I am a triathlete

Status

Last night I dug out my wetsuit and drove up to the Tri2O Swim Centre at Reading Lake for their first evening opening of the year. Oli and the rest of the My Sporting Times gang were as friendly and welcoming as always, and the lake was clear, calm and warmish (more so than my first swim last year) at 14.5°C.

I managed 4 laps, Garmin says 3.2km (and TP says 3.5km from the same data!), in 53 minutes or so, and at least the first 750m wasn’t awful, something of a surprise when the last time I swam a proper stroke was in September!

I’m really feeling nervy and lacking confidence at the moment but driving home I realised something. I’m not a good swimmer. I’m also not a proper runner. And I’m definitely not a cyclist. But I’m doing alright at all three.

I am a triathlete.

2014 Races

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After wrapping up 2013, I fully intended to plan out my 2014 triathlon season right then in January. Injury, illness and other bits and pieces have held me back but I think it must be finally time to select a race or two to enter. I’m really not confident that it’s worthwhile this year but I think I’m going to have a second go at the GB qualifier at Nottingham.
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4 Keys to Success for Time-Crunched Athletes

Aside

Great post from Jim Rutberg yesterday on 4 Keys to Success for Time-Crunched Athletes, that really meshes with how I feel I ought to train to make effective use of my time. But he makes an observation that low-volume (ha!) athletes should not try to maintain a high-intensity programme continuously and need to factor substantial recovery periods into each mesocycle. He suggests an eight-week build (with a recovery week in the middle) followed by a four week block maintaining training volume but focusing on aerobic endurance. Interesting. Do go read the whole article.