With just four days to my first half marathon in the new racing chair I thought now would be a good time for my latest training update. Since my last blog a lot has happened and I feel in great spirits. This is despite some horrendous looking blood blisters on my fingers (see above) and a knackered neck and shoulder which has required some physio. On the plus side I’ve had my first session in the rain, I’ve been to the wonderful Preston arena http://www.uclan.ac.uk/uclansport/arena/about.php, I’ve completed my longest distance of 16 miles, signed up for another half marathon in March, found a local wheelchair racing club and been for a training session at Dorney Lake in Eton, which is where Sunday’s race will take place.
I was loathe to go to the physio as I didn’t want to spend £60 to be told that I probably shouldn’t be training. In-fact what actually happened was that I was told the injury was caused by a poor posture when sat at my desk at work and some nifty but eye wateringly painful massage and a few new stretches at home has cleared the injury right up. I went to the very helpful Physio in the City at Canary Wharf http://www.physioonthewharf.co.uk/. They even tried some nifty Kinesio taping on me which as you can see from the pictures left a pretty bizarre and painful tribal kind of mark on my arm when I peeled it off.
I’m also made up with the fact that a new wheelchair racing club has started up near me in Lewisham, http://www.englandathletics.org/news.asp?itemTitle=LCDP+takes+a+leap+forward+at+Lee+Valley§ion=90&itemid=5817. Whilst I think the club is mainly aimed at youngsters trying to get into the sport I really enjoyed being down there and the coach is eager to give me what advice. She is even looking around London to see what training guidance she can find to suit my needs from other coaches and for that I’m incredibly grateful.
I actually feel pretty good about Sunday and am hopeful about being able to get the qualifying time of 1 hour 20 for the 13 miles to get into London. My training has gone about as well as it could have done and I’m really pleased to have made the effort to make it down to the venue, which coincidentally is going to be home to the Olympic Rowing in 2012 http://www.dorneylake.co.uk/index.html. BREAKING NEWS!! As I’m sat writing this blog the race organisers have just phoned me to talk through how Sunday is going to go. I’ve just been told that they will start me off 3-5 minutes before everyone else and that if the timing chip doesn’t work they will still be able to provide proof of my time. Hurrah!
The only thing I’m worried about is the wind and not the kind caused by too much cabbage. When I was at the course yesterday one side of the lake, which we will do four laps around, is protected from the wind and I was able to hit about 13 miles per hour for the long 2 mile stretch. The problem is on the other side its open to the elements and the wind was harsh. My speed dropped down to 7 miles per hour and it was an absolute killer trying to make any progress. I managed 10 miles in 1 hour 3 minutes which is not far off my race pace, so I’m hoping some much needed adrenaline will get me to the finish line in the time I need.
Feel free to send me any messages of support and I’ll let you know how I get on after the race.
