Right then, children, what have we learnt today?

Adam, my youngest son, will be taking his 11+ exam in a few weeks time. If he passes he will be eligible for acceptance into one of the highly commended Grammar schools in Aylesbury, so it is quite important, although some might question whether or not so much pressure is good for the kids at such an early age.

For the uninitiated, 11+ questions are sorted into specific groups. They do not test general knowledge but instead they test an individual’s aptitude and ability to solve problems. Over the past few months I have been coaching Adam, in addition to his private tuition and school lessons, for the exam which he is taking early October. More recently this has concentrated on those particular types of questions with which he has been having particular difficulty.

This week’s question-type which Adam has learnt is type “C”. Here’s an example:-

If the code for TRAP is USBQ, what does DPME mean? The answer is COLD (I’ll leave you to figure out why).

It's all about learning the ‘method’. If you can do this then you will get all the questions correct; if not and they’ll all be wrong. Adam has learnt the method this week and, consequently, has got all the type C questions correct. The look on his face when the penny dropped was priceless.

I too learnt something very important this week and that is that I must not enter races unprepared. Take Saturday’s Vitruvian, for example. Whilst I am generally fit and ready for Sprint and Olympic distances, my fitness is nowhere near what it should be to take on anything longer.

From the moment I got out of the swim the race was sheer hell. My legs were shot to pieces and I had incredible lower back pains after 30 miles of the 50 mile bike. Getting off the bike, I could not feel my legs, and things just went downhill from there. For some reason, as I crossed the finish line I actually broke down in tears. I’m not sure why, but I think it was out of relief that I had finished and also anger at myself for having put myself through it all.



Truth be told, I only entered the race to join in with the other members of the club, but what has it done for me? I have raced over much harder courses, but I cannot recall any other race where I have struggled more to get past the finish line. I didn’t enjoy it and I am now a totally spent force for the coming week’s training. It wasn’t part of my season-plans at the beginning of the year, and it has cost me a small fortune.

I know now, more than ever, that I must not veer from my pre-arranged training schedule merely for the sake of vanity. I have been there, seen it, done it, etc. and have nothing to prove to myself at long distance races, so I must stick with what my coach Mark K has told me to do and nothing else. If I don’t then I know it will all end in more tears.

Very little training this week as I was tapering for the Vit, but here’s what I did anyway (in Portugal until Tuesday):-

Monday – run – progressions at 5k pace
Tuesday – run – fast 5k time-trial – 2 minutes faster than over same course last year
Wednesday – rest day (tapering)

Thursday – rest day (tapering)
Friday – rest day (tapering)
Saturday – race – Vitruvian Middle Distance tri (1900m swim, 85k bike, 21k run) – 5:39:52 (see some of the Shires Triers contingent below - from left to right: Jo, Rob (aka Bananaman), Paul's son (not racing!), Paul, Me)
Sunday – recovery day

Big ups to Jo for being the fastest Shire of the day, and to Tracey who completed her season aim and finished her first long distance race, but I think most congratulations should go to Paul Clutten who chopped off a whole 30 minutes from last year’s time at the same race. Goes to show what some hard, specific training can do.

But my biggest congratulations of all over the weekend must go to my good friend Robert Collis who placed first in his age group at the washed-out Northampton Olympic. Bob is a bit of a poser and so couldn’t resist sending me a couple of pics which I shall share with you all below. If you look closely in the second picture you will see a tent, half submerged, in the distance!





EDIT: Another big fat pat on the back to another friend from the tri club, Dan, who I have just found out managed a fantastic top 25% place in his first ever Olympic at the aforementioned Northampton wash-out. Dan hasn't ran 6 miles for over a year and yet still beats my PB! Git! Well done, Dan.

Next week it will be back to run-specific stuff, culminating in the Dorney Lake Orca Olympic distance race, my penultimate race in a very long and enjoyable season. Am looking forward to it very much.

Before then, though, I am off to see Stevie Wonder at Birmingham NIA on Monday in one of his rare UK concerts. As a big life-long fan I couldn’t resist the temptation of tickets as soon as I heard he was coming to the UK. A particular favourite song of mine is "Uptight", which is exactly how I feel right now about how I needlessly, but temporarily, let my training go off course.

Cheers.

C