One Month 'til Wimbleball

I woke up in a panic this morning having just accidentally snoozed for half an hour. It didn’t really matter as I had promised myself that today would be a restful one; I wasn’t getting up at 5 to fit in a long ride before work or drive somewhere half an hour away to swim in a (still really cold, it’s May!!) lake. I wasn’t ensuring I was at the gym bang on 6 to fit in a quick swim and decent strength session before dashing off to be in work for 8. I didn’t have a complex bag packing system to organise; involving three different sets of kit and ensuring that my trainers and a carb gel are right at the top ready for a super fast brick transition (non triathlete translation: jumping off the bike and – as quickly as possible – going out for a run). In fact, all I needed to do was get up, eat breakfast and get to work. Easy!


At least, it would have been easy except I nearly fell over as I got out of bed as a result of a major lunging session yesterday; I read in a magazine that is was the best cycling-specific exercise out there, so I enthusiastically added in several sets to my usual session with little thought to the potential consequences. Despite setting my alarm later, having a very uncharacteristic snooze and having to tackle the stairs sideways, it seemed like I had all the time in world and I got to work fed, caffeinated, relaxed and early. Is this what normal people do every day?

I didn’t remain relaxed for too long as I opened my calendar and realised today was the 17th May. That means there is only one month to go until Wimbleball. Suddenly an enormous stream of thoughts started shooting through my mind.. “Have I done enough training”, “I need to do some long bricks”, “I really should stop eating cake every day, as of right now”, “Does my tri suit even still fit me?!”, “ONE MONTH, ARGGH!”, “I don’t think more heavy lunging sets is conducive to quality training, silly magazine”.. In amongst all that, I was thinking times; ideal times, mustn’t go below times, an absolute bottom time if it all goes wrong and I get punctures or drown, time I shouldn’t go above on the bike if I want to physically be able to complete the run. There is so much to think about and I have days where I tell myself that I’ll be able to do it super fast, then days where I wonder why on earth I’m doing this and I’ll just be glad if I finish the thing.

It amazes me how much pressure we all put ourselves under. Pretty much every triathlete I know does the same thing, pre-analysing the different segments, times, goals; it’s what motivates us to train but at the same time it can be an enormous cause of stress. A very sensible, and seasoned triathlete friend said to me last week “Egg, remember why you are doing this. It’s because you enjoy it. It isn’t work, and nobody really cares about your times except for you”, she has a point.

So I shall try to calm myself, rest my lungy legs and ready myself for two and a half more weeks of good training before going into some mystical state that I’ve heard people speak of: the taper.