The Slog

It's no secret that IM training 2nd time round with no race buddies has made the path harder to travel but probably the radio silence indicates another period of slog. Have been a bit more positive as had a decent race at Eton (more of that in a bit) and have seen a sudden running improvement. But, with the weather prematurely Autumnal, a few near misses on the bike and interminable saddle sore, I've had a few moments of wanting to throw in the towel. Rational me says I've come this far and therefore have to keep going; irrational me says it's only a race and is the world really going to end if I bail?

However, I'm a stubborn bugger and something inside my brain keeps telling me it'll all be worth so much more if I keeping pushing those little voices in my head away for another 87 days. After all, that is almost exactly the amount of time since my operation and that seems like yesterday.

So, the slog continues!

The race at Eton was supposed to lay demons to rest as I mentioned and all was going really well. Was really relaxed and no real pre-race nerves to speak of. Had a good swim even though they put us in the water and made us wait too long so I was freezing when I started. But, made a reasonable account of myself and was chuffed to be cheered by Dora and Chris and my friend from work, Louise, as I entered T1.

Pretty quick transition (for me) and then onto the bike for an 8-lap course (yawn). Despite the head winds, felt pretty good for the first 3 laps and was down on the newly-installed aero bars.


But suddenly the problem I had in the previous Eton race reappeared and a numbness started to radiate in glutes and quads. By lap 5, I was down at at average speed of about 11-12 mph and could see my predicted time (I wanted sub 1.25) slipping away. I didn't give up and limped round in about 1.36 so knew I had a lot to do on the run.
After a few expletives in T2, I headed out to hound down a few places and a sub-3 hour time and felt pretty good straight away. Could also tell by my heart rate that I was working pretty hard.



Was buoyed by a big cheer by the now-expanded support team and dug in to take back about 15 places in all.

Splits in the end:
Swim (1500m): 27.35
T1: 1.58
Bike (40k): 1.36.39
T2: 1.18
Run (10k): 48.39
TOTAL: 2.56.12
Position: 13 (out of about 40 odd probably).

Felt whacked after the race for a couple of days (must be my age!) but the rest of week 17 was ok. Did a brick at the gym on Thursday, followed immediately by a long swim. Also had a very pacy run on Friday and at the weekend rode twice (saddle sore cutting the first attempt a bit short) and another run.