Your body is your vehicle through life.
I bought a new set of scales and they say I am heavier than I thought I was.
I bought a new gadget to measure my sleep and it says I don’t sleep as well as I thought I did.
I bought a new power meter and today’s test says I don’t put out as many watts as my previous power meter said I did.
Maybe it’s time to stop buying new gadgets.
Another cold snap has hit us when we were getting used to the idea of some milder weather and the roadside flowers of spring. From Twitter and whatnot I get the impression that people not used to riding through a winter are riding their bikes and struggling a little with the cold. Morning temperatures are below freezing, it has been incredibly windy, and the day hasn’t been getting much warmer. So what are my tips?
Training over the last couple of weeks has reinforced to me how great it can be to live in Wales, particularly if you get your arse out there to see it. The tides have been high in the mornings making the ride out onto the Gower particularly scenic and encouraging me to warm down after tempo runs on the beach. We’ve seen an uncharacteristic amount of sun and dry weather in the late winter and early spring this year.
The Llanelli half-marathon started on a cold morning, which is typical of this race, but without the usual rain/hail/40kph winds. There was a fair old breeze blowing by the coast but we had a bit more protection this year on the new course. This is an early season leg-tester/leg-speeder-upper. It’s an indicator of what the legs have, of weaknesses, and of what needs to be done. So what happened?
Wow, it’s the first race of the year already. It’s a bit early and I’m not anywhere near race form yet but the Llanelli half-marathon is a good tester and gets some race pace into your legs. Last year I was ahead fitness-wise because of an early European Triathlon Champs in April, but for 2013 I won’t be peaking until June. I think I’ll have a time and pace in mind, will start off sensibly (ha, as if!) and see if I can finish the second half of the race strongly. When your focus is a 10km run for most of the year you forget how bloody long a 21.1km race is.