Self Control and Smashing a training week

I love to self reflect and read interesting ideas. I remember reading something about 6 months ago about self control and how this is the actual key to a great life. We talk about self esteem being important but really self control is what sets you up. It gives you resilience and stops you doing stupid things. Its about not doing something just because you want to or more importantly not doing something cause you can't be bothered, or would rather stay in your lovely warm bed. Its doing things cause you so know they are the right thing to do and even though you would rather be doing something else, doing these things ARE going to make your life better.

Self Control enables you to achieve soooo much. I will say I don't always have self control but I probably have more than most and as a result I seem to be able to do things others find difficult. I don't think what I do is necessarily difficult it just needs some dedication and passion to achieve amazing things (and a dream to do more).

Not everything is going perfectly for me at present. I have put some weight back on and the last 3 weeks I have turned into a slug. Neither of these things are going to be helpful for achieving my dream of competing in Mont Tremblant and although I know I will not win the event I am hoping I can come in the top half of the field. Despite setting myself a goal realistically I am going to be happy to finish and be able to say I have competed in a world championships. This is something I never thought was ever going to be possible.

So where does the self control come in.

Weight blow outs!

To drop those extra kg and a couple more I am going to have to develop my self control around food. Bad habits and poor self control have crept back into my life. This is how I ended up at the hefty weight of 92kg about 4 years ago and self control (by reducing my portion size) is how I managed to get back down to 80kg. The 12wbt program 12 months ago was the extra push I needed and by the beginning of the year I got to 72kg. Now I am back up to 76kg..... time to get a bit of self control happening again. Diet has been pretty good this week and I have avoided getting hungry and therefore have stopped the inappropriate snacking.



Weekly challenge

This week the #WBTHydrate challenge was to drink only water. Now this little black duck is a big time coffee addict so there was no way I could go without coffee for a week (or even a day). Everything else I could drop.... no juice.... no soft drink..... no cordial....no sports drinks..... but no coffee that is a stretch too far. However I did exercise some self control and have only 1 coffee (which I made an espresso so there was no milk added and only a small amount of water). Other than this I have only had green tea (2 per day max) and water all week.

The training benefit

So as I mentioned I have been a slug when it comes to training in the last 3 weeks. I have rested well but this week was week ONE of the my 15 week program. The plan was

• Monday - Swim in the morning and run in the evening.
• Tuesday - Cycle in the morning on the indoor trainer (intervals)
• Wednesday - Run in the morning (with an effort) and try the new stretch class in the evening (90 minutes of stretching)
• Thursday - Cycle in the morning on the indoor trainer (maybe try the course on the computer) then body balance class when I knock off work and a swim to follow
• Friday - recovery run with my friend in the morning (more about helping motivate her than needed for the program as this should be my rest day)
• Saturday - 2 1/2 hour ride on my bike - flat ride
• Sunday - 10km fun run (entered during the week so no excuses)

I know this probably sounds impossible but for the first time in about 2 years I have managed to stick to the plan for the week. So at this point in time (Saturday night) I have managed to do 10.5 hours of training this week with about a 1 hour run to go tomorrow. Realistically achieving the entire week of 12WBT exercise is about 7 hours of training for the week and this equates to only 3 hours more (less than 30 minutes a day) At this point I am really pleased with my efforts. I wanted to stay in bed this morning and I had excuses.... My partner is home and my mother is in town looking for places to buy. I had to do some juggling to fit some of this in during the week and I don't feel like I have stopped much... but on the positive side the high that I get from exercise has already kicked in.

Self control is definitely the way to happiness so just go out there and do it.

Enough of the rest.....time to get back on the training wheel

I have been training at a reasonable level now for a number of years and as a result I understand you need both hard training sessions and REST.

I see all too often people going full on all the time and then they end up not improving like they want to or worse they get sick, injured or jaded (sometimes all 3). I have never been good at overtraining often only just doing enough to finish the race....

So despite the best intentions this week to start doing something I have ended up using an array of the oldest excuses in the book.

It is too wet to train

I'm too tired

I feel sleepy - need a sleep

It's too windy to ride my bike

Lack of motivation

So the rest is now over - I need to get back onto the plan, back on the program. Stop eating like a teenager who has been left alone with the fridge, control my inner Labrador.

 

It was really important for me to have this rest after Busselton and the reason for that is best explained by this great quote I found from Oprah

 



Time to get my plan in order and refocus on the goal.

Pre Training Fun

I have been busy getting the ducks aligned ready to start training. I have organised a program with thanks to Andrew Budge at Trysport. 15 weeks of training running as 2 weeks on 1 week off (or Adaptation as it is called). So this week is adaptation for me at present. I have also been busy organising my travel plans.

Not resting

On the weekend I competed again in an event but this one was some fun – 6 hours of fun I might add. I clearly have a strange idea of fun. It was an adventure quest run by boundless adventure. It involved essentially orienteering a course of mountain bike, canoe (inflatable) and run/ trek. I have to say my ability to stay calm and collected under pressure leaves a bit to be desired and my bull at a gate attitude essentially resulted in me having a few cuts on my legs. What was I thinking bush bashing to find the check point – why would they want to put the marker in the middle of the bush!

It was a bit of fun though and we were doing well until that point. I also learnt I am not good at paddling…. Or steering a boat but I am fit and that always counts for something.

This week's plan

So it is back into some exercise this week. Have a couple of massages, go for a few runs and a couple of rides in the hill of Perth. Mont Tremblant (which is pronounced Mon Tremblo) is hilly… essentially it's a ski resort with "choppy" hills. So getting some hill practice in is going to be needed.

Also need to get to fighting weights as although I have always said I aim for fit and fat…. The extra weight is not something you really want to lug up a hill on a bike if you can avoid it.

Where is the start line really?

So new blog time.

Last weekend I qualified to compete in the 70.3 World Championships in Mont Tremblant Quebec Canada in September. 70.3 is also known as a half ironman triathlon or 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run all in one day (actually its a few hours).

So starting the new blog feels like I am at the start line but really this all started many years ago. I have been doing triathlon for many years. We have a small local club who run events each week over summer. Sprint distance or shorter generally so 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.

In 2003 I decided to compete in a marathon. I had been running with friends who did them and decided as it was likely to be the only marathon I ever ran in my life I decided to go and do the London marathon. It was a hoot... tough but a hoot anyway. 35000 people all running at the same time and every pub had a band... there are lots of pubs in London. I didn't do the time I wanted but I did discover that my talent really lies in long distance event. I just keep ticking along all day.

The winter after returning from London my life changed a bit... I snapped my cruciate ligament and had a knee reconstruction. My ability to run in anything but a straight line was limited. It was at this stage I got back into to triathlon... long distance triathlon. There was a reasonable size group planning to complete in the Busselton half ironman that year and I joined in.

I loved it and finished in a really respectable time of 5:42. Much quicker than I thought, but I stirred my knee up in the process. So back for another arthroscope of the knee only to find I had loose bit on my medial ligament. Once cleaned up I got back into triathlon and despite my knees still causing problems and my physio telling me I would never manage an ironman.

So in 2010 I got brave and entered the full ironman at Busselton - 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run. Training was tough but I got to the start line with a dread about running the 42.2km at the end. I had done this before and I knew it hurt. I also stood at the start line and thought to myself.. I haven't swum 3.8km in a single session or ridden 180km in a session and I definitely haven't run 42.2km... oh well too late now. Then the commentator said - "don't think of it as an ironman its just a sunday training brick with 1500 friends". This was exactly what I needed.

I finished in a very respectable 12:50 min. Quicker than Tony Abbot who did Port Macquarie earlier that year.

I kept entering half and full ironman for a few years, Busselton half and full again the next year, with Gold Coast half ironman (in the pouring rain) in between. Port Maquarie the next year then Mandurah half later that year. It was at Mandurah that I got and idea. My half times were starting to come down..I was actually getting pretty good at these, especially the half distance. May just may be I might be able to qualify for the world championships. I was now knocking on the sub 5:30 time for the half... and that was with a terrible run leg.

In March last year I did my last full ironman in New Zealand. It was so much fun, but the training had been gruelling.

Next aim was to qualify for the worlds... I tried in Busselton 2013, but I was too far down the list and didn't go to roll down.

roll down is a process where the slot gets offered to the winner, then the second place person etc until all the slots are taken. The slot are allocate to age groups depending on how many compete. Any slots not taken by the age group are then redistributed to the larger age groups. Each slot stays within the gender it was allocate. So if the 60-64 women don't want their slot it goes to another age group.

So I did get to go to the final Las Vegas 70.3 World championships. The 2014 was announced as Mont Tremblant in Canada.

First chance to qualify was Mandurah Half Ironman. I was 10th in my age group with a PB time and the first time under 5:30. My father was very unwell and I raced the event with him in hospital in ICU. I went to the roll down where there were also slots available for Kona (full ironman worlds and a much bigger event - also much harder to qualify for). No way I was going to get one of those slots at 10th (went to 1st mostly but sometimes rolled down to 5th). Then the 70.3 roll down started. There were 4 people wanting slots in my age group and only 2 slots up for grab, so they went to 4th and 5th. Then more slots got allocated and 7th got to go on the last spot. So I missed out by 1!

Busselton is a tougher race. There is a more competitive field so I knew I would be struggling to get top 10 or even top 20. Making roll down more a lucky thing, although with less time to save and plan perhaps others wouldn't want the slots.

We I did another PB but only by seconds - 5:26:44 is my new PB and I was 14th. There were more people than slots so roll down was on.... Fortunately there were only 2 of us who wanted the slots so I got to go as did the 20th place.

So celebration time now and a little break... training starts 15 weeks out on the 19th of May. I will try and blog each week with my progress and mind set heading to the event.

Fit, not longer fat and now going to the world championships in Mont Tremblant.