Mid-Channel....

Mid-Channel....

Monday 29 March 2010

A little bit of swim, bike and run......

When I last checked in to tell you about Lanzarote I was in recovery mode from a tough 20miler - the Asbhy 20. Despite everyone's assertions that you should run your LSR (Long Slow Runs) at precisely that - a slow pace, I wanted to build some confidence for Paris and I believed if I could do this 20miler (it's hilly!) in around 3hrs I would be able to go sub-4. So I decided to race! Whether this was a good idea or not I don't know. The first 10miles were a very comfortable 90mins and then the work started. It was a two lap route so we knew what was coming and there are certainly some hills to work on esp at mile 5/15. My pace did start to drop probably around 15-17miles though I think this was terrain orientated rather than major fatigue as, when it let up around 17miles, I had a fast mile (sub-9) between 17-18. Miles 18-20 were uphill back into the village which wasn't ideal so the pace slipped again though I pulled out a speedy last 800m so I obviously had a little something left in the tank!! Overall, 20miles in 3hrs and 1min (including a puppy rescue!!) so I am pretty pleased and feel more confident that with a fair wind and everything going right on the day, Paris may be sub-4 territory!



The 20miler did however, as I was told!, leave me too knackered to get much training in this week. I had Monday off then a triple training day Tuesday which probably contributed to the fatigue. I had wanted to do a tempo run but my legs were too tired so I did an hour of 10(5mins run/1min walk) to practice for the Double IM. It was very stressful physically but mentally it was tough. Doing such short chunks of running means you don't seem to get very far very quickly but it is just something I'll have to get used to I suspect! A swim and a turbo and I had a good day. Wednesday I limited to just swimming because I knew I would need to start tapering down and not knacker myself.



Thursday I was back on track with Interval training - much tougher than normal, probably from the accumulated fatigue but all the timings were there and I completed my 6x800m a happy child. On Friday I wanted to get a good solid swim in so I decided to don the wetsuit and do a 5km swim mimicking the Double IM. I stopped every 1,000m for a swig of H30 Pro and Water and swam consistently throughout. I have had to start learning to swim without tumble-turning as this is not allowed in the Double - another mental challenge! This was actually easier with the wetsuit on as it is weird tumble turning in that, and I was happy to record a total swim time (with stops) of 1hr 31mins. Maybe sub 2hrs 20 is achievable!!



I was due to have Saturday off but Adam needed to run so in the spirit of motivation (shaming him into getting out of bed!) I joined him on a 4.5mile run on Saturday morning. My legs were tired and just running sub 9.30min/mile pace was tough. I felt better by the end to keep up with Ad's sub 8.30min/mile pace but it wasn't a relaxing run! We then headed into London as Ad has an appointment with the wonderful Profeet to get his gait analysed and see if he needs orthotics. I think he found the whole process really interesting and was happy to find out that he is actually a really neutral runner and probably doesn't need as much support as his shoes have been giving him and that this could actually be the thing causing him pain. He has a pair of more neutral shoes that he wore for the marathon last year and tried them out yesterday on a 12miler and felt much better - yippee! I really pray for him to have some pain-free running especially on the day! After a lovely lunch with two of my closest friends, Aleks and Fi, we traipsed round London a bit more until our feet and legs were crying for mercy and we collapsed back onto the train home. A swift dinner and I was ready for my epic cycle the following morning!



At 7am, damning the British Summer Time, I dragged myself out of bed for the MK Cycle Sportive. I had originally signed up for the 100M Colossus route but, trying to sensible, thought, that whilst, tapering for Paris, the 100km option would be better. The route runs all the way round Milton Keynes so there were plenty of drop out points if I was struggling and Ad could always come and get me if I had problems. The first 2hrs passed and I was really enjoying the ride, however, I knew after that we were going into fairly unknown territory. Due to concentrating on marathon training my longest cycle has been 3hrs on the turbo and 2.5hrs in Lanzarote so I knew it would get harder. However, after a quick feed stop to replenish, I decided I would be cross if I didn't finish although I had good reasons and pushed on. I felt ok to just before 75kms and then I really bonked big style. It was a full on headwind for miles and I started to get very fed up! I took an emergency gel and glugged down my H30 and struggled on. Around 85kms we hit the border of MK again which was weird considering we still had 15kms to go - were we going to have to loop around the city a few times??! Still, at this point the wind was behind me, the road surface was better and flat and I began to whizz along over 30km/hr again, so I was happy. At 90kms I saw the sign for The Bowl and was ushered into the car park and onto the finishing straight. Confused I headed over the timing mat and approached an official explaining I was 10kms short and might I have gone wrong somewhere. However, it turns out the course was just short which they apologised for. I wasn't worried. After 3hrs 40mins of ride time I was quite happy to be getting off the bike! It was by no means an epic ride and I have so much work to do on the bike but I am so pleased with myself that I finished and got a little bit less fearful of the bike in general. I am going to have to rack up 1000s of miles before the Double IM so I must learn to love my little bike! On that front, I may have a cheeky solution to inspire me but as I have rambled on and on and on, I'll save that for next time!!

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