I feel a change a comin...

Well, I have been studying for some time now and I only have one module left of my 'Total Immersion' PT course to do and then that's it - I am done!!! So far I have Diplomas in Personal Training & Advanced Instructor (Level 3), Sports Nutrition, Nutrition & Weight Management, Client Psychology & Motivation, Gym Instruction, Core Stability & Torso Training, Circuit Training and also my Sports Therapy (L3) which I completed back a few years ago...

So I now need to get up off my (slightly fatter than usual!!) arse and do something about it!! I have a couple of people who I am coaching for tri, a few clients whom require my Sports Therapy help and a few people needing nutritional advice - so why am I doing this for free when I could start charging and get some back some of the £xxxx's it cost me to get qualified!!

So, short term goals are:

Get myself onto the REPS register asap - for those who don't know, this is the Register of Exercise Professionals. This will get me recognised nationally and is THE place to be seen if you are serious in becoming a fitness professional...

Speak to the good old HMRC as well to see how setting up a small business will affect me taxwise? It's not like I will be raking it in to start with but I must be legit from the start!!

To come up with a name for the business?? I want to be triathlon focussed but at the same time, not leave myself cornered into just one market... My main priority will be sports therapy but I am also looking to expand my coaching and PT along with this so getting the right name is a tricky one! May need to call upon the experts out there for advice?

Long term goals:

Quit my job and start up running my own business and make millions ;o) Not really too interested in making the millions to be honest, I just want to be comfortable and to be able to get up in the morning and look forward to the next working day doing something that I love doing, rather than the dreary daily trudge to a job that I am not really suited to and not really any good at!! Helps if you are interested in it in the first place...

Post over :o)

Gutted x2!!!!

Gutted - part1.

Well, today was d-day!! Decision time for whether I will be fit enough to take part in the Gosport Half Marathon...

Short answer: I am not :o(

Long answer: My plan for this race was to go sub 1:25 and to succeed at this target I would need at least 4-5 good, solid weeks of run-focussed training under my belt. However, after picking up a calf injury at my last race I gave myself at least 10 days of rest, icing and massage to try and speed up the healing process but after trying a little run today (OK, 30 minutes may not have been the best idea...), my calf didn't really want to know!!! OK, so it wasn't very sore but after 10 minutes it started to get tight so I stopped and stretched and did a bit of self-massage (to the calf, pleeeeeaaaase.....) and this eased it a bit but it soon started to get tight again so I knew that I had come back a little early and it needs more time, so I decided to pull the plug on the half mara there and then...

Gutted - part 2.

I was having major issues with my TT shifters on my new bike at the 'OneLastTri'. They would shift down but when you wanted to change up, you literally were pulling the whole bar up to do so!!!
Took it to my LBS and they have taken the shifters off and without the cable in, they move up and down freely but when the cables are in them, the are as stiff as a stiff thing!!
So, they do not think it is the shifters themselves causing the problem but in the internal cable routing... If this is the issue, I don't where I will stand with it being fixed? I have only used it probably three times so that is not a good ROI!!! I'll await the final verdict from the shop and then I may have to get back to Jamie from Blue???

Late race report...

One last tri - 3rd October 2010

Preparation for this race wasn't the best it could have been to be honest... I have had a lot of issues, like ongoing stomach problems (blood tests needed, medication etc), a slightly tweaked calf and not a whole huge amount of training was done to be honest!! One thing I was looking forward to was the run :o) My run training had been coming along quite well and had been doing some good interval sessions (yasso's - these are a predictor in what you can run a marathon in and say, if you think you can run a 3hr marathon, you have to do 800m in 3 minutes and then have a recovery of the same time.). So I chose the 3 minutes as bit of a laugh as I though how hard would it be... VERY, was the answer!! I started off doing 4 reps and then planned to work upto 10 and start again but with cutting the rest down. Over the weeks that I was doing these, I averaging around 2.57's for the 800's so I was pretty chuffed to say the least - now only if I could do a 2.57 marathon ;o)

Race week:
Picked up a cold, the race distance was cut in half, was in two minds whether to do it!!!

Made the decision on the Friday that I would give it a go and just tough it out - it was only a cold...

Racked up and registered on the Saturday and this took a bit longer than expected (got bit of an earful from someone for that!!) but had a good chat with the brothers Bairstow (friends and also guys I am coaching at the moment). The forecast for race day was not good so Chris kindly got a huge cover for our bikes (well, I think it was so big it would have covered the whole of transition!!) and this was a godsend, as nearly as soon as we were finishing it off, it started to rain :o(

Race day:
Got up at around 3.45am OMG!!! Had 2 x croissants with honey and a cup of coffee and then waited for Mr T (No, not BA Baracus but this was the Bionik Man from Tri talk) as he was supporting us down there - he was a real help on the day :o)

As we set off, there was no rain and no wind - what do these weathermen know!! Quite a lot actually... As we drove 5 minutes down the road, the heavens opened and the wind started to gust :o(

Got down to Sandy Balls and checked the run bag was OK and kept with the racing flats even though Richard (the race director) had advised us not too due to the conditions. Got onto the coach in good spirits - I think it was the madness setting in, as the conditions were now awful...Thank god Chris was there with a spare set of goggles as I had stupidly left them in my car!!!

Got to T1 with a bit of time to spare and just managed to get everything set up (drinks, extra clothes, hair dryer) before the generator that powered the lights failed!! Thats how miserable it was down there :o(

Headed off to the swim start and the atmosphere was surprisingly good - the aforementioned madness had started to spread ;o) We were nearly all huddled under the canopy of a little hut trying to stay dry, uh, we were all about to go for a swim....

SWIM: We were called into the water and it was surprisingly warm(ish) - well, warmer than the outside temperature! Thought I'd start far left and go pretty hard for the first 100m's or so. Off we went and got going pretty quickly but then I started to hit some weeds, I mean ones that you put your arm into and it almost gets stuck!!! Then tried to head towards the centre and got into a bit of biff - there was only around of 100 of us and for fook sake, I still manage to swim into people!! I was trying to find some feet to swim off but I only managed it with about 200m to go - my sighting was that bad!!! I really need to work on this as I have the short distance speed and my predicted times are a lot quicker than this but once I get in OW, I just cannot put it into practice!!!
Got out in about 30th odd place and saw a time of 20.xx - I was actually really pleased with this at the time as I thought that this time for 1300m was good - worked out that the swim was a tad short :o(

T1 - Spent a little while trying to put a jacket on and also trying to find get my race belt on as this had blown off my bike due to the wind... Total time for this and swim was 22.45.
Bike: Got onto the bike and set off pretty quick overtaking three riders within the first few hundred metres :o) Negotiated the nasty wet cattle grid near the start and was off...
The bike is my strongest discipline so I had hoped to give Bluey a good first showing. One major mistake I made was wheel choice! Opted for a disc cover rear and a tri spoke front as the conditions on the Saturday were pretty good but did I listen to the weatherman, did I eck!!! The rear was fine but it was the tri spoke, it was a twitchy as a twitchy thing in those strongs winds!! I had to on several occasions, sit up a grab the handlebars - the aerobars were not a safe place to be... This (along with my new SRAM gears seizing uparound half way) cost me a bit of time, however, I did still manage the fastest bike split of the day - well done Bluey :o)

T2: Pretty quick but had to take jacket et al off so was quite time consuming...

Bike time and T2 (I think?) was 1:14:10.

Run: Got my racing flats on (oops, bad decision...) and shot out of T2. At this time I was in fifth place :o) The run course was a basteward to say the least, up then down, round and up a bit more, you get the jist... Managed to catch up to 4th after about a mile and a half and was running too fast as I was getting excited as I had never been this high up in a race before!! Not long later caught the third runner (found out later that one of the other runners ahead of me had dropped out) who in fact was second... It was just past this stage that I felt my right calf (remember the twinge I mentioned...) starting to hurt and not just that, my left hamstring was also - in fact, both legs were in loads of pain!!!
I spotted the leader about 150m up the road at one point and I thought I might get him however, it was at this same point I looked back and spotted two runners that I hadn't passed behind me - damn!! Well, they quickly overtook me and the young girl (eventual winner) flew past me and I tried to stay with her but by 200m at her pace I let her go and then to compound it, another guy went past but this time I stayed on his feet for a while longer but once again I had to let him go as I was pushing much too hard and if I wanted to finish, I had to back off!!! So, I was back down to fourth, a little disappointed but happy that I was in the top five. With about 1 to 2 miles to go I was passed again (chicked for a 2nd time...) but I kind of expected it as my calf was really bad by now and I was just hoping that I could get to the finish at all!!!The course did not lend itself to racing flats at all and at points on the run, I was over ankle deep in mud and it was this, along with all the ups and downs, jumping over tree roots etc that led to my now pulled calf!!!
Ended up with a 1:14:32 run which was 6th fastest of the day - just wish I could have been able to show my true potential on the course but it was never to be...

However, things weren't all bad ;o) Got fifth overall, 3rd male and a I won the 35-39 age group and got a £50 Primera voucher (already spent!!) and a nice little trophy :o)

A big thanks to Richard & Jo & Paul at RNF for the great organisation and also the free food at the end, that was great...

Oh, forgot to tell you Mick (if you are reading this?). We were talking to a couple of TTers (ManVsTarmac and MarkD) and they actually thought you were a girl with a name like 'Tweenster'... I had to chuckle ;o)

Now onto the Gosport Half Marathon in November - if I can shake this calf pull off...