Off-Season

Ending the 2013 season with a poor performance at London was such a blow and made me question what I was going to do next year. Being quite a dramatic 'all' or 'nothing' person, I considered my two options:

a) pack triathlon in altogether

b) quit my job, win the lottery, train full time and take the triathlon world by storm

Then when I stopped torturing myself with looking at the World Championship Results, I realised that I had forgotten a little thing called balance. People sometimes say "you have achieved all of this despite the challenges of work, family commitments etc" but I think my successes come not despite those factors, but because of those factors.  The off-season is always the perfect opportunity to re-embrace my love for all things non sport-related.  No way did I want to swim early morning, or cycle in the wind or rain.  I definitely couldn't run to the end of the road and I felt just about strong enough to lie on the bench without actually lifting any of the weights to do bench press!

But actually, as soon as I stopped worrying about what I was going to do in the 2014 season the plans started to form on their own.  As soon as I stopped worrying about whether I should swim or not, I started to miss it and actually wanted to swim.  My focus has shifted back to normal life and squeezing training in around it, as opposed to dedicating set time and days to training and squeezing in life!  I have excellent training partners close to hand and without needing persuading, the alarm has been going off for early morning sessions before work and I have enjoyed and looked forward to them.

With training partners Jacqui & Anna

So all of a sudden option b doesn't suit anymore. I love the balance that my life is giving me and actually if I stop setting the bar so high and allow myself to succeed on my own terms, then triathlon can be a hobby again instead of a chore. I have loved getting back into winter training and it's nice to start feeling fit again; albeit there is a long way to go to but that's what winter's for!

The hours that used to be dedicated to training have more recently been dedicated to the following:

1. Going to Weddings
......although my competitive streak did come through when I caught the bouquet - the other girls didn't stand a chance!

Congratulations to the lovely Zoe (and new hubby Phil!)

2. Being a Sports Spectator
Spectating is fab! Why have I been going through the pain of races when I can watch others do it themselves! So my own long run was ditched in order to watch everyone else do theirs at the Birmingham Half Marathon:

My sister Helen in the final 200m, on for her sub 2 hour target

3. Being a Designer for Snowy's Lodge
Rather than drag myself out on a bike ride that I just didn't fancy, Chris & his Dad and I spent a weekend creating Snowy's lodge.....which involved putting a tunnel from his hutch in the garage out to his pen in the garden! Best of both worlds! Unfortunately he can't quite get the hang of the tunnel, I think he thinks its a one way system.

Snowy quite confused about the drama

4. Training with Vodka Shots
So apparently the staff Xmas party is pretty messy each year.  The girls thought it would be a good idea for me to ditch my triathlon training and instead do 12 hours a week of drinking and partying training. So off we went for my first session which started at 7pm on a Friday night and finished 4am the following morning with large amounts of alcohol being consumed, leaving me very ill, very tired and most definitely becoming T-Total for the rest of my life....give me back Tri Training any day!!

The calm before the storm!

5. Goal Setting
.....and then before I knew it I had a whole host of ideas and races that I wanted to do next season and started putting pen to paper.  Winter training requires a fire that must burn for many months before you see the end result and I think now I can say I have the motivation and enjoyment for racing that will keep my fire burning well into next season. I won't be hanging up my trainers just yet....