The Magnificat!

As you will be aware from reading this blog, life has somewhat been getting in the way of training recently. Adam is due to go away for a military tour of duty and he now leaves in a ridiculous 8 days! I don't think it has really hit me yet. In some ways I have almost been wishing him out of the door as wanting to spend time with him is impeding training and our busy social schedule is taking its toll. We are both obviously under pressure and stressed and emotional which is making us more snipey with each other than usual so I have kind of thinking it will be nice to get back into a routine and back on an even emotional keel once he has gone. Of course, this has come from the luxury of him still being here and his departure not being imminent but now he is actually leaving very soon, I am wishing so much that he wasn't going. I don't care if it messes with training or makes life harder, it is always better when he is with me and I am going to miss him so so much!

So, with regards to training, I have managed to make some key sessions but I am still missing the consistency I had. I am also eating for England! I have no idea why this is - emotional probably plus the social side of things - and I have got to stop it! I need to be as lean as possible in order to complete the 52miles of the Double Iron with the minimum amount of pain so once Adam has left it'll be a detox and strict healthy eating for the remaining month. I am probably up to around 90mins running which seems a long way from 52miles but I appreciate how difficult it is to train for this distances without getting injured. I plan to try for 20miles run/walk this weekend which will put me back on track and then a few 15mile weeks during july and then obviously the marathon at IM switzerland. Swimming I am not too worried about, I probably try and get a 5k and 6k distance done in the pool over the next month or so, I may even attempt the whole 7.6kms one day just so I know at least one distance is ok! Cycling I will ramp up a lot over the next month. I did the 127mile UCI Magnificat Sportive on Sunday (more on that later) and have the 156mile Flatout in the Fens planned for 27 June. This weekend I am concentrating on running so might do a 50-70miler just to keep my eye in and then rest in advance of the big one! Then I plan to throw in another 100miler around the 10-11 July and then a 50-70miler then following weekend before we head out to IMCH. I am not really planning to taper much for IMCH as I have to just view it as a long training day and not a race though I know, in the heat of competition, that will be difficult!

So, the UCI Magnificat! My longest ride to date by a good 13miles! I was a bit nervous as I had heard it was a very hilly course and, wow it didn't disappoint! The first 10miles saw the 'Scorpions Sting' - a triple whammy of three hills including a 20%-er that I had no idea how I got up! There was photographers at the summit of every hill, naturally to catch up when you looked at your most knackered, and I gave them good opportunity to snap away - it was tough! I decided just to break it down in 40mile or so sections which is when there was a feed stop, and I imagined I do each section in around 3hours or just under as that is what it takes me to do the 3x14M(42miles) laps at home. I was very wrong! The first 38miles dropped in 2.47 which was pretty good but then we slowed a bit. I luckily found another girl to ride with which really helped as I think it would have been a long long day without her company. I think she was a little slower than me, certainly up the hills where I surprised myself by not being too poor!, so I think I probably could have posted a faster time than I did but in the end we rolled home in just over 10hours! Very slow - slower than I expected certainly but fabulous training for the double. I am hoping to complete the bike course in around 16hours so I would only have 6 hours further to go. I certainly felt I could manage anther 6 hours if I had to but, don't get me wrong, I was super happy to get off the bike!! And surprisingly my legs also didn't feel too bad when I got, I couldn't try for a jog as I had my cycling shoes on, but I felt that I could definitely have started off. Naturally 224miles is a lot longer than 127miles but it doesn't seem as insurmountable anymore - a good confidence-building session!