Autumn and Winter and Training

Haven't blogged in a while so here is a very quick summary of the last couple of month.
I finished another Half Marathon in a ridiculously slow time but was still very happy with that since my plan had been just to enjoy that race and have a bit of fun and that worked out pretty well.
So now I'm back from a short holiday, OK it was not really a holiday more of running around and sorting out stuff but that also meant that I couldn't train for nearly 2 Weeks, suboptimal for my half Ironman Preparation but that was unavoidable. On the other site, I'm now extremely keen on training which is good since I have now also an official Coach.
Having a coach is a very weird feeling because I have to trust what he puts together for me, it will take some time to get used to that.I will try to post about this in the next couple of weeks.

2 mile sign from my last half Marathon

Olympic Distance Tri a Race Report - yippeee I did it

Firstly and most importantly I have done it, I have finished a Olympic Distance Triathlon , which means I swam for 1.5km, I cycled for 40km ( Hilly Course ) and I ran 10km ( Trail ) and I did not puke.


 The last bit ( the puking part ) was a close reality during the Run part of the Race but lets start at the beginning which is Race morning :

I have done that Triathlon twice before, both times before I did the Super Sprint Distance and I absolutely loved it. Since that  was my first ever Triathlon I have a special affinity to that Race and I thought this is a good Race to start my Olympic Distance Triathlon Career.

I knew before the Race that I had not trained sufficiently and that my training is not organised well enough to finish such a Race anywhere in the front, but I hoped it would be good enough to finish it.

The Day had started pretty grey and dark and getting into the Car and at time it did not look like it would clear up but I decided to ignore that ,I had other things to worry about for example finished a 1.5km swim.

My Swimming has improved over the last couple of Month’s quite a bit and even though I did do far fewer sessions in the  pool than I should have done, I still felt I could do the Swim in a descent enough time. Still I was rather nervous about that.

Thankfully I did not have much time to think about that, because all the Girls were in the second Wave. So finishing up transition, listening to the Race briefing and getting into Wetsuit was happening in a very short space of time and suddenly I jumped into the Water and started to swim.

The Sun suddenly came out after half of the Swim, which I took for a positive sign but it also meant I could not see a thing anymore, so just swam in the general direction, which was probably all over the place.

This tactic worked, I finished the Swim and that was all that had mattered, I did a descent T1 and was off onto the Bike, I had trained a couple of times on that course and that paid now of, I had already decided that I would cycle as hard I could.

I would not care if I would completely and utterly blow on the Run, cycling is one of my better disciplines and therefor I cycled fast and furious (according to me, not according to the time).

The  Cycle consists out of five loops, not four and not six Loops, it is five loops.

Counting to five can be very complicated  ….

Loop one to three were great, I really felt good , but then on loop four that hill started to hurt and I just was glad when I passed it for the last time on the last Lap.

Back into T2 where I took my time to lace my Runners (yes still have normal Laces in my runners)

And then onto the Running course, my legs actually felt kind of ok, until I turned into the Park and had to run uphill, my knee suddenly screamed at me. I couldn't get the leg straight and I knew immediately why this was happening, on the Bike I had realized that my clips on one of my shoes were not 100 % aligned and now I was paying for that.

 That did hurt for the first 2-3 km badly, but I was able to shake that.

 I guess because general fatigue just kicked in and I just trotted along the course as fast as I could.

Fatigued I was running towards the finish line, but I knew I only had done 4-5 km so far I really thought I had missed the exit for the second loop  , panic was really rising by then.

 I was practically in front of the Finish line when the turn for the second loop came (rather cruel I have to say).

So another 5 km to go which were quite a bit of torture, I had completely blown by this time , I could not get a drink into me at the water station and I knew I could not tolerate a Gel . So just trotted on and tried to enjoy the Day.

 I was a very happy person when I finished that Race, which I really enjoyed except for the last 2 km where I just was sick.

I have finished at the back of the pack but I finished it and more importantly I really enjoyed it and I think that is what should matter.

Now I will slowly start my Winter Training which then should bring me to my Half Iron in May 2014, there is no chance that I can't take it in any way likely  

VO2 max and upcoming Olympic Race

Yesterday I did do a VO2 Max test, I'm very lucky that my Health Insurance actually covers those tests. I'm far from being a serious Athlete who really needs those tests, but since I had the chance to take one, I thought why not, additionally this test should show if I have a hidden lung problem.

So even though I didn't expect much from this test I was still nervous, getting the breathing mask strapped on and stepping on the treadmill.
The guy who tested me told me later, he thought I wouldn't last longer then 4 min.
If he would have told me that before the test I probably would have agreed, but to his surprise and my complete and utter amazement I stepped 10 min later from that Treadmill and the result was "Superior Fitness level".
I still can't believe this and I can't even tell how happy I'm about this result. With that in mind we went through the results and that got better by the minutes, the results indicate that I can do long distance events without breaking down ( Mallorca 70.3 , I'm so getting ready now ) and we also found my Problem area, I feel running is causing me trouble and never could really improve, now I know why.
I forget to breath during my run's, I actually breath in, but then I hold my breath and that is causing all the problems.
So now I need to learn to run with continuous breathing. Guess that will take awhile but I will get there. So happy that I took that test.
Another thing, in not even 2 Weeks time is my first Olympic Distance Triathlon, as usual with me I have not trained enough but a realistic goal for that race should be three hours to finish, of course only possible if I don't fall apart on the run.