The information pack for the Mazda London Triathlon (August 2nd 2009) arrived this morning. I have had a quick scan and it looks really complicated! A massive indoor transition area, different routes and laps etc for different days! Nightmare! Well hopefully not on the day but will call for some careful planning and reading ahead of the event. Getting something wrong however small in a race at this distance will make a disproportionate difference.
I’m hoping to break 02:30:00 on what I believe is a fast and flat course. Would be ace to achieve that in what might be my last Olympic distance tri for a little while at least. I have definitely made the decision regards next years races and my plans/strategy and they don’t involve an Olympic tri – well maybe one if @martyglos ever gets to the swim level required!
Instead I will be entering running races at Ultra marathon distance. Initially I want to complete a marathon and then move towards a 50km race that is held locally (Boddington) and then a 35miler (56km) race that takes place in Kenilworth.
I have always been more about stamina rather than power as my cycling testifies, I can keep going but to be able to stretch my stamina and see what I am capable of is about acknowledging that in my current lifestyle and working practice I will not be able to achieve a 70.3 or Ironman distance triathlon. Simply, this is as the amount of cycle training required is too great and the one thing my schedule cannot accommodate is 4-6hr (and beyond) regular training rides.
To compete at Olympic distance I can train just enough on the bike to hit that and perform to a level I am content with. Undertaking a 40km ride in race conditions is very different to 180km! I currently ride less than 100km a week (way less) and so the step up in mileage is huge. Compare this with the increase in running you need to do an ultra- marathon plus the fact that you are dropping two sports and the time commitments are not as huge.
So the decision is made so that I get to fulfil an ambition of undertaking and hopefully completing an ultra endurance event but in a discipline that I know from the outset I have the capability and time to train for. Frankly I cannot wait!
Another contributory factor is reading Dean Karnazes (@deankarnazes) Ultra Marathon Man book. What an amazing and inspiring book. I have read a ton of cycling and running books, all the Lance Armstrong books, the Haruki Murakami running book, ‘Running and Philosophy’ all of them! Quite a collection I have!! But none and I include the Armstong books in this, are as motivating as Dean Karnazes story. I think there are two main reasons for this, firstly although he had a couple of experiences when he was younger he was 30 when he started running. That has to be a major turning point in most people lives – you hit 30 and go one way or another. The route of excess, or the route of taking care of yourself. The second reason is that he does everything he does while holding down a job and maintaining a family. Now the book was written a while ago and so I don’t know if he still has a day job or is sponsorship takes care of things now but even so at the start of his running career he was juggling responsibility and making sacrifices in the same that most of us unlucky not have the mighty Nike or Adidas dollar supporting us are. This really makes it a case of if he can do it then can I?
So all things being equal I will be doing a different sort of training and different sort of racing next year. In my head I am already on that path – I have increased my running and now doing upwards of 50km a week, this will increase further once the tri’s are out of the way and my focus is shifted. I have my training plan sorted and working back from the first race will be following this….
This is as exciting as it was deciding to do triathlon and looking at Olympic distance and thinking I’ll never be able to do that! Nothing quite gets the adrenalin going like a new challenge!
