Transition Phase Over

Transition phase - the technical term for downtime between two seasons.

See, nowadays the Three Peaks Cyclo-cross marks the end of the adventure riding season for me - where I pack away my long distance mountain biking and get out cyclo-cross with its skinny bike and short Sunday bursts.  With such a great, long adventure season of biking this year, I really needed a transition season more than ever.  In past years I've not bothered.  I've just struggled out of the 3 Peaks and into doing my local 'cross race, occasionally a National Trophy (although I can never get excited about Derby).

This year I allowed myself two weeks of doing whatever the devil I liked.  Fortunately I have liked doing some 50-60 miles rides.  Although they don't necessarily count as epic effort, they have been enough to link one season seamlessly to the next with a bit of a break to massage my brain and enough effort to keep the legs alive.

My peak fitness dropped off towards the end of the distance season as the fatigue drained in and the effort drained out... but that's fine, that's what transition periods are for.

We agreed on a 60 mile averagely hilly ride today as a compromise to the (Alpe d'Huez) training monster I was advocating.  Due to dampness and rain and TSK forgetting that its autumn so not bringing appropriate clothing, we cut it a little shorter than we'd planned although ended up winding around some lovely lanes to get home.  That clocked us in at 61.25 mile and a respectable 1500m of climbing.  It was the same length ride we had in our heads anyway (though with half the Up of the AdH route).

We both agreed that this was the limit of our current fitness as we limped our way home.  This gives us an excellent baseline to work on and fortunately just happens to match my training plan.

We talked about our plans for next years events.  I've seen other people get burned and bomb out of big events like this in their first year.  I've been worried about burning out too soon until TSK asked if I wanted to do the Solstice ride again (December 16th ish).  He pointed out that if I do burn out by December I have plenty of time to recover and turn it around in time for the event.  I  realised, all of a sudden, we used to do Audaxes all the time - December, June, March, that's just what life was until Triathlon started to get in the way.  Y'know what? Life can be that way again.

I only took one photo when I got back to the village.  It was a kind of ridey day.  It was also kind of windy which makes me glad I've put narrower bars on my new bike and there won't be a Carradice when I'm in Ireland.  It proves I need to go places, ride more interesting routes, take some pictures of new people.  Rides aren't just about going faster and higher and further.  They're about going further afield - both physically and mentally and I can't wait.

It was a waiting for dinner to be bought photo.  An, "I regret not getting my camera out earlier" kind of photo and also an "insignificance of social media" photo... because the less I twittle the more I ride and that can only be a good thing.  I'm keeping a diary in addition (supplement) to the blog as sometimes it's nicer to write on paper with a fountain pen.  Flylillypad encouraged me to sketch in it too... or doodle - whichever.  It's a great idea that I love.

For the record though, here's what today looked like.

TSK has taken to the bath.  I have a to-do list that looks like this:

• Pay credit card bill
• Package ride up into palletable chunks
• Plan audax season
• Tidy loft for yoga
• Clear spare room for Beckster training weekend.

It's the kind of to do list I can totally get achieve... given a week

Running Baselines - Rivelin

Rivelin valley bottom 28:21.46

Straight up Black Brook 6:10.6
Descent of Black Brook 45:59.14

Rivelin Tops flat 9:42.00
Descent to Hagg Lane 6:57.27

Week 2, 2014 The start of cold winter road rides.

It's been a lovely day today and I have managed to fit in one lovely ride in between recovering from the week that was and taking my poorly cat to the vet.

The week that was took place in Norfolk and involved a lot of 5am starts for swimming, running, turbo and getting to site on time.  It was a tough one.

After last week's dismal cyclo-cross race I thought I'd better up my game on the bike pretty sharpish for Ironman training so I set out to do the 30km ride that I had programmed in last year.  This year though I set off to throw hills at it too and in the same vein as last week, I decided to use the opportunity to benchmark the occasional hillclimb.  Not that it will take much beating since I went out on an old block and the chain kept jumping every time I stood on the pedals.

With sunsets to die for it was the kind of day that will cheer me up for the rest of the week ahead.

My performance wasn't that cheery though.  I wonder where all the bike fitness has gone.  It seems down the toilet in the past few weeks.  Still, starting, that's the main thing right?

Rivelin to Strines - 40:10
Bamford to Stanage - 32:51

Ironman Psychology

When people asked me if I'd do another Ironman I used to say, "in a shot but not next year, I need time to let my life settle down again first".  Well, I broke that promise last week.

So why have I entered another so soon?  Well, it's a combination of things - realising just how much residual fitness I have retained from Forestman, in spite of the three months downtime afterwards.  Also, finding that no other goal will do.

I tried stepping up training for the 3 Peaks this year, then again for the national 'cross champs in January but neither gave me quite the incentive to train that Ironman has.

Today I have managed to bring myself away from the computer (indulging in shopping for bikes on line) and have stumbled across some old reports of Susanne Buckenlei, previous winner of Norseman triathlon and finally, a female triathlete I can actually have a girl-crush on.

Not that I have any intention of winning Celtman or even being first female, but if I can't win it, I am damn well going to finish it and it will be amazing.

When I'm there I don't want to find myself wishing I'd done one more training session.

I tried to do some race planning today for the season but it's been unproductive due to in-affordable bike shopping and setting up the anti-virus on the TV computer.  Not exactly athletic stuff, especially as I don't need the bike until the spring.

What got me away from it?  Reading about Susanne and changing my thought process over to going out for that run and using the beautiful day to baseline a hill climb that's close enough to the house to be quite repeatable and enjoyable at the same time.  For now it's a long run but in future weeks it will morph into my short Wednesday morning runs.

I've swum twice this week and really enjoyed both.  The second session left me a bit exhausted but it's all part of the acclimatisation and re-programming process.  What matters is that I'm interested in swimming again - even at the pool!

Outside of exercise, I'm prioritising more looking after the house and myself time and less 'pooter time.  More time playing with the cat.

On a beautiful sunny day like today, it's easy to recall all the beauty of life and not worry or wonder why you worry about the small stuff.  Easy to get off the couch, not get stuck.  I hope I can look back on this first positivity post during my dark days of exhaustion and remember that.

Baseline hillclimb Black Brook to Moorbank Road RV Trail: 6:33.8