It's been a really exciting week, full of small steps of progress. Last tuesday I went to my first club meet of the Newport Triathlon Club. The coach taking the swim session was fantastic, and gave me some tips that have already made a noticeable difference to my technique. He wants me to go up to the Level 2 group, who swim sub-8:00 eek! But my training sessions this week in the pool have resulted in 8 laps at a time, and a 08:30 400m. I'm starting to feel like I can actually swim! Bring on Level 2 this Tuesday.
It seems the maxim of being a better cyclist will make you a better runner is true too. I've done some killer hill work on the bike this week, which, though my quads are in clip today, resulted in a PB 10k hill run of 55 mins yesterday, followed by a 57 min 21.5km hilly bike route today - a recce of the bike route for next week's tri. I seriously need to work on my cornering and downhill confidence, but tangible progress has been made over the last few days, which gives me a great feeling about the next 12 months.
I'm learning quickly that positive mental attitude is most definitely the secret ingredient in triathlon training. All of these small triumphs show how far I can come if I work at it and keep trying, which is so exciting. Whilst next year's challenge still seems incredibly daunting (I try not to think about it too much), I know that if I keep progressing over this season, then I have a strong chance at a respectable finish of my first Olympic Distance tri in September. I'm also rapidly understanding the power of rest days!! Tomorrow's bank holiday will most definitely be a day of no phys... perhaps a few sit ups and press ups but I draw the line there. Instead there will be a lie in, followed by an afternoon nap and most probably an early night. Oh yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment