Category Archives: Training

2014 Goals and progress

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So I was thinking about whether or not to keep this blog going, post Celtman 2013 partial success (glass half-full)…I never quite got round to a full rundown of the event itself, that might still come. Sufficed to say I decided that this year I need to concentrate on business, so I’m not going to be doing anywhere near the same amount of training. However, I do fancy focusing in on technique, speed, strength and skill stuff, so that when I come back next year (2015) to attempt Celtman again I’ll be a better athlete to start with. Well that’s the plan and as a result I decided to keep the blog going.

I’m going to use it slightly differently this time (less pictures). Each Sunday I’m going to plan out what I’m doing swim, bike, run wise so that it’s down in black and white and I’m committed to it. The second reason for doing this is it means I don’t have to think about it again. Efficiency is very important this year as I’m setting up a new portraiture studio and I don’t want to spend time humming and ha-ing over training, so it’s all going to be sorted out on Sunday and then just go on with…again that’s the plan.

I’m going to keep track of all my progress on a spreadsheet on Google Drive. If you want to join me follow the link and I’ll add a page for you and we can all do it together.

This week’s training plan is pretty simples…swim session on Monday morning is going to be all about setting times, 25m, 100m, 1000m, and Wednesday will be lots of drills with 10x100m thrown in for fun. Bike is going to be an hour on the rollers (first time for 9 months so wish me luck) and then out and back to Abington (I’ve forgot how far it is) on Saturday. Run is going to be similar to swim. Tuesday is going to be setting 1km and 5km times in the meadows in Edinburgh and then finding a 10km loop for Sunday and putting down times. If anyone wants to join me just send me a message on FB. I’ll add the link to the bottom of the page.

The final thing I’m going to add to the blog is food! Last year I totally came off the rails, diet wise, and now I have to sort my shit out…for lack of a better expression. My lovely sister sent me ‘The Feed Zone Cookbook‘ for Christmas so each week I’m going to experiment with two recipes, one breakfast, one dinner. This week it’s going to be Quinoa and Berries for breakfast. Quinoa is my nemesis…I never get it right, it always ends up like soup (I also have a slight issue with quinoa looking like giant sperm. Weird? I know!). However, I love the idea of it, so I am going to persevere! The second recipe is going to be Pork Green Chilli, for purely practical reasons. My father raised three pigs over the summer and as a result we currently have over 150kg of pork in our freezer, might as well use it 😉

I’ll let you know how it goes. If anyone has any great programmes/blogs/people they are following (in a non stalker-y way) let me know on the FB. I’d also love to hear any tips on training and cooking that you have, so give me shout!

Useful links:

The Greater the Obstacle Facebook page.

The Feed Zone Cookbook

Week 20 Celtman Training

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It’s getting so close now that writing this is making me feel a little ill, but I’m getting used to it as I feel sick every time someone asks me about how long do I have to go. Aaarrghh!!!

I think there are a few of us out there, so at least I’m not alone. I haven’t had any Celtman nightmares this week so that is good. So far I’ve had one of those really realistic dreams where you think it is real, I dreamt that I’d finished the race, until you wake up and realise that it can’t have been true as my body isn’t broken. Then I had one where I was on the bus on the way to the start of the swim and I was certain that I didn’t have my bike helmet or my kit to go up the hill…woke up with the seat pouring off me. Seriously this isn’t good for me!

Training is going fairly well. I have one slight concern this week, which has been my hip and lower back. It has been a bit achy all week and really quite sore on Thursday night’s spin class. I jumped in my dads giant paddling pool (some people should not be allowed to go to Costco) for some recovery when I got home and then had a rest day yesterday to try and give it a chance, so we will see how it goes for today’s run. Oh! And I made it out to the pole for the first time ever at Portobello, so thanks goes out to my Uncle Paul for leading me astray LOL!

Hope everyone’s training is going well and if you’re having doubts about what your going to do. It’s completely natural, but don’t let it stop you. Lots of love and luck and keep up the good work!

Looking down on Threipmuir from the shoulder of the Black Hill.
Cloudy but a lot warmer than last week.
Keeping working on the self portraits.
Tree lined avenue Scottish style.
Safety first.
Run done now to strip off in the car park at RedMoss…nae shame me!
So cold!

One month to go…

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Here is the penultimate progress picture…I realised that I have missed the last one when I was away galavanting in Southern Africa. Probably for the best as I fell off the wagon and spent 10 days eating steak cooked in butter, drinking and doing very little training haha.

Last progress picture but one, and as I said to Marcus at Combat Ready on Friday when he asked about how close I was to my target weight (70kg). I am virtually exactly the  same weight as when I started, just a lot denser. 

And my grand total weight-loss over 19 weeks of training is 3.8kg…I'm just a lot denser!

And my grand total weight-loss over 19 weeks of training is 3.8kg…I’m just a lot denser!

Now for my current psychological dramas. The brutal realisation dawned this weekend that there are only 4 weeks left before the race itself I am griped with a sense of inevitability/my impending doom, which was not helped by supporting my wee brother at this weekend’s City to Summit race.

He was doing awesomely well, finished the bike on schedule, but with a sore knee. Then it all went down hill…quite literally…and he ended up being dropped back at the finish by the medic not begin able to complete. As they say these things happen, but I was anticipating him doing fine as I have always been the least sporty (ability wise) of my siblings, so now I’m having a bit of a wobble. 

That being said this week’s training has been great. Fab OW swims at Threipmuir in the Pentland Hills, National Park on Wednesday and then Portobello Beach on Friday. Topped off with an awesome run on Saturday morning…pictures to follow. 

Now all I have left to go is one week of training followed by the race trial week and then two taper weeks. The end is in sight. However, any advice on psychology would be much appreciated at this point haha.

All that’s left is to show you the pictures of Scotland in the sunshine!

Claire loves open water swimming!
First summit of the morning 8am…no where I’d rather be.
Looking East from the top of the West Kip.
Looking West from the top of the West Kip.
I love a hill I do.
The view looking East from Scald Law.
At the top of Scald Law…it was very sunny at 8.30am in the morning.
West, East Kips and Scald Law in the Pentland Hills National Park for Saturday’s run.

Blue sky thinking…a new take!

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I loathe business jargon but I’m stealing this one: “blue sky thinking” definition; original or creative thinking, unfettered by convention and not grounded in reality: and I’m changing it to mean the kind of days where you feel that anything is possible. Last Saturday was one of those days. Happiness is a sunny day in the Pentland Hills.

I can see my house from here…not really!
Name that reservoir as I have forgotten…
30mins warm-up all up hill…how I like it!
Arthur’s Seat from the Pentland Hills.
View of the Kips and Scald Law in the sunshine.
The farmer obviously had a sense of humour.
Glencourse Reservoir, Pentland Hills National Park
A bit flushed after begin out in the sun…not really burnt just a little pink.

 

Time for a mid-way review…

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Where to start…

Pictures/Data

progress pictures, training, Celtman

Week 12, half-way there, 3 month progress pictures

So after 3 months here is a quick review of the numbers: I’m still the same height…training hasn’t made me shorter; weight, lost 3.1kg, all that muscle is heavy; bust, lost 3cm, no comment; waist, lost 4cm, which combined with, hips, lost 6cm, means none of my jeans fit. No point in buying new ones at the moment, so belts are becoming quite important.

Fundraising

Nothing to report. I will get a Virgin Giving page up ASAP, but I’m currently waiting for them to register the Rock Trust.This is so I can split the money down the middle between SAMH and the Rock Trust. I decided to go with Virgin Giving because of this option and on SAMH‘s recommendation as they felt it was the best option for them. So watch this space I will be asking for money soon, just not yet! 

Sponsorship

I haven’t taken any action on this front as the day job has got in the way and I wanted to have the fundraising bit taken care of first before I set out to look for kit. As I’m sure you are all aware triathlon can be pretty expensive. I have so far got by on kindness of friends and family…lots of borrowed kit. Not because I’m cheap (well okay maybe a bit cheap), but because I set up my business last year and, a year and 3 months in, I just can’t justify spending hundreds (to thousands) of pounds on fancy gear. But don’t worry even if I don’t find anyone to give me lovely kit to promote, I will be fully clad in stuff borrowed from the great and the good. On the other hand if you know any lovely kit suppliers who might want to be connected to me and Celtman send them my way.

Training swim/bike/run

Swim: On target starting to hit 1:40 for my 100s, which I’m happy with. Now I’m twitching to get out in the open water…it’s just too cold at the moment and I would like a wetsuit upgrade as my current one is so loose around the shoulders I end up carrying an extra 5kg in water. Streamlined I ain’t!

Bike: A bit behind. And a bit slow. Thanks to the weather I have only managed to get out in the last couple of weeks. The rollers in the house just aren’t the same. But now the weather is picking up…at least fewer blizzards…it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone and get out more. Show me the hills!

Run: Struggling a bit with tight calves, now that I’m back on the bike for longer periods, so the last two weeks have been a bit of a struggle to get up the hills. Getting enough to eat is also a bit of an issue, but I’ll get there. The focus over the next few weeks is going to be on getting faster, so hill sprints and 1km timed reps are on the cards. Such fun!

Strength: Coming along nicely. My core still isn’t strong enough but the difference in my hips, knees and ankles in the bike and run is fantastic. Issues that I had with the longer distance at the end of last year because of strength imbalances seem to be a thing of the past. Now to concentrate on getting faster!

Mental state

My initial connection to SAMH was because I know lots of people associated with triathlon who have suffered from mental health problems, most commonly depression, but when I sat down and thought about it I started to think about my own mental health. I’m going to talk more about this in more detail in a future post, but sufficed to say I think at the beginning of the year I was struggling a bit. Whether it was the time of year, weather, business or just life in general, not really sure. What I do know is that I feel 100x better 3 months into my training. I’ve fixed my diet. I’m getting out in the fresh air regularly. And I’m back to getting high on those wonderful endorphins…drug of choice. If you haven’t discovered them come and join me. You’ll love it (eventually)! I swear!

Pictures of the story so far…

Wk12 Legs are out for the summer…I even managed to get a faint tan line.
Wk12 View looking towards Abington on the B7078 the day before the Tour of the Borders…boy did they pick the wrong day!
Wk11 So what am I going to sit on in the car then?
Even with the correct footwear it was challenging.
So here are the vital statistics at the start of my challenge.
Wk12 Best self portrait I’ve ever accidentally taken LOL
OMG! The pain of a specific defrosting for the next hour…can you guess where?
Snow on Monday morning too…still made it to the pool!
Great fun running off the hill giggling it like an idiot.
Coming down off the hills…so much fun!!!
Wk4 Me and cousin Beth looking a little flushed after running up a hill…it’s genetic!
Happy Girl at the top of the hill…mostly downhill from here on.
Wk6 View of Edinburgh…just need it to warm up a bit so it goes green.
Week 12 half-way there 3 month progress pictures
…well totally freezing!
More pretty views…
Who an I kidding ‘patches’?!
Now I’m here do I have to get out of the car?
The view from the top of the hill at the Beeftub outside Moffat on the way home.
All finished.
Here we are again. Week 8 progress pictures.
4 Weeks in…
Wk5 top of the hill at Dreva, Scottish Borders.
Wk4 Beautiful February sunshine…little did we know what was coming for March!
Wk4 Happy girl in the sunshine up a hill.
Wk5 Run fail…slid off the road on the way into town…sweary words!
Wk11 Me and Roddy take the Black Hill.
Wk6 Questionable recovery fuel decisions, but I was just so hungry!
Valley between the hills. Peace from the wind.
Wk6 So hands up from all the people in Edinburgh who have never been in the Pentland Hills…shame on you!
Top of the hill at Maiden’s Cleugh
Wk5 This isn’t much snow. I’m not letting it stop me running, but pride come before a fall and on the way in to Edinburgh…
Week 9’s long run…less hills more sheltered.
Wk6 Cousin Beth admiring the view of Glencourse, Pentland Hills.
Wk4 Beautiful still day in February in the Pentland Hills.
Half-way up the hill from Red Moss car park.
Tread was everything…
A wee hill on the way back from Moffat. The Beeftub is such fun!
The windburn and bloodshot eyes is a good look for me I think 😉
Wk5 My first wee jaunt out on the bike before the snow came back 😛
Wk11 Oops! Watch survived intact.
Pretty views!
Anyone for some OW swimming?
Wk6 happy in the Pentland Hills with cousin Beth
The Kips Week 8’s run
It was quite windy at the top of the East Kip.
Wk6 Random injury…loss of skin to décolletage due to zip. Stingy!
Wk5 waiting for me when I got back from my bike. Did someone say cake? Don’t mind if I do!
Wk6 wrong shoe choice, but I survived.
Wk11 I am a muck magnet!
The right footwear choice this time.
Wk11 Got a bit muddy due to a face plant coming down the hill. Lacking my usual dexterity.
Wk5 Soreen was the fuel of choice.
Wk11 Running on the crust is all well and good until you break through!
Looking down the hill from the West Kip…visibility?

The usual disclaimer applies I know everything and nothing, so take nothing as truth…well apart from the maps. They’re awesome!

On the road again!

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Yipeee! No snow and sunshine! Finally out on the bike today…no more rollers! I was like a kid in a candy store and got very over excited and did 121km on the bike. The most I’ve ever done on a bike ever. Still got another 80km to find in the next 3 months, and I should probably go out with more than one bottle of water and one of diluting juice. Nutrition fail! Thought my porridge in the morning did me well. 4517kCal burned OMG! No bonking just a really sore back which was leftover from Thursday’s gym session.

Map

A wee hill on the way back from Moffat. The Beeftub is such fun!

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to train without hills, but then I think I would get bored. Fabulous day. Here’s hoping I can walk/run tomorrow!

Landscape

The view from the top of the hill at the Beeftub outside Moffat on the way home.

Girl on left looking down the valley.

Happy Girl at the top of the hill…mostly downhill from here on.

Running in the snow…

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Here’s some highlights from the last couple of week’s Sunday runs…I would add some swimming and biking footage but the first, generally doesn’t allow cameras and the second has been limited to rollers in the house…and there is also no need to see me in sweaty white lycra.

So this is going to be a photo blog with a wee video link at the end so you get to enjoy the hills yourselves. That leaves me to leave you with the pictures…

The Kips Week 8’s run
Now I’m here do I have to get out of the car?
Half-way up the hill from Red Moss car park.
Looking down the hill from the West Kip…visibility?
It was quite windy at the top of the East Kip.
Great fun running off the hill giggling it like an idiot.
Valley between the hills. Peace from the wind.
Coming down off the hills…so much fun!!!
All finished.
Week 9’s long run…less hills more sheltered.
Top of the hill at Maiden’s Cleugh
Off we go down the hill
Some icy patches
Who an I kidding ‘patches’?!
Pretty views!
Tough wee buggers…new hill lambs.
It was pretty cold…
…well totally freezing!
Even with the correct footwear it was challenging.
More pretty views…
Anyone for some OW swimming?
I’m sure its not as cold as it looks LOL
The windburn and bloodshot eyes is a good look for me I think 😉
OMG! The pain of a specific defrosting for the next hour…can you guess where?

The video is coming soon to YouTube.

 

 

2 months…8 weeks in…time flies when you’re having fun!

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I should have taken these pictures in the morning, before I spent all day stuffing my face LOL…and guess what nae difference (well almost) so for all those out there who are struggling with their goals, stay strong!

Here we are again. Week 8 progress pictures.

Here we are again. Week 8 progress pictures.

Just as well my goal is not to look svelte or after 8 weeks of slogging my guts out I might feel a bit hard done by. Fortunately, everything else is going well. Swims are starting to hit 1.40 for my 100s which is my goal. Runs are coming along…loving my hills, thought I need to do some more speed work. The bike is my one sticking point as the lovely Scottish weather keeps chucking snow at us every bloody weekend. So most of my distance has been done on the rollers in front of the 6 Nations Rugby…with the rugby finishing the weather better improve because if I have to do another 4 hours inside I might lose my mind. I’m going to try and add in a spin session to increase my speed work without the possibility of serious injury…rollers always have an element of danger 😉

What I need to do next is sort out my donations page. I’m waiting for the Rock Trust to get on board with Virgin Giving, so watch this space. I will be looking for money for all these pictures of me in my pants…you know it’s only fair people LOL

And incase you were doubting me about the snow here’s a few pictures.

Snow on Monday morning too…still made it to the pool!

Snow on Monday morning too…still made it to the pool!

Now I'm here do I have to get out of the car?

Now I’m here do I have to get out of the car?

Half-way up the hill from Red Moss car park.

Half-way up the hill from Red Moss car park.

Looking down the hill from the West Kip…visibility?

Looking down the hill from the West Kip…visibility?

It was quite windy at the top of the East Kip.

It was quite windy at the top of the East Kip.

Great fun running off the hill giggling it like an idiot.

Great fun running off the hill giggling it like an idiot.

Valley between the hills. Peace from the wind.

Valley between the hills. Peace from the wind.

Coming down off the hills…so much fun!!!

Coming down off the hills…so much fun!!!

All finished.

All finished.

Tread was everything...

Tread was everything…

The right footwear choice this time.

The right footwear choice this time.

 

 

1 month or 4weeks in…but whose counting?

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20130218-124003.jpg
So 1 month in to Celtman training and it is time for another picture of me in my pants. It is a little weird to get up in the morning and find out that 90 people have seen you in your pants, but that is what you set yourself up for posting pictures on the Internet. To be honest I’m not fussed that they have seen the pictures, but I am a little offended that they haven’t ‘liked’ my Facebook page…so rude 😉 I need to workout how to make it pay preview haha, so you have to donate money to the Rock Trust and SAMH to be able to see the pictures. Now that sounds really dodgy!
You will see from the picture that there has been no really change over the past month…well there has but it’s all been on the inside. The difference in my running is what I’m proudest of. I’m putting it down to all the dynamic movement and core strengthening stuff at Combat Ready and getting back into the hills. The strength is making more stable and as a result much more confident at haring about in the knee deep mud in the Pentlands…such fun!
I’m getting into Map My Ride/Run so you’ll soon be able to see exactly where the fun takes place, so keep an eye out for that.
It hasn’t all been up over the last month. It has been a bit of a struggle, but the head down and plough on approach has served me well and now I’m starting to feel that exercise buzz again. There have been some pretty hard days in there though. Friday and Saturday last week being prime examples. When I say hard…I don’t mean physically I mean mentally.
You know the days when you wake up with that feeling of dread. My personal experience is a feeling that something is putting pressure on your chest. I have so much to do that I can’t think where to begin, my response to things is completely over the top, I have a feeling of everything being completely out of my control and can’t bare to be near people. Basically, I want to assume the foetal position at the bottom of the shower and cry…which actually works up to a point. Sometimes I can workout the trigger for these episodes…they are fairly rare and often hormone related, but this time I’m a bit stumped. I think it was down to a feeling that other people had more control over what I was doing than I had. Though this only happens when I let them, so this week I’m taking back the reins and getting back in charge. Fingers crossed that a happier week is in the offing and I can go back to being a much nicer person, and less of an unreasonable lunatic 😉

Be Brave. Accept the Challenge.

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…when in doubt pretend!

…when in doubt pretend!

I love this quote. Mostly because it reminds me of how far I’ve come from being a painfully shy child. People who know me now often struggle to believe it, but for years at school I probably barely spoke to anyone. Then I decided that it wasn’t how I wanted to be so I changed it. Not overnight, but years of pretending to be confident and constantly challenging myself to do things that frightened me, and eventually it got easier. I am now completely intolerant of shy adults…what is it they say about converts?

Anyway, how does this relate to training I hear you ask! We’ll it’s kind of how I’ve been feeling about training for the first couple of weeks. I could use lots of excuses like the weather, it being January…the list is long and boring, but what it comes down to is it hasn’t felt right and I haven’t enjoyed it. We all know the feeling of that first run, horrible, the second, worse, the third, the worst, but then it is meant to get better. It hasn’t. I was up to run number 6 and each one was more awful than the last, so I’ve been pretending.

I knew that eventually it had to get better…experience has taught me that with patience and hard work most things do. I’ve just never had any patience, so I’ve found this slow progress pretty frustrating. But finally, yesterday I had a eureka moment. Last session of the week, my first brick (run straight off the bike) session, and finally a good run…not fast or pretty, but something that felt like I might eventually make it to a marathon…well at least a half-marathon and then a fast hike up a mountain.

The plan had worked. After a bit of a trudge through most of the week, only Tuesday night’s run club with JCI offered any banter, no Marcus and Combat Ready this week, I got all my training in (10 hours in total, with a few press ups thrown in for fun) and eventually the pretending paid off too. Training became fun again. Then as if to confirm what I have been telling myself about just getting on with it, or the “Suck it up, Princess!” philosophy, I got it reconfirmed by Combat Ready’s Sunday blog. Great minds 😉

Bravery isn’t the lack of fear. It is doing things despite the fear. We should never avoid things because we might fail. The only failure is never trying in the first place. Challenges make us better, challenges make us stronger, challenges get us closer to who and where we want to be. Bravery in my opinion is just the ability to ‘suck it up’ and get on with it. So in essence it is all pretending.

And just incase you were wondering I still have to pretend sometimes when I’m feeling shy, and there is a voice in the back of my mind that says I might fail at Celtman, but I accept the challenge, because I wouldn’t like myself very much if I didn’t face the things that frighten me.

So that leaves this week’s plan…in glorious Technicolor. Very excited about finally getting back into the Pentlands on Sunday. Fingers crossed hypothermia can be avoided.

Week 3's Training Plan

Week 3’s Training Plan

Disclaimer: As usual everything I say is purely my ill-informed opinions and should not be treated as any sort of expert testimony.

Added extra: If you want a laugh check out YouTube to see me singing along to Flower of Scotland while on my rollers on Saturday. Inside is the only place you will ever see the white bib-shorts…fashion, and decency, disaster!