New To Triathlon: Joanne Weadick Blog 2

Hi again,

Well 8 weeks and counting to my first triathlon in Valencia!! What an 8 weeks it is going to be. A 2 week holiday in the states, crazy hours in work and preparing for a family wedding at the beginning of June, hopefully I will find time for sleep somewhere in there!!

New to Tri

A friend of mine trained for triathlon on his own and only did one. First off i can’t imagine doing all of this training on my own and getting any kind of results and secondly being part of the club makes you incorporate races into your schedule for the whole season and already planning for next year. I am looking forward to a summer filled with weekends away at races and lots of outdoor training in the sunshine. The New to Tri program is great for taking the daunting feeling away from the races. we did a session in the pool last weekend that brought us through stretching before the race, strategic positioning in the water during the race and a full 750m swim. A great intro into what’s ahead!

Falling off the bike…

..there is just no gracious way of this happening is there… I sit here typing with 2 bruised knees from 2 falls and one even more bruised ego.. lol. Both falls involved very little speed and large groups of people watching. I thought i had unclipping down to a tee but a split second of hesitation and I was heading towards the ground with a loud girlie yelp! Apart from that I am loving the cycling. On the weekend in Rostrevor, we finished up with an 80km cycle on the Sunday. I did find this tough at times but the group was great. This was the climax of a brilliant weekend away and quite an achievment for me. We also did a night time forest run and a brave few got into the lough’s freezing waters, one way to get rid of the hangover!

Nutrition

I have really had to focus on my nutrition and good/bad eating habits. My appetite took a sharp upward spiral since starting to train last year. Like most girls, conscious of my weight didn’t want to put on weight dispite training more than I ever have. While staying hydrated and well nourished is important, that too easily turns into an all out binge on a Monday after a hard weekend of training. I think the point is not to get to that stage. Everyone is different but I know I have to keep my sugars balanced to keep on track. Seeking advice from coaches and other pirahna’s i have started to get a handle on this over the last few weeks. I am sticking to eggs or porridge for breakfast, lots of veg, soup, brown bread at lunch and more veg & protein for dinner. I was advised to take a good good carb/protein snack 20 mins after a training session for recovery. (eg a yazoo drink, bowl of corn flakes w/milk or lean meat brown bread sandwich) This has really worked for me so feeling much more in control.

Momentum

Going through an extremely busy period in work and still carrying my back injury, my training schedule has changed over the last few weeks. There is nothing more I would like to do than take a week off work to train and sleep.. of course that’s just not possible. Plan to train but life gets in the way. It’s striking a balance between both and keeping the momentum going. I plan on having triathlon as part of my life so I know burning out too soon is pointless. Feeling very frustrated with still not being able to run but the physio advises just a couple of more weeks rest and making the foam roller my new best friend and I should be back pounding the pavement soon enough. Looking forward to getting back to the Tues hill sessions!!

As Tom Hanks said; ‘If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.’

Well that’s me for this one… see you at training!

Jo