Anyone who is involved in triathlon enough to label themselves as a 'triathlete' will relate to what I am going to write about. Bold statement, I know, but it's true.

Addiction.

It's one of those words which carries negative connotations. Even when colleagues off-handedly mention how crazy you are, muttering something about addiction and being insane, got issues etc, all light-hearted, of course. But is it? Is it a serious and debilitating condition, being addicted to triathlon? Doubtful. But it does, without a shadow of doubt, dictate your life to some extent.

But I choose to do this, I hear you protest! Yes, we all do. But there becomes a time where the choice and the need blur together with intangible boundaries. Where does choice end and need begin? At the point you become addicted to triathlon.

I know this because I'm there. I'm sure this will still be subject to considerable disagreement from many of those in denial, but let's face facts and accept it. Embrace the urge, that relentless frustration, that hit, and that rush we get from it. Sound familiar? Thought so…

This end of season rest period has given me food for thought, as you can tell from my marginal stray away from more the more technical, physicality of triathlon and more ponderings on the emotional and psychological side of the sport. Anyway, I was given a wonderous two weeks rest from my coach. OMG. At first I wondered how on earth I would cope without training. This has dominated my life for a year, what will I do? I took down time, as you will see from my previous blog post.

Down time (aka cocktail time)

Then I took some more down time. I actually emailed my coach after two weeks and said I wasn't ready to train again. Cue shock/horror.

This even surprised me. But after this level of training, you get to know your mind and your body very well. It sounds obvious, but you really learn to listen to your body. I knew I didn't feel 100% ready to train. I also knew that if I went ahead and trained anyway, I would be forcing myself. This would not be a good start to a whole year of hardcore commitment and determination. Next year is going to be tough, and I am very conscious of it.

For that reason I decided to make a sensible decision and ask for an extension to my rest period. My coach was more than forthcoming about giving me an extra week, he said he wasn't worried about loss of fitness but more of the psychological effect training has on you, and you need to feel ready for it again. He confirmed everything I knew.

I had a gut feeling and I followed it. If I forced myself into training there is a risk that I might resent it at some point. It is natural to have days where you don't feel like training and you get through it anyway. That is different. I needed long enough off so that I began to miss it. So that urge, that burning little fire inside us that makes us so driven to get out there, to test ourselves, to achieve – that is what I was looking for.

Ready to train again

Some people call it 'mojo'. Probably quite rightly so. Whatever it is, I needed it back. And I knew that nothing I would do would work effectively if I forced it. I needed it to come back to me, 100% naturally. It needed to come from inside me, rather than dictated to me on my training plan.

It worked. 

This last week I *chose* to train again, rather than *having* to. This is so vital to me having a successful season next year. I need to start off on a positive note, completely and utterly ready to push the hardest and furthest I ever have, both physically and mentally. This initial urge will carry me through. I will remember what it was like when I had the rest period and how much I wanted to train again. This is the beginning…
 

Robert Twells October 22, 2013

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Last December, I took the plunge to get a coach. This was primarily to tone my training down, as I have a very strong tendency to over train, and it wasn’t helping me improve as much as I’d like to (not that I had much to ‘improve’ on as I was utterly rubbish!). So in the world of a structured training programme and under the direction of someone who actually knew what they were talking about (Steve Lloyd, Absolute Tri), I had an enforced rest day once a week.

Beach time R&R with my dog
 
This took a bit of adjustment – resting was not really in my repertoire. But seeing the gains I have made this year, and many a technical article on how an athlete only actually improves during the rest phase, I took heed of this advice and did what I was told. I had to get used to training blocks which included ‘recovery’ weeks, a week of easier training, and even had a whole week off after Mallorca 70.3 and Ironman UK.

Then there’s the end of season rest period. That is now. I am mid-way through an entire two weeks of training, and I have mixed feelings about it. I anticipated getting very itchy feet, feeling like I had gone slightly mental, and craving some of those exercise endorphins I have such an addiction to. Not the case. I decided that I would do absolutely nothing for the first week, then maybe incorporate a little light ‘non-triathlon’ exercise in the second week.

First week flew by, and here I am. I was so busy organising the sportive I set up and run twice a year that I barely noticed I wasn’t actually training! Many people have asked me how I have managed it, when I am so used to training. It’s a strange one, because I have found it very easy…

The Cycle Sportive

Maybe I’m just getting lazy?

Or, more likely, my mind and my body both need this rest so much that I have adapted naturally to the rest period. It’s like sinking into a hot bath, it is kind of a relief, to be perfectly honest. There is no pressure to get up, fit early morning training sessions in, rush home from work and train all evening, spend most of the weekend rushing around training – I can just relax. It makes for a refreshing change.

A cheeky mojito (ssshh, don't tell my nutritionist, Fitnaturally)

It has also provided the perfect opportunity to catch up on things I haven’t been able to do. Some things have been an integral part of the R&R phase – I have had regular physio sessions with my fantastic support team at Emma James Physio, and this has been a fundamental component of my recovery (especially for my post-marathon DOMS).

A few visits to my physio have been in order!

I have also had some family time, a few dog walks, I have been horse riding and climbing, my other two passions which I rarely get time for these days, the all-important bike cleaning, and of course, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t taken the opportunity while not training to have a few ‘beverages’. I’m not a huge drinker and never have been, so can quite happily go without, but I have to say, it has been nice to not worry about it and also to catch up with friends who I have not seen for most of the year…!

Therepeutic horse riding

Despite an underlying temptation to train (it’s pretty easy to ignore at the moment), I have learned in my few years of triathlon the vital part that rest and recovery plays in not only your short term goals but for long term performance. I know that if I carried on now I would burn out, and wouldn’t reach my ‘peak’ next year in as good form. It’s not even the physical rest – all this training is mentally tough too, and for a brief couple of weeks of the year, I can sit back and not have to worry about it, take the pressure off myself, and let those not-quite-so-marginal gains settle in ready for another year of PBs…

Robert Twells October 8, 2013

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Marathons. This is kind of where it all started for me, and I'm probably not the only one. Way back in 2011 (see my irony here) I ran the London Marathon, my first ever feat of this kind. It was textbook stuff – I got a charity place, thought it was the biggest challenge ever, trained hard, and ran it in 4:06. I was over the moon, and the very next day, I signed up to run the Amsterdam Marathon that same year, in the Autumn. For some reason, I never stopped.

 
Of course it's addictive, training is now my drug. Since 2011, I have consistently run two marathons a year. It was my contract to myself; to explore the world by doing cool things all over the place. This year it was Paris in April, and my very last race of the season: the Berlin Marathon.

Ready for the last race of the season

This race, at the end of last year when I signed up for it, was a biggie for me. I'd done a few triathlons that year but wasn't taking it seriously at all, I was totally rubbish and had only done one middle distance at this point. However, the way this season has snowballed and somehow I have ended up slightly better than mediocre at this triathlon game, coupled with the fact I did an Ironman only 8 weeks ago, meant that the marathon was relatively inconequential for me, I was almost just going through the motions.

 Beautiful Berlin

I knew I'd get a PB. That, for the first time in my life of marathon-running, was an absolute given. I was 100% confident I would, for a number of reasons. I ran Paris earlier in the year with a borderline chest infection, ran the whole thing steady because I had Mallorca 70.3 only a few weeks afterwards and didn't want to compromise that race, and I'm 3/4 of a stone lighter, thanks to my nutritionist Fitnaturally. Added to that is the fact that I am the fittest I have ever been in my life, have been training endurance for a year, and had a full nutrition strategy provided to me by fitnaturally. (In previous marathons I had 3 gels, this one I had 7!) I just didn't know how much of a PB, at this point…

So the odds were good. Great, in fact. I flew over on my own after a delightful 3am wakeup call the day before the race, went from airport to Expo, registered, checked into my BEAUTIFUL apartment (it is worthy of capital letters, trust me), and focused on rest and nutrition. 

The apartment of dreams

I woke up feeling, again, for the first time ever since running marathons, confident and not at all nervous (former nervous-wreck on marathon mornings). I walked 2 miles to the race start, it was cold but a fantastically sunny day. Perfect conditions, bring it on.

Through the start line alongside 40,000 other runners, what an atmosphere. Nothing new to me though, and I have to say that for the entire marathon, I was relatively oblivious to the Berlin scenery, supporters, and other runners bar the few in my immediate vicinity! 

I started off at a good pace feeling comfortable and strong. 7:30 minute miles, not bad. When I reached 10k in 50 minutes I knew that if I could maintain 8 minute miles, I would be on for a 3:30. This would be unbelievable (for me). I focused on retaining good form and smashing back a gel every 30 minutes. I skipped every other water station to save a bit of time (water is over-rated, anyway!). Half way, I started to hurt a bit. Ignore it. Two thirds of the way, I started to hurt a lot. Ignore it. My achilles was a little sore, my legs were a lot sore. Ignore it.

For the first half, 8 minute miles were really comfortable, for the second half, I had to work a lot harder to maintain this, especially in the last 10k. I blocked out the pain, and ploughed on. I was gunning for sub 3:30 and aware of the fact I was so borderline, I was in some kind of self-inflicted concentration camp, as I pushed and pushed for that goal.

Here is the irritating bit. There seemed to be a false finish line. Maybe it was just that oasis in the desert moment, a momentary, halucinatory mirage! I'm sure that was the finish line I just sprinted to, why are people still running? Bloody hell, I have to do another sprint finish! It just seemed to carry on and on. My Garmin definitely read nearly 27 miles, but maybe that was all the wavering and people-dodging along the course. Anyway, I was again oblivious to what I'm sure was excellent crowd support, and did my second sprint to the actual finish. Heart rate 189, OUCH. Over the line in 3:31 (damn). 

 
I couldn't help feeling marginally disappointed that I didn't quite make sub 3:30, but I had just smashed my PB by 23 minutes! That was more than I thought I was capable of, and it was a great way to finish off the season.

As one of the 'Marathon Majors' Berlin is up there as one of the biggest in the world. I was very chuffed, therefore, to find out the following stats (boring figures alert):

545 out of 9,000 females
90 in category (under 30) out of 1100
34th British female 

Not bad for a token race, but the most important thing is that it marked the end of a fantastic, life-changing season for me. A year of PBing all over the place, some exciting trips around Europe, and a great network of people supporting me. If next year is anything like this year then I will be well and truly euphoric….

Robert Twells October 1, 2013

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