Please Allow The Deer To Cross - A Triathlon Diary

The weeks are ticking down! I've only got 3 more training weekends left until my first triathlon so this morning I hit the road again, on bike and on foot for a grueling workout. Mum was with me as we are doing the event together. It always helps to have a training partner and mine is super experienced. She has already done 7 triathlons with 2 in the diary for this year so as a training partner, she is brilliant.

We had out trusty driver, my dad, at the ready and bikes at the ready off we went.

TO RICHMOND PARK!

Now, today my darling mother, being the experienced one decided that it was time to up our regime. We were going to do not 1 but 2 circuits of the park on the bike. First, the easy way and then the second lap would be in reverse order which includes a horrendously steep hill which goes on for... well, forever is what it feels like when you are cycling up it.

So, off we went and away we were. It was a beautiful day and I quickly discovered that I was going to be way too hot in the layers I was in as there wasn't much wind. The lack of wind makes it easier to cycle but leaves the early summer sun untouched. It was hot. Now I faced the dilemma of  'do I stop and take it off or just keep hoping and hope that at some point the wind picks up and cools me down?' I went with option two, not wanting to stop at any point due to my timer ticking away, I didn't want to lose valuable seconds with faffing around.

Lap one went fine, there being no traffic lights in Richmond Park is a God send for me - those of you who have read my previous Triathlon Diary entry will know why. If you haven't read it and would like to, you can find it here. There was a little wind here and there, the hills were frustrating as ever and that wind I was talking about... it kicked up and slowed me down a little. My overall face was much slower around Richmond that it is around my 'home' circuit because of the combination of hills and the breeze.

Lap two was were the fun began - and admittedly, some of it was a laugh. The ever dreaded mountain to climb comes quite early on in the way we work the laps so it was out of the way before I had much time to worry about it. It killed. My legs were on fire, I had no gears left to drop into and I could have done with another 10 or so to work through - okay, that's a little dramatic but you get the picture. It sucked going up that hill.....

Then you get to the top and you... well, I felt like fist pumping the air with a big 'WAHOO' because, you know, big achievements and all that. I look around for someone else to celebrate with. (At this point mum is a little ways behind me, bike is my strong suit and know she'll take me down on the run that is yet to come this monring.) So yes, I looking around for a celebration buddy and everyone else seems very nonchalant coming up over the crest and just getting on with their morning ride. I mean, a lot of these guys are semi pro so for them it's not such a revelation that their thighs actually work when put to the test but still - where was their enthusiasm? Come on guys! Live a little!!

During this thought process and the next few hundred meters I must have taken my foot off the pedal a little because the next thing I know my mum is flying past me. 'Want to play tag?' she shouts across to me..... really mother? You want to play tag on our bikes, during a training ride? You're on! I caught her up at the moment of the next hill having used my gears to full advantage (got to love to fly) and over took her around a roundabout. This didn't last long - my mum is a touch on the competitive side so didn't let me get away for long. She over took me fairly quickly again and that just wasn't going to happen. This went for another few 'tags' and then we came to the last long, slow, very gradual incline that goes on for about a mile and my mum. athlete that she has recently become took off. I just couldn't keep up with her. She shrunk into the distance whilst I was struggling up this darn hill with the wind, oh yeah, she was blowing a hooly now, right into my face!

So, I was a little frustrated by this, owing to my own competitive nature and managed, on the home stretch to get ahead of her again. I'm a little more reckless on the downhill than mum is so I make up some ground there. It was great, I was ahead of mum, we had turned out of the head-on wind so it was little easier to keep going when what would happen?? The park's version of traffic lights - deer. An entire herd decided that it needed to cross the road and so it did, in wonderful procession with NO gaps. Just an endless torrent of deer trotting across the road. If I hadn't been on a bike and on the clock it would have been much more enjoyable but in this case it was a little more than irritating.

My cycle route

Once the deer had finished their morning stroll, we made it back to car park, dumped our bikes and off we went for our run. I was right about mum taking me down. She was off like a shot, her body much more used to the transition that mine is from cycling to running. It's a horribly weird feeling that your legs just do NOT want to be a part of.

Having said that, I can definitely feel improvements already in how I adjust and then continue to run. It hurts like hell, I'm not going to lie, it was seriously tough but by the end of the session I feel so good from the endorphin rush and the sheer knowledge of what I have completed that it makes it all worth it.

My running route

I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning, when I won't be able to walk!

Check in with you all soon,

M xx