Tomorrow is the Henley Swim. I’ve had four-and-a-half hours sleep for the last two nights (I am so shattered) and tomorrow will be even less. I need to be out of the house by 2am! Madness.
Last year it took me 37:13 to do the swim. I think I should be a little quicker this year but it will all depend on how much the Thames is moving (we swim upstream).
I’ve done relatively little exercise these past few weeks. I am really suffering from hayfever, which is giving me an annoying cough, and a lack of sleep. I have so many good intentions but they just do not happen. Eating is poor as well.
This morning I took the dogs for a run off lead. We did 50 minutes cross country and I think they enjoyed it. I did.
Sleep.
I am so tired at the moment. I sleep really well when I sleep but have been getting to bed too late (after a late training session, it takes me a while to settle) or being woken up in the middle of the night by one of the dogs barking. Today, I felt completely shattered. Not good.
Training has been going well even though work is doing its best to make things difficult. Highlights of the weekend were a 2hr 30 min run on Saturday and a 5 hour bike ride on Sunday. The last hour on the bike felt really hard. Next week will be a 6 hour bike and a 2 hour run. I am probably going to go to Sherborne to re-ride the old ironman UK course to see how I am doing.
I have noticed a difference at the end of the long run compared with a long bike. At the end of the run, if I sit down it is quite hard to get back up and my legs ache big time for ages. At the end of a long bike, I am very, very tired and achy. But after 5 minutes or so I feel fine (if a little tired!).
I’ve been thinking about Lanzarote and what might happen. So one day soon I will write down my race plan. That will help me think things through and get my head straight.
… if you are getting as little sleep as me! Some of it is my fault but most of it is to do with one of the kids being poorly and so having to clean the sink at 1am or get up at 4am the next day because one of the dogs is barking to get out. Aaagh!
Some of it will be because I’ve been training quite hard too. This week has gone well. Best day of the week was yesterday. I did a 4,000m swim session, that included 3 fast 400m in 6:09, 6:10 and 6:12 – pretty consistent. This is not as fast as last week (6:03, 6:05 and 6:16) because I am tired and because my normal ‘shadow’ in the pool wasn’t there to make me go quicker. At lunch time I did a treadmill run that included 12x 1 mins at the treadmills top speed of 12mph. It felt surprisingly easy. OK, that’s not really true. It just didn’t feel as hard as you might expect.
This morning I am up early because of the dogs. As soon as it gets light I will be off for a 4 hour bike ride. Then I’ll go for a 40 minute run when I get back. After that I would love to sleep. But it ain’t going to happen – too many chores.