Well I’m back in the UK now having completed my near 7 weeks training in Boulder. I’m really happy to be back home, its great to see family and friends but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be back in Boulder. If you’ve read any of my post whilst I’ve been away you’ll be more than aware of all the reasons why. Needless to say, it’s now time to put “pedal to the metal” so to speak and start the real reason for why I went to Boulder in the first place – RACING!
My race schedule is somewhat undecided right now as so much depends upon the two main goals for the first part of the year - The ITU Long Distance Champs in Korea and then IM Japan. There are two priorities from these two races; Money and a slot at Kona (the world champs in October).
I raced last month at 70.3 Florida and had something of a mixed race. The result was disappointing, more so the implosion I once again experienced having ridden and run myself into the top 10. But there were still positives to found and the important thing is to take them and transfer them across to the problems I suffered in order to correct them!
Shortly before heading home I spent some time with my good friend Chrissie Wellington (www.chrissiewellington.org). It’s nice when you have friends like that to help you out (she’s the current 3 times Ironman and Long Course Triathlon World Champ and arguably the best female triathlete around right now). We chatted about what I felt had gone wrong in Florida and how I’d planned and executed the race. A bit like a person who’s been studying a jigsaw puzzle for too long, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees; thankfully Chrissie straight away pin-pointed where I was going wrong (at least one of the areas anyway ha ha). With all the problems I’d suffered last year and the year before with chronic fatigue, failing to even finish races and not being able to train more than 90mins a day I’d messed about so much with my race nutrition that I was eating nearly TWICE as much as I needed. When the intensity of a race is as high as it is, the temperature as hot and humid as in Florida this was always going to be a problem. But from where I was seeing it, I was running out of ‘puff’ and therefore needed MORE not LESS! But I couldn’t see things clearly, it was a problem I’d been looking at intensely for too long and therefore it all blurred into one big baffling mess.
But now Chrissie was helping me see with regained clarity and suddenly things were coming back into view. I used to be a real student of the sport, of the methods others used; the advice of the best people out there. I’d spend hours trawling the net for a little hint of a secret from one of the world greats – a session structure, training protocol, nutritional advice; I was desperate to get any tips and advantage I could. More recently I’d stopped doing this largely I think because I’d got so bogged down in worry about trying to fix things. I couldn’t see the easily fitting pieces of the puzzle that were right in front of my face.
I really hope that this has resolved the biggest issues I’ve had most recently in races. I’m tiring of doing races and KNOWING I’m underperforming in big way. There is only so long though that I can keep having the same kind of things happen. And yet I will continue to press on, not because I feel I should in some blind foolishness, but because I genuinely have faith that what I’m doing is the right thing, pursuing “this” is right, and a big part of my life as a Christian too. Sometimes faith in this is all I’ve got, but I’m happy it’s all I need.
The run, which used to be my biggest strength, has become something of an uncertainty, and I don’t feel like I’ve had a good run in a race for nearly 2 years….maybe more?! The way training has gone indicates that I can run way faster then I’m doing in a race. I don’t seam to be able to get anywhere close to a run splits I managed back in late 2006. With all the extra training I’m doing, I should be running FASTER not slower. When I do, I know, I’m convinced I can achieve the results I believe I can and actually make this whole thing work. Having taken Chrissie’s advice, I’ve tested it in race simulation days during training and it points to really good things. I just hope that for a change I can transfer these training performances into race results and soon!
Korea will tell me a lot and be a great indicator for the upcoming Iron Man. There’s no way I want to be getting off the bike in an IM, having just ridden 112 miles, and be wondering if my legs will show up or disappear completely like they have been over the last few months and years. It would be really nice for them to come back so we can start making a proper go of this triathlon malarkey!!!
