Week 14....:

So, not been updating for a while, I have been super busy with work and training and literally exhausted!
The week began with the run that I didn't do on Sunday, so 1hr 15mins. James kept me company on the bike as I have been getting a little bored of running on my own. We worked out a new route round the back of Dartington estate and village, with a run up K.bridge hill and back down to get into hrz 4. I felt great and kept going....fab!
Tuesday morning James sprung on me that from now on this will be a sea swim, ggrrrrreeeat, I just LOVE sea swimming, not! I decided that I was just going to knuckle down and crack on with it anyway, so we suited up and headed into the big blue. We swam only about 200m out, and discussed swimming to the next buoy and back while treading water. Andrew reassured me that there were no big sharks here, only little ones that would give you a nip, then swam off, James too. I wasn't quite ready and just floated for a bit as they were clearly not going to wait for me. I decided to swim back in and had a very strange swim where I actually was struggling to breathe, think it was a bit of panic! Not a great swim for me!
Monday evening run was fine, an hour, so nothing too long., we did the same route as Sunday, but without the extra hill at the end.
Wednesday was Mum's birthday, so we didn't fit a whole heap in today. As I wouldn't be swimming on Thursday am, I decided that it was best to get back in the pool, especially after yesterday's appalling attempt. This was fine, I only had about 45mins, so bashed out about 60 lengths and worked on my stroke some more.
Thursday I managed to squeeze in a 1hr bike ride, and found a really cool new little route before heading to London for the day. Same route up to Follaton and along the road towards South Brent, then nipped off just before Avonwick, to cut across to Marley round about and bomb back along the road to Totnes. I say bomb, but my actual current speed is so slow that I am practically at standstill!!
Friday am, brilliant swim. Did 120 lengths (3km) flat out in 1hr 10. Not bad, considering my first ever 100 lengths took 1hr 7 I think I have at least improved here!
My evening run took me around the opposite way to the new run route, up Barracks hill and round the back of Dartington and weeke and round the estate, then up and down the woods at the bottom of Dartington lane.
Saturday bike ride was Epic, for me it was anyway! I cycled out to Torcross through Kingsbridge etc and back along the coast, up around Dartmouth and back through Washbourne. I had a near miss with a Landy and had to give myself a talking to, then decided on the hilliest of climbs to come back around the Sharpham estate, with some technical rooty single track, I was very glad of my cyclocross then. All in, 40.2 miles in 3.5hrs, phew!!
Just to finish..... have just completed my 1.15hrs run. See my loop attached. It was tough, I tried music for the first time and felt invincible, but in reality I didn't do any amazing distance, but after a full on week, who cares?!!

Olympic distance triathlon

So, today myself, James, James B and Andrew had ourselves a little triathlon as part of our training - Olympic distance - 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run. We headed for Torcross and Andrew's house - this was to be our bike to run transition.
The swim started from 1.5km along Slapton sands, with us swimming back to Torcross, this was pretty hard for me as it's my longest open water swim ever! - then out to the carpark for T1 - the van.
Off onto the bike course, via the coast road to Dartmouth, then to Kingsbridge, then back to Torcross again and Andrew's garage. I found the bike pretty tough, felt a bit knackered as it is mostly uphill to start with, then once I reached Stumpy cross I managed to up the pace a bit and head back in.
As I started my run, Andrew, then James H were finishing their run, and indeed the race. I surprised myself by feeling fine heading out onto the run. James headed back along the line and joined me for the run, which was cracking. The sneaky sharp hill at the midway point was a bit harsh, but then I got back down to the road and made my way back to Torcross.
The whole thing went a little slower than I had hoped, my performance today would mean a 16hr Ironman, so there is much to work on!

Hill running, unavoidable in the south west!

As most of you know, the South West is a very hilly place, rolling hills in Devon and short sharp climbs in Cornwall. This means that hopefully, when it comes to the big day, I will be perfectly conditioned to the welsh terrain.
Great tip for hill running, count your steps - lean in to the hill and take smaller steps, look at the ground just in front of you, count 20 of them, then look up to gauge how much further, look down and count to 20 again and so on, until you reach the top and wonder what all the fuss was about!

How much to pledge, hmmm?!!

Incase that is your train of thought then check this lovely poster to decide what to buy for the lovely people at RNLI.. boots, trousers or jackets!! Go to www.virginmoneygiving.com to donate. Thanks for your support x

Early morning swim sessions....

They take their toll! Who'd have thought that swimming could be tiring? Well, as I've discovered, they're not so bad, provided I eat breakfast beforehand, in Andrew B's wise words - just eat more!!
It IS a great way to beat the morning rush hour (2 tractors and a caravan) and to get most of the training done before the world wakes up, and to see the sun come up over beautiful Devon.
Check out our post swim goggle faces!!