.  I ran of Monday which was pain free and fantastic.  Friday's run was a different story with my foot in some discomfort which has continued over the weekend.
On Saturday we had thunder and lightening 1st thing in the morning so I decided not to go out on the bike.  I was going out in the afternoon but after a big lunch my motivation was NIL to going out on my own.  I had a "funny feeling" that I shouldn't go out and the conditions weren't perfect.  I found out later that one of my team mates had an accident in the wet conditions so perhaps my intuition was correct - fortunately he was ok.  But I did feel guilty and lazy for not going out.
This morning I went out for a long ride, a bit longer than I had anticipated - over 100km.  I went out with three team mates who are all starting to "taper" in their preparation for Ironman events in the next few weeks.  This means they are as "fit as a butchers dog" and the 4.5 hour cycle was "easy" for them.  I managed to hold on until near the end but it really showed the advantage of TT bikes v road bikes in head winds - they were all on beautiful TT bikes.  That wasn't the deciding factor for me dropping off - they were just so fit and in fairness two of them held back so I wasn't lost off the back (forever!).  But the chimp had a good go at telling me how unfit and useless I was as I constantly got dropped on the hills but you need to take the variants into account.  I could have gone out for a leisurely spin but chose to go out with the ironmen and burn 3,200 calories.
As I battled up the hills it made me remember just how fit you have to be to complete an ironman event in a reasonable time.  When I was training for ironman I remember completing a 5 hour bike ride and then pulling on my running shoes and going out for a 2 hour run - certainly not fit enough to contemplate it today.  After all on the day they will be completing a 2.4m swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2m run.  It seems a lifetime ago even though it was only 3 years ago.  But until I have set new goals and have a training plan in place I'll just tick over with my training and try and stay injury free.