Sometimes things just don’t go to plan. In the whole of April I managed just 2 miles of running and the cycling wasn’t exactly pain free either. The patellar femoral pain (knee cap) I had been having for a while now finally got so bad I couldn’t run, so more trips to physio and osteopath and sports massage to speed things up, unfortunately the pain is still there I think it is now down to me having to manage it as I do not think it will go away before Ironman in July let alone my half ironman in a few weeks time.
At the start of April I met my nemesis in the swimming pool, I named her ‘Olympic Nana’ she was in her sixties at a guess. Now Olympic Nana was swimming 2 lanes on from me and I was coming to the end of my set when she pointed over to me and signalled ‘Four’ with her fingers (unless my goggles were foggy and she was swearing), here’s how it played out:
ON: “You and me four?”
ME: “Sorry Four? Four What?
ON: “Four lengths come on lets go!”
ME: “Erm, ok
ON: “When the clock hits 12 we go ok?”
ME: “ok” (thinking I’ll go easy don’t want to break her spirit)
So we set off, me doing front crawl (badly as usual) after 3 lengths I looked across and she was level with me but much to my horror she was doing backstroke and she was level with me yes she was level, this gave me a kick up the speedos that I needed so I went all out on the last length.
She beat me. Doing backstroke.
Talk about a kick in the pull buoy.
ME: “Well done that’s impressive, backstroke as well (then in my head I could feel my excuse coming, part of me was saying don’t be an idiot, don’t say it, don’t say it!) I’m injured at the moment, bad knee (Idiot you said it!)”
ON: “ Oh really , well thanks I find Im better if I have someone to challenge myself against I need it”
ME: (who is this lady) “Yeah I do triathlon and have always struggled with the swim” (double idiot!)
ON: “OK lets go again, ready?”
ME: “Again? (im knackered) Ok lets go again (I’ll get you this time nana)
She then looked over with a steely look in her eyes, we raced I almost killed myself but I beat the 60-year-old pensioner by less than a second I reckon. I’ll take that, thank you very much Olympic Nana! I now hope I don’t bump into her again incase she wants a rematch, fair play to her, a great example of keeping fit and healthy and someone I would like to be like at her age but made me realise how much I need to work on my swim!
During April we had a family trip to Ibiza where I was going to treat this as a little bit of a warm weather training camp because of the injury that didn’t happen although I made sure I did daily mobility and some TRX exercises to tick over, not helped by a bit too much cheesecake during the week, well I was in Ibiza, rock n roll!
On the last day I had enough (more to the point my wife had enough of me being in a mood so suggested I go out and ride) so I went out on the bike to test the knee, felt ok, iced as soon as I got back I was just glad to be on a bike again.
Enjoying the Giant Propel in Ibiza
There is not much more to say regarding April, my training was not good at all. At the moment it is 2 steps forward 1 step back but as long as im moving forward that’s the main thing. Keeping a positive attitude to it helps but there are days where the enormity of it all and the fact I don’t feel ready start to fester in the mind. I have spoke with my coach who does an excellent job in telling me not to panic (yet) and diplomatically tells me Im “on track but could always be a bit further on track”.
My first event is coming up at the beginning of June, this is the Cotswolds 113 which is half ironman distance, so 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run. Last year this distance was my main race, this year it is now ‘merely’ a warm up to Ironman UK, a true indication of the size of the challenge at hand.
If you enjoy this blog and and are hoping for a rematch with Olympic Nana then please sponsor me and reading the story behind the charity here https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Matt-Hart4
Thanks for reading, 69 days to go! Arghhhhh!!!!!!!
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