2014 Goals and progress

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Claire

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

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Claire

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…

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Claire

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!

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!