Hard to believe it’s only a year ago (in fact, the exact anniversary just passed) that I was staggering down the esplanade in Nice finishing my first long distance triathlon. At various stages of the race (and at least once per discipline) I had said to myself that once was definitely enough. But, to begin a tenuous theme of dodgy film sequels, Never say Never Again. It took me less than 24 hours to realise that I wanted to race IM again, initially just because I was disappointed with my performance on the day. Now that a year has passed, and new things have happened in my life and in Tanzania, I realise how much I also miss the training and the motivation of having that goal in front of me.
Sitting in front of a DVD with a cold beer and a Cuban cigar of a weekend is pleasant enough, but I find myself pining for the discipline I succeeded in employing in training, and the huge satisfaction of feeling myself getting closer and closer to the required level of fitness.
So there has to be a sequel. The question is, what kind of sequel is it likely to be?
“Aliens”, not as original as the, err, original, but probably as exciting?
“Exorcist 2”, so howlingly awfully substandard compared with the predecessor that many pretend it never happened?
“Porno”, the long awaited follow up to Trainspotting which it seems will now never really happen?
Or maybe, hopefully “Bourne Supremacy”/”Empire Strikes Back”, genuinely as good and satisfying as the first.
We’ll wait and see.
Moving forward:
Having had time to look back at training and racing, I can identify several things I can do better than before. On the one hand I was really pleased with how training went, but I had a couple of problems on the day. So maybe I can prepare better to avoid those problems? And anyway, you can always improve in sport, otherwise why would Usain Bolt keep running when no one is going to beat his record for a decade? (Trust me, unless Bolt goes better I am sure no one else will.)
Swim: I need more long swims under my belt, particularly in open water. Another set of lessons would surely do no harm – I still have never even finished in the top 2/3 of swimmers in any triathlon, although if I had matched the average swim speed (and everything else remained constant) then I would actually have won at least 2 of those I have raced!
Bike: More time on a road bike is important (90% of my riding last time was MTB, necessarily because of the roads here in Tz). This might be possible depending on when work finishes in Africa. I should also fix or replace my sticky rear hub!
Run: Again more road training would be good. Better kit planning (run in the shoes I intend for the race, rather than a worn out, last-minute replacement!). Train a few more transitions, to get used to running off the bike, no matter how rough I feel.
I could probably also stand to lose an extra 1-2kg, Bradley Wiggins stylee, which might help in both running and hilly bike routes. Easy to say now, not so easy to do given that I weigh 80kg for the first time in my life, and last year my “fighting weight” was about 73kg...
Nutrition: Breakfast was OK, but the litre-of-seawater chaser was my nauseating downfall on race day. Think of it as my Achilles' stomach. My current solution to this (aside from the swim training above) is to race in fresh water next time! With this in mind I have been mostly looking at races in landlocked areas, such as S Germany and Switzerland. And then I saw:
http://www.zeleznak.cz/index.php
A small competition, not affiliated to official “Ironman” TM but exactly the same distances and vastly cheaper without the branding! Indeed, the organisers have cheekily named the race ironman in Czech. Lake swim, moderately hilly bike ride and a 3-lap run, all in some of the loveliest countryside in central Europe. And the chance to recover with klobasa, dumplings and great quality pilsner. How could I resist?
So, brace yourselves again for various dull training logs appearing here, or in the remote off-chance that anyone read it and was inspired; come and race me!
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