I went back to Northern Ireland last weekend, for a long
weekend. Packing takes time and effort and careful planning when you’ve got
three sports to cater for, when everything has to fit into a hand-luggage bag.
Fortunately I’ve got a bike, helmet, multi-tool, mini-pump and spare tubes at
home but I brought the following: swimming shorts, goggles, hat, earplugs, flip
flops, rubber band, cycling shorts, cycling tights, a couple of cycling tops, a
waterproof, gloves, a hat, eyewear, 3 bike frame bags, bike computer, bike
computer mount, water bottles, bike shoes, waterproof shoe covers, bike socks,
running shoes, running socks, running shorts, running tights, a couple of
running tops, club vest and tracksuit top, tracksuit bottoms, cross-country
spikes. Plus whatever else I might need – I suppose I could walk around the
house in bike shoes, swimming shorts and a lycra top, but it wouldn’t be very
comfortable…
I planned to do a cross-country race on the Saturday – the
McConnell shield, held in Ballyclare. I ran it last year. I’ve never planned
this to be a race where I’d be at a good level of fitness – I haven’t been
doing much hard training since September, but I need to start somewhere on the
road back to fitness, and this cross-country race would at least give me a
decent run-out with the club. I had planned to do a short bike ride on the
Friday, race on Saturday, another longer bike ride on the Sunday and a swim on
the Monday.
Friday’s bike ride probably didn’t do me any good for the
run on Saturday. Even though I only took it easy, it was still 2 hours of
effort in the legs, and sometimes I just can’t help myself and I go hard. I
chased a learner driver along the coast road for a few miles at 30mph. I
hammered a few hills. I also took some photos of nice scenery. The day got better as the day wore on, the sky got bluer and the sea got bluer and the rivers got bluer too.
Really, I should have sat at home with my feet up to
prepare for the race the following day, but I knew my level at the race was
going to be bad, so why not go out and enjoy a bike ride the day before…
I know that this winter has been a lot worse than last
winter for training. I’ve put on more weight. Last winter, I never had to wear
my winter trousers (i.e. trousers with a bigger waist). This winter, it wasn’t
long after the triathlon season that I had to dig them out of the wardrobe. I
haven’t done as much training this winter compared with last winter. I know I
am not fit. But saying that, I haven’t done nothing, so I should be able to get
round a cross-country race.
It was good to catch up with people from the club at the
race. The route was 5 laps of a park, totalling 5 miles. It was quite a warm day,
underfoot conditions weren’t bad. I had a shocker of a run. Nothing there
whatsoever. My first lap was 5:40 and after that I went backwards. Guys
streaming past. Nothing in the legs. No strength. Not a good feeling. Plodding,
basically. But I’ve been on a break from tough training, so I didn’t really
expect any better. Runners who race regularly usually know their level and who
they should be running alongside, who they should be targeting in a race. Last
year at this race, I was 70 seconds behind a clubmate. This year I was 2
minutes 30 seconds away behind him. We finished a few seconds apart at the
Northern Ireland/Ulster cross-country championships in February this year.
Hmmm. Work to do. In the end, the club won the McConnell shield, with the top 4 finishers in each club contributing to the points total - the club with the lowest total wins they day. Needless to say, I wasn't in the top 4 finishers for the club. Hmmmm. Work to do.
Not for the first time I wondered what level I might be
running at if I had given all my time and effort in the last 3 years to running
rather than to Ironman. I still have aspirations in running, but I’m not
getting any younger and I hope that when I call time on my Ironman career
(sooner rather than later) I will still have the speed and motivation to meet and
exceed my running aspirations.
For now, I hope to get to a half-decent level of fitness for
a couple of Christmas races, and then to crack on and get to a good level of
fitness for the Northern Ireland/Ulster cross country championships in February
next year.
The forecast for the rest of the weekend was terrible. Sunday saw a very wet and windy bike ride and a major clean-up operation of the bike, bike shoes and cross-country spikes. Monday saw a short swim. I ate anything and everything. Massive dinners, burgers, desserts, a couple of pints. Same as the past 2 months really. It’s not like my diet has been especially bad, but it has definitely slipped compared to how good it was for the first 9 months of the year. There’s a saying: crap in, crap out. It’s true: low training and a mediocre diet = inability to run to potential. Need to sort this out…
The forecast for the rest of the weekend was terrible. Sunday saw a very wet and windy bike ride and a major clean-up operation of the bike, bike shoes and cross-country spikes. Monday saw a short swim. I ate anything and everything. Massive dinners, burgers, desserts, a couple of pints. Same as the past 2 months really. It’s not like my diet has been especially bad, but it has definitely slipped compared to how good it was for the first 9 months of the year. There’s a saying: crap in, crap out. It’s true: low training and a mediocre diet = inability to run to potential. Need to sort this out…
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