Work:Home:Triathlon

People often talk about getting the work:home life balance correct but for some time now I've thought it is actually a three object juggling act as I think the 'home' section needs to also have a balance between  family and personal.

It is without doubt that there needs to be a focus on family life but what about yourself as an individual? I believe that more time needs to be given to the 'family' but time definitely needs to be given to the 'self' in order to grow as a person, to understand the importance of 'family' and to focus on your own goals across your entire life.

Getting the balance right is always going to be tricky and everyone is going to be different as for some 'work' IS their life while others can be very selfish and just focus on themselves.

For me, the 'self' is triathlon and during training runs, rides and swims I get a certain amount of clarity in my life. It actually gives me a chance to think about my life in terms of my goals and where I want to be. These goals are not just selfish ones though, it gives me a chance to think about the children in my class, the other adults I work with, the house Siân and I have just bought and, of course, my family.

I know I need to balance these three areas in order to have a good life but it will always be the 'triathlon' that will fall by the wayside as the other two are just too important. This has happened fairly recently, I had three weeks of no training because work pressure was piling up and there were tasks I needed to complete. At least these three weeks occurred now and not just before the main event (the Monster Middle)  but next year I must plan better, I must preempt this busy time at work and plan to spread it out, plan to get ahead of the game.

General update

So, due to a spider bite in June of 2014 I had to pull out of the half ironman triathlon last year. It was a major shame but it meant that I had 3 weeks off training due to the pain and then another 6 weeks off due to it causing soft tissue damage as well. To say I was gutted would be an under statement but at least I managed to defer it with only losing 25% of the entry fee.

Now I'm in the build phase of the same event again and this time it's 2015. A new year and a new start.

As long as I survive this one, I'm still hoping to do a full ironman before I'm 40. Wish me luck.

BIKE - Time to talk training, tactics and targets

Training
During my first pre-base phase bike ride I had plenty of time to think about how I'm going to go about succeeding in the Monster Medium and consistency appears to be the key.

As my mind wandered, while the wheels on my bike turned around the lanes of Halstead, I kept coming back to the same conclusion. That I will succeed if I just consistently train in a sensible way. The last time I was thinking about completing a half ironman I bought a book by Don Fink (an internationally known triathlon and running coach who many have sworn by his training plans) and read it religiously. Even now, while I look through the book for hints and tips, I smile at the number of different bookmarks and turned down corners indicating various pages that I feel are worth noting but scared I'll forget are there.

The main idea that kept going through my mind while cycling though was Don's idea of training to time rather than to distance and to train with effort in mind. Many of my cycling friends, also on Strava, all want to go fast and achieve KOM for the different sections on offer but Don talks about training with a heart rate monitor, working out your maximum heart rate and then training within a certain percentage of it. He explains that in long distance events, like my Monster Medium, it's all about training to effective heart rate control and that anything outside of this could be considered "junk miles". There is no way that you'd be able to keep up a 10 mile  race pace for my 50 mile bike section, especially after completing a 1.9km swim and then having to do a half marathon afterwards. For this reason my heart rate for the majority of the Monster Medium will be quite low (between 131 & 149 bpm) and therefore during my training I have to keep it within the same sort of range. This can be quite tricky especially as it feels quite slow at times.

The other part of consistency is the frequency of rides. My job has it's moments of utter bedlam and then during other times it's just busy. If I can complete a long ride at the weekend with the Born2Tri club and two other short evening sessions then I will do just fine. I've penciled these in and will see later on if I can fit it any more.

Tactics
Going out training regularly and consistently is one thing, but before these sessions I need to be prepared in order to get the full benefits. At the moment this is mainly equipment. Whilst riding today I decided I need to buy a good pair of bib shorts (basically lycra dungarees) so that my top does ride up slightly showing off my more than ample arse cleavage. Next up will be overshoes in order to keep my feet nice and toasty, by the end of my 10 mile session today I was beginning to lose the feeling in my toes! Finally there is the cycle computer, something just nice and cheap to give me a nice and quick idea of how far I've gone and at what speed.

Targets
Inbetween trying to keep an eye on my heart rate and thinking about the extra items of equipment I'd be needing over the next six months I was also thinking about my end game. That being the time I'd want to finish in and what speed/pace I would need to keep throughout the 50 miles. The cut off time for the bike section is 4 hours and 20 minutes which means the absolute slowest I can go is 12mph at a pace of 5 minute/mile. Ideally I would like to be comfortable at an average speed of 15mph at a pace of 4 minute/mile. There is no way I'm at this speed at the moment but with regular riding and a good training program I know I will be there come August 17th.