10 days in!

27th Oct finally bought some sun cream and made it to a beach....

There certainly weren’t any Monday morning blues for team BenBen! In fact it was a bit of a lie in 6.30am the alarm went off, swim session was not until 8.30am. The later start did mean swimming costume marks were burnt on! Note to self, must apply sun cream before the pool session. The set was a tough one, I was done and there was still the main set to go, excuse the cliché but I dug deep and surprised myself.
That was one of the toughest sets I had ever done and was starving!

Tesco on the way home, more food, then more rest, then another session, PM run. There is a great road just close to us, we have named it runner’s road, as guess what ….. others running! Not only did we have a solid run but Ben noticed a little restaurant that looked perfect for dinner, I was clearly very focused and did not notice it even though I ran past it twice! The restaurant was close to an English school so the owner spoke some broken English and is used to the English not liking food to HOT! Had the perfect strength Thai curry, made to order, we will be going back.

Tues was a brick session bike then run. The bike session took in part of the bike course of our race (LPT Laguna Phuket triathlon) at the end of Nov, it was great to see just how demanding the climbs are / will be, do not be fooled Phuket is not flat! Having gone up and down a few times it was then a fast 2km dash on the track. Tues afternoon we made it to the beach, we headed south to Kata which was very touristy compared to our home. Too hot to sun bath for us so it was a dip in the sea which was like getting in a warm bath. We somehow made it home as there are very few signs in Phuket, our journey home took us up and down more hills, locals were having to push their mopeds up some of the climbs, thank goodness this is not part of the race bike course I kept thinking!!!!

We had our first beach session Wed, swim 1km the length of the beach then a 1km run back to where you started your swim and repeat that 3 times. How did the Baywatch Babes make running along the beach look so easy and cool?!?! I was just trying to make sure I did not step on any crabs which were whizzing around, man they are fast! Coffee and omlette after with the team then RELAX time, another Thai massage. We have a loyalty card, they must consider us locals already, so it would be rude not to go back. The massage was the calm before the storm………Wed pm was a tough run session on the track. Balls out or whatever you want to call it but it was feast of fast 1km sets and sprint sets of 200m. As Jurgen the coach said if you can talk you are not trying hard enough by the end I was breathless bordering on panting!

Thurs was another bike and run session, more hills which are STEAP with a 8km time trial to bring us home. I got paired with Jurgen this time and Ben got a donkey! Bike shoes off and run shoes on a 7.5km loop to complete the session.


29th Oct
IT support was not available to upload the entry from the 27th so I can chuck a few more days on to the entry. It’s Sat morning, I have taken the morning off training, the first since we have been here, Ben is of course out on his bike with the fast boys. I am sipping on a smoothie of veggie juice it’s so green but so me!!
The routine has not changed over the past few days, a siesta (that sounds far more civilized than a nap) is now compulsory and expected by our bodies!!! With eating out being so cheap we are taking full advantage of this. We went back to the local restaurant Ben found when out running, I left the ordering to him and thought we were going to have way too much food but it was eaten! Ben was silent whilst eating, a sign it’s very good!!!

Mixed things up a little on the massage front went for a sports not Thai this time, must try the foot massage!

There are 2 amazing swim coaches here, so it seems silly not to get a 1 on 1 personal coaching session with them and its soooooooooo cheap. Hence I am booked in next week to get my swim mended!!!!

Until the next update take care, with love Team BenBen x