On the way home we had a 8 hour stop over in San Fransisco, and headed downtown on the first train of the day, then caught the first tram of the day as the city was waking and the sun rising, down to the waterfront, for a warming up coffee (going from high 20's to very low teens was a shocker! - not shorts and flip flops that's for sure) and stroll along the front.
Back home jet lag hit big time. My brain did not return to my body until midweek and i had a stinking cold, so the week was pretty much written off as completely unproductive. We then moved flat the following weekend. The moving out and in was pretty relaxed and uneventful. But having lived in our old flat for almost 5 years, their was a lot of cleaning and painting to be done - but obviously paid off since we got all our deposit back, so we have now rewarded ourselves and blown it on a new mattress.
Doing 3 ironman in 4 months has been trying, both physically and mentally and i have definitely neglected family and friends, so i have been enjoying relaxing and catching up with them, But now I'm slowly getting back into training - although hampered by a flare up of my hayfever. Yes i know wrong time of year but apparently mould and fungi spores are triggers it this time of year.
I sat down with my coach and reflected on the past year and started making plans and setting goals for the next year. Not to sound dismissive but despite achieving my goal of qualify and racing in Hawaii, the year overall has been pretty unlucky for me. I had a number of running injuries, which curtailed the winter and spring base training. My only running race was done off the back of a weeks hard cycling, i think my legs were still in Spain! I lacked speed and confidence in my running ability. Although my swim fitness had improved, my swimming technique still leaves a lot to be desired. Due to June, August and October Ironman's, i missed out on doing cycling time t
rials, as a result i did not feel as though i was in as good a bike shape as 2009. My first two ironman's in the Nice and the UK, i became suffered with GI Issues! on the run, which was a new experience for me since I've often boasted about the resilience of my st
omach. Then after my fall in the T1 of Ironman UK and another minor injury at work a couple of days before a 100 mile time trail, i had a period of back and buttock pain, which prevented me from building up to kona as i would have liked.Despite the setbacks throughout the year, It ended on a high - a well paced race in Hawaii, so i can only be happy and excited for next year :-)
