Weddings, holidays, hen dos and sunny beer gardens… anyone else really struggle to stick to a training programme in the summer?
You plan to go swimming, then the sun comes out and someone suggests the pub after work instead. Then you’re too hung over to make your cycle the next morning and spend the day on the sofa watching Come Dine With Me and eating Birdseye potato waffles. By the evening you’re feeling a bit better, head over to a friend’s house for a glass of Pimms in the garden, and repeat.
Basically, I am easily distracted by booze, bbqs, all-inclusive holidays in Turkey and sunshine, and this is why I will never make a good triathlete, because it means training in the summer – and sunny evenings are only complete when fuelled by a large glass of rosé.
This, however, needs to stop. I went to running club on Wednesday night, for one of the first times since I tore my calf in March. Jesus those five miles were hard work. But it was a wake up call. If you don’t use it, you certainly lose it. If it hadn’t been for my running buddy Jen, there is a real possibility I would have had to stop to walk. Luckily, Jen is in the same boat so we can spur each other on. We did our marathon training together and have both slacked off on the running since. So we’ve made a pact to attend every running club session each week, sign up for an October half marathon and start doing longer runs together at the weekend till we get back to decent running form. This is what I need, someone to hold me to account. It’s much easier to train when you feel you’re going to let someone down if you don’t turn up.
So Jen is helping me to train for my running sessions, signing up for a swimming course is making sure I swim once a week, now I just need to find a cycling buddy. I used to cycle to work but now I work from home so, I need to find another way to get the rides in the remaining few weeks before the Virgin Active London Triathlon.
Oh, and I also need to give up wine. But that’s impossible. I am, however, taking the humongous step of only drinking one day a week until race day starting NOW so that I can follow my training plan from gorgeous trainer Kim Ingleby to the letter – and to be honest, for me that seems a much bigger challenge than swimming in the Thames. Swim, bike, run and abstinence – definitely the toughest discipline. Wish me luck.
Want to train for a triathlon? Check out the eight-week beginners Sprint Triathlon training plan from Kim at Energised Performance that I’m following here Triathlon Training Plan – Beginners Sprint PDF.
You can read my earlier triathlon blogs here.
And some swimming tips from bespoke triathlon coach Cat of ABCPure here. Bike tips are coming tomorrow.
