Goal fever...

I'm writing this with a tummy full of curry and boy was it nice. I've had quite an indulgent weekend and I've really enjoyed it. After having an incredibly solid but brilliant few weeks of hard training it was good to just relax a little and go with the flow, but I have to stay focussed for The Vitruvian on Saturday and so I shall leave my indulgent head on the pillow this evening and will wake with a strong, focussed one for the rest of the week.

I feel like I haven't raced for ages, and I mean really raced. I'm looking forward to giving my all on Saturday and am spurred on by my friend Emma-Kate's impressive Bronze at this weekends Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg. A brilliant result for her and so very well deserved. I love it, it makes me want to get out there and race as hard as I can, there can't be a better feeling. Raw talent I may not have but I have the desire and the ability to push myself hard. I won't ever be as fast as the top girls but I'm prepared to train just as hard as they do and race equally as hard, so really there's no difference in our perfomances, we're only seperated by the clock. It's a common misconception that people often think that when you swim/bike or run a bit faster than them that it means it doesn't hurt you as much. Or if you're used to running a marathon or doing an Ironman that running a half marathon or doing a Half Ironman must therefore be easy. Wrong, wrong and wrong again. It's how hard you test yourself no matter what the distance, how much you know your boundaries and how much you want something.

I've learnt that although having natural talent would be fantastic thank you very much, actually all you need is an understanding of YOURSELF. I used to feel a bit hard done by that I wasn't born with an Olympic Gene but as I grow as a person I see that I can be an Olympian. Maybe not in the truest sense of the word but I've made my Olympics the possibility of reaching the World Championships in Hawaii and if I don't get there I'll move it to Lanzarote Ironman (it's a win/win situation). Goal setting is definitely the way forward, the reason for dragging myself out of bed at 5am every morning to swim 100's of lengths of the pool and pounding the roads of Leeds for miles and cycling up hill and down dale for endless hours. I couldn't do any of it unless I had a goal.

My goal for this week is to go into Saturday ready for action. Eat well, sleep well and train smart as my coach Martin often advises me. I shall ignore the fact that it's way past my bedtime (as always on a Sunday eve when it's time to write this blog).

So on that note I hear bed calling. Training this week was fairly relaxed after a solid Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday I did a great 2hr bike/2hr run brick session and felt super strong on the run which was fantastic. Wednesday was the last Pool Triangle of the year and I gave it my all but my legs were in pieces from the very hard days that had preceeded it so I had all of the pain of a hard 20km time trial but no glory what-so-ever!!! I still got 1st Lady for this season though and have £25.00 English pounds to spend in Woodrupps our fantastic local bike shop. I ran long on Fri am (5.30am to be precise) and didn't get much out of the old legs but enjoyed bimbling along watching the day break and the world going about it's business. And today I ran the third leg of the Leeds Country Way which was amusing to say the very least but a very relaxed affair. So I look forward to a week of sharp and short sessions with a huge dollop of mental & physical recovery mixed in to get me to Saturday in the best shape possible...

Bring it on!!!!!!!!!.......

H. x