Building the foundations

I deliberately tried to keep my triathlon training plan very simple…  the reasons behind this were threefold:

1. I was still in recovery from my back injury and didn't want to overdo it
2. It will be my first triathlon
3. This is meant to be fun!

So on the plan this weekend I should be doing a brick session consisting of an hour long bike ride coupled with a 10 minute run. I woke up before my alarm, my kit had been laid out the night before so I it didn't take me long to get out of the house (always good as less time to procrastinate).

I had not really thought about the cycle route except in general terms but the sun was shining and I was in a good mood. I just figured I’d cycle out for half an hour then turnaround and head back. The weather was beautiful and I was glad I’d put my sunnies on, a good flat start followed by some inclines I kept going out via Bexley towards Joydens Wood and Dartford.

There were plenty of other cyclists and runners out this morning, spring is in the air and with spring out some the runners!

I contemplated cycling a much longer route but opted to turnaround at about 7.5 miles and head back towards home.  My pace is improving but I think it will be evident in the triathlon times that I am on a hybrid bike not a road bike – a large investment for potentially a one off thing so I stuck with what I have.

Approaching home, I was feeling okay about the run after the couple of tests I have done on this transition but this was different.  My previous practice runs had not been on the back of an extended period of cycling at a harder pace, this made a difference. With my bike, safely stowed in the house, helmet and one layer removed I set off on my 10 minute run. I felt I was running through treacle, my legs felt heavy and my pace slow. Two minutes in and it didn't seem to be easing up I still felt incredibly slow. I knew a loop round the block was about 1 mile and would take me around 10 minutes or a bit slower bearing in mind how sluggish I was feeling.  

Oh, I was wrong, as I got close to home, the app on my phone stated I had run 1 mile in 9 minutes. I was convinced this couldn't be correct but it was. My pace had been good despite feeling slow. The theory put forward by my husband is that ‘it probably just felt slow as you had been going much faster on your bike’. Which makes a lot of sense.

Lets hope this all bodes well for the event next Sunday… how did it come round so quickly!!