You may have noticed from the increased level of beach pictures on Instagram that I’m in Thailand. No it’s not a holiday, I’m here for 3 months in fact. It might look like a honeymoon but its far from it.
Whilst in South Africa a few months ago I made the decision to come to Phuket and train with Z coaching for 3 months. The timing seemed right.
Sah-wah-dee kha Thailand – Hello Thailand
So now I’m living the beach life with a whole load of swim-bike-run. I came to Thailand 2 years ago and loved it. Thanks to Imo I found the love of Z coaching and knew I had to come back. So here I am.
Incidentally before I left the UK I recorded a podcast with my friend Harry which you can listen to here: Jog On Podcast
It tells a little more of my journey into triathlon 🙂
It’s slightly overwhelming packing up your entire life to decamp to a tropical island. Its no London but I wouldn’t have it any other way. London life was not filling me with joy anymore. I lived for the weekends where training was outside of the city and the warm summer Europe had only made me more afraid of the freezing winter temperatures to come. So whilst my home tri friends enjoy sub zero bike rides I’m over here enjoying the plus 30 degree heat. Sorry not sorry?!
If I hadn’t joined Team Hatch in April I would not have taken this leap. With the team behind me it was easy to make a decision about following my dream. So thank you Hatch & and the team!
Ok so I don’t actually know what that ‘dream’ is fully but each day it feels like I am getting closer and clearer picture is forming. 3 things are clear: I love triathlon, I love travelling and I love warm weather. So for now I’m going to keep chasing those 3 things.
‘What am I even doing with my life?’ Thoughts like that go through my head every day. And yes I have had some sleepless nights. But recently less so as I settle into my new routine with new friends from around the world.
So what does Thai life look like? Well something around 16-20 hours of training per week.
- Sea swims 3 times a week where we swim in similar pace groups trying to drop each other – absolutely love it.
- 1-2 pool sessions where I hang on to Imo & Mark for dear life.
- 4 bikes a week including a long Sunday ride. But my favourite is Push & Spin where you ride alternate high cadence in the small ring and low cadence in your hardest gear – give it a try!
- And finally 3 to 4 runs a week – steady, brick, intervals and long.
Training is just great, in just 3 weeks I have seen so much improvement and even though the hours are up I feel good due to the additional recovery time I have instead of work 😉 But to keep me on the straight and narrow I plan to continue my strength sessions with Sam and make sure I do not go into the dreaded overtrain zone.
In between all this I am making time to appreciate my new surroundings with copious amounts of coffee, buying food at markets, spending time on the beach, catching up on reading (great for recovery!) and eating Thai food with new friends.
So far I have met people from Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Australia, America, Norway, Hungary…..the list goes on. This is probably the most unique training group in the world. Z coaching invokes a positive attitude in everyone and with triathletes coming and going all the time it keeps it fresh and interesting. Credit to Jurgen (and of course Sue!).
I have already raced Laguna Phuket Triathlon (again – see 2 years ago here) and as always it delivered a brutal but brilliant race. This weekend I will race again in the Thailand Tri league – more on that later.
So to quote Laura Siddall – ‘Don’t die wondering’
Sophie Kirk - Triathlete 