Tooting Bec Lido Aquathlon

What a day!

I had a lot of reservations about this Aquathlon. Hell, I was not even sure if I was saying 'aquathlon' right ('a qwath a lon'? 'aquacklon'?).  Then I reminded myself to shut up and stop worrying. I met a member of the Lido-- his name was Al. I met him previously the day I tested out the wetsuit. I asked if he was participating and he said, "No, I only race myself now." That should be how it always is... for everyone.

So I calmed down. I stretched. I listened to the race brief. I asked questions. I chatted with other participants. I kept telling myself 'This is not the end game. Just enjoy and learn.'  To be honest I was itching to get into the water... my wetsuit was a tad bit warm in the lovely London sun (yes it exists!).

Note to self-- if you are jumping in cold water, may be best to ensure the goggles are about the same temperature. Else, the fog up. Well. Now I know :)

The nine lengths went pretty well. The lanes were huge so people didn't have to stress about holding people up behind or getting stuck behind someone.

Such a badass :D 

Transition? Ehhh... let's just say practicing dry is NOT the same as when it's wet. Fair. Makes sense. Another lesson learned.

I was not feeling too hot in the beginning of the run. I am not sure if that was the quick (in some sense of the word) transition or maybe I drank too much water in the pool. Whatever it was, I kept it relatively slow in fear of vomiting. The sun was pretty strong at this point, so it was actually quite nice having a wet trisuit on. Oh, and I was rocking some sunnies. Priorities people!

We did three laps around the common. Some of those were along roads but there were volunteers at every corner to ensure no one got lost.

I rolled into the finish and tried to to a bit of a jump at the end. I was feeling pretty good-- huzzah I did an aquathlon! I got my medal and my flapjack. All one really needs at the end of a race.

Heck yeah!

If you are thinking about doing a tri-- or are doing a tri, or just want something different, I recommend this event. It's a great way of getting your body used to swimming in cold water, like an OWS, but without the murky water. It's also great to get your body used to working out when tired.

All that was left to do was tube home (Tooting Bec is about 20 minutes walk away) and soak up the sun. A great way to spend a Saturday. 

Triathlon - Let's Get Serious Now

I have kind of been floating around exercise at the moment. I feel almost 'back' from my injury, but I have not really done any distance to speak of, my excuse being I have nothing to train for. To which NinjaBoy said "Then sign up for something!". Well played sir, well played.

I have been kinda training for my triathlon in August. A swim or two here and there, throw a run in somewhere, and sprinkle in a dreaded cycle (still don't like it). But you know...  I figured I have done this before *cough* 2013 *cough* and its not a crazy distance. Here it comes guys: HOW HARD CAN IT BE?!

Hard. As I found out on Wednesday.

I was going to have a weird work day (2pm-10pm) on Wednesday so I thought I would be proactive and go to the unheated Tooting Bec lido to scope out what I am getting myself into for the aquathlon this Saturday. I also (begrudgingly) decided to cycle down there. It was 0930, I had plenty of time...

About an hour later, I get to the Lido. It's overcast. It's cold. It's England summer. Luckily though that meant only the die hards are at the lido. I ask the nice woman at the desk a thousand questions:

Me: "Do I have to wear a wetsuit?"
Patient Woman: "No, not today"

Me: "Would you wear a wetsuit?" 
Patient Woman: "Oh heck yes... it's cold!"

Me: "Where do I change?"
Patient Woman: "You can change in any of the little huts or if you are more comfortable in the unisex changing area"

Me: "Where are the lockers?"
Patient Woman: "There are no lockers, but you can leave small valuables with me."

So I opt for a hut, and a wetsuit. The huts are like those ones you see in old time photos. Colourful and fun. Bit dark inside, but that's the way it is! I was getting a bit anxious about leaving stuff in my little hut, but one of the locals was telling me its perfectly safe.

Me: "Would you leave stuff on a busy weekend?"
Him: "No Way!"

Noted.

Such colours! 

The swim was tough. I felt incredibly slow and I took breaks with every lap. I enviously glanced at people with no wetsuit. I thought swimming in a wetsuit is meant to be easier?! My lower back hurt, my arms hurt. Oh my god. What is going on.

Such bliss!

Such agony!

 I finished 800m in 40 minutes. See the stats on the right. Perspective: my last pool swim on the left said I did 1000m in 30 minutes. I am not saying I am very slow or very fast. I am simply saying I was, how do we say, displeased based on past performances. I also don't know why Strava is in yards... also why is Strava saying different than what my Garmin says?! Thats an investigation for another day-- ::in New York Accent:: I'M BLOGGIN 'ERE!!

It was a deflating swim. I had a cup of tea to reflect. Oh christ I needed to cycle home too...

I had a quick stop to pick up Tim Horton's Coffee from a fellow runner (I love this community!) then back home with 20 minutes to spare before my work day started.

I felt tired and depressed. Am I going to be the slowest person out there on Saturday? Are people going to tut loudly as they swim past me? What the hell am I doing here?!

I go to work (no shower! no time!). I drink Tim's coffee and stew in self-doubt.

I flop on the sofa at 10:30pm and I see I got some post... from the London Tri. Oh wonderful... icing on the cake I think to myself. I open the package. It's a t-shirt.

Suddenly I remember. THIS is why I am doing the aquathlon on Saturday. To prepare for August. This is part of my training, learning what to do and what not to do on the big day. How to relax in the water, how to get out of my wetsuit without faceplating on the pavement. How to get my body used to multisport days. Saturday is not the end goal, its just a pit stop on the way to the finish....

Oh my gosh, am I in  training mode? I think I am!!

Amazing what a shirt can do! :D

Ultra Training: Week 2

Total Miles this Week: 27.75 miles

Hello Bridge! 

So it turned out the week of the hendo I went to was actually week one... oops! Let's just crack on with week two.

I am determined to incorporate more cross training into my workout, so I did a Bodypump class this week as well as a Core beatdown/workout put on by the nice people over at Tribe in Shoreditch. Of course we did have to run to Haggerston Park and did sprints in between the core sets. Never mind! I also did a beigel run on Thursday morning with the love AR collective. Been a while and was so great to hear stories from Manchester. Tell you what-- the earlier sunrises really makes those 6am starts a lot easier.

And... this is where is started to go a bit wrong. I read that a bagel shop up in Angel was doing a promotion for £1 salt beef bagels for lunch. I checked mapmyRun. Definitely doable for a lunch time run there and back as long as the queue wouldn't be too long. I dutifully packed my bag the night before and was looking forward to a nice sunny lunch run.

Friday at work I am getting ready to run. Sports bra? Check. Socks? Check. Running shorts? Check. Shoes? ....... No shoes! I was almost giving up when I realised I was sporting a pair of Converse AllStars (yay casual Friday). Should I run in them? I decided yes, how bad could it be? Its about a 5k round trip!

Classic gin wench attire :D

Well, since that nice run (and nice bagel I should add) my feet/ankles have not been the same. I ran a total 15.5 miles this weekend and my ankle still feels funny :( However I was NOT going to miss my SecretLondon Gin run and wow the weather this weekend was pretty brilliant wasn't it?

So niggles aside, I am trying to get back into the swing of running and its going OK so far! I really need to allocate some time on the weekends for longer runs though. I am not running 50k over two days, just one. SO next week I hope to do my LSR in one day (14 miles). Also if I am lucky get on some trails soon.

I hope everyone else had a brilliant weekend running, be it for a race, for fun, or for training. Remember you got out there and did it and that is the hardest thing!

When I am Not Running...

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London August 6 & 7, please go here! Interested in RUNNING a borough with me?  Check this out! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here. 

Although I feel like all I am doing is running, I take at least one day off a week so my body does not go on strike against me. I also do one day of cross training (Body Combat,Body Pump, or Spin) as I know it's good to mix things up.

I thought I would share my workout that I do to help with my running muscles. This is from Runner's World. I like it because it requires no extra equipment.

1. Squat + Calf Raise
2. Push Up + Plank Hold
3. Lunge with Left Leg
4. Lunge with Right Leg
5. Plank
6. Side plank (30 seconds each side)
7. Single Leg T-Raise <- great for my hamstring so I do this one all the time
8. Bridge (very hard not to think of the Eric Prydz 'Call on Me' video here)
9. Jack Knife Crunches
10. Fire Hydrants (30 seconds each side, hold for 2 seconds)
11. Superman
12. BONUS: Again for my hamstring I do "The Glider" (or L-3 on this video)
13. GYM BONUS: For the hammy I use a stability ball and do this snazzy move. I never look this coordinated though, and am usually spending more time chasing the ball down.

Planks... on concrete. No thank you. Picture c/o RunnersWorld

I do these for 60 seconds each with a 15 second rest in between. I typically go through this twice (although I know it should be three), and typically some yoga as well.

There are so many routines out there specifically for runners, it's just finding the one that works for you and sticking with it. 

Getting Out There When You Don't Want To

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London in one weekend, please go here! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here. 

It was Wednesday evening and I was trying to psych myself up for the RunThrough Chase the Sun Race in Hyde Park. I do not know if it was just the tiredness of attending a conference and socialising or what. It was just one of those days I could not get motivated.

Happy Me: The weather is lovely! Not Happy Me: It's too hot.
Happy Me: You get a flapjack at the end! Not Happy Me: I don't deserve to eat a flapjack.
Happy Me: You hardly ever run in Hyde Park, what a treat! Not Happy Me: I hate loops.

This continued up until the start. I figured I should run the 5k at least and then run home, making it a normal 10k run day. The gun goes off and I start my plod.

About 1k in I am feeling better. I start to pick up my pace a bit. This is a short run so I may as well make the most of it. I was still feeling slow and meh.

1st loop done! Only one more loop! Whoo!

I notice I have a lurker behind me. You know, you start to notice the same footfall noise behind you for too long and realise you got someone 'following' you. Pacing along with you....

At 4k for some reason (I blame a duck) I slowed down, the footfall passes me in a blur of blue. A bloke! Amazing! I decide to give him a run for his money and I tried to shorten the distance between us. He beats me (barely) across the line. My name is called out-- finishing in just under 25 minutes. A 7:53 mile, which for me nowadays is quite speedy.

The man who paced to me turned around and said "You had a great pace for the last loop, I was just following you home... why did you slow down?!"

That gave me a glow inside, to know that even though I thought everything was going wrong on the run and I was not in a great mood, someone thought I was doing a great enough job that they got along for the ride. So those after-school specials are right, you never know who is looking up to you or following your lead, so it's best to just crack on.

"I blame the ducks", I said smiling.

Me in the light green right behind... 

Thank you runner man  #1570, you made my day.

May Update

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London in one weekend, please go here! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here. 

I released my May Newsletter and you can find it online at Google Docs. I won't retype everything in there, but May was quite a month! I also wanted to provide some additional updates:

SWAG 

I am hoping to give a little token of my appreciation for people helping me on my challenge. I won't reveal it until I get them, but hopefully that will sweeten the pot and get people to take the plunge and run a 5k with me!

World Record? Guess Not!

So the Guinness Book of World Records got back to me and said my challenge was not going to be a qualifier to be placed in their hallowed record books. This kinda sucks and I may try to resubmit, but it's no big deal. 

Running Mojo

If you have been following me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I am on the South Coast at the moment. As much as I love London, it's wonderful to get out and explore new routes in new places. This morning was a bit grey, and it made a nice ambiance for a run around Christchurch Priory. However, as the day progressed, the clouds finally broke and I just -had- to get another run in along the coast.  How can you not go for a run when you have views like this? Thats the Isle of Wight in the distance. 

 

Week One Training: Running the Boroughs

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London in one weekend, please go here! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here. 

I came back from Japan on Monday and definitely wanted a snooze. However, I read the book "Don't Stop Me Now" by Vassos Alexander on my travels, and he swears by running to break the jetlag. Seeing as how I needed to start running, figured I would give it a try.

Classic View 

The weather did not look like it was going to cooperate, it was raining the entire way home (yay England!) but the running gods smiled on me and the rain stopped long enough for me to get out into the Big Smoke for a run.

I am happy to report that running did the trick! Not only did I feel very refreshed and broke the jetlag (or at least wounded it greatly) I got to soak in some killer views-one of the reasons why London is so brilliant.

Beauty & the Beigel 

I also got to do my Beigel Run on Friday, a 10k off which takes off every Friday morning from Beigel Bake on Brick Lane. This is the with group Advent Runners, a wonderfully fun running group who also does track sessions and long runs during the week. You gotta wake up quite early with a start time of 7am, but to be able to bite into a lovely, chewy, beigel after a run is such a great feeling.

I only had to do one run this weekend, which was good as I went to Brighton on Sunday to support my friend running her first marathon. It was fun to be on the other side of the coin-- cheering runners on rathers than being the runner. I hope people understood my sign of 'Worse Parade Ever' was a joke! The weather was gorgeous too-- and it really made me want to lace up my trainers as well. I was enviously looking at the trails I could see from the train, but managed to convince myself that rest days are just as important as workout days and made a note of the location (Three Bridges) for later on in training.

I didn't run as far as I was hoping to and I blame the treadmill. I did a hill session on Tuesday which really did a number on me, and I just couldn't put in the extra miles afterwards. Does that mean it was a good session? The weather was brutal on Thursday and I was running low on time so it was back on the dreadmill to squeeze in a 5k rather than the 10k I had planned along the canal.

Running Distance for Week One

Thanks to those sessions I told myself I will ALWAYS go running outside unless really forced otherwise. Also, I need to get accustomed to running in all sorts of weather.

Best of luck to everyone running the London Marathon-- insanely jealous of you and I will be out there to cheer you on!

Working hard.... is it Necessary?

So I figure it seems smart to train for this almost 2-week trek of non-stop walking. I don't think any of the days I am walking are considered 'difficult' but when you combine the days I am sure it becomes tiring on the body (and soul!) So I decided now time is better than now to start. Sadly I do not look like the lovely lady on the right, nor do I have batons with pink pom poms on them... I wonder if I am doomed to failure??

For a while I have been trying to do P90X workouts, and, forgive me Mr. Horton, I do not do them every day. Nor do I subscribe to your newsletter/RSS feed of recovery drinks and snack bars. Also, jeez, the nutrition guide requires me to amass a small fortune to eat for a week. Breakfast is supposed to have 4 egg whites... 4, so a whole carton only lasts 3 days. And apparently if I was going for muscle gain, it would be 6 egg whites... holy moley! Chickens would tremble at my approach!

Despite this, I really like the workouts. I can do them at home with not a lot of equipment (I have bands and a yoga mat), or I can do them at the gym if I so choose. However, I figure I need to spice it up a bit more, so I am incorporating spinning, running.. and of course walking. FYI spinning is like my favorite thing in the world and I suggest everyone tries it once.

So for my walk this week I am unsure if I will traipse thru the Schwarzwald (thats the Black Forest) or save some Euros and simply walk along the Neckar to Esslingen. According to vvs.de radrouteplanner (maps you biking/walking routes around Stuttgart) its 10 miles to Esslingen from the Bahnhof. Then if I'm feeling spry, there are walking path up in the hilly vineyards. (Esslingen is one of the stops along the Weinstrasse, which is over 500 km long.. I am not walking that, that's a bike trip) I think 10 miles is a good start. I was also thinking about walking to/from work (but may wait till it gets a tad warmer).

I have GPS on my phone but I am wary of it sucking all my battery power, as a fall back I got my Nike+, but I definitely want to record my progress.

Photo of Awesome Lady: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/breath-body-balance/2009/11/an-homage-to-get-in-shape-girl.html
Photo of Esslingen: http://www.neckarkiesel.de/mittlerer_neckar/esslingen_neckar.html