Natalie Barnard's Update Feb 2010
16/02/2010
Hey all!
It has been a while since my last post but a lot has happened since so hold tight.
I’ve been away for a week in Marseille, France, with Nice2Tri’s Vicki-Marie Goulding. We stayed with my old French Team Manager, his wife, and a fellow International rival, Karolien Geerts from Belgium.
We spent most of the time living and breathing the sport. I loved every minute of it. The terrain and the rides were spectacular, the focus out there was to get some quality biking in that were lacking in the leg bank.
The difference just the weather can make to training, albeit it wasn’t that warm, the sunshine made up for it in leaps and bounds! I have decided that the sun/weather DOES impact hugely on training, motivation, vigour. I think we are very held back in the UK with the adverse weather of late, as well as the cabin fever some may be suffering from with various indoor training sessions: Turbo/rollers/treadmill/gym/swimming! I even bought a S.A.D lamp to help ease the 4.45am starts I have to endure in the weekdays to swim with Hatfield.
The week back was tough to say the least, with the weather as grim as it has been, the lack of company, and the knowledge that things are far greener on the other side of the coast.
The Sunday I returned, I raced an off-road Duathlon, under the Quadrathlon Organisation (run-kayak-bike-run). It was so very cold, wet and muddy... I loved every minute of it!! I’ve never raced off-road but it was great fun! A decent low-key race used as part of a brick training session. I was 4th overall and smashed their course record, bonus!
I’ve focussed a lot more on the running and threshold sessions involved in them to help me to start sharpening up for the coming season. I recently have joined FV Spartans club, very high quality male and female runners there which will help further spur me on to my goals of fast 5-10km off the bike.
Last Sunday I raced my final x country for my old Bedfordshire running team at Ampthill. Again, very wet, muddy, and this time HILLY 8km! I guess the name of the place gives you a clue! I was feeling pretty confident with my training thus far, and again, it was a chance to get a good tough session out of it. I was again 4th place out of the females, in 34min... not too bad considering the course!
I have one more week here in grotty UK conditions, then racing MK Duathlon at the weekend, to travel afterwards to Gatwick ready for the early flight Sunday morning off to Club La Santa in Lanzarote. I will be training with the likes of Jodie Swallow, Emma Davis, and Tom Newman to name a few, I cannot wait!
Best of luck to those who are or have run in the 5kms for Nice2tri, a great way to test out your current fitness levels and use as a hard session also!
