I Conquered the Clash

Well it was a very successful weekend all round - a PB on Saturday and my longest training run to date on Sunday!

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed off to Eltham College for this year's Clash of the Tritons aquathlon. Being quite a slow swimmer and unable to do 500m of front crawl I had an early start time to enable me to go in the nice wide lane they set up at the beginning for those doing breaststroke. The swim went well and I got into a good routine of one length front crawl followed by a 'recovery' length of breaststroke. I also managed to overtake the two other swimmers in my lane which is always a good feeling! Then it was out to the transition area to get my trainers and number belt on for the 5k run. Always difficult to gauge how well you are doing in these things when you're not wearing a watch but my legs felt quite tired and it was quite windy and overcast out - decided half-way round the first lap that I had probably been a bit over-optimistic in grabbing my sunglasses after the swim! Fortunately the marshalls on the course offered great support as I was running round with lots of clapping and cheering, especially the ones just after the bottom of the playing field who were very enthusiastic with their cheers! And so after 20 lengths of the pool and 2 laps of the park, I was finished. But what of my time? Well, the event used chip-timing and very efficiently there was a computer set-up at the end where you could type in your number and get your results immediately and joy of joys, I'd done it in 37 minutes - nearly six minutes faster than last time! :-) Mr W also got a PB and oddly our swim times were identical, although he ran somewhat faster than me. Finished the morning with a post-race sports massage (ouch!) and some yummy cakes.

And so, onto Sunday's sporting efforts.... we were rather late up on Sunday after going to see U2 the night before and so we opted for an early evening run when we were hoping it would be a little cooler. Unfortunately that ploy didn't really pay off but we did have a lovely run from home through Farnborough, past the church, across the fields to Downe, through High Elms and up the horrid steep hill so that we could run down the long footpath along the side of Cudham Lane South, before returning home along the A21 with a short detour along Shire Lane bridleway and past the church again to make up the mileage. Total distance covered was 8.3 miles in just under 90 minutes - the furthest I've run in a long time (probably since the Grim in December 2007, which was as the name implies and took me considerably longer than 90 minutes!)

Haven't run since then but decided I should probably have a rest last night after a race and a long run, plus tonight is the Orpington Road Runners vs. Petts Wood Runners mob match so I wanted to be on fine form for that or at least with enough energy to get round the course without being last!

Countdown to the Clash

Well I have been very virtuous since my last post and have done some sport every day, ok so I only ran on three days, but I do think there is value in cross-training plus I needed to get a swim in in preparation for the Clash of the Tritons aquathlon that we are doing tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the running - had two lovely 4-mile runs with Mr W on Sunday and Monday evenings. The routes were similar through the fields and along the bridleways local to our house, although on Sunday we took the car up to High Elms and did a bit in the woods as well. We also ran through the fields and the woods when we went out with the running club on Tuesday night, although we went a bit further (~6 miles). Felt a bit sad though as we were coming back on Tuesday as the light was starting to fade around 9pm meaning that our days of evening runs in the countryside are rapidly running out for this year. Such a shame as you can't really beat running across the middle of freshly cut field in the evening sun....

I haven't run since Tuesday but I did swim 24 lengths at the pool on Wednesday evening and went to Bodybalance last night. Part of me fancies a run tonight but my sensible side is saying 'don't do it' as we'll be up early tomorrow for the 'Clash'. This is a local aquathlon featuring a 500m pool swim followed by a 5k run. I'm really looking forward to it! We first did it in 2007, then I had to miss last year's event because I was ill , so this is my first opportunity to try and improve my previous time of 43 minutes. I'm hoping it will be possible as I think my swimming has improved over the last two years, even if my running hasn't, but at least since I can't wear my Garmin in the pool I'm not going to find out until the end and so that's one less stress to worry about during the race! I'll let you know how I get on! :-)

One down, nine to go!

Well, it's almost the end of the first week of my training schedule and I'm pretty much on track although I still need to squeeze one more run in before the end of the weekend, trouble is it's quite hot out and I am full of pub lunch...

I started the week well on Monday evening with a four mile run in my shiny new trainers out to Farnborough church, across the fields and back home along the bridlepath, all completed in 40 minutes. Then Tuesday evening was running club, where we did around 6.5 miles in 65 minutes, with several re-grouping stops - did make a slight error though by wearing my old trainers, because I didn't want to get my new ones dirty in case we ended up somewhere muddy, which then proceeded to rub and gave me a blister. :-(

On Wednesday I decided to have a rest from running and went for a swim instead - good preparation for the 'Clash of the Tritons' aquathlon which Mr W and I are doing next Saturday morning. Thursday started off fine but by home time from work it was looking decidedly grey outside and thus I ended up having a very wet and short run with a friend who's just getting back into running, before going to Bodybalance. Have been doing the latest release of this for about a month now and really enjoying it - some of it is quite challenging but the music this time round is great and helps you forget quite how much pain you are in as you stand in Warrior poses for what seems like forever!

No sport though since Thursday as we've been entertaining the family, instead we've been eating lots, enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of geocaching. Can't put it off much longer though and will have to put on my lycra and head out shortly....