Well it’s been about two months since I started the long road to fitness. Joining a gym really helped and I have been averaging about 15 sessions a month. The last month have been tough with many “brick” sessions of back to back cycling and running. This prepares the muscles to race tired - which is very important in triathlons.
Honestly, my body is feeling pretty exhausted. I gave myself a day off on Saturday to rest and sleep up. It was a big help. Although I do not have any aches and pains due my slow build up of exercise, I did not realise how much the brick session drained me. Doing a run only yesterday felt so good!
With 7 days before the race, I am only doing a few gentle workouts with a couple of swims thrown in. I will also carb-up during the week on pasta. Although I am not a nutritionist and there are many schools of thought on endurance diets, there is something reassuring about bowls of pasta. My goal for this race, as it’s my first of the season, is to get through safely and in a reasonable time (around 3 hours). With the other four to five races planned through the summer, I will look to drop some weight and that will probably mean a more protein based diet.
Once again during this process of change, I am surprised at how easy it is to achieve a consistent change when there is a fixed target in mind. I wonder why I can’t keep this going throughout the year. Certainly, I have to put aside the excuses of busy travel schedules and packed work calendars. Even though I spent last week in rural parts of China at a friend’s wedding, I still squeezed in several treadmill runs between the continuous banqueting.
I am looking forward to this first race, and see it as the first step in my continued journey towards better health. And perhaps to a faster race time of 2hours 45 minutes!