One more stroke, one more pedal, one more step - Dartford standard distance

A little bit of back story - my first ever triathlon was the Virgin London super sprint at the Excel centre in September 2012. I then entered the Virgin London sprint distance for 2013, only to discover that this was the same day as my best friend's wedding, where I was due to be bridesmaid. So I deferred my entry to this year. My aim was to enter the standard distance  in 2014, but I wanted to do two standard distances this year. I couldn't find a good one to do in September, so when everyone started entering the Bridge Triathlon I posted on Facebook - do I enter the standard or the sprint? Everyone told me to enter the standard, so I did. I've stopped calling it an Olympic, as non-triathletes seem to assume this means I'm actually an Olympian. Ha. The distances are 1500 m swim, 40 k bike ride and 10 km run.

"think - one more stroke, one more pedal, one more step. small achievable tasks." - Sarah Stewart, member of the Greenwich Tritons.
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” - Bruce Lee (from triswimcoach)

I went to a talk about preparing for race day a few weeks ago and one of the things that was discussed was the use of mantras. I was just like, what? What's the point of that? However, as I got closer to the Dartford Bridge Triathlon, I started to panic. Had I gone a challenge too far? I was worried I'd let my tri club, the Greenwich Tritons, down. I knew this worry was silly, but the whole triathlon started to get to me, started messing with my head. I went out for a run that involved eight fast 1 km laps and by the end of it I wanted to throw my running shoes out the window. I even started to have bad dreams about triathlon. However, by the middle of last week, things started to turn. Sarah sent me a message with the words above. To begin with, I thought, One more step? Is that really going to help, especially if I know that I'm going to have to do several hundred more? Coach (from the club) told me that exercise would help my sleep patterns.  I went out on Wednesday night for more 1 km laps and I felt better. One more step really did help. I coped with the puncture in my commuter bike tyre by getting a new tyre and fitting it myself, and I even slept well.  I read the post from triswimcoach, and realized, I'm not racing this for anyone else, I'm racing this for me. All I have to do is complete it, and I will guarantee I get a PB (given I've never done a standard distance before).

The day started a little misty but well. I'd even managed to sleep through the night, a surprise for me who normally wakes up at 3 or 4 am and then can't go back to sleep. Then again, the alarm did go off at 4:05, but for a change I didn't feel bad, or nauseous, which I normally do at that time at the morning. I even managed to force down a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea before I left the house. I'd packed everything on the Saturday and all I needed to do was make up my sports drink and put everything in the car, after checking my list for the umpteenth time.

We got to Dartford without a hitch and then I noticed that a couple of cars in front of us was one full of bikes. Ah, I thought, I bet I know where they're going. So we proceeded to ignore the sat nav (who was going a bit crazy) and followed them in. My husband Stuart helped me carry everything to the transition, and on our way we saw a couple of our friends who were coming in at the same time. When I got into transition, I looked for a good spot to rack up. Only when I'd selected my place did I notice that they'd numbered the racks so you had to rack up by number. I was 141. As I looked along the rack, it said 139-140-142-143. Where was 141? I went back to ask. It seemed they'd missed me out! But all was not lost, they had a spare rack, and lucky for me, I got to have a massive bit of space and rack all to myself. What a result - my poor friends on the other side were all squashed together! They'd also had to change the number of laps that we did on the bike leg, as part of Bob Dunn way was being dug up because of flooding, so instead of seven laps, we'd be doing eight.

I was all racked up and ready to go. I went out to find  Stuart and to give him my wedding rings (never wear them in the lake, they could fall off and that would be awful!) and waited around for everyone else to be ready. I heard a couple of calls for people with white hats (which I'd managed to cram on my large head over my ordinary cap!) so was anxious to get to the start point. Finally Nadja came out and we walked to the start. Then they started shouting at us that we only had 2 minutes to the start, so we ran to the swim start. We'd missed the briefing, and weren't really sure where we were supposed to be swimming to! Luckily, a couple of people told us that we went left after the first buoy. The water was incredibly murky - I'd never seen so much mud in my face, but I guess that's because we'd kicked it up on the way to the start.

The klaxon went off, and it was time to swim! I went for the first buoy, desperately trying to get myself into a rhythm, probably because I'd set off too quickly. I suddenly realized that we had to go round to the right of the buoy before we turned left, so I had to make a quick change in direction (whoops!). I think I almost swam over someone as well (sorry!). We made it round the buoy, and then we were in the main lake and had to go round the square circuit twice. The first time round, I found someone to swim behind, but I decided they weren't going very fast, so I ended up pulling ahead of them and essentially swimming on my own for the majority. My sighting was pretty rubbish for the first route around until I settled myself down and made sure I had a look where I was going when I took a breath. I finally managed to get myself into a rhythm and swam, trying desperately not to get distracted by the bottom of the lake (it had got a bit clearer once we were out in the middle) or if anyone was behind me. By about half way around the second lap, I got a bit fed up of the swim, I just wanted out of the water. I knew I had to keep going, though, and almost went straight into a kayak on the final exit around (he was probably trying to protect the corner!). As I got to the end, a couple of fast green-hatters (the sprint group?) came past me, and finally I was at the waters edge, feeling a bit disorientated. I just about managed to scramble out of the lake and pressed my watch. 32 minutes for the swim? I was really pleased with that! Definitely a PB for me!

Transition 1 was rubbish. I think I was still a little disorientated from the swim, but my husband was gently trying to talk me through it, telling me I was doing really well. Bless him, I really appreciated it. I wasted good time in transition, even putting on cycling gloves that I really didn't need. Finally I got out, and it was time to test out my new bike. Eric is a full-on carbon bike, nice and light for the hills. Not that there were any on this course. There was a gentle downhill, yes, and a gentle ride back up to the start, but nothing really to write home about. The road was called Bob Dunn Way. I couldn't help but wonder all the way round and round and round and round a bit more, "Bob Dunn what?" (I later looked him up. Bob Dunn, rather dully, was a Tory MP for Dartford).

On my third lap around, I noticed that someone had come off their bike near the bottom of the hill. It's never nice to see anyone come off their bike, but as I went past, I recognized the person lying on the floor obviously in some pain as my friend, Dominique. It's even worse if you know the person who's been injured. When I went back round the loop I passed Stuart and Coach and told them that Dom had come off. As I came past again (after we'd had to make way for the emergency car!) he was up and on the central reservation. I was glad to see there were a few people taking care of him. Another lap went by, and this time another sad cyclist at the side of the road caught my eye. It was Marc, and as I went past him, his front tyre just exploded! Kaboom! It later transpired that his back one had done the same thing and catapulted him off near the start. So I had more news for Coach and Stuart when I went back to the start. By about the sixth lap my legs were starting to ache and my backside was really sore (still haven't got used to my fancy pants new saddle). There started to be fewer people on the track as the fast ones who had gone past me (and made me polite and get out the way, should have been racing, tut!) finished their ride. It was a lot nicer once everyone had gone, but by the seventh lap I was getting a bit worried. My Garmin only told me I'd done less than 30 km - but wasn't this a 40 km course? As I came round on the 8th lap, I was like, I'm sure this is number eight, but why am I only on 30 km? There were about maybe 10 people behind me, including Penny, and we cheered at each other as we went past each lap! I thought, this is wrong. I can't have another lap if there are so few people left on the course. I was also getting quite sore now, and fed up of being on the bike. I thought to myself, well, if the person ahead of me goes into transition, so will I. And they did, so I did. T2 was fine until I forgot to take my helmet off and had to go place it on my bike (d'oh!), which again wasted time.
The run was the bit I'd been dreading - I'd never run a full 10 k properly before. I ignored the water stations as I didn't think I needed water and just thought, well, just try and get into a rhythm again. I started to try and relax into the run and just try and get a good pace going. 10 minutes into the run I realized that perhaps not getting water was a bad idea - it was getting hot and I started to feel like I really needed a drink! I saw a couple of people out with running race belts with water bottles in them and I was really jealous. I also thought about the fact that I didn't think I would need a cap as it wouldn't be that warm - silly me! I saw Alex, Lizzie, Tina, Nadja and a couple of other Tritons out on the course, and we all cheered each other on. When I came back around the first loop, I saw Penny come the other way. She went to give me a high five, and the clap of our hands together was so strong my hand really stung for a couple of seconds! I even said "Ow!". We had to do three laps, and I almost missed the turning off from transition the second time around. Penny's mother and a couple of other people were cheering us on by the bus station which was really helpful. That was about the 5 k point as well. I thought, well, now I have to do that distance all over again. The second loop was probably the worst, I was tired, really thirsty. I ran past Stuart and asked if I really had to do the loop again? Of course I did. I made sure this time I grabbed two cups of water from the station before I set off round again. My last lap, thank goodness. I was tired, hot, and the guy with the massive beard that I noticed on the bike ride had come past me on the run and was fading into the distance. But Penny hadn't come past me, which surprised me. She was still about a kilometer behind me. Marc had come racing past me, after having had two punctures and a big crash, I was so impressed he was flying round the run! I got round - having avoided a massive lorry going into Sainsbury's - and finally into the final straight. There was my husband Stuart, running along next to me despite the terrible pain in his foot. That gave me the final push to the end, and finished! Looked down at my watch, didn't believe it - 2 hours 59. I'd done my first ever standard distance in under three hours! That was far better than I would have ever planned or imagined, I was thinking more around the 3 h 30 mark!

The Tritons after the race, just about in one piece!

The guy doing the timing told me I'd come eighth in my age group. I thought, nah, he's having me on. So when the results came out I had a look. I was eighth - out of eight. But, hell, I'll take that!

It's all becoming Crystal clear...

Crystal Palace Triathlon - 18 May 2013

The Crystal Palace Triathlon is one of the most popular triathlons and sells out within hours of entries opening. I guess this is because it's a pool swim, closed road for cycling, really good for supporters and a good start for beginners. 

I entered because a lot of my friends had and I'd never done a pool swim triathlon before.  Here's my report.

I arrived just after 8 on the morning so I was there in good time (didn't need to be in the pool before 10!) and unpacked my bike (which I'd had to take the wheel off to fit in the car) and took it and my things towards the start. This seemed to involve an awful lot of carrying the bike down the stairs (remember the stairs for later). On our way in we'd been warned that there was a Mini rally. What I didn't know was that the rally was also starting in the grounds of Crystal Palace itself, so we ended up wheeling our bikes past some amazingly classic Minis - beautiful cars!

I registered, took my bike off to transition and then found a good spot next to a fork in the bike rack - I like to put all my stuff between my bike and a fork. The transition area appeared to be full of sand - I guess the volleyball courts next door had travelled some of their sand over. In racking up and sorting all my stuff out I managed to get sand all over my hat and goggles. I was looking out for my fellow Tritons, and finally figured out the guy a rack away from me was John from the group. 

Once I was ready, I went into the pool area. I was amazed at the breadth of Crystal Palace and the facilities on offer - pretty much any sport you might be into is catered for here. A lovely 50 m pool, with people already swimming in (they started just after 9). I went up to collect my chip and was told to hang fire, so I watched the current swimmers to see where they were swimming and then decided to go back out to transition to see whether any of my friends had arrived. By this stage they had and were setting up their bikes. Thea bless her was looking distinctly nervous, this being her first triathlon, so we were trying to encourage her. My nerves were jangling too! We walked back inside and cheered Thea on as she started. 

Soon it was my time to start. I hung around the start, received my timing chip and got into the diving pool for a quick practice swim. That helped to ease the nerves, it was good to be in the water again. I don't know how people who don't really like the swimming bit can do triathlons - I love to swim and being in the water makes me feel relaxed (most of the time!).

Getting ready for the swim

 Alex went off a few people ahead of me and then it was my turn. I quickly got myself into a rhythm and started swimming. The swim went OK. I spent a bit of it feeling a bit sick and hoping people wouldn't overtake me. I had to overtake someone and then I could see people coming up behind me. One woman overtook me and then slowed down as she had to take on the full force of the water without streamlining behind me. This was frustrating as I was pretty much on her toes all the way after that, to the point where I wanted to overtake her but I just wasn't fast enough to get past her and it was too much effort. At least it distracted me from my nausea! At the end we got out, and after being strictly told no running, walked out of the building to transition. 

Transitioning without a wetsuit on is a lot easier and a lot faster so I was two minutes faster than normal getting out of transition. Off out on the cycle course I went. The cycle course comes out of the stadium and almost immediately straight up a rather nasty hill. We would have to climb up this hill nine times to get round the course. The hill's not long, just very steep, and I could see everyone struggling up it and we all bunched up as we heaved ourselves up it every time. There were loads of people round the course, a few of them friends who were cheering me on every time I went around, which was great impetus to keep going. Of course going uphill means going downhill and to be honest I don't know which one I dislike the most, and I'm sure I shouldn't have been braking down the hill but I didn't feel very safe coming down it!!

Cycling around the course

 As I went round the course I decided that the socks I'd put on in transition were uncomfortable and baggy. I also noticed that a few of the other cyclists had very sandy bottoms - I guess a few of them had put on cycling shorts for the bike leg or perhaps had sat down to put their shoes on. I lost track of the number of trips I'd taken around the course so had to use my Garmin to try and figure out how far I'd gone. When it got up to 19 km I reckoned I must be on my last lap, thank goodness. Looking at my times now it seems I was pretty much consistently about 5 minutes 30 per lap, so at least I'm consistent.

Coming into transition 2 I decided to take the socks off

Off on my least favourite section, the run

 as it was getting hot and I knew the socks made my feet get too warm. 

The run is always going to be the hardest part and it being hot didn't help. I was determined to run the whole way and not walk, as I saw a few people doing, so I started back up the hill (again! that blasted hill!) only to be greeted at the top by people brandishing water. Oh, that water was good, but trying to drink while running is always a bit of a struggle for me. I made it round, to be cheered on by the Tritons telling me I was looking relaxed (is this a good thing?) despite the fact I had a terrible stitch and was suffering and then I had to go up the hill again. There was also a rather evil car park that we had to run up and down again which felt a bit daft! I'd guessed that I'd managed to get some sand into my shoes as they were rubbing quite hard on the way around, but the second time round was easier than the first (I almost felt like I could go round again!) and finally I came into the stadium (where some racing greats have run) to do my final run. I was tired, but having everyone cheer me on gave me the impetus to try and get a bit more speed up round the final bend and come in... at 1:45. 

 I was dehydrated, sore and almost boiling from the heat. Then I decided to take my shoe off to inspect the damage to be greeted by a large popped blister... that almost brought me to my knees. Being hot and injured almost always makes me pass out so it was a good thing that Carol was there to feed me water until I felt better. 

Finished at the end... relieved it's all over!

Everyone was standing around in the hot sun, but I felt like I'd had enough exposure for the day, so I went off to sort out my transition area. I was very grateful that I'd brought my flip flops so I didn't have to put my shoes back on over my horrible blister. Taking the bike back to the car almost felt like a workout itself - we had to carry them back up the stairs we'd carried them down earlier, but this time in the blistering midday sun. We waved goodbye and discussed maybe meeting up later on in the day. By the time I'd got home, had something to eat and a shower I realised I was not going anywhere and was completely exhausted! What a day, although I don't think I'd do it again - I think I prefer open water events.

P.S. Thanks to Nadja and Thea for the great photos!

Are we having any fun?

I'd decided that this year was going to be the year I went for an Olympic distance triathlon. In order to work myself up to this particular crazy feat I felt like I should do a couple of sprint distances to start off with. My last triathlon of last year was Leybourne. So it was due to be my first of 2014. I'd chosen it again as I knew it was a nice mostly flat course that would be a good start to my year.

Leybourne lakes lie near Maidstone in Kent and are where we go to train for open water swims. The water is clean but very murky at this time of year. I'd gone down to the lake a couple of times before the race to get myself acclimatised to the temperature - a shocking 11.5 degrees on my first trip out, enough to make me seriously consider running out of the water again, but didn't as I had people watching me! I was very grateful for those practice swims as it meant I was used to the distance and the temperature before I started.

The day started as it meant to go on for the next couple of hours. Rain, cold and miserable! I picked up Nadja and Jennice on the way to the race and unfortunately got caught in a bit of traffic on our way to the lake. This meant we were one of the last to rack up and I didn't get a chance to grab my favourite area next to prop spaces. Didn't really seem to affect me much really. As it was so cold the difference between the air and the water (which had now risen to the heights of 13.5 degrees) wasn't so bad. They'd also managed to get some timing chips so we didn't have to shout our number out to someone. We were set off in the water. At every buoy I turned to look and figured I wasn't at the back, which was good. I also missed the sunken car which I know is there on the way back in but had still given me a fright the first time I'd gone out.



Waiting for the off - I'm the tall one right in the centre with the blue cap on.

On your way out of the water the Leybourne race gives you a real help I've never seen anywhere else: they unzip your wetsuit and pull one shoulder down. Brilliant for transition! I ran to my bike and sorted myself out, teeth chattering. I even put a long sleeved top on to try to keep me warm. Out on the bike course it was chucking it down. This was not helped by the giant lorries and trucks spraying water over us as we went round the course. My top got soaked and so did the rest of me. As I came around the first time I recognised a familiar plait and as I passed Jennice I said,  Are we having fun yet? We had a fun few minutes jostling for position before I managed to pull away from her, then I managed to manoeuvre round a lorry and get round the roundabout for the second lap, I could see her still stuck behind it. I guess that's where commuting into town and back really has its advantages!

Coming back into transition I couldn't really feel my quads or even my feet. I was numb from the cold. There was even a volunteer offering to help unclip our helmets!  I soldiered on John Wayne style and started out on the run, conscious that Jennice might catch me at any moment. About five minutes into the run I realised I must have picked up a stone in my shoe in transition and if I didn't take it out I'd get a blister. So I had to stop to sort my shoe out. It had almost stopped raining, but because it was cold my glasses had steamed up - I couldn't figure out whether it was worse with or without them! Near the end of the first lap Debbie came up the track having finished her race. I called her a few choice words for finishing already but she kept pace with me and let me know that Jennice hadn't passed me yet.  She also geed me on by saying I was running really well and to keep going at the same pace for the second lap. Thanks Debbie.

 

Having gone past everyone cheering me on for my second lap, I dug in and tried to keep at the same pace. It was quite lonely for the second loop given most had finished by that stage so I spent most of it trying to decide what my Strava title would be and whether my glasses were helping or hindering my run, as well as trying to avoid the odd dog and pedestrian. I also saw a lady with a fluorescent jacket who I mistakenly thought might be Jennice on her first lap. Finally I got to the end and I simply didn't have anything left to sprint finish. I ended up doing a time of 1:42, which is pretty much the same as last September, which I was a bit disappointed with given the training I've done. Looking at my splits it looks like the bike was slower - probably due to the weather - and I made up the time in the run leg, which is great.

Jennice never did pass me to my surprise and she came in a couple of minutes later running the last few metres with her daughter which was really sweet!

My Asics

I've been trying to get myself motivated into training for the last bit of my standard distance triathlon in August - the 10 k run. If you've been reading my blog ever you'll know that running just doesn't agree with me. The furthest I've run is 9 k and I was getting worried that I'd never make the 10. Especially after swimming and cycling. So I was discussing this with the guys at the cycle shop. Luckily for me they are ironmen so they also have lots of running experience as well as cycling. So one of the guys recommended My Asics to help with my training. So I duly headed over to the site. This gives you lots of options, letting you set your goal and suggesting a training schedule. You can set the number of days you can train and which days you can train on. The site reckons I'll be able to do a 10 k in 1 hour 10 minutes given a 5 k time of 30 minutes. Which sounds good to me.
This week is meant to be easy - the next few runs are meant to get my body used to training,  which is good for me. So this morning involved a slow and easy 8 k. I'm up in Blyth for the weekend so I left my husband asleep while I trotted off to the riverside. Lovely morning and I was supposed to run about 9 min/km but managed at least a minute faster. Feeling shattered now but happy with that.

New year, new restart

Ok so I've been extremely rubbish with my blog. I have loads going on and I just don't find the time to actually write something. Plus I find that I use my phone a lot instead of my computer and writing us a lot more difficult if you have to tap everything in with one finger. But for a while now I've been getting pictures on Facebook that I want to repost but not irritate everyone on my feed. Also my friend's father suggested I write a blog about my trip to Olympic distance triathlon this year. What's this you say? Olympic distance? Why is that special? Well I have been gently going up a distance every year. In 2012 I did my first ever triathlon, a super sprint (400m swim/10k bike/2.5k run), just to see if I could. I'd joined the local triathlon group to get some training in but I recognise now I probably didn't do enough training, especially for the swim - I just wasn't ready for not stopping at the end of the pool. Nevertheless, I was hooked. Ever since then, if I'm anywhere on a Thursday evening, it's in the pool with my triathlon friends. Last year I did manage two sprint distances (750k swim, 20k bike and 5k run). My issue is with my running. I really struggle. But I was getting stronger by the end of last year. So I just have to keep at it and try to run more regularly this year. The Olympic distance is 1500k swim,40k bike and 10k run. I haven't managed to swim that far in one yet, but I have no doubt I can do it. The bike I can do. I do that in a day getting to work.! However, it's the run that worries me. I have not managed to get to 10k yet. I've done 9 so far. But I'm going to try to get to 10 at least by easter. Plus myoother challenge is to run faster than 30 minutes fo 5k. I've recently met a new friend who has rapidly become my running buddy and we work off each other really well. Now unfortunately she managed to break the 30 minute barrier without me last week but I'm determined to go for it soon. I just hope this cold I've had will go away! So I'm going to try harder with the blog this year. Will keep you updated with my training etc and we'll see how we go.

It's all going swimmingly

I love to swim. There is something about getting into a pool, or a body of water, and just feeling the freedom of floating. I tell people I’ve been swimming since I could walk, and although that’s probably not strictly accurate, it’s not far from the truth. I was lucky enough to gain access to a swimming pool on a regular basis when I was younger and encouraged to learn to swim all the strokes there were. When I went to school once again I was lucky enough to have a school that had a pool so in the summer I spent the majority of my free time there, often getting in the pool twice a day, although I’m not sure exactly how much swimming I did and how much messing around I was doing instead! Enough swimming was done for me to be the fastest at backstroke, and I often won races (although I lost a couple by turning over at the end to make sure I didn’t crash - sorry!).

My one regret when I went to university is that I didn’t stick it out in the pool. I probably had far too much fun going out and discovering the internet (which was a relatively novel invention in those days) and “didn’t have time” for swimming club. I did go swimming, every now and then, but it wasn’t particularly structured or intensive. Once I’d moved away from the swimming pool, I went less and less frequently. When I moved to Cambridge, I didn’t go at all – instead I played really bad badminton, a game I have now given up due to me being far too bad at hand-eye coordination to carry on with!

So we move to the present day. I’m now at my fittest I’ve been for a long time, but, once I’d signed up for the triathlon, I kept saying “I must get back to the pool”. I’d joined the local gym specifically for their pool but found that I was too slow for the fast lane and too fast for the slow lane, a very frustrating set of affairs. Once I’d moved to Woolwich I was five minutes’ walk from the local pool. But it took me nearly six months to get there. Why? Well it didn’t help that I was cycling 20 miles to work and back. By the time I’d got home, I was tired and hungry. Going swimming was the last thing on my mind. At weekends I’m often busy or tired. I still had faith in my ability to swim, despite the fact that I hadn’t actually been in a pool and done more than 20 laps (most of which breastroke) for a very long time.

I went along to the triathlon training day, and had a bit of a shock. Admittedly I had put a lot of effort into the running session prior to the swimming, but the sudden transition into an environment where there were no walls to hang on to and the fact I couldn’t see where I was going through the murky water totally threw me. My “strong swimmer” status was incorrect. I resolved that I had to start going to my local triathlon club to start swimming every week with them to improve my swimming style, fitness base and confidence in the water.

Training for a Triathlon

So someone asked me the other day whether I was blogging while I was training for my triathlon. I haven't touched this blog since I gave up half way through Janathon (my trainer did try to warn me that exercising every day wouldn't work out so well).
Hold the phone... Did I mention previously I was planning on doing a triathlon? Well yes I am. I heavily suspect that I got the idea from my friend and my sister doing one. I then decided that, since I could swim and cycle a bit it was the challenge for me.I even started and completed the couch to 5k plan as I couldn't run for peanuts. So, after watching people swim over each other, crash their bikes and dress up as Big Bird, I decided the London Triathlon was the thing for me. Probably. I also decided to sign up for a training day to help me with my preparations.
Round about a month ago, I went off to the other side of London. I spent a day being taken through my paces, running techniques, nutrition and race tips, swimming and how and where to get on and off the bike in transition. That day I spent some time talking to the other participants. I realised that my swimming really wasn't my strongest sport after all (although I'd been swimming for all my life, front crawl is not my favourite or most natural of strokes). I also found swimming in open water with my head down totally disorientating. This was not good. I had eight weeks to my triathlon and for the first time I was worried I wouldn't make it round the swim. One of the other girls on that day mentioned they'd joined their local triathlon group. Now I'd thought about doing this several times but had been put off by the image of super-fit people who were really hardcore and far more able than me to swim, cycle and run.
I had contacted my local club, the Greenwich Tritons, previously. I was put off at that stage by the fact that the lady had come back to me to let me know that "We usually swim around 2800 in an hour" - I'm guessing that means metres, and given I normally "stroll" through about 30 lengths (round about 750 m) in an average session this seemed a lot!
My next post will be about how I got on at my first session and how I'm progressing now...

I could be exercising... but I'm snot

This morning I made an executive decision to stop Janathon. I'm sorry but I am just feeling too rotten to continue - the cold just doesn't seem to be getting better and I feel like I need to concentrate on my health at the moment. I might come back to Janathon and of course I'll continue blogging, but this is the end of my attempt to exercise every day.

Busy doing Nothing

This morning I slept in for the first time in a while. I woke up at quarter to 11 this morning, so clearly I needed some sleep. I got up and got going straight away despite the woozy feeling in my head! I cooked up my Normandy pork and placed it in the new rice cooker my parents kindly gave me for Christmas, which also serves as a slow cooker. It has been making delicious smells all day so I'm looking forward to that for my lunch this week!
My exercise for Janathon came after lunch after I shoved myself to the gym. I'm still coughing, worried that it might be going into my lungs, and feeling groggy and woozy. So I managed 5 km on the bike and 10 minutes running which was 1.3 km. It meant I could come home and sit down for a good reason without feeling like I'd been lazy all day! So finally some running for Janathon!
I've also got loads of bulbs in my window box sprouting at the moment so very excited to see the flowers over the next weeks and months. Hopefully there won't be snow so my flowers won't die like they have over the past few years.

Shopping and Sushi

Today's Janathon exercise was yet more walking I'm afraid. I got a whole load of sleep last night, and although I wasn't exactly feeling great this morning the feeling of glass in my throat had at least subsided. I started coughing instead, so I am a little worried that it's going down my windpipe. Nevertheless I had a couple of things to get this morning. I wanted to look into getting a new pair of gloves to keep my hands warm when I'm cycling. I believe I suffer from Reynaud's syndrome, and I have to try and keep my fingers warm when I'm on the bike, otherwise my fingers go numb and white halfway through my ride. It's not very comfortable! I was using my skiing gloves but unfortunately they really didn't give me much reach around the brakes, not very safe! So I walked to Spitafields to check out Evans and Cycle Surgery and see if they had any good cycling gloves. After that I walked on to Chancery Lane via lunch and bought some running gloves.
According to multimap I walked nearly 4 and a half miles today. Which is pretty good going.
And when I got home I made sushi using my new rice maker.

It came out well... and I've got leftovers for tomorrow. Yummy!

Oh, oh, sometimes I get a good feeling...

...Or not, as is the case today. Today's random tune is Good Feeling by Flo Rida. Unforunately I'm really not feeling very well today. At least my throat doesn't feel like it's full of glass now. I am hoping that I will be able to get some rest tonight - sadly no chance of a parkrun tomorrow morning.
But in order to log some exercise for Janathon, I recorded my walk to the local supermarket.
Now I think I might go to bed.

Speak Easy

Sometimes I get random songs from way back stuck in my head. And so it was today that I ended up with Speak Easy from Bugsy Malone in my head. Again, this is quite relevant to how I'm feeling as speaking easy is difficult for me today! My throat feels like it's got razor blades in it and I have been feeling very groggy. Not good.

But today was the first day back with my trainer, Dean. So I couldn't wuss out and say I wasn't feeling very well. It wasn't bad in the end. I spent an hour pumping weights, doing chin ups, lunges, squats, sit ups and planks. We always chat. We discussed my mother's attempt to get me to move out of their flat. She decided to break this to me on Christmas day, which I wasn't very impressed with. So we will see over the next month or so what happens with that. I am desperate to move out, but I was hoping that my fiance Stuart would be able to move down first so we could find somewhere to live together. At the moment this doesn't look like it's going to happen. The job market is so slow at the moment that it's very hard for him to find a job.
Dean was also very hungry so we spent some time discussing food! I was trying to describe Lebkuchen to him, as I'd bought him some especially from Lidl (they're the best from there!). They're my favourite biscuit ever!
Today was also the day I discovered I was an auntie again, as my sister Theresa gave birth to a baby boy. Great news and congratulations to her!

Ruffneck

This Janathon post is brought to you by the song in my head today, Ruffneck by Skrillex (yes, I did have to look him up). This might become a theme for every blog post I make. Today's song I blame on Zane Lowe, who is on Radio 1 every morning this week. It's also a good euphemism for how I'm feeling today.

Today was not a great day. I get the nasty feeling I am getting a cold. I have a headache, a sore throat, and am really tired. So going to the gym tonight wasn't really something I wanted to do. However, I had to go, firstly because I'm spending a lot of money on the gym, and secondly because of Janathon. So I decided in the end I would go and use one of the comfortable recumbent cycles that they have in the gym. I could go and do my knitting and watch the TV! Yes I realise that knitting isn't exactly the thing you would associate with working out but I find exercise quite dull most of the time. I got a couple of rows done while I cycled, plus I got to watch the end of the Simpsons. Then I went home and made mince and pea curry with peppers instead of onions. It was goood.

Janathon: A Walk in the Cold

So today was the start to work, and was brought to you by the music of Chesney Hawkes "I am the One and Only" and Metallica "Enter Sandman". An interesting mashup caused by the announcement that Chesney would be appearing on Dancing on Ice and one of the authors on the reference list of the manuscript I was reading today had a surname of Chesney... Metallica because it was played on New Year's Day, and had stuck in my head. It was also a day of terrible weather, gales and heavy rain. It got very cold as well!

So I had to do a couple of errands, the first one was a walk to Mornington Crescent. Now I realise that walking is probably not the foremost activity that you would associate with Janathon, but I did walk for nearly 2 miles. Once I'd done that, I walked on to King's Cross before taking the tube home. By the time I got to Mornington Crescent I was absolutely freezing and my hands had gone white (I believe I suffer from Raynaud's and had forgotten my gloves, tut). I only managed to warm up when I got on the tube. It was a relief to get home to my warm flat and get started on my dinner - meatballs in tomato sauce - Yum!

An Inauspicious Start to Janathon

Well I feel like I've fallen at the first hurdle really. I took my running gear with me to Northumberland with the best of intentions. I even managed to go for a run with Stu on New Years Eve, who despite grumbling, enjoyed the run so much he was off miles un front of me - the guys on cycles coming the other way told me I'd better get a hurry on to catch him up - ha there was no chance of that given he's a marathon runner and I've only just made it to 5k! New Years Day exercise consisted of walking to a pub, and as the blokes would say, lifting a few pints is exercise, right? Erm well, never mind.
And so on to today. The feat of endurance I have just had to undertake is standing in the vestibule for 3 and a half hours. This has left me thirsty, numb, achey and exhausted. To me, this sounds like exercise!
But, joking apart, tomorrow is when my workouts begin. The diet starts up and I begin my "detox". Let the fun commence!

End of Couch to 5k and the start to Janathon

Well, starting Couch to 5k really hasn't helped my plan to blog more really. I was going to keep whoever can be bothered to read this blog updated with my progress.

Well, I made good progress. I finally made it to 5k on the treadmill. My next challenge was to do a parkrun - a 5k race around a local park. My first one was round Finsbury Park. Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was that I was in no way prepared for running in "real life". Running on actual tarmac is a lot harder work than on the treadmill. Plus there are these things called hills. I started off far too fast and it starts down a hill. What goes down, must go up, and I struggled to get up the other side. I started walking on the steeper bit near the half way point. Of course at that point I didn't realise that I had to go round a whole another time. Exhausted at right at the back, I had to go round again. On the second lap, I started to feel sick after eating too much breakfast and had to slow down to a walk again. I didn't know which was the turn off to come around and took a turn far too early. This meant I caught up with the end of the pack, so I waited until the back markers I recognised went past me and joined in after them. Not a great run for me all in all, but I did manage 4.7k in under 40 minutes. And learnt a valuable lesson in not eating too much before a run or taking it too fast at the start. My second attempt, a few weeks later, went a lot better, at the inaugaural Highbury Fields parkrun, and I tried really hard to run throught the whole 5k. I made it! I was the second to last but I'd run the whole distance and completed the Couch to 5k training.
So, my next challenge is to start Janathon. This involves doing some form of exercise and blogging every day, so this should increase my blogging for the next month at least!

Couch to 5k: End of Week 2, Beginning of Week 3

So when I started doing the Couch to 5k plan, I was hoping this might encourage me to post more often on this blog. But, as always, I seem to be spending far too much time actually training in my spare time to have the time to write stuff as well!
To be honest I found week 2 really hard work. It didn't help that I was feeling particularly run down and a bit dizzy during my runs - not good. But I started to feel stronger with my 90 second runs by the end of last week. Then I discovered that the London cycling group had their 'easy' ride on Sunday. Easy being 20 miles and I would bike it on my old hybrid bike that is made of steel and weighs a TON. No joke. And not easy! But I did it, just about, but it made me so nervous I hardly slept the night before.
That has been the theme of this week - bad sleep and a load of training. I finished my week 2 of Couch 2 5K on Tuesday, getting to 3K according to the running machine, so I started week 3 today. Week 3 starts you off on 3 minute runs. Yes, a lot harder work, especially when your quads are screaming gently. But I got through it, mostly with the encouragement of Laura, although I've come to associate her voice when running with slowing down, like some kind of Pavlov reaction, I wad very disappointed when she broke through two minutes through my last 3 min run and told me to keep going!

Couch to 5k

So, after several years of thinking about it, I have finally started doing the Couch to 5k. The reason why it took me so long I think was for several reasons. My main problem, given that the plan consists at the start of several 60 s runs followed by 90 s walks, how was I going to time myself? I didn't have a timer, so I thought about getting one. Secondly, how was I going to calculate how many runs I had done? I've never been the best counter. Thirdly, how was I going to fit all three runs into one week? I'm busy enough as it is!
Luckily, to my rescue came the NHS (to my amusement my phone just tried to autocorrect that to bus - I don't think the bus would help much! Hang on a sec, why am I using my phone in the first place to update this?) with their Couch to 5K podcasts - what a brilliant idea. So, the training sessions are all ready set up for you to start going. No worries about stopwatches, having to count how many runs you've done, and, as an added bonus, you have Laura (the commentator) and some ahem, groovy, tracks to push you on and tell you what to do next.
So what about the having to fit 3 runs into an all ready hectic schedule? Well, I've decided to replace my swimming (well, I can all ready swim) with a training session every week. I will also try going out at lunch times or squeezing in half an hour before pilates on Thursday. If I'm away at the weekend I guess I could try getting up a little earlier and going out before everyone else is up and awake. But the point is I don't feel like I have to squeeze it all in. So what if it takes me a bit longer, as long as I keep going up the sequence and don't get stuck, I don't have to do three runs a week, that's my aim but if I can't, then I can't.

So the first session went well I think. It was hard to guage how fast to pace the runs. I could only manage 20 minutes before pilates but I managed to finish off the last two runs afterwards. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but at least I did it. And I'm looking forward to the next session, which will probably be on Monday.

I've even bought some new running trousers - I swore I'd never wear Lycra! And I have a new heart rate monitor to see how fast my heart's beating. So if you see a slightly mad-looking tall woman attempting to run in Central London, that'll be me...

Tall Dating - Mismatch.com

Well, last year I was going to write a second part to my dating post entitled Mismatch.com.

This is because there was a moment when I decided to try out online dating. It's not specifically directed at any particular online dating site - I mean, I could have entitled this E-Disharmony, but Mismatch.com sounded so much better!

The problem was the interesting men were few and far between. As I've described before, I'm quite specific about what kind of man I want. And trying to be specific, i.e. a man above 6'4, close to London, the results were very sporadic. There were a few nice men but none responded to my messages. Those that sent me messages were all short, and most of them were black (again, just not my type). The only taller guy that sent me a message lived in America - not exactly close to London!

But I haven't posted about this because I have started a new period of stability of my life. This is because I found a man in the real world (well, in the Tall Persons Club world). He is tall and I am happy. Apart from he lives in Northumberland.

Ah well, you can't have everything!

The Only Way is Up? Part 1

I was going to submit this to the Tall Person’s Club magazine, but I feel that it’s not really suitable for that, plus people I know might actually read it there...

Arianne Cohen, in The Tall Book, talks about “dating down” i.e. a taller woman dating a shorter man. When I heard her speak, she was going out with a shorter man, after going out with someone taller. The problems for tall dating are thus: a woman of 6'2 is taller than 97% of the population, thus only 3% are taller than her. Of these, some are going to be taller women. A proportion of the rest of the men are going to be married, in a relationship or gay. Or simply not interested in taller women. Then, she says, you can cross most of the rest off for not having the qualities you might want in a man. Which leaves you with not very many left. Of course there is an advantage to dating someone shorter – you're less likely to have very tall children, for example. But then again, just because you date someone taller, it doesn't necessarily lead to you having much taller children (if any at all!).

Perhaps I am prejudiced, as one person calls Arianne in her book. I may be one of the few tall girls who have always “dated up”, but that's always the way it has been. I tried to explain it the other day to a friend of mine. I used the analogy of a clothing store. I often don't go into ordinary clothing stores, as I don't expect to find anything that will fit me. So, if I went out on an ordinary evening, I wouldn't normally expect to find a tall man. And I would ignore the shorter men, in her words I don't “see” them. I mean no disrespect to shorter men, it's just that they simply do not interest me in that way. They don't “fit”. So, I came to the Tall Person's Club in the same way I go to a specialist clothing store to find someone who might. I think I have now, we will see.

The problem with tall men is that they often don’t care in the same way that tall women do. They have other objectives, of which I know not, and am unlikely to get hold of. Yes, sometimes it may be that they are unaware that there are tall women out there, or simply that they are scared of tall women. I find a lot of tall men (and quite a few tall women) come to the Tall Person’s Club later on in life, when they’ve found out about it and are possibly more comfortable about meeting taller people.

I feel like I've rambled on too much, so this will be a post in parts.