A Welcome Relief

There's an incredible amount of craziness in the world right now, more than even the writers of Homeland could have dreamed up. It all brings with it an increased level of stress, at least it does for me, as among other things, I worry about the future of the Syrian refugees, and the people from the seven countries that Trump has banned from the US, who incidentally, do not represent countries from where terrorist attacks on the US have originated. All of this is just exactly the kind of chaos that breeds further terrorism. ISIS specializes in recruiting young men and women who feel alienated or at odds with their government or local leadership, and that is exactly what Trump is creating - a massive amount of people at odds with their leader. ISIS don't give a damn about borders, they recruit from inside the border, and it really doesn't matter what country you're from. If you're vulnerable, you're a good target. I believe in using our voice via social media and other tools to make a positive difference in the world, protesting where possible and ensuring our leaders speak out on our behalf. So that's my focus at the moment, and I'll do what I can to make a difference in my own small way. I'm also researching charities with the intention of using my personal 70.3 challenge as a way to raise funds for those who need it most - will confirm charities soon, but likely to center around those whose lives Trump is making most difficult.

So for me personally, it's a stressful time, and no doubt it is for many many others directly, or indirectly affected by recent events. However, I have found that the world of sport, and triathlon in particular, has been a very positive influence. The people involved tend to be can-do, good people, all encouraging each other to do well and be healthy. I've found the story of Mike Wardian and Sinead Kane , both of whom have just completed 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days, to be truly inspirational. Mike is an ultra-running ship-broker from Washington DC and you can read his story here. Sinead Kane is a blind Irish woman who refused to let her disability define her and has now done what most would deem impossible and is the first ever blind person to complete world marathon challenge. 

Here's another inspirational story - Gavan Hennigan is a Galway lad who went to school with my brother. He had a troubled youth, went off the rails for a while and really struggled with mental health issues, but overcame all of these challenges and has now become an extreme adventurer, and a role model for kids everywhere. He's done lots of extreme stuff which you can read about on his site, and most impressive of all, he is currently relentlessly rowing across the Atlantic! In an interview via satellite phone last week, he said that he's happily removed from all that's going on in the world, enjoying spending the time at one with nature, watching the stars and the sea life, and that it's all doing him the world of good. Nature is good like that, and it reminded me that I need to spend more time closer to nature to counter the effects of the current world events. It doesn't have to be a row across the Atlantic, it can be as simple as a leisurely bike ride, or a walk by the sea with the dog.

Stress can be triggered by world events, but it also comes with daily life, possibly more than we realise. On the face of it, my job is not stressful. I get to work from home as a product manager for a multi-national IT company (IBM) and only need to travel outside of Ireland about once a quarter. But I do get consumed by my job, our team is under pressure, and I take a lot of the burden of responsibility on myself. I worry about the future of the product I'm responsible for and it does keep me awake at night. This shouldn't be the case - at the end of the day, it's just a job and health and family are of course, much more important. I saw this very clearly when I was on maternity leave, removed from the daily pressures of work, but it didn't take me long after I went back, to get consumed by stress again. So, I find that the training for this half-ironman is doing me the world of good - in fact, it's almost a necessary coping mechanism and forces me to have some work life balance. I have prioritised training on my lunchbreak over stewing on a work problem, and have come back after lunch with a fresh and clear mind, and a totally different attitude, one which is invariably more positive, with the result that I achieve more faster. Nothing is insurmountable after a good hard workout! 

I notice that many large IT companies, such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, prioritize the health of their staff by building gyms on premises, hiring nutritionists to define healthy canteen lunch options and subsidising classes such as yoga, tabata etc. It's completely logical - a healthy staff is a productive staff. I can't understand why more companies don't prioritise exercise and health (physical and mental) at work. I am lucky - I work from home in a beautiful part of the world. I'm less than 5 mins away from a sea swim at any time, and my neigbours are the kindest, friendliest people you could meet. It's a lovely place to be, far removed from Trump and his cronies. I resolve for 2017 to take my head out of my work more often to notice and enjoy this. 70.3 training certainly helps! 

So...training. Last week I mentioned I would limit my running to 3km, 4km and 3km runs this week. I did that, and to be extra sure I wouldn't get injured, I did those runs on the treadmill at the gym. All went very well and I have finished the week running comfortably with no pain whatsoever, so looking forward to upping the distance this week, just by 1-2km.

I also took the approach this week of training every day, using my swim training as recovery and weaving in lots of strength and flexibility. I did a 3km run on Monday, 20km bike on Tuesday (at lunchtime, by the coast - it was heaven!), 4km run on Wed, 1.5km swim on Thurs night (followed by a tasty thai takeaway and a glass of wine - otherwise, what's the point?!), tabata class at the gym on Friday, 3km run on sat, 1.6km swim and a 45min turbo trainer session on sunday....I also did a few mornings of a 20min yoga sequence, did the 10-min strength workout whenever I got the opportunity, and used my 10-min foam roller recovery about three evenings. So nothing long distance but a lot of short sessions. It has worked out well and I feel strong and healthy going into this week. As usual, you can track my training on Garmin or Strava.

All in all, training is becoming less of a challenge and more of a welcome relief - my sanctuary from the madness in the world. That's what I'm grateful for this week.


 

70.3 Training Update Week 3 - Every day's a schoolday!

Three weeks in and I'm finally starting to feel power in my legs. This was preceded by a lot of creaking, tightness, and general pain. After a successful week 1, my knees started to hurt when I ran, both on the outside and directly under the patella. After some googling and conversations with my local gym instructor, I quickly realised that I had lots of weakness in my lower back, glutes, and quads, which led to bad tracking of the knee and two well-known conditions amongst runners - Runner's Knee and IT Band issues. I found a really good series of videos on Runner's World by Dr. Jordan Metzl, here's the one on runner's knee. So, nothing serious and certainly not something that would prevent me from continuing, but definitely a lot of strengthening work to be done before I could run again. 

So, I spent a lot of the last two weeks focusing on both strength and flexibility. These two videos have been key to those two weeks and I plan to continue to use them througout the next five months:

10-minute strength workout 
10-minute foam roller recovery  

Those two, combined with lots of jump squats (3x15) and 3 mins of planks have made up my home strength and flexibility work, and I have combined that with my regular friday Tabata class at the gym. 

So, having improved my strength and flexibility, I eventually got back on the bike and did a 20km ride over the weekend, as well as a 3km run this morning.

My plan has always been to use the first six weeks of my training to get to week 1 of the 16-week plan  which brings me up to the race. By then, I need to be doing a 10km run on the weekend as well as a 30km bike and a 1km swim. To get from where I am to the 10km run, I plan to run 3 times a week, doing 3km 4km and 3km in week one, and gradually increasing the distance each week by 10%. I am terrified of injury so hopeful that this will get me there!

Gratitude
It's not easy fitting training in when kids and life get in the way...this week my husband was away for the weekend at his friend's 40th. So, I'm grateful that my 5-year-old is actually interested in exercise and doesn't mind me hijacking our playtime together with a trip to the garage to work out together while the toddler napped. She patiently skips and does her yoga, while I do jump squats and sweat ;-). 
Also grateful that my husband doesn't mind me ditching him and the kids as soon as he walks in the door with a hangover, so that i can get a bike ride in before the sun goes down! 

 

 

70.3 Training Update Week 1

I have finally signed up for a half-ironman in June of this year, combining it with a long weekend away (without kids) to Elsinore in Denmark. Week 1 of a 24 week training plan done and I decided to blog about it...purely for accountability reasons - statistics tell me that if I make this commitment public I am more likely to achieve my goal. 

Background
I have done a few sprint and olympic distance triathlons in the past and have also run a lot of 5 and 10k races and one half marathon a few years back, but more recently, while pregnant with my second child, I developed a Morton's Neuroma (nerve thickening) in my right foot which took two years and finally surgery to resolve. During that time, I could swim and cycle but couldn't run so have not done any running for two years prior to starting this plan. I work fulltime and regularly travel internationally with my job, I have two kids and a husband who travels weekly with his job.

So why add a half ironman into the mix? If I'm honest, with the lifestyle that I have, when the weekends come around I'm pretty exhausted (read lazy) so if I don't have a big scary goal looming in the distance, I simply will not get off my ass to exercise. I prefer to aim for endurance over speed and for this race, it's just about finishing it injury-free....let's see how it pans out.  

I defined my training plan based on a 'super-simple 70.3 training plan I found online by Matt Fitzgerald.
I adjusted it to make it work for my timeframe (24 weeks) and my lifestyle (work, family, travel etc). Also, because I have been completely out of action for 8 weeks, I had to add in two strength and conditioning sessions to each week initially to try to regain the strength I had pre-op.  You can track my training here


Week 1 training update
Week 1 was very slow but pretty steady...started with an 800m swim on Monday, did a strength and conditioning session in our garage gym (a work in progress, pics to follow) on Tuesday, managed a 4km run and a 20km bike ride during my lunchbreaks Wednesday and Thursday, and did a Tabata session on Friday morning before work. I had intended to do another bike ride on Saturday but due to muscle pain after the Tabata I decided to let my body rest (last thing I want is to get injured in week 1), and instead took my bike to the bike shop for a service (where they  nearly convinced me to buy two new wheels for a mere €1000...still thinking about it!) and today (sunday) I jogged the 6km to my local gym, did a 1km swim there and then my daughter joined me for a play around in the kids pool. 

Gratitude
I have decided to note at least one thing I'm grateful for each week, to remind me during the tough times that it's not all bad! This week I am grateful for the fact that I could run 6km to my gym (albeit slowly) without pain! I have friends who are injured or sick who would absolutely love to be able to feel healthy enough to go for a run. Having been unable to run for two years I certainly appreciate every run I do.. And I hope that when I'm 50, 60 and 70 I will still be able to run. 

All done for this week!