Fat Girl to Ironman

17 October 2014

Monchique bike ride and brick run

Fridays at Embrace Sports training camps are where the week’s training culminates in the completion of a test, whether it is a PB-breaking run or a new personal record for cycling distance. On this particular day (Friday 17/10), the challenge was a 100km ride up Monchique followed by a 4km brick run. We all gathered by the pool before heading...

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16 October 2014

Embrace Sports 16/10/14 Aquathlon for others; day in bed for me :-(

This was the day of the aquathlon, but my cold had got worse overnight and I felt really rough. I felt torn about what to do. I didn’t want to miss out, but I didn’t want to make myself worse. In the end, I was sensible and went back to bed whilst Stuart went off for the aquathlon. He was...

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15 October 2014

Embrace Sports 15/10/14 Hell on the hills duathlon

The schedule for Wednesday showed that it was one of the workouts that I was most nervous about. I was absolutely dreading the Hell on the Hills duathlon. Last year I had a meltdown on the first run during the duathlon. I was so afraid that I would crash my bike trying to cycle up the hill. Earlier in the...

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14 October 2014

Embrace Sports 14/10/14 Transition training and a ride to Aljezur

Tuesday 14th October The day started with transition training in a local car park with Graeme and Andy. I was surprised that so few people decided to attend – I know that some of the others are very experienced, but I’m not sure that all of them are. Stu and I have done a couple of these workshops in the...

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13 October 2014

Embrace Sports 13/10/14 – A swim in the ocean and a woodland trail run

Monday 13th October The day started early with an ocean swim. I love sea swimming, so this was a great treat. We then had a bike maintenance course over breakfast. I’ve heard Neil explain the basics of bike maintenance before and have also been on a basic bike maintenance course, but that certainly doesn’t mean that I know very much....

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13 October 2014

Monday Morning Motivation – 101 questions to ask yourself

Do you reflect on your hopes and aspirations? Do you know how to ask yourself the right questions? This manifesto will help you to clarify your goals: SaveAre you going to make any small (or large) changes to your life today?

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12 October 2014

Embrace Sports 12/10/14 Ocean swim and coastal ride with TT finish

The day started with open water swimming. It was an early start, but it’s always worth it to see the sunrise over the sea. We got ready at the top of the cliff overlooking the beach. When we’d all got our wetsuits on, it was time to head down the steps to the beach.   We were put into groups...

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11 October 2014

Embrace Sports 11/10/14 End of ‘party camp’; bring on triathlon week.

It was sad to know that ‘party camp’ was coming to an end. I got up quite early to say goodbye to people and then had some time to do what I wanted, which was mainly lounging around. It felt odd seeing the new group of people arrive. Everyone seemed to be much more serious than the runners. They were...

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10 October 2014

Embrace Sports 10/10/14 Targetted long run

It was the last full day of the Embrace Sports camp, so it ended in the traditional way with a targetted long run. I had discussed my goal with Neil the night before. I wanted to complete 13.1 miles in 1:59:59. This would mean running at 5:40/km. I was confident that my fitness had improved enough that I would achieve...

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9 October 2014

Embrace Sports Easy 10k run in Lagos

The original plan was to do a run from Luz to Burgau with an optional boat excursion, but it was raining quite heavily, so we stayed in for a little while, before deciding to do a drizzly 10km run around Lagos instead. It was quite wet. I was glad to have Pamela to keep me company on the run and...

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