Real World Age-Group Triathlete

I still feel silly calling myself an athlete, even if it is a triathlete, but I’ve been fairly fortunate lately and have been feeling almost like a real one.

Things have been quiet on the work front – quiet enough so as to have some financial worries – but on the plus side it has meant that there has been plenty of time for not only training, but even some proper rest and recovery too. As well as the swimming, biking, running, circuits and gym sessions I’ve been able to fit in plenty of stretching, foam rolling and even the odd snooze.

But, with just 3 weeks to go until the European Championships the last couple of weeks have been super hectic and fitting it all in has been a struggle. I’m in the middle of my final training block so have a couple of hard, focussed weeks to complete before tapering for the race. I’ve been invigilating exams at the university, something I do each year for a little extra money. I’ve been running my web design business as usual – even when there isn’t much work to do there are still plenty of business matters to attend to. I’ve even had some work to do as well as there seems to have been a bit of a rush on over the last couple of weeks – not enough to make me much money but it should pay a few of the bills. On top of this we’ve been frantically organising and running a Scout camp which has been a lot more work than we had first envisaged due to a number of slight issues!

So, with all this on our plates I’ve become a normal Age-Group athlete again which has meant 4am starts and late nights in order to fit it all in. The weather hasn’t exactly been on our side either.

I was up at 5am this morning doing some strength and conditioning before heading out into the fray on my bike for an hour and a half. It’s going to be hot in Turkey so I’d like to start training in warmer conditions but the temperature outside was 6.4°C and with a strong northerly wind the ‘feels like’ temperature was just 2°C. I had my thermal bib tights on, a long-sleeved thermal top, a cycling top and a jacket, along with full-finger gloves hoping to get a little too hot so as to get used to putting in the effort whilst overheated. I wish I’d had another layer, a hat and overshoes on as I was freezing the whole way round.

Fitting everything in and then doing good quality workouts under such conditions isn’t easy. I didn’t really feel in the mood this morning and lost concentration and focus at times today. My mind wandered to the one hundred and one other things on my mind or wandered to the thought of preventing hypothermia rather than concentrating on the the task at hand and pushing hard. Despite this, I finished the planned workout and was back at home by 8:30am with my training out of the way. I have to admit that I felt good for having done it. Sometimes just starting a workout is an achievement and ticking each one off when you’ve finished can be it’s own little victory each day.

Let’s hope it all pays off and I’m on top form for my race in Turkey.

Tags: CyclingLifestyleTriathlon