For so many reasons its been a long time since I've updated my blog... Or website for that matter. Many of them are technical (IT related) ones, but having spoken to various people recently, it seams that people DO actually read this so firstly "Hi" (Cathy, Dan & Cathy, Eddie, Ben) and secondly thanks... I'll try to be better with this in the next few months.
Well 2008 has been a pretty rough year all said. My first year full time has coincided with my first ever real injury and some pretty drastic health problems. I'll try to cover most of it in this post so it might be a long one - serves you all right for telling me you read this ha ha. I'll split it up into what's been, what is and what's to come....
What's Been...
Thus far my first year full time has been anything other than "Professional" - certainly in terms of finances & winnings. Starting the year with tendonitis in the hip meant that bike and run wise I was off to a bad start. Happily however Lanson Running (www.lansonrunning.co.uk) have come onboard to support me alongside Saucony Shoes and these problems are now in the past. My swimming was on the up though, but when I came to racing I was struggling...at the time I thought I was just missed fitness from the injury. In hindsight though, the deep exhaustion I was feeling everyday wasn't a result simply of the training. I was finding myself struggling to manage 17 hours of training a week. I simply put it down to the "reality of life as an athlete" and set about training MORE.
Come mid June and my two main focuses of the early season Austria 70.3 and Switzerland 70.3 came and...well went...BADLY. For some reason I was barely able to even FINISH one of these races now, let alone think about doing well or winning them (despite winning numerous shorter races). Training was getting harder too and general energy was on a downward trend. It took me 6 months of the year to see it and look for it, but something was clearly wrong.
I won't go into it here...as I've board most of you with it all in person anyway ha ha. Some blood tests, doctors appointments, injections and other advice all ended up with various changes to my lifestyle and nutrition. Within a few days I could feel the difference and by the end of July I was once again feeling back to normal. Though it can take time (months or even years in some cases) to get over stuff like Gluten intolerances, the general trend was an upward one. I no longer felt shattered all the time, training more than an hour at a time wasn't an uphill battle and more than 20 hours in a week didn't leave me bed ridden for a day! The goal for the year had always been the World Champs in November again and hopefully a top 10. By now all I wanted to do was qualify after the first 7 months so my coach and I picked a race in August and set about trying to get that slot....
What is....
I headed over to New Hampshire USA once more after my last, successful trip there in 2006. Timberman 70.3 is a great race and offered the chance to see some good friends again too. The race itself might have well have been a world champs with the amount of top class Pro's there but I was excited about racing and actually feeling remotely strong again. My good friend Chrissie Wellington (www.chrissiewellington.org) was also going to be there so it would be great to spend some time with her in a year where she is CRUSHING everyone in her wake! (including the men in most races.... More to come on this...)
I had a great few days in the Greystone Inn, Gilford. Seeing Dan and Cathy again was fantastic and bumping into other familiar faces made it a really nice few days. I felt pretty good leading into race day and had managed to avoid any gluten so I was optimistic about the race itself.
Race day dawned hot and sunny. Another disappointing swim (my pool times are still hit and miss as far as "showing up" in a race!) was followed by a solid bike as I anxiously waited to see how I felt coming off the bike...I came into transition less than 5mins off the leader and in 6th...this was more like it, but would my energy problems be there again. Thankfully I knew within about 3k they weren't and I held a nice steady pace over as I moved into 5th during the first hilly 5k, aiming to slowly build it up over the last 10k. Then.... BANG! On the way back at about 9k both my hamstrings went into rigid cramp! :-O I couldn't believe it. I had to stop and stretch. I had enough energy, but couldn't push the legs too hard or it came roaring back. Nursing the cramp for the remaining 12k of the run I came home in 8th. Pleasing in many ways as it was so much better than everything else so far this year, but disappointed as it wouldn't be enough to get the Worlds slot; and humbled as during the cramp attack Chrissie had pounded past me and I'd not been able to catch her back up... For the first time ever I'd been beaten by a girl (OK, so she's World Champ, a generational "freaky" talent and I'm not the first man to be beaten by her this year).
It was both satisfying and disappointing. The Worlds would have to be missed for a year as the remaining races to qualify at are all too far away (for my bank balance anyway ha ha!).
I'd have to console myself with trying to defend my National Title in September and re-focusing on next year being PERFECT - no injury, no sickness and achieving what I believe I'm capable of!
What's to come...
Fueled by the deep disappointment of the year I've looked to see what I can do to ensure next year and the years thereafter are all they can be. The offer to spend some time with Chrissie, her world leading (often wrongly maligned and criticized) coach and some of the members of their "team" TBB, was just what I was after. Some time in the peaceful, idyllic Swiss alps would offer me some space to think things through too. The year so far has left a lot of ...."clutter" in the gray matter that needed sorting.
Brett Sutton has an undisputable track record of training champions. Over the last 30 years he's done so on the track, in the pool, in the ring, on the race course and now in triathlon. Right now there is no one better in my opinion than him to seek for advice. Coupled with the "space" I wanted I was optimistic that my time there would have a HUGE impact on me for next year on onwards. I wasn't disappointed....
Without going into too much detail (maybe another day), I've got a new perspective on me as an athlete, training generally, life in "this sport" and my future in this sport. My self belief is still strong, though he makes no time for "blowing up your backside" for the sake of it i.e. He won't tell you you're great to make you feel good... And he didn't with me either. He simply told me what I'd need to do, that it would be INCREDIBLY hard, require a HUGE amount of work and that really I was starting 5 years too late.... Nothing new there then ;-) oh and one other thing.... That I need to start doing Ironmans....:-O :-D
Aside from Bretts insight, thoughts and advice that I've been fortunate to have and will I believe, go towards making next year an exciting one, I also got some really good time to think about things and coupled with fresh words from the "Doc" (Brett) I've got a really good desire for everything again. My belief had never really gone, but I think I'd lost sight of how to make it a reality. I'm chomping at the bit to get started on building towards next year now... I almost just want to get the Nationals out the way so I can get cracking :-) exciting times....
So there it is. I do want to add a HUGE HUGE thank you to those of you who have help me, especially recently in some generous ways that serve to keep me humble and grateful to you all! I hope to be able to "repay" all the support and help in the near future in more ways than one.
So it’s back to reality now. I'm going to look to do some work again to get the financial side of things ticking over. If possible get something going that will help maintain me next year too. God continues to bless my church (www.eternitychurch.co.uk) too and we're moving to a new BIGGER venue so there’s work to be done there. God willing, everything will fall into place in the right way to allow forward movement in all aspects of life. With my girlfriend moving down to Surbiton, at least I won't spend half my life on the M4 now too! Ha ha
