I have not deemed it worth while to write a blog for some time now due to the fact that I thought I had nothing positive to write about. This is because I have had quite a few disappointing events happen.
I went out to Portugal at the end of April with the aim of committing myself to a solid 3 months of training, swimming, biking and running with the thought of giving myself every chance to have a really good Summer of competition in Athletics and Triathlon. I know that the Olympics would have been a very outside chance due to the fact that I have had a very inconsistent past 2 years and have not raced in this time. However the opportunity of qualifying for the European Championships at either 1500m or 5000m was more of a target. If training/injuries prevented this then I would be able to fall back on Triathlon and compete in the British Super Series Elite and hence my decision to quit my job at Athlete Matters and fly out on my own to Faro with money, scary... but why not.
I joined up with a group of Triathletes who were based out in Portugal and looked forward to focusing and dedicating myself to training, rehab, resting and getting fitter by the end of the three months. Unfortunately, I quickly realised that the group of athletes there did not seem to have the same training principles/ethos as myself and my training partners back in England. For example, sessions were crammed in one after another whereas I wanted to space out the sessions to maximise rest and compensation. Sessions also seemed to be spur of the moment with no planning in advance and there was no purpose to each session. I need to know in advance when I will be having a hard session and what the purpose of each session is so that I can prepare mentally and physically in the days leading up to it.
I decided to give it another week and see if things improved however motivation was starting to decrease and I was questioning whether there was any point in this camp if I wasn't actually training how I needed to be. After another week or so of the quality of training not improving I needed to make a decision on whether to stay. I was also noticing a deterioration in my swimming times and efficiency over the relatively short time I was there. However, two and a bit weeks is not a short time in training terms, may gains can be had over this time however also many losses can occur as well. If I continued with this training any longer I could only see one way, down. I therefore made the decision to book a flight home asap and arrived back in Manchester three weeks after I left.
Now, many may say I threw away an amazing opportunity. I do not see it like this at all. The only benefit I could think of of being there was the weather. Where this may be an advantage for cycling, if the training you are doing on the bike is pointless (no quality, no reps, no hills just easy 3 hours every time) then the 'good' weather is not a reason to stay. I feel that I made the correct decision. I have a World class running group and coach in Manchester,I have World Class swimming facilities at Manchester Aquatics and I have my boyfriend who is a cyclist in Manchester. But no weather....oh well I'm sure I'll live.
After returning home, I had a small Achilles problem, tightness which has hindered my running over the past six weeks but I have been able to receive treatment from a great physio Alex O'Gorman at Athlete Matters. Along with treating my achilles, he has helped me more in terms of getting my motivation back, keeping me focused on my running and generally being a positive influence during this injury of which I am extremely grateful.
It is extremely difficult to self motivate through injuries, I should know, I have been injured on and off constantly for the past nine years. Although I do feel I am a strong minded, focussed, maybe stubborn some would say! I do still need the emotional support from my peers. I may not look like I am struggling to stay positive as I try to be happy but imagine not being able to do something you love for nine years, not through the lack of effort, let alone imagine the torment you might go through seeing your friends/competitors training, racing year on year without hardly any injuries and getting to fulfil their potential. For me, I now watch my athlete peers on television at the Olympics, World Championships and have to try not to be disheartened or bitter. So remember, although someone may appear to be coping with set backs, disappointments on the outside, take a moment to think how they are really feeling on the inside, when they go home after a poor training sessions or from finding out they cannot train for 6 weeks due to injury. A positive comment goes along way.
In the sport of Athletics, when injury hits you can become extremely isolated. I am now lucky that I have an escape with my triathlon training and is the reason why I started 18 months ago, when I was injured! I have been doing a lot of my swimming with Joe Skipper http://notanotheraveragejoe.blogspot.com Although Joe is a faster swimmer than me he kindly invited my to train with him after returning from Portugal. We swim together four times a week and have already reduced my 400m PB to 5.12 knocking off 12 seconds. Joe is such an enthusiastic, motivating person to train with and I am loving swimming now! Joe is actually also an Elite Cyclist so we both have the same training ethos and know that we need to work hard, very hard in some sessions and we know to balance it with easier sessions. We have a great structure to our week and I look forward to every session now.
I am the first to admit I do not do enough cycling either on the road or turbo. I may ride once a month on the road and never on the turbo. This is obviously not good for triathlon training but I just can't seem to motivate myself to do it. However, my boyfriend, Dane, took a day of work and the weather was lovely so he took me to meet Joe on a Wednesday afternoon, along with another Elite cat rider, Rich Hepworth, as they were 'only going easy'. I made him promise that if I could n't keep up then he would slow down with me. We did 3 hours 'easy' (steady for me) with 25mins team time trial averaging about 25/26mph. I thoroughly enjoyed this part and managed fine (so the lads said).
I agreed to go out with Dane on the Sunday for what I thought was another similar ride. We met Joe and Rich again, along with Alex (Young?) from Manchester Triathlon club and headed out into Cheshire for 'three hours' and a cafe stop. Great I thought. After an hour and a half I was thinking when are we going to be stopping for this cafe stop as the pace was stronger than Wednesday. Joe wanted to do part of the Cheshire Cat Sportive course so we headed further south into Cheshire. After about 3 hours I realised this cafe stop was not appearing and we were along way from home so it would not be appearing at all. Eventually we got home 107 miles and 5 hours 30 mins later. The pace was constant through out the ride and we averaged just under 20mph for the whole ride. Alot of the riding would have been above 20mph as there is a lot of stopping getting out and back into Manchester. We did a great team time trial again. I say TTT as Joe and Rich were the main ones pulling on the front for as long as they could. Dane was looking after me on the back of which he was perfect at. I had to fight to regain the wheel on every slight climb. They don't slow down for me!! When I had time or energy to look down we were travelling at 26mph. What an amazing session. This is what I call training! I actually understood now why people enjoy riding and got the bug for cycling and am looking to do some Road Races soon. Although I think I may need to do more than two sessions on the road?! This gave me the confidence to go to a Crit training sessions at Tameside again I really enjoyed it and found it quite easy! Compared to 107 miles.
I am now on Strava, thanks to Dane, and my two rides can be seen on that:
Wednesday Ride:
Sunday Ride: (Garmin stopped after 92 miles)
I am now progressing my running, trying 40 minutes this weekend and will hopefully go from strength to strength with my swimming and cycling.
I now aim to get myself on the start line as soon as am I ready. I will not be in great shape running wise but I dont care. I just want to race. I will not be embarrassed if I perform below my usual capabilities and hope that by not rushing back to fitness I will be able to race this year.
Be happy
Louise xxx
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