Here I set out my tri background and the relevant facts leading me up to making a decision about what I target in 2013.\u00a0 I hope that by writing it all down it will both clear the murky waters in my mind and others can help me make the decision.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I did my first triathlon in 2007 inspired by a work colleague who was training for his first Ironman.\u00a0 From then on I\u2019ve been hooked on the long distance, following results avidly and being a keen listener of IMTalk.\u00a0 However my actual participation has been sporadic at best – a pool based sprint that first year, 2008 and 2009 generally entered running only events, before doing 2-3 sprints a season since then.<\/p>\n
The fact was I enjoyed the idea of the sport more than the actual sport itself, I didn\u2019t enjoy cycling particularly \u2013 I rode to train and never for fun and I am a really poor swimmer.\u00a0 I did my first OW swim at Tuska Tri in 2009 and although I completed it and did well enough my experience of the sea swim put me off a lot more than I should have let it given how strong I raced once through T1.\u00a0 At the end of 2010 I won a place in the VLM and that winter trained harder than I ever have before proving to myself that although overweight I can do endurance training.\u00a0 I did a couple more Tri’s that year.<\/p>\n
Moving on to this year and in trying to get fit I spent some time on the turbo trainer and had the revelation that has reinvigorated my Tri career.\u00a0 With the Sufferfest training videos urging me to increase my cadence I realised that I\u2019m much more suited to spinning high speeds in easier gears.\u00a0 The comfort and improved ability I\u2019ve found by pushing an easier gear at 95-100 compared to my previous mid 70 grinding has meant I now enjoy the experience of riding my bike just for the fun of it.\u00a0 This has obviously meant I train more on the bike and have improved significantly for little effort.<\/p>\n
With this in mind I entered Cosmeston Triathlon, another sprint near me with a lake swim.\u00a0 This was the source of revelation number two.\u00a0 On a still lake, in a wetsuit I swim much stronger that I do in a pool.\u00a0 In training my best 750m swim was 23 minutes and I was near exhaustion but in the lake I came out in a better time and feeling pretty fresh.\u00a0 I\u2019d done no run training at all in the build up but I find I can run a 5K trained in 22 minutes but pretty much always run 24 regardless of condition,<\/p>\n
It was with this newfound confidence I entered BRAT Birmingham Triathlon that I completed just over a week ago.\u00a0 Purely on the basis of the little difference in price I agreed with the organisers that I\u2019d enter the Olympic distance and they\u2019d let me switch to the sprint if I didn\u2019t feel up to the distance.\u00a0 I continued to cycle more and more but neglected the other two disciplines and 10 days before race day, having not swam a stroke since Cosmeston 9 weeks earlier, I took myself to a late night swim session with a view to attempting a 1000m swim.\u00a0 If I could complete it I\u2019d go for the Oly.\u00a0 Complete it I did and after a break I then did another 2 x 250s for a total time of 49 minutes. Slow but I got there.<\/p>\n
Birmingham came and I completed the swim feeling good and in only 42 minutes despite taking it very easy.\u00a0 For the first time in my life I completed a long swim (my longest ever) at a pace that would see me comfortably inside an IM cutoff.\u00a0 Which means I now have the dilemma I never thought my mediocre swimming would allow me to have.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always put Ironman out of reach because I just couldn\u2019t swim that far but if I\u2019m honest I wasn\u2019t tired in Birmingham, another 400m would have been comfortable but could I have done it again? It would have taken a while but I could have made it I\u2019m sure. I\u2019ve found a rhythm and pace I can just plod along at.<\/p>\n
The triathlon twitter crowd had great things to say about the Cotswold 113 race and it being not too far away from me seemed like a good event to target for 2013.\u00a0 I was then thinking about backing it up with a genuine 70.3 later in the year in Galway.\u00a0 Kathryn works for an Irish company and is very keen on us going.<\/p>\n
The thing is I didn\u2019t train anything like as hard as I should have for Birmingham but still beat my 3 hour target and if I\u2019m honest although it would be a challenge to do a 70.3 I do believe that with a couple of months decent training and not attempting anything to fast I could complete a 70.3.\u00a0 I\u2019m not looking to set records, I\u2019m not fast, I\u2019d only really want to complete.<\/p>\n
So I find myself now eyeing up the Outlaw.\u00a0 That would be a massive challenge but the dates make it completely incompatible with 113 as the gap is only 2 weeks \u2013 maybe not for a seasoned campaigner but certainly for a beginner.<\/p>\n
Kathryn has said she\u2019ll back me if I decide to go for Outlaw and we\u2019ll make time for the training I\u2019ll need to put in.\u00a0 People have suggested I might be rushing it and a season of half distance will be better for me but I can\u2019t be sure that future years will grant me the same opportunities to train.<\/p>\n
Another question I keep asking myself is whether I really believe I can do it, I\u2019m by nature a very pessimistic person, and I know it\u2019ll be as much a mental challenge to get to the start line fully trained if the doubts start to creep in.\u00a0 I could lose my current vibe for the sport if it once more becomes all about training and not fun.<\/p>\n
Below is a list of pros and cons of each but feel free to throw any more at me in the comments section or via twitter.\u00a0 I really would appreciate the advice and thoughts of those who\u2019ve already been through this journey as I try to make my decision before Outlaw entries open soon. Green is a pro, red a con, blue an observation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
140.6<\/strong><\/td>\n| 70.3<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Bigger challenge<\/span><\/td>\n | Easier<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Expensive<\/span><\/td>\n | Cheaper<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | More training<\/span><\/td>\n | Less training<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Some level of coaching\/planning. Again more money.<\/span><\/td>\n | Can do uncoached<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Might not be able to spare the time in future years<\/span><\/td>\n | I might always have that nagging feeling I should have gone longer if the opportunity never presents itself in future.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Can I really swim the required distance? I\u2019ve also never ridden more than 50 miles in a go<\/span>.<\/td>\n | I know I can manage all 3 distances individually now, BUT – is it really a great challenge to do them in sequence with 10 months training.<\/span> | \n<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Potential sense of personal satisfaction 10\/10<\/span><\/td>\n | Potential sense of personal satisfaction 7\/10. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Will get much fitter and lose weight by doing it – I’m probably at least a stone overweight at the moment | \n<\/span><\/td>\n Might not lose weight doing the required training. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Too much of a leap from one Oly to IM?<\/span><\/td>\n | Steadier progression<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Probably need to decide soon<\/span><\/td>\n | No rush<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Will probably have to focus on these 3 sports<\/span><\/td>\n | Can continue to play football\/cricket etc<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Will need to swim train, either struggling in pool or travelling to an OW venue. Again more money.<\/span><\/td>\n | Could get away with less swimming.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Home life likely to suffer a bit<\/span><\/p>\n | However K is keen on do a tri too so we can do some training together<\/span><\/td>\n Shouldn\u2019t have any major impact<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here I set out my tri background and the relevant facts leading me up to making a decision about what I target in 2013.\u00a0 I hope that by writing it all down it will both clear the murky waters in my mind and others can help me make the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dave","category-triathlon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |