Battling The Negative Voices!

"If you can quieten the negative voice in your head, you can do anything"

That's not a real quote, well it is because I have just written it down, but I don't think any famous people have said it... but it's something that has stuck in my mind following the last week. Hopefully all will become clear as you read further on.

The start of the week was pretty much the same as my other recent weeks, work getting in the way of my training and my sleep was suffering. Tired but still training well. Spring has truly "sprung" and we are enjoying amazing weather for the time of the year, unfortunately for the majority of the week I have been stuck inside at work. unable to make the most of it.

so after a pretty mundane start to the week I finally got out in the sunshine on Saturday to train and for some reason the tiredness of the week melted away. Had a great 4 hour ride on Saturday (after the fog lifted) and felt re-energised. Amazing what the sun and a bit of warmth can do.

Then Sunday I forced myself to get my Tri Bike out again. I know some people will be reading this and thinking "forced? you should love it!"... well, as I bought it right at the end of last year, I only managed about two 20 minute rides on it, and I felt being on the tri bars difficult to control... killing my confidence.

So, back to the quote, all winter the little voice in my head has been chipping away saying "you can't ride on those bars", "you've wasted all that money", "you'll never feel safe on them".... etc, and I let those words stick.

But after some mental force I took the bike out for an hour on Sunday... and obviously the voice in my head had over blown it completely... It felt great, I spent a good 20 minutes on the bars, getting used to getting down on them and then and off them and I my confidence and mood on them grew very fast. Within no time I was riding on them in quite heavy traffic!

From an hours ride, I have managed to completely quieten the negative voice telling me I can't do it, and am now ready to push on and get stronger and even more confident on the tri bars.

Buoyed by the biking, later I set out on my weekly long run once again I had a great one... running 30km in 2 hours 10 minutes!! I surprised myself, I felt fast and strong throughout and my pace barely dropped. (McMillan run calculator estimates a 3 hours 7 minute marathon from that 30km time!!)

Overall, an amazing end to the week. Very happy I passed these tests with flying colours. These are the days I have to remember on the bad days!

Sponsorship update

After an amazingly generous donation (thank you Lisa!) and a few others I am now at the 31% of my £800 target

You can donate with the link on the top right of the page still!

Thank you again! :-)

Halfway point! What I have learnt

Well we are officially over the half way point of the 30 week training plan, less than 15 weeks to go now and overall things are looking pretty good! I am completing more than half of all the distances so that must be a positive... right?

Not my greatest week as time training goes. But still a lot of positives to be taken from the week... The bike is up and over 4 hours now, still holding a good speed that should see the bike leg completed in around 6 hours (hopefully!).

The bike route has been released over the last week, which looks good, and I am hoping to ride the route once or twice before the race to get a feel of what I will be up against.

Running is still pretty solid, and I'm still finding it the easiest of the three to do, currently running around 26km in my long runs (taking just under 2 hours) which is a good pace at the end of some pretty tough and long weeks. Will start to add 10 minutes a week i think to get more comfortable on even longer runs.

Saturday afternoon after my long bike I decided a "steady" 30 minute run would be good to keep the legs loose... Obviously this didn't happen and I ended up smashing it as hard as i could for 5km! (stupid I know but it's the way i always am) I was very happy and surprised to look at my watch and see a 18m51s 5km... Personal best by about 30 seconds!

Should I be getting faster when I am meant to be going longer?

Swimming is also going OK, still difficult as my regular pool is still closed, but I'm making the best of it and swimming regularly... only about a month until i can get my wet suit on again!

Sponsorship is going great! I am now up to £200.... 25% of my £800 goal, which is great at this stage with over 3 months still to go. Still quite a bit to collect in and a few people to tap up for some money!

The sponsorship really is pushing me to work harder for this too, I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche but it does.

If you do want to sponsor me. The link and details of the charity are all on the right hand side at the top of the page. Thanks again.

Lessons learnt

Lessons I have learnt from the last 15 weeks...

• A lot of this race will be mental strength, if I can beat the voice in my head telling me to stop, or learn to ignore it, I will be more than fine!

• People are very generous with sponsorship, even when they can't really afford it.

• A lot of people think I am mental... but they only hear half of what I actually do... if they heard the rest they would want me sectioned!

• Eating and Sleeping... you can never have enough of both, when doing something like this

• Missed sessions at the start of the week are virtually impossible to catch up later in the week. One (maybe) can be caught up, but no more.

(Note: The last two lessons, I may have learnt, but I still regularly fall foul of both of them.)



Hoping the next 15 weeks don't go as fast as the last 15, as I might not be ready, also hoping that the next 15 are warmer... I want to actually cycle and run in shorts at some point!

Onwards and upwards!

Missing Outdoor Swimming and Overall Updates

I never thought I would miss swimming as much as I do now. Getting a bit tired of all the turning and "Counting the tiles" in the pool... I'm sure missing the outdoor water will disappear when I first step in Top Barn lake and feel how cold it is. Those first few weeks are so cold.
But, spring/summer are gaining pace, my morning run this morning was lighter than usual, and the sun was almost up as I was finishing. Certainly makes it a bit easier in the mornings when it's lighter and warmer.

Weekly Progress

Well last week was a pretty standard week, got back into swimming again after my usual pool has been closed for maintenance, it's a bit of a drive to get to but I'm making it work now and getting used to swimming later in the evening compared to straight after work previously... It's not ideal, but it will do for a few weeks.

Still doing a lot of time on the bike to try and get stronger, I think its working. Guess I will only know properly when I get out onto the road and start doing long distances.

Did 3 hours 50 minutes on the turbo last Saturday, felt good throughout so my time is getting up. and on that time prediction i should be able to complete the full distance in just over 6 hours, which would be great.

The next task is to add runs directly after these long bike sessions. This will test my fitness and readiness properly.

Overall Times and Distances

I realise these progress reports don't really tell what sort of time and distances I am doing. So I think i will start adding a total time and distance at the end of each month to show the volumes and progression.

January

Swim           10 hours 18 minutes          29.3km
Bike             22 hours 58 minutes        692.3km
Run             12 hours 4 minutes          162.4km

Total           45 hours 20 minutes        884.0km
Daily Avg      1 hour 27 minutes            28.5km

February

Swim        8 hours 27 minutes            24.1km
Bike        25 hours 01 minutes          748.2km
Run        10 hours 33 minutes          144.7km

Total       44 hours 01 minutes         917.0km
Daily Avg.   1 hour 31 minutes          31.6km

Well... working all that out has surprised me actually, I didn't realise I do that much daily as an average. maybe I should stop being so hard on myself about missed sessions.

Sponsorship Update

Almost forgot this part, thank you all who have sponsored me so far! I have already raised £135 so I am well on my way to my target which is brilliant! Always surprised at the generosity of people, even when most peoples money is having to stretch further than usual!

If you haven't sponsored yet, and would like to... The link is at the top of the page on the right. Thank you again! :-)