Made it to the end of the week!

The first week back after my 3 week holiday and the first week back to full on training equals a very tired runner!

I hope things improve or I'm in trouble!

Saturday was a rest day thankfully as we had torrential rain all day! I don't mind running in some rain but not when its bouncing off the ground!

On Sunday I went on a Tri Training Day in the hope that I would be enlightened on the task ahead! It was advertised as:

The training day will

• Prepare you for an Pool Based Triathlon
• Cover equipment needed
• Give you key skills to practise
• Provide you with information about the transition areas, you will get a chance to practise these too
• Give you an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the bike course
• Give you an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the run course
• Include a goodie bag with essential triathlon kit.
• Give you the confidence in everything triathlon related!

After such a awful day weather wise on Saturday I checked the forecast for Sunday and it promised sunshine and clouds but no rain so I was happy with this!  I'm a fair weather cyclist - wet roads and skinny tyres scare me!

I set my alarm for 8am, and felt despair when I looked out the window and saw ... RAIN!!  Cursing I got ready and packed my bag! THEN I had to go rooting round for my waterproof cycling jacket (which I rarely wear as I avoid going out on my bike in the rain!).

Luckily my jacket was where I thought it was and once I was donned up in my wet weather gear I set off on my bike for the short 1 mile journey to the local Leisure Centre. I have decided that I really must go out in all weathers, as I can't just decide on the day "I'm not doing it, its raining" although this does sound appealing to me!

I secured my bike on the bike racks and got to the appropriate room at 8.45am giving me time to dry off before the 9am start!

There was only five of us on the course, 3 women and 2 men and we all appeared equally as nervous about what lay ahead!

Tasha the Triathlete who was running the course was slightly disorganised at the beginning! She had forgotten to bring the correct attachment for the water heater to enable us to have coffee - MAJOR disaster! Then she couldn't get the PowerPoint to work!

However, after calling for assistance we were soon on our way and another water heater was produced! PHEW!

We started off discussing the list of race day equipment required (obvious really, I wasn't going to swim naked!) and then went on to discuss transition, the 4th discipline as she called it!

She advised us how best to set our transition area up with everything in the correct order, and told us that it was against the rules to mark where your area is - and I was going get a flag or helium balloon to attach to mine so in my blind panic I could find it! Hey-ho that plan is scuppered!  Just need to hope I get an area close to the edge!! The main rule to remember (from what I can remember!) is you put fasten your helmet before touching your bike and you must rack your bike before unfastening your helmet or you will incur a 2 minute time penalty!  YIKES!!  I need every minute!

Another rule is "No assistance is allowed" - that's a shame I was going get my son to give me a piggy back on the run section!

Joking aside this was really relating to bike issues occurring such as punctures or snapped chains - you have got to fix them yourself or pull out the race!  Well I know which one I will be doing!

To try and make this less of a daunting problem Tasha went through basic bike maintenance and how to fix a broken chain, fix a puncture and change an inner tube. Thankfully I have slime in my tyres so a puncture won't be a problem ... and if anything else happens ... so be it! It will be a DNF for me!

It was then time to go back to the swim section and discuss how this is set up.  There are up to 4 swimmers to each lane set off 5 seconds apart. Hopefully people have put an honest swim time down on entry so the swimmers are in the appropriate lanes according to their speed!

She advised to put the timing chip on our left leg to keep it away from the bike chain! (I would never have thought of this!).

Then it was time to go outside and she showed us where the transition area entry and exit points were, and the position of the mount and dismount lines!  So much to remember!

After this it was time to get on our bikes and ride the route.  She showed us how to best push the bike through transition by using the seat rather than the handle bars - so much easier than the way I had been doing it!

Thankfully by now the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek out between the clouds!

We had a leisurely 18K ride and became familiar with the route before returning to the leisure centre where we changed our shoes before heading back out on the run route!

My Achilles felt slightly stiff and sore running immediately after cycling so I will have to be careful not to damage it again. I did a slow run as I was slightly concerned about it! I will have to restart my physio exercises just to keep it in tip top condition.  I can't afford another injury -  I have a Triathlon and a Marathon to race!

I felt tired after the 5K run - its a bit worrying that on the actual day in 6 weeks time I will have done 20 lengths of the pool too! Perhaps I will be crawling the run by then! Its funny how I can run much further than this easily but mix it with cycling and I feel like I'm dying!

When we got back to the Leisure Centre any questions were answered before we finished at 1.15pm. My only complaint is I didn't get a goodie bag with essential triathlon kit (as advertised in the course content!).

All in all I had an enjoyable morning which gave me a little more confidence about it all!

My ultimate aim is to finish a triathlon and if I actually enjoy it, that's a bonus!

So I have survived week 14 (first one after hols!) of my marathon training and my stats for the week look like this:

Running: 26.69 miles in 5 runs.
Time on feet: 4:34:36
Best mile Pace this week :  8.55 m/m

Plus

Cross Training consisting of:

Walking: 5.62 Miles
Swimming: 1.27 miles
Cycling: 13.07
Pilates: 1 hour

Total Weekly Miles:  46.65 Miles

and my total training for the marathon to date since 22nd April 2013 is:

Running : 339.99 Miles
Time on feet: 52:02:09

Best Mile Pace = 8 Minute Mile on 26th May and 16th July

Plus

Cross Training consisting of-

Pilate's: 8 hour
Circuit Training: 6 hour
Swimming:  12.86  Miles
Walking: 76.02 Miles
Cycling: 56.89 Miles
1 hour 30 minutes Sports Massage (2 sessions)

Total Miles: 485.76

So onto week 15 starting tomorrow, and I've got a place on the Tri Club swimming session tomorrow night!

I WILL be a good Triathlete!!