Tiring training weekend

On Thursday evening, I was excited about trying out my new wetsuit at Lakeside. However, a series of minor disasters (including leaving my phone at work and finding that the building code wouldn’t let me in) meant that I almost didn’t make it. By the time I arrived at the lake at 7pm, it was already getting cooler. It has rained quite a lot in the last week and I was surprised by how much colder the lake felt. I spent a little while acclimatising and then decided to head off for a speedy first lap.

The first time that Stuart wore his new wetsuit (a 19 Rogue), he found that he swam significantly faster than in his 2XU T:2, so I was hoping for a similarly magical result. Sadly, it was not to be. I did my first lap in 7:30, which isn’t any faster than I normally swim. I decided that perhaps it was because I hadn’t warmed up, so I swam a second lap. It was slower. I decided to really go for it on my third lap and felt like I was doing well, until an incredibly competitive man decided to try to swim over me. I really don’t understand why someone would do this in training. I felt the man’s hands on my feet, then my ankles, my knees and my lower back… at which point I started kicking like hell. The swimmer did not miss a stroke and just carried on. Given that there were only a few people in the lake, there was absolutely no need for this to happen, but I saw the same swimmer do it again to another fairly weak swimmer. I don’t know what kind of kick he was getting from it, but it wasn’t training that I wanted.

I’m not sure whether it was the cold water, the new wetsuit being less warm or my general tiredness, but in the end, I decided that four laps was enough.

I had Friday off work, so I did a lot of housework/garden work, which involved getting soaked with the pressure washer. I had forgotten how much of a workout it is to use one of those!

On Saturday morning, Stu and I went to Southampton parkrun. I haven’t seen Teri for weeks, so it was lovely to see her there. I asked whether she was going for a social run or a fast run, and she suggested that it might be possible to do both. Yet again, I had failed to bring my inhaler, so I wanted to be careful. I struggled as I got towards the top of the hill, but Teri encouraged me to keep up. I recovered a bit on the downhill and managed to maintain my pace. Clare caught up with us, so I had a chat with her and Teri picked up the pace a bit. Towards the end, Clare asked whether I wanted to pick up the pace. I said I would when I got onto the gravel. Clare soon sprinted past me, and I just did the best I could, but it was a mistake. After crossing the line there is a slow walk to get your token – I started feeling dizzy, so I stepped out of the line and lay on the grass, breathing heavily. I felt really rough and realised that I shouldn’t have pushed as hard. The good news was that I had managed a reasonable time and my Garmin showed an average pace of 4:59/km, which made me smile.

Southampton parkrun 1st Aug 2015

Unfortunately, the consequence of my hard run was that I felt ill all day and kept feeling really dizzy. I had such a headache, even though I kept drinking lots of water 🙁

This morning, I felt much better, so I cycled up to the Common to meet Teri and Roelie for a 90km ride. On the way out of Southampton, we had to stopped as the traffic meant that Roelie was unable to cross the road. Unfortunately, I failed to unclip and had an unplanned dismount 🙁 Luckily, I wasn’t injured – just a tiny bruise on my hand, a big bruise on my left leg and a dent in my pride. It was also a bit of a nutrition fail as I had packed a small bottle of protein shake in my jersey pocket and managed to squash it – oops!

We headed out towards Beaulieu and then towards Buckler’s Hard. It’s a route that I particularly like as it’s relatively traffic free, so it means it’s easy to ride as a group and have a conversation. It’s also quiet and beautiful. Partway round, we saw Stu coming in the opposite direction, which was nice. We stopped for a very brief break, where I opened my packet of salt and pepper nuts – yummy. I also dropped my mobile phone, but luckily Teri spied it before we cycled off.

Teri only had enough time for one loop, so we stopped for a quick selfie at Beaulieu:

Selfie with Teri and Roelie
Selfie with Teri and Roelie

As we were on the grass verge, Stu pulled over. Sadly, he had also had an accident and had some bad cuts and bruises on his arm and leg. This evening he is limping badly, which is really sad – I hope he recovers in time for Dublin.

Stu and Teri headed for home whilst Roelie and I cycled around for another loop. I was pleased that I wasn’t feeling tired, although I definitely wasn’t cycling at race pace. on the way back, Jonathan cycled past at quite a speed and then as we neared Eling, I saw Jules and another DHC cyclist… I think Jules must have been on his way to one of his favourite haunts – The Old Bakehouse tearoom!

When I got back to Southampton, I cycled back up to The Common with Roelie to ensure that by the time I got home I had done 90k 🙂

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2 Responses

    • Thank you – it’s a lovely place to go cycling… I only wish I didn’t have to cycle on the worst imaginable cycle route out of town to get there!

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