Ah, injury, I've been expecting you

Well it was going to happen wasn't it?  A little too much enthusiasm with my front crawl and I have a rotator cuff strain to show for it.  It's incredibly frustrating.  Cycling and running can continue but a week out of my next race I've had to reduce swimming to nothing near race pace, and my wetsuit still has a shiny new tag on it in the corner of my study.  One of the instructors at the gym has given me some rehab exercises with stretchy yellow bands, which looks rather intriguing - I plan to try them out tomorrow. It does give me a good excuse to work on my upper arm definition, which is gaining a rather satisfying shape.  I almost know the way to the beach.

In the meantime, I am determined to become a road demon and conquer the Welsh hills.  The glorious sunshine and stunning scenery are definitely fantastic motivators and I've been clocking up some good mileage over the past couple of weeks, along with some increasing total ascent figures.  I nearly came off my bike spectacularly on Monday, saved at the last minute from the hedgerow by a shred of counter-balance.  Luckily no one witnessed me wobbling and squealing my way round the sharp (downhill) corner in question. 

I have also signed my name on the official (and expensive) dotted line for next year's Ironman 70.3 UK race.  There's no going back now!  £200 later, I have a registration number and a date with a world of pain: 19th June 2011.  Just under a year.  £530 of fundraising to date, and I feel confident both about the time in hand for training and the fundraising efforts. I am negotiating sponsorship with a couple of businesses currently, which is exciting and will hopefully be fruitful - PSM sportswear have also very kindly agreed to garishly logo up my kit in return for their logo emblazoned across my lower back.  The more the merrier - being a stylish triathlete with a honed tan was never going to much of an option.

I'm also trying to work on my nutrition, which seems to be a trial and error process.  Some days I finish training and need a long nap, others I feel raring to go for the rest of the day... the cream tea I had this weekend by the beach probably didn't help.  But it was very yummy.  And I found a lovely wedding hat at a bargain price in the same tea shop, so most certainly a productive outing.

Anyway, cream teas aside, I have a week to go until the next race and my first competitive open water foray.  I'm hoping it being a British, all-women's race in refinedWindsor that it will be a case of 'no, after you I insist' politesse amongst the competitors, but I fear elbows and a distinct lack of ladylike behaviour will instead be the order of the day.  I will spend the morning channelling Elizabeth Bennett.  She certainly wouldn't stand for being swam over.

Adrenaline and Ice Baths

I'm on what can only be described as an exhausted high!  As I write this I'm feeding on large quantities of protein and carbs, in the form of cheese and oatcakes with chutney.  Possibly not what a professional triathlete would eat after a race but I'm incredibly proud of myself and so I think I deserve it. Plus, not in the wildest stretches of my imagination could I consider myself an elite triathlete!

This morning was awesome fun: I got to the race waay too early and had to sit around for about 3 hours.  But I saved a baby bunny from a drain, or rather I persuaded the paramedics on hand to, so time not totally wasted.  My good deed for the day.  The bunny might have chosen that drain - a change of scene, a bit of peace and quiet away from the other bunnies - but he was set free, whether he liked it or not!  Anyway, enough of the rabbit.  The pool swim got off to a strong start: I overtook the leader of my lane, and then let my tail overtake me, to finish a satisfying 400m in about 8:15 I'd say - not a PB but about 45 secs faster than I had mentally prepared for.  T1 took ages, mostly because I was faffing around putting my lenses in - must buy prescription sunglasses - then I was off for a hot, humid and hilly cycle.

Husband plus friend drove around the course, positioning themselves in laybys to take photos of me as I progressed, which was both amusing and motivating, as I had no bikes in eyeshot throughout the leg to focus on.  That will no doubt change as I progress to larger races!  T2 fared much better and the evil last leg of running began steadily.  Not for the faint-hearted, there were some blinders of hills to tear up - one so steep they'd carved stairs into the hillside... I walked that one.  The first 500m were a world of pain and a 'digging deep' for the PMA to push myself onwards.  Once my legs got used to running after 20K cycling, I settled into a steady pace and finished 5 minutes under what I'd aimed for, gasping for water.  Note to self - hydrate more on the bike.

Adrenaline high was followed by an excruciating ice bath once home to help repair muscles - I think that was almost more testing than the race! And now the best bit - celebratory food!  It's been a fantastic experience, both enjoyable and eye-opening.  I've learnt a lot from today and know that a re-structure of my training schedule is needed, to weight it in favour of the bike rather than the pool.  Plus even though they hurt, brick sessions need to become a weekly activity if I'm going to work up to an Olympic by September.

The next Sprint race is 400m open water - 20K bike on the flat - 5k run on the flat... easy after today!  Well, the open water bit does slightly fill me with dread but time to squeeze myself back into a wetsuit for more open water practise to conquer those fears.  I've got 4 weeks until race 2 of the season and I can't wait.  I'm truly hooked - I can hear our bank balance groaning with dismay - and raring to go. Not right now though... maybe Monday.