Victoria Stears – #thetrilifereporter – month 5
On the whole this month was a pretty good one in terms of training; I did my first official brick session at the beginning of the month with a short run after cycling home from work (in ridiculously windy conditions) and I took part in my first super sprint triathlon of the year.
I expected to find the brick session pretty challenging but ended up being faster on my feet than usual with a 9 minute mile (although I’m a fairly slow runner anyway) and I really enjoyed myself too. The trick apparently is to lift up your pelvis and run tall which is something I will try to be mindful of in future brick sessions.
As for the triathlon, it was really good fun. Aside from the fact that it was an afternoon race which posed all sorts of questions and dilemmas in terms of fuelling, my swim and bike were strong. In fact, and I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging here, but my bike was really strong. This came as a surprise to me as although I have been enjoying my bike training I know that this is probably my weakest discipline, especially when it comes to hills…the short and sweet bike route had two monstrous hills but I even managed to chick a guy on the first one. I think I perhaps need to be a bit kinder and thank my powerful legs for what they can do a little more often. Unfortunately my run was pretty dreadful though, I think I just ran out of steam which I suspect was in part not knowing what to eat throughout the day…because, you know…didn’t really want to throw up mid-race. I was also wearing a trisuit which didn’t have a pocket meaning I had to leave my inhaler in transition which I really could have done with during the run (poor asthmatic lungs).
So, as with all events, I learnt a lot and know what to fix for the next race!
The other semi-good thing that happened this month was that my foot pain that I have been complaining about for years and which really flared up when I started triathlon training has finally been diagnosed (after numerous x-rays, scans etc) as hyper-extension. So now when I run I strap my feet up and so far it has dramatically reduced the pain which I hope means I’ll get a little speedier as my training progresses. Oh, and my front crawl miraculously came on leaps and bounds…I’m certainly getting there with my stamina!
I must admit though, whilst writing this at the end of the month, I do feel extremely tired. I can’t quite figure out if it’s mental or physical tiredness but I am beginning to feel a bit worn out from my training. Hopefully with a bit of a shake up in my routine at the beginning of July whilst I am on holiday (and without a bike, tragically!) I will re-discover my love and motivation to get stuck back into things once I am back and ready to tackle my big events head on, fully-rested, and with ridiculous enthusiasm.
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"I think the concept behind the Masters Programme is excellent. I find the sessions easy to follow, particularly the swim sessions." Masters Year 2 Athlete