It’s all part of the routine. I’ve had this uncertainly before. Each year there’s a few nagging things that start to take hold. We’re past the point of no return now. There’s little that can really be done with six days to go that will be of that much help.
This year’s anxieties largely stem from a few larger blots on the training record for 2010. Whilst last year was on paper a more worrisome preparation (broken collarbone in the spring and unable to run that much until later in the summer), this year’s preparation has ‘only’ been marred by the now usual compromise of having to fit it all around family life.
The specific training routine started in earnest after our family holiday in August and I started to feel like things were really coming together a week or so ago. The weight was starting to come off (see my separate weightloss blog!) and the longer rides had started. But it’s all started to ebb away now, and my confidence is sliding downhill quickly.
In essence:
- Last Wednesday was meant to be a long ride. I rarely can get the chance with family and work to ride more than 3 hrs, so I’d taken a couple of mornings off work. The wind and rain was appalling, so I eventually clocked 2hrs 50 mins. Not really long enough for a ‘long’ ride. I know.
- Last Friday, tyre sidewall blew to bits whilst doing my specific ‘Bull Hill’ hill reps. It was meant to be a very high intensity workout – ‘the last one’ before a longer session on Sunday. Had to cut it short and run home with the bike. Still trying to source an appropriate replacement 34mm tub.
- Sunday’s very-early-morning 3 hr session didn’t materialise. Torrential rain came overnight along with a not very nice feeling that Katie was getting sick of all my going on about the 3 peaks on Saturday evening. Big chat had. Felt depressed and in limbo. The rain was the final nail int he coffin. It was incessant, heavy, and with it still being dark, I opted for staying in bed. Not good, a week before the big day.
- I have a cold. I know… it’s not a bad time to get one really – hopefully clear it out of the way, but it’s annoying. I want to have some sort of spring in my step at the moment and I feel like a moany old man.
Lewis’s words to me were that it’s all done now anyway – there’s little I can do this week. In the back of my mind, I know that a good hard ride the week before the 3 peaks (last year’s Grizedale MTB challenge) was a good thing for me. I haven’t had that this year, so I feel like something’s missing. I’ll hit the slopes of Simon Fell this year exactly 5 weeks after my previous competitive outing. I know that’s too long, but it’s just life.
I feel like I’d better balance this out though… just for the record. So here goes.
Last Wednesday was meant to be a long ride. I rarely can get the chance with family and work to ride more than 3 hrs, so I’d taken a couple of mornings off work. The wind and rain was appalling, so I eventually clocked 2hrs 50 mins. Not really long enough for a ‘long’ ride. I know.
It was a dead hilly ride, and I rode the hills pretty hard. I’d done three separate training sessions on Tuesday, too.Last Friday, tyre sidewall blew to bits whilst doing my specific ‘Bull Hill’ hill reps. It was meant to be a very high intensity workout – ‘the last one’ before a longer session on Sunday. Had to cut it short and run home with the bike. Still trying to source an appropriate replacement 34mm tub.
I was going really well carrying the bike and felt great – the ‘laps’ were the quickest I’ve done until the puncture, and the bike handling felt like it was getting really good too. I actually have a decent tub that’s suitable too – it just doesn’t ‘match’ the grey Vittoria XG one.Sunday’s very-early-morning 3 hr session didn’t materialise. Torrential rain came overnight along with a not very nice feeling that Katie was getting sick of all my going on about the 3 peaks on Saturday evening. Big chat had. Felt depressed and in limbo. The rain was the final nail int he coffin. It was incessant, heavy, and with it still being dark, I opted for staying in bed. Not good, a week before the big day.
See (4) below. I could have done myself a load of damage in that rain, with a cold coming on. The 8.3 mile hilly run I managed to squeeze in alongside family life yesterday was a great, tough workout, and I’m not overly tired from it, and can train hard until Wednesday now as a result.I have a cold. I know… it’s not a bad time to get one really – hopefully clear it out of the way, but it’s annoying. I want to have some sort of spring in my step at the moment and I feel like a moany old man.I am an old man. Get used to it. I’m 40. If I can finish within the top 25 on Sunday it’s still something to be very proud of, alongside a busy work and family life..
Like I said up the top of this though, it’s part of the routine to some extent. My glass is half full.
