Training on the Go

Writing about training appears to be more difficult than the training itself!

I've been travelling a bit for work recently - something I was a bit nervous about when I signed up for the ironman...how would I fit training in around flights, jetlag, eating out and drinking wine every night? Realistically, I am not going to avoid any of those things, much and all as I like to think I could go without the meals out and wine....it's just too hard and doesn't really make any sense not to catch up with work colleagues when I get the chance. So, off to Boston I went last week with my running gear in my case....

 My hotel on the Charles River in Cambridge

I have travelled with my running gear many many times in the past, always with great intentions of working out while away, and almost always returned home with the gear unused. In the end, it became a choice of - if i take my gear I'll need to check a bag and wait around at the other end to pick it up, or...if I give in and leave my gear at home, i can fly through check in and arrivals...in my younger days, and without a scary goal ahead, I took the easy option. 

This time, older, wiser and more scared, I set my morning training up the day before, went for dinner with my colleagues at 6.30pm, was in bed by 9pm and up at 5am in time for half an hour of yoga in my room and a 5km run on the treadmill in the hotel gym...exciting i know but it did serve me well for the rest of the day, jetlag never hit, either while there or after I got home! I didn't stick rigidly to my training plan but I got the sessions in where I could...

 My early morning yoga allowed me this view of the Charles River.  

All that aside, and having had a great week at work and catching up with colleagues, I was so happy to get back to the somewhat remote part of the world I live in. Saturday training was all about a run with nature, not a car or human in sight for the first 6km, and I did a 10km comfortably which made my week. It's the little milestones along the way that I celebrate 😀.

My local running route 

  

I have been over-focusing on running in recent weeks (there's always one...) and got a bit obsessed with learning to run from scratch again - I figured the best way to avoid injury is to re-learn. So I found a few good videos on running technique (like this one by Meb Keflezighi) and I've been working to shorten my stride and increase my cadence, using my Garmin to tell me how I'm doing (it measures vertical oscillation, cadence, balance between my left and right foot etc). But as I got caught up in all of that, and in technique for swimming and cycling, I remembered a tip my swimming coach mentioned to me - it's a basic but key principle, applicable to all three disciplines, behind which is a promise of being a better triathlete. It's down to consistently propelling yourself forward, every movement should be focused on doing that. No bouncing up or down, no upward or downward movement in the pool, no side to side movement on the bike....all forward. If you focus on that one thing alone, so many other things just fall into place naturally. Triathletes tend to over-think things so it's nice to have a simple basic principle to fall back on...obvious really!  

As usual, you can track my training on Garmin or Strava.

Gratitude

Grateful to have the opportunity to travel, but also to come home to such a peaceful, beautiful part of the world. Also very happy to finally be able to comfortably run a 10km, albeit slowly!  

Balance

Good man Gavan! 5000km of rowing in 49 days, blissfully alone and connected to the ocean. Just shows what the body is really capable of...with sheer determination and a bit of madness. 

What I admire even more about Gavan though, is his open, transparent nature, including his eagerness to speak out about his experiences during his younger years. It's hard to do that in Ireland, there's always someone ready to say something negative, to search for the weakness in a person instead of focusing on the strengths. There's an innate tendency in Irish culture to pull people down a peg or two if they do well (or god forbid talk about doing well). The worst thing that could possibly happen to someone (and we must all do our bit to ensure it doesn't), is that they would 'get notions about themselves'. This makes it all the more admirable that Gavan speaks out about both his past and his present, and I'm delighted to see that this time, people are all 'rowing' in behind him, wishing him well and being inspired to go on their own great adventures, however small. I can safely say, I won't ever be rowing the Atlantic but I am openly blaming Gavan and a couple of glasses of wine for my latest half-ironman entry - Dublin 70.3 in August (bear in mind, I haven't even come close to doing the first one yet).

This week I struggled to balance everything - work, kids, swimming, cycling, running, strength & flexibility...on Wed and Thurs I got consumed by work and didn't fit any exercise in, and as a result felt like a complete zombie by Friday and although they recommend not cramming lots in at the end of a week to make up for lost time, that's exactly what I did. 

On the plus side, I got a great strength plan from Ronan Graham at Ocean Fitness - it's all about the legs, glutes and core, and a lot more of it than i had been doing. It's more efficient to do this than to go to a generic class (which may work muscles I don't need, and not strengthen the ones I do to the right level) and I crave efficiency in all areas of my life so this works for me.

Training
Monday - strength session with Ronan @ Ocean Fitness
Tuesday - 4km run
Wed - nothing
Thurs - nothing
Friday - strength session @ Ocean Fitness
Sat - 5km run
Sun - strength session @ Ocean Fitness & 18km bike
Mon (yes it's next week but still cramming stuff in that I missed last week!) - 1km swim and 5km run

Gratitude
David and I are at the lovely stage in life where both our parents and our kids are all alive, safe, healthy and (for the most part) happy. My kids still love me and are overjoyed to see me at the end of the working day - that definitely won't last but I'll enjoy it while it does!