Training over three different disciplines at a fairly high intensity is bloody tiring! When I was running at my peak in 2011 / 2012 and in the throws of marathon training, a typical training week would involve hitting a mileage of 50 – 60 miles a week, over 6 days of running, with a gym session once or sometimes twice a week, and either a complete rest day or a very easy swim (we are talking 40 lengths of slow breaststroke here!) every seventh day. I very rarely did double-up days, only the one or two days in which I did my cross training and gym work, and on those days the run would be a short, recovery style affair on the treadmill immediately after my session. This fitted in with my lifestyle at the time, as I was working as matron at Sherborne School and I only had 2pm – 5pm off duty each day, 6 days a week, so this was the only time I had available in which I could leave the school grounds to train. Morning and evening runs were impossible.
As a triathlete, my average training week is a LOT different. Double-up days are the norm, as this is the only way in which you can possibly fit in the required training in order to improve your performance in all three sports. If I was doing double runs multiple days a week, my legs just wouldn't hack it. Injuries would kick in within a matter of weeks as my calves couldn't take the pounding. However, because my training is being spread over three very different sports – four, if you include the time I also spend on the cross-trainer – no particular muscle groups are taking all of the stress. When I am swimming, my legs are getting a rest and an active recovery due to the massaging effects of the water. On the bike, my upper legs are taking the strain, allowing the calves to play a more passive role, whereas on running days, they take centre stage. In total, I am running 4 days a week, with a weekly mileage of no more than 20 miles, swimming 3 days a week on average (sometimes 4, time permitting), averaging 6000 meters a week, and cycling, well, cycling varies massively between summer and winter. In summer I would cycle at least 4 days a week, possibly 5, averaging 100 miles a week. In winter that drastically falls away as commuting to work in the dark, down dodgy, narrow lanes is not something I enjoy, and so my mileage is down to about 30 miles per week, mostly done on my spin bike in the warmth of home! I'm not too worried about the drop off in bike miles though as I know I can pick that up again in the spring and it doesn't take me long to get “bike fit”. So, no one particular body part is being over-taxed, but my body as a whole is having questions asked of it in some form on a twice-daily basis. I now only indulge in one complete rest day every two weeks, and this is usually due to other commitments preventing me from training. What I have noticed though is how all of this leaves me much more tired. I need a lot more sleep than I did when I was only running, and my body aches in many and manifold places. I also have a voracious appetite which I will have to watch if I ever stop training as I will balloon!
The other fairly recent addition to my weekly training schedule is yoga. I know, I know! I have not exactly tried to conceal my scepticism of this activity, and don't worry, I am not about to become a converted stereotype and buy myself some tie-dye pants, a baggy vest top with an oversized elephant on it, book flights to India and head off on some soul-searching quest for inner peace in a Buddhist monastery in the mountains! No, we are a long way from that level of yogic enlightenment my friends. However, I can recognise the benefits of it for strengthening the body to make it more resilient and for stretching the muscles to make them more supple and less likely to incur injury. I struggle to adapt both my body and mind to the slow, chilled-out ways of proper, hard-core yoga though, and so I have found the session that suits me best is the Les Mills branded 'Body Balance' class. Body Balance is a mixture of tai chi, yoga and pilates and it suits me because it is a flowing, fast paced class that sees you progressing quickly from one move or pose to the next, and this prevents me from getting bored. It's also choreographed to decent music (Jarryd James' 'Do You Remember' is one of the songs on the current programme and it's sublime!), and this serves as a good distraction from the discomfort. If I am forced to stand in silence in 'Warrior 2' for ten minutes, focussing on my breathing, I rapidly lose interest and am unlikely to book in again for further yogic pleasures. When you're stood there in 'Sun Warrior' whilst trying to figure out how you can surreptitiously glance at your watch to see how much more of this you have to endure without fear of the instructor noticing and being offended, you pretty much know that you are no yoga purist. The purists wouldn't even wear a watch! I guess what I am saying is, I will take the physiological benefits that yoga offers but I will not be rushing to sign up to the accompanying lifestyle thank you very much. Peace for me is basking in that satisfying after glow of a hard workout or a race, knowing that I have put my body through hell, asking it to perform at its peak, and knowing that I could not have given any more; it is not sitting cross-legged for two hours in a silent room trying to channel my “inner chi” (not even sure that I have one....). But each to their own and respect to those who do have the zen-like patience necessary in order to nail it. Namaste and all that jazz.
Swimming-wise, I couldn't be happier. I have to keep reminding myself that little over a year ago, I couldn't swim more than 4 lengths of consecutive front crawl without having to grab hold of the poolside at the end, gasping and wheezing and confronting the very real possibility of having a sports induced asthma attack, culminating in the lifeguard hauling me bodily out of the pool by the lycra of my swimsuit. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but I was no water baby and swimming did not come easily to me. I had swum as a child and endured the swim gala circuit – you know the one kids, where your parents make you go, usually at night when you'd far rather be at home playing with your Lego, you get in, warm up, then sit around shivering to death on the freezing poolside for the best part of an hour waiting for your turn to swim your one length; meanwhile, your parents are sat with the other parents, sipping away at their polystyrene cups of vending machine Kenco coffee, jostling for pole parental position at the perspex viewing window, dotingly looking on in support. My memories of childhood swimming are not the best – they have subsequently been filed away in the same draw of sporting horrors as the 'being made to run laps of a freezing, snow covered rugby pitch in January clad only in briefs and a crop top' file – and, as an adult, the sport didn't have much allure. The chlorine used to aggravate my eczema, so, for well over a decade, I didn't swim at all. Then I got anorexic and forced myself to do it as just another weapon in my armament of self-punishment. Nope, me and swimming have historically not been the greatest of bedfellows.
When I was running high mileage at Sherborne, I conceded that swimming was a good way to loosen off the muscles on my recovery day and, at Sherborne, staff swam in the school pool for free, usually having it all to myself, but I never ventured beyond breaststroke and I didn't particularly enjoy it. Then, one day, last autumn, I was given my most valuable piece of swim advice ever by a lady who coaches juniors at Exmouth pool: slow down to speed up. Unlike with cycling or running, the faster you try to swim, the more your technique and breathing go out the window and, ironically, the slower you get. One day, in a determined fashion, I headed to the pool with the mindset of no matter how slowly I had to go, I would not break into breaststroke. I did 5 very slow lengths of front crawl, I was gasping for air and it felt hard, but I challenged myself to another 5. Then another 5. Then, after 15 lengths, something weird happened: I relaxed, and it suddenly felt so much easier. I swam 60 lengths of front crawl that session, in November 2014, having never swum more than 4 in a row previously. It took me the best part of 40 minutes, but I did it, without stopping for a rest. Since then, I have not looked back, nor reverted back, to breaststroke. I now regularly swim 100 lengths and only stop then because boredom usually kicks in at that point. My 60 length (1500m) time has gone from just under 40 minutes to just under 30. My 400m time a year ago was well over 9 minutes; last week I managed a 7:04 400m split at tri club. I love swimming because I am seeing progress in it and because on a good day, when you get it right, you feel like a fish and it's just the best feeling.
It must be stressed that much of my recent improvement has been as a result of joining the N1 tri club this summer. Having a weekly structured session, with input from top coaches on technique, focussed drills and pacing has helped me tremendously. When I joined N1, my 400m was knocking on the door of 8 minutes, but it was starting to plateau as I was just doing the same dull sessions, with nobody to advise me. The one minute I have shaved off in a couple of months is all due to the input I've had at the club, so I am extremely grateful that I attended the duathlon at Westpoint in the summer and met Dennis and Liz Elliot, and that they welcomed this enthusiastic but semi-clueless triathlon newbie into their club and have helped and supported me no end ever since! Thanks guys!
A Thursday night club session at Honiton pool with N1. I am centre of shot, middle lane, just approaching the end of the length. Go team lane 3!!!
The other task I face over the winter is planning my 2016 season. Again, this is another alien concept, planning and entering events so far in advance. I would normally shy away from this through fear of getting injured and not being able to compete and losing yet more money in entry fees, but, with triathlons, you need to have a clear plan as this will influence and guide the structure of your training throughout winter. I have definitely decided that I want to concentrate on the Olympic (standard) distance next year. This involves a 1500m swim, a 40km bike and a 10km run. I love a good sprint tri, but the short length of the run (5k), doesn't give me enough opportunity to play to my strength as a runner and to make up the ground I've lost on the swim and the bike. Over the next couple of weeks I need to decide which events I'm going to target and think about entering them as, due to the increasing popularity of triathlon as a sport, they WILL sell out very early. In the meantime, it's head down and keep trying to train and training to tri!
