So the summer is seemingly over and the Olympics are finished.
I watched London 2012 win its bid 7 years ago and this summer witnessed the greatest show on earth.
I was incredibly lucky with tickets (into lucky read organised in the beginning and then having a very tenacious friend at the last). I managed; Hockey, Equestrian, Diving, VolleyBall, both road races, Mens Timetrial and both Triathlons as well as Track Cycling, Paralympic Athletics, Waterpolo and Trampolining test events.
I held a torch. I saw the opening ceremony dress rehersal . I was gutted for Mark Cavendish and ecstatic for Bradley Wiggins. I cried with Jess Ennis, hid behind my sofa for Mo Farah and watched with awe; Richard Whitehead, Victoria Pendleton, the Brownles's and coutless other magical moments. I cheered myself hoarse. I waved Union Jacks till my arms hurt and never learned the second verse of the National Anthmn. I waited in countless queues and staked my claim on prime pieces of grass and tarmac. I shouted at screens big and small and watched triumphant athletes "float" in central London.
I was proud and emotional, sometimes angry and I #savedthesurprise.
I lived pretty much every moment of the Olympics and I am so lucky that they came to town in my lifetime.
With all this being involved something had to give and it was the training. September is almost done and no triathlon has been completed so that goal is being moved to next year. London Triathlon in September is the aim. As always fingers are crossed for the London Marathon ballot which is revealed in early October. I will also have another go at the Asics Super 6 (which is responsible for starting this blog in the first place).
It does take a bit of a mental kick up the arse to get back into training after such a sporadic August so I had a bit of a think about why I do it. I came up with the following list:
1. Enjoyment. I actually do enjoy it. Well I enjoy the running and the cycling. I think I enjoy the smug feeling I get from going to the gym more than the actual gym but there is enjoyment associated nonetheless! I like seeing life go by as I'm running along. Lots of different stuff going on out there. This is the reaosn I like longer slower runs; more time to see the world around vs. concentrating on running fast.
2. Body shape. We all know at this point that diet has a huge effect on your overall size and you can't be skinny on excercise alone but the tone that comes from excercise can't be beaten.
3. Challenge. I like aiming for something and then going out there on race day and knowing that it all builds up to this one moment. Open water water swimming was a bigger challenge than I bargained for though (see Time to Tri).
4. Eating. Lets face it, number 2 aside, I can eat more bad things the more excercise I do. The only problem is, the more serious the racing becomes the more strict I want to become on my eating; I find myself having little conversations around whether it would be easier to run that time if I wasn't carrying that extra weight and blah blah blah. This conversation has seemingly not had an affect on my eating so far but the little voice is getting stronger...!
5. Meeting people; runs/races/triathlon/parkrun. Excercise collectives tend to be a pretty friendly bunch
6. Energy. Excercise = Energy. Fact
I'll have a read through in a couple of months and see if its been enough to motivate me back into a regular training regime!
Hopefully next post I'll have some serious training to report ....;-)
And lastly - just because I love it......
BBC London 2012 Montage
