So with less than 24 hours to go I thought it appropriate to write a short update about my last five weeks building up to my little jaunt in Weymouth come 7:50 on Sunday morning. This final jaunt of the season consists of a 1900m swim, 56 mile cycle and a 15 mile run – so just a casual day-out “au bord de la mer!”

Week 1 – 2

This was spent in the Alps with four other keen swim, bike, runny type friends hitting the climbs, trails, lack of oxygen and lakes to really kick start my “middle distance” training. Which it certainly did – my commitment to the pool and outdoors can be confirmed by the particular and recognisable ‘Uglies’ costume lines I am now modelling! However, despite my sister’s comment “what ghastly lines, errr” I am secretly pretty pleased with these marks as I do not tan so any decolouration will do, even at the expense of unsubtle exposure at non-swimming events.
On reflection we all agreed that the highlight of the holiday was not only finding and eating the entire Grimentz supply of all natural Peanut Butter (ok there were only two pots available and four very keen PB eaters!) but also the sheer awesomeness of the pool – just look at the pic and you will see what we mean!

Weekend of Week 2

A “C Dog Finish”

After arriving home slightly “tired” after a solid 10 days of training it was time to head over to Nottingham for the National Triathlon Relay Championships to race as part of Warwick’s mixed relay. Nick, Charlie, Charlotte and I made up the team and with the support of Jen (fellow Uni swim clubber) it was looking to be a good day by the lake. A strong swim from Nick (ex-elite swimmer didn’t let us down!) meant that before I knew it I was back in the lake doing my 500m stint. Quick hand over to Charlie who also nailed it before little C Dog pulled out another solid leg to put us into fifth place going out on the bike. Once again Nick did a solid 15km to keep us in the game before handing over to me to take on the three laps. Charlie of course did a blistering 3 lap leg to hand over to C Dog to bring our bike campaign to a strong finish. Nick headed out on the run in a solid top 10 position. After pulling out a slightly disappointing time for me “hello ex-runner” (or not it seemed we had moved back up two places before Charlie also galloped the 5km loop. C Dog brought it home for us in true runner style meaning we came 7^th on the day out of 138 mixed teams and not to mention being the first University team home. Not too shabby at all – Go Team Warwick.

Week 3

The main event of this week was picking up my new racing machine, “Delilah the Deloitte Bike” (‘the why Deloitte?’ Q&A can be answered by just looking at her!) on Monday.This also meant a perfect excuse to hit wiggle to spruce her up and visit Mike Vaughan and the boys to check the gears and fit the wheels. Even though my “hit wiggle” shopping spree didn’t end too well as realised I couldn’t quite afford some of my purchases so 80% of the orders (yes multiple!) were sent back – #studentlife! But hey YOLO while it lasted! Friday marked the ‘official Delilah fitting day’ thanks to Mark at Take3Tri. The fitting was so helpful and as you can read on my last blog was a complete Weymouth/TT cycling game changer, i.e. no more neck and shoulder pain, more power, butt doesn’t now go numb = all-round plus. The week ended very positively with not only going down my first hill on the drops (yes before nearly got off I was so scared) but also having a few friends to stay for Mark and Shwetha’s gorgeous wedding. It really was a lovely evening and I wish you both so much happiness together.

Week 4

This week was going to be challenge after the poor start just 7 hours in. On Monday I turned up to the pool at 7am “ready” for my 3.8km pull session to realise I had nothing ‘appropriate’ to swim in or with. And no, just a towel and bottle of shampoo is not appropriate! So after some rejigging of the day and week we were back on track. Well so I thought. Pretty much the whole of this week was spent napping on average 2 hours during the day (if you know me usually a 20min power nap will do!), feeling drained in sessions, eating even more than usual (my plates tended to look like mountains at mealtimes) and just feeling unmotivated, tired and emotional (and yes I burst into tears once or twice because I just couldn’t quite understand “WHY?!”). But luckily a few hugs later (thanks Mum), a few emails with my Coach (Tyler, how you put up with me is beyond me!?) and some rejuvenating Pete sessions (i.e. got the body moving properly!) this week came to an end and I survived – touch and go at the time I tell you.

Week 5

What a way to start the week with a “subtle” email reminder by the Challenge Family themselves alerting me that this time next week “you will be recovering” – well thank you for the optimism and belief in me. This week I mainly had shorter taper sessions to make sure my body was ‘firing’ again and it was time to mentally prepare for my race. The mental side of my preparation included checking out the course routes, all the information about the race and transitions (especially as I never done this whole bag-drop business, not sure easyjet counts!) and listening to my race music – instead of one song decided to go for a whole playlist due to the slightly longer race! On a physical note I saw Pete to check over my tight hip-flexors, I swear you could practically strum a tune on them they were so tight, finished off my last few taper sessions and made sure that I upped both my foam rolling and stretching after each session. And then BOOM before I knew it I was on the train heading to the seaside yesterday morning. The journey was pretty easy despite the fact my salmon pasta lunch spilled in my bag so I smelt of fish for the entire 3 hour journey – the only plus involved was getting two seats to myself as no one wanted to sit next to me = Lounge opportunity! I met Deng and Aaron (two other fellow Warwickians doing this Weymouth waddle on Sunday) at the station before we headed over to our quaint little B&B. After a much needed nap – the stressful salmon event tired me out, it was time to register, hit the streets of Weymouth by night for dinner, pop back to the B&B in time for “GBBO an Extra Slice” (yes, very official race prep!) and off to bed. And now it’s the weekend… here we go I guess…

One more sleep…

Thanks to everyone for getting me to this point and happy weekend – see you on the other side,

Elo xxx