Let the Taper Begin!

So here we are, week 29 of 30 and well into taper.

It's been an incredible 6 months, starting over Christmas week (and yes I did train on Christmas day) enjoying every weather the British climate can throw at us... snow, rain, hail, fog, lovely sunshine and just about everything in between. Whatever the weather on 7th July I have the security of knowing I've trained in it.....except the 28 degrees forecast for next Sunday....Better stock up on the suncream.

After the big push weekend I was surprised to have over 9 hours in my training schedule, but was down to a little over 5 hours last week.

So what have I been doing with the extra time? I've no idea, but I've been considering what might go wrong and planning for it, visualising putting on my goggles and swim cap, getting in the water, turning the first (and last corner on the bike), thinking how I'm going to cope with 8 hours in the saddle without the girls for company and what will get me around those last miles when I hit the wall on the run but most importantly how amazing it will be to cross the finish line.

The highlight of the training week has always been my Saturday morning KVG ride, I love the club ethics of looking after to each other, sharing hours of pain (and pleasure) in the saddle, and most importantly never leaving anyone behind. Only this week we lost someone, my fellow Outlaw in training and illustrious Saturday leader Paula. Whoops, sorry chick but in fairness it wasn't our fault.

The advantage of short rides meant I was back home in time to watch the first stage of the TDF, and as Sophie pointed out, nearly as many crashed as we had in Belgium.

On Sunday the sun came out to play, and oh my goodness it took some serious will power to go out late in the afternoon, but perhaps good prep for next Sunday. Now added dehydration and sun stroke to my list of worries....

Afterwards I sat down, took a (very) deep breath and watched the TV programme from last years race which my fabulous boyfriend has kept recorded for me for the last year. I felt extremely sick watching everyone slipping into the lake, the start gun going off, running through transition, but it did help me get my head around the race and I might have been blubbing by the end as the last runner came in at nearly 11pm.

So bring it on, the training is done, the packing has started and I'm about as ready as I can be. I'm scared, I'm nervous, but I'm calm and I know I will give it my best shot. Strangely I'm looking forward to it!

If you are able and want to, supporters in Nottingham are VERY welcome, the more the merrier. Race starts at 6am at Home Pierpoint, but if you want to be out on the bike course or by Notts forest football ground in the late afternoon please do come.

If you want to track Paula and I online on the day you can at: http://www.onestepbeyond.org.uk/the-outlaw-triathlon-live-results.php  and search for competitors 104 (me) and 206 (Paula) (plus Olly our token Kent Velo Boy at 539).

Thanks for reading, it's been great sharing the journey with you and I'm looking forward to telling you all about it :-)

Back on the Wagon

As you might have fed back, I've been pretty poor at writing my blog for a few weeks (ok bit more than a few)....

Firstly there was the week that I ran over 40 miles (still reeling from the shock of that one... as are my knees!).

Followed by the epic KVG L'lle Tweps tour (four countries, three days) which saw horrific weather, and a dastardly railway crossing which took down 8 out of 14 riders, smashed poor Jenny's rear mech (thank goodness for Paula's spare bike) and saw the van crew have to rescue half of us with only 10 miles left. All that said, it was an amazing trip (with some beautiful routes if I say so myself, ahem) with the best company you could ask for. Never have I seen so many people work as a team to make sure that the last day, albeit shorter than the original plan, happened without a hitch. For the full story see our blog: http://kvgabroad.blogspot.co.uk/. Thank you to everyone involved but especially to Paula, Naomi and Emma for their hard work planning the trip and Tim and Claire for being the most amazing support crew ever.

At the end of May I went on one of Giovanna Richards Tri faster courses (highly recommended) and picked up some excellent tips for the following day's race: my second olympic distance triathlon (first being Barcelona last October) at Dorney Lake, and got a personal best by over 8 minutes despite being flustered after being stuck in traffic on the M4 on a Bank Holiday weekend (curse those legolanders).

After another couple of standard 12-15 hour weeks, I got up last Saturday, put my kit on, sat down to breakfast and never finished it. Let's just say that my stomach and I were not on the best of terms for several days resulting in 5 days of complete rest (from a training perspective) and one very grumpy triathlete.

On Thursday I tentatively got back on the turbo trainer and what should have been a relatively easy session was tough but mentally I felt so much better by the end. Which was a relief, as the weekend ahead was scheduled to be the three hardest and longest sessions I have ever done.

The sun was shining on Friday evening which offered a false sense of security, so that the water temperature in the lake was a bit of a surprise. The furthest I've swum in one go in training is about 3 km. The race is 3.8 km (2.4 miles for those of you still working in old money). So it was time to go long. The lake was the clearest I've ever known it (although fortunately I missed the plastic skeleton put there to make things more interesting for the divers - I'm scared to death of seeing it and freaking out). I didn't want to push too hard after being ill so I took it steady, watching my stroke, concentrating on not kicking too much and cruised around the perimeter 3 times. Getting out of the lake I was a little disappointed to have taken 1:34 but reading the routes marked out I did some extra distance by hugging the bank so it was probably more likely around 4 km.

The heavy rain woke me up about 4 am on Saturday and I just had to hope it would blow itself out before morning. It was beautiful and sunny when I set off at 7:45, but the clouds started gathering the nearer I got to Hilden. To add a bit of distance I headed down Powder Mills and ran into my fellow Outlaw in training, spun around and as we headed back from Leigh to Hildenborough the heavens opened up. Then the hail started. Soaked through we arrived cold and wet to find most of the others cowering in the coffee shop trying to delay going out (the sun was shining again). Needless to say they were given short shift and told to get on their bikes, some of us had mileage to do. After a fabulous 29 miles with the girls (thanks to Paula for leading and to Sophie, Hatty and Claire M for your company - especially Sophie for sharing unspeakable tales that make me feel so much better). Quick pit stop to use the bathroom and refill the water bottles and Paula, Claire and I set off again for another 30 or so, this time with a hellish headwind. At 72 miles we parted company and I set off on the next leg alone. Things had been going far too smoothly, 8 miles later I got stung on the leg (though my shorts!) followed by a flat on the back. After a quick change of inner tube I headed for home and changed the gas for air before setting off for the final leg. A total of 113.5 miles for the first time ever.

Sunday was never going to be my idea of a good time especially on tired legs and the going was slow as I set off running, but after around 8 miles my legs seemed to remember what they could do and my pace picked up to its normal speed. Big thank you to the guy in Kings Hill who shouted "You Go Girl" from his van, to the old man in the Poet's estate in Larkfield who said "Keep going, you're doing great" and the person in the black BMW estate who pipped at me twice (once by Morrisons in Larkfield and again coming out of Kings Hill) - no idea who it was but I appreciated the encouragement. To hit 20.1 miles for the first time in my life (3:40) has given my confidence a massive boost. I might actually be able to do this race!

So if you haven't already sponsored me (enormous thanks to those of you who have) and would like to please check out my just giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Hardware/ 

Viva La France...

Back on the wagon after the recovery week, I had an easy start with just a swim on Tuesday morning. Stripping my stroke right back I worked through each element until I found why I was getting slower and slower.... finally I realised that I wasn't engaging my core and extending my reach. So now I know what it is can I fix it in time?

Dashing home from work and throwing (not literally) my bike in the back of the car I set off for Dover. My fabulous cousin had arranged a hotel room for me at the Best Western Spa - luxury - everyone else was in the Premier Inn next door, but I got down there far too late to socialise. The look on the receptionists face as I strolled through reception with the bike over my shoulder was priceless. He quickly offered to keep it in reception over night (not so much an offer but an instruction) which was firmly declined, my baby stays with me. As the chef held the door open to the stair case he asked if it would be given the bed... he clearly knows a cyclist!

Awake before the alarm I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed at 4:45am and set off for the ferry. 48 Kent Velo Girls (and Boys) set off for sunny Calais. As we put on our pink stripy jerseys complete with string of garlic around the neck plus baguette and vino in the back pockets someone pointed out that we looked like  a group of pink convicts. We couldn't have picked better weather and the sun beat down on us and the views of the coast were sensational as we headed down to Wissant before turning inland.

Lunch was a splendid feast of bread, salad, ham, cheese plus lots of cake, shortbread, pringles and haribo. Lunchtastic :-) Next came a climb up the iconic Cassel cobbles which was tremendous fun (although it appears that I stopped very slightly short of the top of the Strava route... not that I'm competitive.....).

The ride leaders were moved around throughout the day and during the last section there was a slight mix up and I ended up with the fast group. In zone 5 within 10 minutes of setting up I really thought there was no chance of keeping up with them. Eventually I decided it was just panic setting in, and settled in with the group (although I have to admit to being tucked in nicely so I wasn't taking the strain) which was fortunately when we got to the 8 miles of the headwind from hell (thanks to those who took the front, Olly and Bee).

Overall we hit 105 miles (including the last bit into the port) a very good day in all. I even brought back a little souvenir... a pair of sun burnt knees. Whoops.

A little recovery day on Thursday (I couldn't face another 5am start) and I was back in the pool on Friday morning for a quick (or not quite so quick) 3km.

Just a 25 miles KVG ride on Saturday seemed ridiculously short (nice little jolly over to the Pilgrims Way) followed by a training free day on Sunday to go to Jo's beautiful wedding.

On Bank Holiday Monday I was up and out early for my first run, I'd love to say it was to avoid the heat but in reality it was just my body clock telling me it was Monday morning. Afterwards I headed over to Holborough lakes and did an assessment for my open water swim licence. It's much smaller than Laybourne Lake but the water quality is 10 times better. After flying around doing chores and supermarket shopping I popped out for the second run of the day and had to make an emergency stop in the Larkfield industrial estate (so no doubt someone's CCTV captured me peeing in a bush). A very successful week.

Less than 9 weeks to go!

Thank Goodness for a Recovery Week

After ending the previous week so exhausted a recovery week was such a relief.

My swim was a 20 minute time trial, and I might have hit my 50 lengths a few seconds under 20 minutes if the girl in front of me understood the concept of fast, medium and slow lanes.  I appreciate that we are all of various levels of ability and I am often far from being the fastest in the fast lane, but some people really do spoil it for everyone else.

On Friday I decided that it was time to tackle my demons as I pulled my trainers on. As I warmed up I felt great which was a relief. I wondered how fast I could go for 3 miles. The last session was about 27 minutes I think, shaving a minute off of my PB. Not fast by some standards, but good for me. Flogging myself to my absolute limit I shaved another 2 minutes off finishing in 25:16. The residents of FOG must have thought I was mad as I ran up and down the main street in the village.

Saturday wasn't as warm as the previous few days which might explain why there were only 7 of us out. Trying to ascertain whether my Garmin issues were user errors or just a duff toy Valerie kindly uploaded a route for me, the idea being we would both have the route if mine went wrong. Not quite sure what happened, but we ended up off route and over all did just over 29 miles. That's fine whilst we are riding on local roads, but I'm starting to worry about the imminent trips to France, Holland and Belgium! Looks like it will be back to good old maps.

Heading out for my only run on the day on Sunday the sun was out and it was lovely to be off road again.. until the stomach aches started at 35 minutes. It certainly helps with the sprint to get home, believe me, you don't want to read any more details than that. Passing my front door at 57 minutes I made a quick pit stop, then went out for another 3 minutes just to make sure that I hit my target time :-)

Only having the one run has given me some time back in my day, so I have used it productively and set up a justgiving account.  If you would like to sponsor me, I am fund raising for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal as Jane has long since been a hero of mine and it's such a worthy cause:  https://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Hardware/

Thanks for reading :-)

Highs and Lows - 15th to 21st April

After 3 days of being ill with an upset stomach and hearing that several other friends had also been ill I eventually decided that I had a bug... and in the end I only missed one day of training.

A couple of days away for work saw me trapped in a hotel gym, but when I got talking to the girl on the next bike it turned out she lives in Tickhill... it's a small world (for those of you down sarfff that's a tiny village in South Yorkshire about a mile from where I grew up). The pool was a whole 11 meters, and the guy who ran the sports facilities was deadly serious when he said "If you swim diagonally you get an extra 3 strokes". It was so small that I couldn't push off from the wall or else I reached the other side without actually swimming.

On the Friday I was excited to get out on the bike after work for the first time this year, and wearing shorts too! After a lovely 23 mile tootle on my own I was nicely warmed up for Saturday's fun.

The was a nip in the air when 3 groups of riders left Hilden Golf Club at 8am on Saturday morning but there was a hint of summer in the air.  I realised pretty quickly that the route on my Garmin was nothing like what we should be doing and fortunately I've ridden down to Rye several times in recent years so we were riding from memory. Riding past Tonbridge School we turned left and as we approached the traffic lights I looked over my shoulder before pulling out. There was a Royal Mail van behind the last of my girls. As I pulled out so did the van, onto the wrong side of the road, and accelerated towards and through the lights as they changed to amber. Clearly his shift was over he wanted to get back to the sorting office, but there's no excuse for that sort of driving... fortunately Emma knows the Chairman of Royal Mail....and I have the registration. Can't imagine what we might do with that information....

After a quick pit stop at Paula's we cruised down to Rye, over taking Sarah and Hatty's group somewhere near Rolvenden. The sun was out in full force by the time we plonked ourselves outside the cafe in Rye ordering cheese and ham toasties. The motor bikers at the next tables asked if they could have a head start if we wanted to race them.

It was a beautiful day with fantastic company and a lovely ride and for once there were no punctures!

Getting home I did the quickest turn around in history and headed up to the big smoke for Jo's hen night and a great night in Bar Salsa.

On Sunday morning I was tired, but following the training schedule I put my trainers on and headed out into the orchards. My legs felt like lead and my usual 9:40 minute miles had deteriorated to 11 minutes plus. After 2 miles of beating myself up I realised that this was perfect race day training and simply switched off and enjoyed being out.

After doing the washing, cleaning up the house, doing the shopping, I was told to stop procrastinating and get out for the second run... I got 3 minutes from home before bursting into tears. Ringing Tim I broke down and admitted that I was SO tired, I couldn't manage another 5-6 miles. Turning around I went home feeling pretty low and sorry for myself.

However it was probably one of the most sensible things I have done, had I have pushed on at that point I would have undoubtedly injured myself, and I've still got more than 2 months of training to complete.

Post Race Blues

Training started again last Tuesday morning with the usual early morning swim and it felt good to stretch through the water although I suffered no aches and pains after the half marathon.

Unfortunately my meetings over ran and I missed the early train out of London meaning that I wouldn't make Paddock Wood Athletic Club. Walking through the door I quickly changed and walked back out again. As I ran up Whetstead Road and over the railway line my legs felt light as a feather. Things started to change about a mile in, although I couldn't put my finger on it I just didn't feel right. Back at Mote Farm I considered taking a short cut back to the house but ploughed on across the fields. When I got back to the main road about 5 minutes later I felt awful, stomach cramps, nausea, and my head was spinning. Needless to say I turned left and headed home.

On Wednesday I still didn't feel right, but I hopped on the turbo to see how not right I was. Things felt OK, so I completed the planned session, 2 short bricks, back to back. Tim's comment as I ran out the door "it's raining slightly" really didn't do the torrent justice, and it was only after I had finished that I realised I hadn't been cold running in cycling shorts...perhaps the weather is turning.

By Thursday morning I was feeling all right again as I slipped into the pool. I had to flog myself to hit the 3km in 60:41, but by late afternoon I started with a migraine. It never came to anything, it just floated around being annoying.

Friday night it was another wet one as I hopped back onto the turbo and Saturday morning saw my beautiful carbon bike sitting at home whilst Doris (my heavy winter aluminium bike) and I went out. To get the mileage up without interfering with the normal Saturday rides we took the normal 25 mile groups, my turn for the hills as I stole the route Paula plotted last week (great route Mrs V-S!). It was mild and sunny, and a pleasure to be out after months of freezing miserable conditions. After a quick lunch stop a bunch of us headed out for a second ride, and some familiar faces joined us. Noshowjo bailed after a lap of Powder Mills, and Heidi joined us for the first half to test her lungs, it was great to see both back out on their wheels (and yes Mrs F of course you need a new bike...). We were at Edenbridge when the rain caught up with us, but after what we have cycled in it had little effect on morale. The garmin had a nasty habit of pausing itself though, I didn't reset between rides and that may have caused it to get confused.

I woke up late on Sunday and felt guilty that I wasn't at the KVG Sportive. The warm front which had been forecast had miraculously arrived and it was 15 degrees by 9:30am. Heading out for the first run of the day I regretted wearing full length Ronhills, this was shorts weather! Whoop whoop. I couldn't face doing the same out and back I have been doing for weeks so I set off to run some routes which I haven't covered since I lived in Kingshill 4 years ago. After running through West Malling high street, I turned off into the country park, only to find that it was a mud bath and about as slippery as an ice rink. Turning back out of the park I cut back across the dual carriageway and carried on in an eastward direction. Finding a public bridleway I turned off of the road, and 5 minutes later had to get my phone out to work out which way I needed to go. After lots of twists and turns, (plus a few google map checks) I ended up in East Malling (yey, back on track!) and headed back in. It hadn't been a quick one (I'm blaming too much time spent checking the map) and I'd only covered 8 miles in 90 minutes but it was a pleasure to be out in such beautiful weather.

After a nice lunch with Tim, and a window shopping trip to a couple of local bike shops (trying on lots of shorts as I need some new ones for the Outlaw), I was back out again for another 50 minute run. Looping around Laybourne Lakes the container which is used as a changing room/reception was open, so I stuck my head around the door to ask how "warm" the water was...9 degrees.. hummmm... won't be in without a wetsuit that's for sure! Unfortunately my stomach kicked in about half way through, when the only option was to keep going and the rest of the night and the next day was spent suffering from cramps and sudden sprints to the bathroom. 

Half-a-Marathon-Hardware

After the slog of last weekend I was a relief to have a day off on Tuesday. It was glorious and sunny and it lulled me into a false sense of security.

As the train pulled into Paddock Wood on Wednesday night the heavens opened up - with snow. I might have guessed. I was down for a brick session, therefore where the trainers go, the snow goes. Putting the bike back onto the turbo I settled in for a twin set of 20 mins spin, 10 mins run.

Thursday morning I was up and out with the lark to the pool and then started to taper for the weekend.

Driving to Hilden on Saturday morning to do just a regular Saturday 25 mile it crossed my mind that this was what normal life felt like. A lovely, pretty much flat ride out to Edenbridge with Claire, Jo, Angela and Jenny, no mechanicals, no punctures, not even any moaning about the route from Noshowjo. Bliss.

It's taken 3 years to get to the start line, and as I lay in bed contemplating running 13.1 miles pre-race nerves struck. When we pulled up in Paddock Wood station car park, being able to park in my normal car parking space made me feel more reassured and suddenly the nerves were gone.

As horn sounded the crowd surged forward and we were off. About 3 miles in I caught up with Carol looking splendid in the green and black jacket of the Natural Running Project (run coaching with the NRP is something I would recommend to anyone looking to improve their technique, avoid injury or just get faster - without Matt's coaching last year I would never have got to the start line). Carol was setting the perfect pace so I stuck with her for a few miles relying on the metronome she had merrily ticking along.

There were some familiar faces on the course and it was great to feel supported. There were spectators along the route cheering and shouting words of encouragement.

By the 6 mile sign I was comfortable with the 9:20-9:30 mile pace and I was pretty confident I could keep it up. I realised that I was looking at a 10km PB at 56 minutes.

Just before the 8 mile sign I realised that I was slowing and my biggest regret was that I hadn't taken any gels with me. Just when I was wondering how I was going to get around the next 5 miles Carol caught me back up and kindly gave me a High5 gel. For those of you who ride with me regularly you know how much I hate gels, the only ones I can stomach are isotonic, but that gel tasted as good as it could possibly get. Thank you once again Carol. Once the sugar had hit my system I felt great again and was back on the target pace.

Shortly after 9 miles I realised that I was in uncharted territory, which gave me a bit of a buzz.

There were little kids handing out sweets at about 10 miles which was great except the fruit pastel stuck to the roof of my mouth and I was still trying to deal with it by the next photographer. Goodness knows how bad the shots will be. I picked up the pace around 11 miles and tried to keep it under 9 minute miles.

Before I knew it the route turned back into Paddock Wood and it was the home stretch. As I ran past Evendens I pushed hard up the hill over the railway line and then turned into the industrial estate to the end and pushed into a sprint, looking at my watch I was managing 7:25 miles and I knew I could push over the finishing line and still feel relatively fresh.

I am ecstatic with an over time of 2:02:47 (that is 2 minutes 48 seconds I need to be faster by next year) and needless to say that after a quick bath a very nice Sunday roast followed at the Poet in Matfield.

Thanks for all your words of support and congratulation it meant a huge amount.