Fail to prepare, prepare to fail…

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• onSeptember 13, 2016
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Nic Walton – #thetrilifereporter – Month 6

So before I did the Hever middle distance event, the thetrilife sent me various updates to fill in and help plan my race strategy. Before I did this and actioned it I probably would have had a very negative or sceptical view about it. I did the London triathlon in August and I slipped back to my disorganised best – or worst! Forgot to pack a water bottle, okay I could buy one there. I also forgot to pack my running socks. I hadn’t done an Olympic distance since 2013, but I learnt back then that I need to use socks when running over 5km. Blisters!! And true to form they appeared about 7km into the run, I’m going to blame that for not breaking the 40min 10km run that eludes me again. These two forgotten items however, pale when compared to the ‘disaster’ at the race start. Whilst putting on my wetsuit in the race briefing I managed to pull off the zip. An open backed wetsuit isn’t going to really help my swim time. Holly tried to help me reattach, but to no avail. I was the last into the water and got stuck on the 2nd or 3rd line from the front. This led to a scrap past people and some ‘contact’ (ahem). Due to the wetsuit disaster not only did I not get a good start position, but I hadn’t cleaned my goggles. I got a bit lost after one of the buoys, going more left when it
should have been right (doh!!). All in all, the old adage comes back to me ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. I got my target of sub 2hrs 15mins, finishing in 2hrs13mins, but an open wetsuit and no socks – it’s all ifs, buts and maybes. I’ve only got myself to blame and a useful lesson for Elba planning. Learn the lesson this time!!

I’ve been doing a lot of swimming in the lake in preparation for the dart 10k, which Holly and I completed last weekend. What a great event. We were helped by quite a fast current. I finished in 2hrs 15mins and Holly in 2hrs 50mins. I’m super amazed, impressed and proud of her. Its only last summer that she started swimming in open water!

Coming into just 2 weeks to go until Elbaman, I’ve now done most of the long distance training I plan to do. There were some simulation weekends in the training, meaning you’d do all the distance of an iron race in a weekend. On the bike I tend to have a lull mid-way through, I think this is a fuelling issue. Talking it through with Liz from thetrilife I’m going to set an alarm to remind me to eat every half hour. I’ll try that out this weekend.

This will be my last update before the big one at Elba. I’m feeling far more relaxed than a month ago when I was questioning all my kit choices.  Also more relaxed with the run after doing a few runs approaching marathon
distance. I’m a little concerned my swim hasn’t improved in speed and I’ve just become a bit of a diesel (plod along at a slower rate), but nothing to do now.