2013: Tri-ing something new

[marathondan]

Week 0 of 17

Thurs lunchtime - tempo session along a muddy canal towpath. Lovely mild weather - I left my hat and gloves in the office lobby. No sign of the agents – clearly I’ve blown their cover. TdJ – HMHB, Irk the Purists – something of an anthem for my approach to triathlon.

Week 1 of 17

Away for a short break in the Peak District. Ironically considering it’s one of the UK’s favourite outdoor activity regions, I achieved no training. Mistress Merlem instructed that we should do some swimming during the half term break otherwise it would “feel strange” when we come back. I snatched 150m in Matlock leisure pool during family frolics. It feels strange already. Still a mountain to climb on the swimming front.

The closest I came to multisport was working out how to walk a mile carrying a child and a bike at the same time, after Emma (4) unsurprisingly didn’t manage the 5 mile challenge set for her. Happy days.

Back home at the weekend, and managed an hour or so brick including 2 mile run, on a blustery afternoon a few degrees above zero. I find myself dropping straight into around 8:10 pace for the run which is great; it sure feels weird after the bike, but everything seems to work OK.

Time to get a little more serious now. 16 weeks to go, which puts me around Christmas Day in the usual spring marathon calendar. The swim lesson will expand into a combo with short bike ride (apparently only a bike + run is a brick; anything else is a combo). A lunchtime swim session will be added in the week, breaking my 3 sessions a week rule but I’ve got such a long way to go in swimming that I think it’s needed. The brick will remain the longest session, building up week by week and maxing out at the full distance (40K bike + 10K run) before taper time. That should be about equivalent to the 20 mile pre-marathon run. Come late April I will get the wetsuit down from the loft and do a few weeks of open water swimming.

Simple huh?