It's time to 'Face the Dragon'

August update.

Peaked!

Hours and mileage increased again during this month peaking the 24th and 25th with a 3 mile swim on  Saturday morning and a 5 hour ride plus 1 hour run on the Sunday. Doesn't sound horrendous but with the acumulation of the training that preceded it (including a 19 mile run a few days before) and the fact it was the hottest weekend of the summer made it the toughest training session I've ever done !







So here it is....after 35 weeks of training it's time to 'FACE THE DRAGON'

It all started on the 12th January 2019 with an FTP test on my new Elite Direto smart turbo, coupled with the Sufferfest training app.

Since then I have:

Swum over 156, 642 meters,

Cycled over 2,662 miles

Ran over 575 miles.

This is according to my strava ! so it doesn't include gym sessions, for example the spin classes I teach (I don't log those) or the strength training.

I've raced 6 events:

Sevale open 10 mile TT, 2nd female

Hereford duathlon, 2nd female

Storm the Castle duathlon, 4th female and 1st in age group

Bike Pace 50 mile TT, 3rd female, 1st vet, and a Personal best at this distance (2:08:49)

Cotswold 113 middle distance triathlon, Age group win and 14th female.

Sospan Sizzler middle distance triathlon (with sea swim) 1st female.

And I also participated in  Long Course Weekend Wales swim (2.4 miles in the sea)  and bike (112 mile sportive) and LPS events' 3.8k swim at lake 62 in the Cotswolds as part of my training.

Worked

I've also tried to keep a bit of balance in my life and read 7 novels !! Mostly whilst recovering in an Epsom salt bath !!  I've also done 15 minutes of mobilisation/flexibility/yoga every day.

So it really has been a 'journey' and when the dark moments come during the race I intend to look back at what I have achieved already this year during the build up.

I feel as though I can start the race knowing I have done everything I can to be in my best shape to get through the day. Yes, of course, I would like to do well in my age group, but at the same time I am realistic that this is my first full Ironman and the absolute priority is to enjoy the experience and get around the course in one piece (that's me and my bike!)

I want to mention the people that have been there for me throughout this intense year of training, Ron...for sorting the cleaning and maintenance of my bikes and generally putting up with my 'moments'as well as being 'Mr. Logistics', Neill, for all his help with training, plus putting life back into my legs once per month with regular sports massage and (as one of this years Tailwind Trailblazers) Tailwind nutrition for fuelling me all the way.
I feel I have to mention the patience of my class participants too as over the last few months I've participated less in some of my classes due to factoring in rest days and generally just being a little bit more realistic with how much exercise my body can actually do in any one day!!

Gullet Quarry, just one of the beauty spots on my running routes.

'See you on the beach'

Face the Dragon

LetsDoThis