Arrived in Paphos. Long day.
Got up at 6am, didn’t feel like eating so just had a coffee and sat watching an episode of Star Trek: Voyager for an hour before getting ready to leave.
Felt a bit disappointed when I did set off as Tracey had come down to see me off but by the time, I’d reversed the car and was driving up the street she’d gone back to the house. When we’ve had other visitors, we’ll wave them off and wait until they’ve driven out of sight before going back to the house. I, at least, expected her to do the same for me.
The trip to Bristol airport was uneventful and I got there with plenty of time, which was good, because after checking in and weighing my bags I was honest enough with the airline staff about the CO2 cartridges I had in my hand luggage. For the next 20 to 30 minutes they tried to figure out how many I could take in my hand luggage and in the end it came down to how many security would allow through, which turned out to be 2.
The fast track security took a bit longer than when I’ve been through normal security as they went through my bag, unpacked it, rescanned it and the contents and even did swabs on it. I even had to go through a scanner myself and be checked, because of the finger armour I was wearing, I think. Thank goodness I wasn’t pre-surgery or that could have been interesting.
The flight was delayed taking off by about an hour and apart from some turbulence was uneventful. Looking out the window at various times I could see snow capped mountains through the clouds at times as we flew across Europe. At one point, jet travelling in the other direction, rocketed across the sky in the distance.
As the sun began to set, I noticed that some of the clouds took on a red glow, not the normal sunset glow because the colour seemed to be isolated to spots.
One thing I learned travelling was that when I go to Finland it should be a lot easier because I’ll only need the minimum amount of sports kit, pretty much just race kit, and not the amount I’m brought with me this time. That should make life a bit easier.
Check-in at the Aliathon was nice and easy. I’ve not got an apartment like last year with a separate bedroom., This time it’s more of a studio apartment with the bed in the living area. It’s perfectly fine for my needs.
We went out for a meal at a fish restaurant and I got to meet Julian and the others. Rob and Fiona are here so I’ve got some people I know already. I’ve also got to meet two of the others. I’m getting the feeling that I’m going to be the least experienced triathlete of the group again this year but that’s fine. I’m not here to compete against anyone, I’m here to get some intensive training in and then take part in next weekend’s race and get an idea of where I am with regards to my training and racing.
Yesterday was a tough day in some respects. When I got up, I found myself regretting my decision to come. I felt slightly sick, so I didn’t want anything to eat. If I could have justified pulling out of the week, I probably would have done but I couldn’t.
Even travelling to the airport, I found myself thinking about pulling out, but I’d spent to much, I’d told too many people what I was doing, it would have been too hard to pull out and have to explain to people.
I think part of the reason I felt that way is because I mentally and emotionally I’m still recovering from losing Rhys and I feel more comfortable in an environment I know. Coming to the training camp last year was exciting but was also part of the plan to achieve what I’d set out to do. This year more of a precursor to racing next weekend, but I’m more aware of what I’m doing and being more sensible about it, so I didn’t need to do the week. I didn’t need to race at Ayia Napa next weekend. I could have carried on training at home and gone to work this week.
But I need the downtime. I need the break. I need the chance to build up my strength before things get a little bit hectic again and I’m juggling work commitments and triathlon training.
On the way out I was reading Brene Brown’s book Braving the Wilderness. In it she describes how she uses post-it notes to write down things she’s giving herself permission to do. I don’t have any post-it notes so I’ve started a Word document that I can write down the things I give myself permission to do.
My first entry is:
I give myself permission to have fun in Cyprus for the next week and a half. Chilling, training and racing.
And that’s what I’m going to try and do.
No comments:
Post a Comment