Happy Celtman Year...

It's the morning of January 1st 2024, and I wake up with a headache...  Hangover?  Nope, I don't drink, and went to bed at 9pm.  I should have been in work for my Ambulance Service day shift this morning, but instead I'm tucked up in bed, testing positive for Covid and feeling properly rough.  

My phone buzzes beside the bed: the 'do not disturb' setting has self-deactivated, and I have a few 'Happy New Year' messages.  One of them says 'Happy Celtman Year': it's from Kate, who will be 50% of my support crew on June 15th, less than 6 months from now.  

LESS THAN 6 MONTHS FROM NOW. 

167 Days until I'm standing in this image, in a field in the North West of Scotland wearing a wetsuit and a pink swim hat, psyching myself up for the biggest physical challenge of my life to date.  

 

I have a feeling of rising panic.  Of 'Oh my god, how will I ever fit in all the training'.  (Translated: 'How will I ever be good enough?') 

But I know I need to resist that, to push against it.  Slowly, slowly, catchy that T2A cutoff time.  Take the time now to be ill, to recover, to support Mark through the family bereavement that he, his family, we, have recently suffered, and to come back gradually and sensibly.  

So where am I now?  At the start of the year... 

Swim:  

My front crawl is coming on well; I'm down to an average pace in the pool of 2:30-2:45/100m, and in (very cold) open water an average of under 2:30/100m.  My endurance has dropped a bit, but that will increase naturally as the water warms and I can spend more time outdoors.  I'm routinely swimming 2-3 times per week, disasters and rosters permitting.  It would be nice to be able to swim more often but given where we live, my shift work and our limited Highland pool access, happy that it's going pretty well. 

Bike:  

My FTP has increased a bit over the last couple of months, to 185 watts, and I'm considering doing an FTP test to find out if it has in fact increased further.  Before Christmas I completed a 3.5-hour 'climby' session on Zwift; my endurance has decreased a bit since the autumn - that session felt hard.  So that's something to work on, alongside climbing strength and base pace.  I haven't ridden outside as much as I'd like over the last month or so while it's been cold outside - again, something to work on. 

Run: 

Following my session with Trail Running Scotland I've been working on ankle strength & mobility, and rebuilding some of my previous competence on rough ground, and it feels like this is going well.  At Christmas we had a great session in the Pentland hills while visiting family; thoroughly enjoyable, but best of all I felt strong and capable.  The move to controlling my own training feels like it's beginning to pay off, and it's reignited a love of the hills. 

Planning, logistics, support and other stuff: 

It felt like this went a little bit awry over Christmas... with our world turned upside down just a little, and both of us ill, I was very much off-piste from my planning.  But in the circumstances, managing to do just a little bit, whenever possible, was probably the best I could hope for.  Just keep putting one foot forward. 

I have a support team in place: Mark to provide Bike fettling and be my support runner; Kate to be there in Transition, make sure I've got my kit on the right way round, wash the salt off my cold body after the swim, warm up my tired body and brain, pick up my morale when required, provide general logistics genius-ness and be chief Cheerleader.  My kit is coming together; I have my swim & bike setups sorted, and a multitude of different options for what to wear depending on the weather conditions.  

I have a plan pulled together for the next 5 months with a gradual build to get me to each distance, that I hope will help me get there in the required time... and plans in place to cover those distances on the Celtman course itself.  For some, that course-specificity can't, or won't, be part of their plan - but for me, already at the slowest end of the start line, it will be critical to helping me organise and battle my way to the finish.  I'm priveleged to live so close to the course that I can train on it regularly - but of course this is also the reason why the race means so much to me. 

My goals for race day?  

1.  Stand on the start line with the belief that I can cross the finish line.  

2.  Make it to T2A within the cutoff (13 hours from race start) in order to be allowed to cross the finish line.  

3.  Finish.  

So I'm counting down the months, weeks and days, and as I recover from Covid I need to keep my mind firmly on The Long Game.  

Yes, 5am on June 15th feels close.  But rushing back too early and pushing myself too hard, too soon will be damaging in the long run.  I need to take it steady, one day at a time, one session or one interval at a time, and build back gradually to feeling 100%.  Just like on race day... One step at a time.