Its like I'm almost a professional!

I've been attending bootcamp now for around 6 weeks, and until yesterday I have really enjoyed every session. There was something that just wasn't right yesterday, and I really struggled throughout the whole session. The session had some really good drills that I enjoyed even though I felt that I had been working hard, but the plyometric element of the session nearly bought me to tears and I had a mini strop/meltdown during the drinks break. This is the first time I have doubted myself during bootcamp as it is so inclusive, so I had a little moan and tried to just get on with it for the rest of the session. This has just highlighted that I need to work on the plyometric element of training more, something that I have avoided for a while simply because I find it hard, you try jumping whilst trying to lift this weight with you! But I guess it won't get any easier if I keep avoiding it!

Other than that mini strop this week has been a great week of training. I have managed to get the motivation back, to get back into the gym for my weight sessions again, which resulted in the most incredible DOMS which only got worse as the week went on, to the point that when I went back to the gym Wednesday the legs were still pretty painful.

I kept the sessions this week pretty simple, mirroring what I posted last week but I know now it is time to make them harder and add some different stuff in to make a circuit, this is likely to be some form of plyometric exercise such as static long jumps, which I can do in the same space as my walking lunges, down "lunge alley"

I did also find some time to amuse myself at the gym, there is nothing more satisfying as a girl when you lift heavier than one of the guys in there. I was backwards and forwards to the latpull down and chest press from lunge alley, and seemed to be sharing the machines with a couple of lads working out together. I don't think they found it quite as amusing as I did that I knocked the weight up an extra 5kg on each set which was matching them kg for kg, I also think the poor things bit off more than they could chew as they were throwing themselves around to push the weight out, oh well, they'll learn!

Swimming this week has been successful; I have managed two sessions in the pool, and have got up to 100m front crawl with relaxed breathing. The new goggles have made a huge difference to my head position as I can see much more and they aren't steaming up as much. I have also now got a target for the swim, as I have booked onto an open water coaching session for beginners with Mary at @inspire2tri and for this I need to be able to swim 500m. The swim is on 22/8 so that’s seven weeks and counting. Due to this I have decided to add another swim into my weekly training schedule so I can concentrate on achieving my goal. I have set a target for the tri in September for my swim time and if I make it I think I may shock a few people, myself included! The trouble is, I don't wear a watch when I'm swimming so I can't analyse my sessions, @TheIron_Bear has again and again told me how important the numbers are when training and now I understand why (yes you were right AGAIN! I really should learn to listen more), so I guess I need to look for a watch I can wear in the water (and works in the water).

The bike has made a couple of trips out this week, once with a local ladies cycling group Regency Riders where I was able to test out for the first time the bikes (and my) climbing ability. I need to work on this, I'm still getting used to how twitchy the bike is compared to the hybrid so I find getting out of the saddle a little wobbly, so have been (quick break to cry uncontrollably as Andy Murray wins Wimbledon in straight sets) getting up the hills in the saddle while I get used to the bike, but I guess this will come, and I'm still relatively new to cycling so I know I just need to keep working on it, and it'll come with practice.

The second ride I did this morning. I was going to do a local Skyride that leaves from the park at the back of my house but it wasn't leaving until 10am and was set to be a four hour ride, with the heat today set to be hot hot hot, I thought better of it! I DO NOT like the heat! Instead I went out early with Tracey and Anne on a ride around Sherbourne and Charlecote and back home, which was around 20 miles, again there were a few hills to get up but we had a really nice ride. I have added padded shorts to my list of things to buy, as the last few miles of that ride really wasn't comfortable! 

So going forward I have written my training plan for the week ahead, as well as my eating plan. When I was losing weight quickly I did this every Sunday then found it easy to stick to, so I need to get into the habit of doing this again to keep focused as I have 12 weeks to Stratford Triathlon and I have put high expectations upon myself for preparation for the day and for the day itself. I didn't lose all this weight to throw it all in now, so I'm now a girl on a mission to make the next big change.