Managing Expectations

Past 2 weeks training sessions had not been good. Made me felt as if I had lost my stamina and endurance fitness after the 2 weeks of reservist as well as the bout of flu. Was telling Coach about it and he mentioned that it could due to the high and positive thinking when I was doing well during the daily sessions as well as the AVIVA70.3. And probably due to the inactivity and flu as well. I had expected deterioration. But not as bad as what I had been getting of late.


Wednesday did a session of 75km. That was pretty alright though I know that my cadence was off. I use to ride 90-95 comfortably. That had gone down to under 90. I thought: maybe it was the interval session the night before. So did not put much thought to that.


Thursday started really late on a 11km tempo run. Stopped on the 1st loop of a 4.1km coz I knew I wasnt going to make it for another 2 loops. And that was only a 5:20 pace, which on normal days would be not too bad especially on a shorter run like this. I attributed it to the long work hour and dinner I had with my ex colleagues. Run started past 10pm. So I stopped.


Friday swim session. This was the 1st session by Coach since 3 weeks ago. Dark clouds loomed half way through but I managed to finished all the sets anyway. An absolute nightmare. 4x200m, 10x100m, 10x50m. Before the break I was doing 3:20 for the 200m, under 1:40 for 100m and under50s for 50m. All decreased by 5s per lap this time! 3:35, 1:45 and 52. I was back to beginning of the year times!


Saturday. Had a late Friday night at work. Back home only past 1130. Rushed to prep my bike for Saturday and only turned in half hour past 12. Basically only had 5 hours of sleep or less. Planned to do a 180km ride just to clock the mileage. Waited with Andrew for Wilson for an hour but no show because of a silly miscommunication. In the end, started on 3 loops of Mandai with Andrew and thereafter decided to ride our to the usual long route on my own after Andrew had to leave. Cadence again was off and I know for sure I had lost my cycling legs.


So how do I manage all these setback? Probably 1st start is to forget all the targets I had set in my mind for Cairns. By removing all the expectations for myself will reduce the pressure to amp my sessions up. Slowly rework it through the course of the next few weeks. If things do get better, perhaps relook at the expectations again. If not, just let it pass and handle Cairns has it comes. Its not pleasant to have to go through this. Perhaps, looking it as a family holiday and enjoy snorkeling, theme parks with my family will be something I can look forward to. After all, this is only a triathlon.


Easier said then done, perhaps. But better psyche myself up so that my holiday wont be spoilt.