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Ryton Tri 2 UP TT: 14th April Prince Bishops Triathlon Saturday 5th May Hilly 21 Course: 11th August 22/04/2012 - Hetton Lyons Junior Duathlon 3/06/2012 - Hetton Youth Qualifier for IRC team & Junior Sprint 15/07/2012 - Hetton Youth Qualifier for IRC team & Junior Sprint AGM 2013 Sunday 3rd Feb - venue TBC |
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Sasha Ban's Blog recounting her journey to Ironman |
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Part II 25th April 2011 The following must be read in a 'light' [Editor's note: broad mare like!] Scottish accent..... But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren't alone] Above, as some will recognise, is a verse taken from the poem 'to a Mouse'; written after Robert Burns' apparently ploughed the little Mouse's nest. This has to be one of the themes for this short blog, as nothing appears to have gone to plan, or at least that what it feels like. Burns, as if to ease the guilt brought about by this disastrous event, and following the possible demise of the mouse, concludes; Still thou art blest, compar'd wi'me
Mindful of the 'best laid schemes O' Mice and Men', I have had a pretty disastrous training period (weeks 9-12). I entered this section of my training plan with enthusiasm and a few goals. However, I too, as the Mouse, fell foul to some 'grief an' pain' when an Iliotibial band injury put a stop to the running training for a wee while (can't stop the Scottish accent now). This prevented me taking part in the London Marathon and the Allendale challenge. I did substitute the Allendale with a cycle with hubby Carl to meet the troops and celebrate Will's 40th (my running coach, as mentioned in the previous blog). I also went to London, and substituted the Marathon with a run for the 19.00 from King's Cross to Newcastle with my two girls, Fran and Liv. I am sure you can appreciate these substitutions although pleasurable were not quite the same!! Without sounding overly melancholic this has been a difficult three weeks. As with everybody, trying to train so 'they don't die' during the event, with the obvious joys of work, children, washing and cleaning, life can appear pretty tough. You get a little moody, tired, as if you have hit a wall... you feel disappointed, especially when you don't feel you have made any improvement whatsoever, and also feel you have let people down, especially the person who co-ordinates the 'plan' (Col G). Well that's how it felt, at least until I read Robert's poem, and at this juncture I have given myself a shake (25% protein), stopped naval-gazing/belly aching, and remembered that I am 5 years older than Robert was when he died, I needed to get perspective and start enjoying the second half of the training. There are so many reasons to be positive and thankful, no need to 'guess an' fear', I 'canna see' forward so remember it's the journey that's important not the END. One day at a time. Thanks Robert and Mouse [Editor's note: I hope you remember the first few lines of the poem, when you're standing with your wetsuit on.... Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, Why an Ironman at 42? Ever since I can remember my forte has been endurance; as a baby I didn't sleep, as a child I didn't shut up, as a nurse I worked around the clock, and as a working mum (as many will appreciate) I never stop and so what better to keep me busy, 17 hours of gruelling exercise. What I hadn't realised is that to prevent my death following or during this event I would have to prepare my body and mind for the task ahead, I really didn't think it would be fair on the marshals to carry me off the course. My previous endurance events had relied on adrenalin, intuition, determination and 'fire in my belly' tactics, I soon realised that to take part in an Ironman would need a bit more skill! And that's where this journey starts..... me in the pursuit of some level of skill. In nursing, it is widely considered that nurses in their role travel through a spectrum from Novice to Expert, this can take approximately 4-5 years (if working full time) which also equates to 10,000 hours of mastery that Malcolm Gladwell also purports is necessary to become a 'master' in any field. I calculated, with my allotted schedule of six months training, that I was going to be able to do about 5.4% of this. On that scale no matter how hard I tried I would be tackling the Ironman as a novice but................ in 10 years time I would be pretty good, obviously if I kept the training hours at the same level for every week for the next 10 years. This Blog is intended to follow the hopeful progress that myself and my family make through the next 4-5 months. Colin Gardener is keeping me on the straight and narrow with a weekly training programme, which my hubby Carl looks forward to reading each week!! He looks over it and then says, "yes, I think we can manage this one", it's so funny. I have four buddies who cycle train with me, and without them cycling wouldn't be as much fun, we spend most of the ride comparing the sweets we have brought, the favourite is the sports mixture salted nut mix, we may have to market it! I also have a fabulous friend/coach Will Robson at my local running club, PB Fitness, who makes sure I run in a straight line and occasionally has to resuscitate me. The coaches at swimming, Bob, Paul and Andy keep my arms in the right place and get increasingly annoyed when I concentrate on one thing and completely forget the other, sorry guys, just a novice! It's beginning to sound like an obituary, I am sure those of you who have done an Ironman before will agree, it's all about the people around you, the support and encouragement you get from friends, family, members of the clubs, and fellow Ironmen (not that I can say that until I have done it)!! This blog starts in training week 9 of 27, the Bolton Ironman is on 31st July. Weeks 1-9 are summarised below Anybody who has done this before will be thinking to themselves tell me something I don't know!? So I won't , weeks 1-9 have included the following, please nod in appreciation of the following, they are in no particular order:
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