Winter Training has Begun in Earnest! - Vicki Goulding
16/11/2009
Welllll....since I last wrote things have been super busy! We had the opening of our Showroom in Hertord which went brilliantly! We all had such a good (albeit manic) day! Despite a few hiccups with Richard Allen being stuck on the motorway and missing the run, and one of our members falling of his bike (dodgy pedal - he's ok though!), everything else went smoothly! I think it's safe to say we all felt like proud parents watching people walk around as it's been months (and years for those who were working before I started!) of preparation and now the fruits of our labour are blooming! It's a very exciting time....with lots more developments to come! Watch this space!
In terms of training, I obviously took a step back due to being ill but now I am truly back on track and feeling much better than this time last year (and actually training more than last year too shhh). My swimming has really been awesome recently - I put some of the youngsters to shame the other night at training! My coach set us a "super medley" which involved swimming 2 x 400 IMs back to back but broken up in 25s and 50s...with MINIMAL rest and when I say minimal, I mean it! We literally finished a stroke and had to push off again. I LOVED it! I'm much better at endurance swims and pushed myself so hard my heart rate reached 190! :-D And that wasn't even the end of the session! We then had to swim a set of 20 x 50s front crawl descending on 1 minute -- and if you do this properly it buuuuurns! We ended up swimming about 6k that night and I was so tired that I struggled to even eat my dinner when I got home! Mum was watching me laughing as I was just sat there starring into space! After that I just fell onto the sofa too tired to even text on my mobile phone -- you know I'm knackered if I can't even text!
So that's a bit of swimming update ... cycling has been going great too. I just recently got a Tacx Fortius VR trainer as a present from my Dad for getting a 1st in my Psychology degree this year and it really is the best thing since sliced bread!!! I was sooo excited to set it up and get started! I'm really not exaggerating when I say an 1 hour absolutely flew by. I was so focused on watching the screen that I was oblivious to the time!! What makes the Fortius so special is that it mimics outdoor riding...the trainer creates resistance to simulate going up hill and even lets you free wheel like going down hill! It's awesome! And I have tried many trainers before, and this really made indoor cycling a pleasure! And that's a good thing considering it will have to become my best friend over winter!!!
My running has been okay...I'm still cautious... just doing no more than 40mins at the moment. But once my strength improves I can start to lengthen the sessions and crack on with my running club. This means I've been spending long hours in the gym and also started doing Yogalates..which is a combination of Yoga and Pilates. It is great fun! Fingers crossed there has been no pain my shins so let's hope I'm finally over it. I try not to get too excited about next year's racing but if I can have an injury free year I really think I can finally achieve what I know I'm capable of. One of my good friends Natalie Barnard is an Elite triathlete and she has inspired me greatly over the last couple of weeks. She suffered the same problem coming from a swimming background and trying to run but she stuck at it and is now competing on the Elite circuit, racing in France and winning races!! I know my time will come if I keep at it and keep working hard. :)
So apart from triathlon...I have been working really hard and catching up with friends. I went back up to Loughborough last weekend to party with the triathletes and that was awesome! It was strange being back in Loughborough -- made me feel quite old haha. But it was good to let my hair down, dance all night and just have a fun night. Right, I've probably waflled on enough. Will update again soon.
Happy Training!
