It all went pear shaped!

Generally speaking my day, week and even month is planned out for me so that I can run the businesses while being there for the family and squeezing in my training.  Sometimes the priorities change and the family or the business get squeezed.  But today was a classic.
For various reasons we didn't have enough coverage at the office and my wife went in to cover as I was at a conference.  However I got a call to say her mother had fallen and had to go to hospital so my wife was on her way and I left the conference to cover in the office.  Other events conspired to mean I was changing my schedule every half hour.
Add to that I needed to fit in a training session and I was struggling.  But you have to make the best of a bad situation so I squeezed in a 30 minute turbo session which did me a lot of good based on the stress levels.  The point I want to make is sometimes events overtake our plans and we need to adapt rather than feel sorry for ourselves.  In an Ironman event it is almost guaranteed to happen and when it does you have to make the best of your circumstances and get on with it.  If you have an issue with 20 miles to go then get over it as the distance doesn't get any less when you moan about it.  Oh and my Mother-in-law is recovering fine from her broken wrist.

Setting targets

David Walliams recently swam 140 miles down the Thames.  Impressive considering the sewage he had to swim through and he raised £1m for his efforts.  Most people wouldn't consider anything like this but spare a though for Charlie Whittmack - never heard of him have you?  He completed a "world triathlon" which involved swimming the length of the Thames and the Channel in fact the swim was 275 miles.  He then cycled more than 8,875 miles across Europe and Asia to Nepal.  To complete the journey he ran (and hiked) 950 miles to the Bay of Bengal and finished by climbing Mount Everest!  Not bad for a lawyer and it all started as a wee boy's dream.
It just goes to show that we can achieve anything we set our mind to.  The biggest limiter is our own mind so we must learn to challenge it and the more we do, the more we will achieve.  So well done David Walliams and Charlie Whittmack and everyone who set a stretching target and achieved or even exceeded it.  You're a long time dead to let's make the most of the opportunity we have.

Active recovery

After an endurance event there are effects.  By covering almost 40 miles running at the weekend my legs would normally be sore but having stepped up to this mileage from almost no running in the last 6 weeks, something was going to protest big style!  It was my quads and calf muscles which meant I had to walk down stairs side ways and ease myself out of chairs.  Like a Thunderbird puppet!
It was similar after Ironman last year so I knew what to expect and more importantly what to do.  So tonight after work and domestic taxi duties, I went on my turbo trainer and did 30 minutes of high cadence spinning.  This helps "flush" out the lactic acid that has built up and should speed up the recovery.
Tomorrow will be difficult as I am spending 8 hours in the car so I will probably need to stretch when I get home.  A swim in Wednesday morning and I should be as good as new.  I am still technically "resting" before I start my Ironman programme on 1 October but need to tick over until then.

Trossachs training camp

As predicted - it hurt!  On Friday we did a wee warm up run in the rain - 6 miles including cross country up mountain tracks.  On Saturday morning, in the rain, we ran 9 miles and in the afternoon, in the rain, we did "efforts" over 6.5 miles.  I was feeling stiff and sore but doing all the right things to make sure I'd be able to walk by Sunday when we did our main run.  It was scheduled for 16 miles (yes 16!) but a wrong turn meant it was 17.88 miles!  The scenery was unbelievable and it stayed dry although our feet did get wet as again a lot of it was cross country going up and down hills on mountain tracks or paths.  I finished strong on the last run and was delighted with my performance as I had only run 3 times in the last month, as the focus was on the bike, and the runs were short distances.
I am now walking like a Thunderbird puppet and it will take me a few days to manage walking downstairs without going side ways.  However it just goes to show what the body can do if you can control the "negative voice" in your head - some may say the voice of reason (why are you running when it hurts it kept saying?).
Tomorrow I'll spin my legs on the turbo trainer for 30 minutes to help get rid of the lactic acid.  In the meantime a couple of glasses of wine are in order after my 3 pints of water to make sure I remained hydrated!

Busy day

Yesterday was an 18 hour day.  I had organised a client lunch at the Riverside Museum and had a guest speaker fly up from London.  We were also doing some filming for our website so the pressure was on to make sure everything went on schedule - which it did.  Afterwards Fiona & I went out for dinner with some of our clients but it was a very relaxed evening with good food, fine wine and good company.  It's nice to show off Glasgow and all it has to offer and today they are travelling to Loch Lomond so lets hope it keeps dry!
My punishment for over loading on the liquid carbs will come later today when I have my first run in a three day running camp in the Trossachs. The forecast doesn't look too clever and staying in a hostel in dorms could be interesting - more noisy and smelly than interesting actually.  I'll report back on Sunday but, other than the dehydration I'm feeling, think this is going to hurt!

The 5 P's

Poor preparation precipitates poor performance.  After work I was going out for an hours run but when I got home various domestic arrangements (kids) meant the run had to be reduced to 30 minutes.  Flustered at all the last minute rejigging I didn't notice that my computer/watch that gives me all the measurements I need, had a flat battery.  So 200 yards into the run the screen was blank and as I was short of time I ran without any info.
It's like flying blind.  I have no idea whether or not it was a good run as I have nothing to measure.  This might not seem important but it was for me as on Friday I go off to a run training camp for 3 days and I wanted a benchmark to know how I was doing before I started.  My previous run had been the first in a week and was slow.  So I won't be making that mistake again as I now realise my new computer which has GPS needs juice on a regular basis.
So many things in life are better if we have feedback and this can only come from having milestones.  In business we call them targets which some people are put off by but if you break them down they do offer you a good measure of how you are performing.  So I'm off to bed slightly later than normal and have an extremely busy day tomorrow.  But before I go I'll charge my computer so no more silly errors.

Back to the pool

The word "should" is an interesting one.  When I typed it last night on my blog saying I "should" do a turbo session I knew than meant I probably wouldn't be doing it - and I was right!  I couldn't be bothered as I am in a rest phase.  However it's not mean to be complete rest as if it was then I'd be slow to get started in October when my Ironman training starts.
I also said I "may" go for a swim and as I was consumed with guilt over staying I "should" do a turbo session and didn't, I made sure the "may" swim became a reality.  So early to bed and up at 5.30 for porage and coffee to kick start the engine.  It's been at least 6 weeks since I have done that and it's now very dark at that time in the morning.
I wasn't surprised to find my swim fitness had gone completely.  So I worked on technical drills and would be lucky if I managed 1,200 metres.  It was extremely tough even though I was taking it easy.  This is an area where I want to improve my technique to ensure I get out of the water after 3.8km in the sea (152 lengths of an ordinary 25 metre pool) feeling fresh and ready for  180 km on the bike followed by a marathon.  So I will sneak in a few more sessions on my own before swimming with the club otherwise I will "die" trying to survive!