London, United Kingdom
dugong /ˈduːgɒŋ,ˈdjuː-/ //noun// noun: dugong; plural noun: dugongs; plural noun: dugong //1. a sea cow found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to northern Australia. It is distinguished from the manatees by its forked tail.// 2013 saw this little Dugong migrate from the warm climes of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, to the more hostile climes on London. //2014 sees the Dugong take on the crazy challenge of the Tour de Force. 21 days, over 3,500km, one week ahead of the (other) pro cyclists in the Tour de France.// Join me in what will be a journey of crazy self discovery, on a bike.//

Sunday, 2 March 2014

Tough day at the office (18 WTG)

Last week's posting was a bit of a stern talking to myself. But it's taken a week to sink in. Other areas of my life (exciting new job and move to Norfolk anyone?) led to some pretty high stress levels this week. Not because said changes are bad, but because quitting a job (even a temporary one), and contemplating another move is challenging (how will I train, will I make friends, where will I live, will I do a good job...).

If you read the post before this one (Tough as a coffin nail, or Spring Ball Buster Race Report) you'll see that I had a tough day out racing yesterday. I gave myself a sleep in this morning (7:30am baby), and went on the Hampstead Tri Club group ride (50km out through High Barnet and into Potters Bar), and then did 50km at Regents Park.

It was a really tough ride mentally. My legs are knackered, my quads are tight, and I have a legitimate excuse to take it easy. Getting 50km out of the way with the group was a great idea, but when I rode into Regents Park 50km of flat easy riding seemed like an insurmountable challenge. So I tackled it the only way possible. One km, one lap at a time, with a little bit of lying to myself (just one more).

This week I will act like an athlete. I will eat healthily like an athlete. I will stretch like an athlete. I will train like an athlete. There will be some challenging days at the office, because that's what I need to become tough as a coffin nail.

Weekly round up:

Monday: AM Run (2x 10 min efforts + 10 min easy)
Tuesday: AM Cycle (2x Hampstead laps), PM Run (Track 8x 300m)
Wednesday: AM Swim (squad)
Thursday: AM Cycle (Rapha cycle at Regents)
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Spring Ball Buster Race (12.5km run, 37.5km ride, 12.5km run)
Sunday: Cycle (100km)

Highlight:

Finishing the Spring Ball Buster, after running the whole run, including the final 2km up Zig Zag hill.

Lowlight:

Attempting to sabotage preparation for Ball Buster by eating like rubbish for the entire week (or carb loading with almond croissants and anything else I could shove in my mouth, depending how you look at things), arriving late, and generally not taking the race as seriously as I should have.


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