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9th January 2019. 40 weeks to Kona. Training begins. I will be documenting my progress, including the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of juggling parenthood, running a sports physio and pilates practice, and triathlon training.
Today is Wednesday = PRO-DAY! I don’t work on Wednesdays (or at least, I just do admin from home) and so after dropping Edward at preschool and Jessica at the childminder’s, Charlie and I had a stunner of a sunny winter ride in the Chilterns, taking in Swyncombe hill, down Pishill and up through Turville, with a final sprint for home along the Watlington – Stadhampton TT stretch. I am doing my winter riding on my Dad’s old Dawes, which Charlie re-built for me as a surprise birthday present. For the next few months I will be dragging an extra 13kg up those hills with chunky fat tyres. Some resistance training which by summer should make the TT bike feel like flying, or at least that’s the plan.
Session number two of my pro day is a double buggy run with the wolf pack… 5 of us. Charlie has gone to work, Jessica has had a nap while I got an hour or so of admin done. Then to wake her up as close to 3pm as possible, cue massive tantrum, kicking and screaming into the buggy, running kit on and rush to preschool as we’re late to pick up Edward. Straight to the fields for more resistance training, plodding along bridleways pushing around 40kg of buggy with a tired 3 year old and now cheerful 19 month old through mud and grass while our two springer spaniels sprint and jump for joy, and the sun starts to set. I am fully aware that everyone in our village thinks I’m CRAAAZY. But it makes running without a buggy feel amazing! Then home to sort out the total chaos that is our house (we are not one of those tidy families), feeding time at the zoo and then the marathon of singlehandedly getting two toddlers bathed and to bed (with the added battle of cutting their fingernails tonight). This is how the pro’s train, right?! I think there’s supposed to be some rest thrown in there, the all important recovery, even a nap (for me, not the kids), perhaps the luxury of sitting down and actually finishing a coffee (and I would not survive without coffee) before it gets cold. Eat, sleep and train. No chance.
8pm and the kids are in bed, I have showered and crept downstairs with a silent victory dance, high-fiving myself that all is quiet. Now would be the time to do some stretching. But if I have any hope of getting any sponsors, I’m going to need to get some social media following going and so much as I hate it, I am sitting down at my laptop to write my first blog post. A glass of wine in hand. All that is left is to thank my long list of sponsors… um, me myself and I. If you want to read more, follow my facebook page for the next update in a week, or whenever I find the time.
