Sometimes I picture my coach as that wisest of Star Wars Jedi Masters - Yoda.
Okay, so Scott is much taller than Yoda and his ears are much smaller but I picture him in all his wiseness, reading over my training notes, rubbing his chin and muttering to
himself; "the progress has been slow with this one. Much more work there is to be done".
I'm sure he has sometimes wondered if I would ever make any progress. He's not the only one but, by Jove, I think there actually is some!
It's a relief more than anything to be able to say that it really feels like things are starting to come together. One might think that's quite a good thing really, given there are only eight weeks to go until Ironman, when I'll be slogging it out on my 4km swim/180km cycle/42km run mission.
The dust has now settled on all the half Ironman events - the New Zealand half just last weekend at Mount Maunganui.
I wasn't at the Mount, instead doing the Taupo Half in December, which is run on the Ironman course.
It didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. It was windy so the swim and cycle were a bit tougher than last year although my times for those two disciplines were a few minutes under those of 2007 (progress, however small!). I was on target for a much-improved run from a year ago but allowed the heat and wind to get to me and ultimately, to beat me. I had the legs, I just lacked the heart that day.
In the final telling, my time was just a few minutes less than in 2007 - still just under seven hours.
It was disappointing but I have moved on, thanks largely to some solid discussion with Hubby and my coach. It's onwards and hopefully upwards from here.
As always, there are good things that come from bad and that disappointment has spurred me on to do much better.
Since then I have had some of my best (and longest) training sessions.
"Finish feeling good" the coach sometimes puts on the training schedule and feeling good at the end of five or more hours of training is indeed a good feeling. It feels like progress!
Some recent positive training then has me feeling a whole lot better about the next major training session coming up. This Sunday is the coach's annual run/bike training session in Matamata which will see his trainees alternating between an 8km run circuit and a 42km cycle course. Four runs and three times on the bike. It's going to be a long day.
I remember being very nervous ahead of that training day last year, wondering how I would get through it but that turned out to be the least of my worries. That week I ended up in hospital with suspected heart problems.
This time, with not a heart problem in sight, I'm looking forward to another big day out.
It will be a major challenge, a real test of mind and body, a day when I hope to prove to myself that I may, at last, be ready for this Ironman gig in March.
Hopefully Sunday will also be a day when I can show Yoda that his teachings are sinking in and that there has indeed been progress.
Sometimes I picture my coach as that wisest of Star Wars Jedi Masters - Yoda.
Okay, so Scott is much taller than Yoda and his ears are much smaller but I picture him in all his wiseness, reading over my training notes, rubbing his chin and muttering to
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.