I had planned a good break from structured training, after my 3 Ironman season and it ended up being a bit longer than planned with repeated colds. I under estimated how tired and unmotivated I would be and how difficult it would be to get back into structured training. The snow and ice helped, as the thought of 3 – 4 hour rides on he turbo every week, was not appealing. Simon and I had talked about doing Ironman South Africa this year. I’m now so glad we decided to not to enter such an early Ironman. In April last year I took a promotion at work, to a job I love but involves almost an hour commute each way. I’m fortunate enough to be able to car-share, but still the travelling in the dark has been tiring. Roll on the spring (or at least some warmer weather) so that the 22 miles each way, can be turned into a training ride)
Anyway all that lovely time off training, left more time to do the things you neglect to do when training lots. We got quickly settle into our new flat. Our old flat (which we moved into in the short term, but that quickly became 5 years) was a bit like a student flat. We now have a much more grown up flat, which is so big we often lose one another and has a gym room (meant to be spare room!) with treadmill, turbo set up on bike, and small weights selection. Simon’s sister also had a baby, so much baby Max cuddling has been had. Spent time catching up with friends and family and doing all those other things you neglect or run out of time to, like drink wine!
After Christmas and New Year, I finally got back to some proper training, which by that time, I was ready to do. The focus so far has been on my swimming and running. I’d like to say both have come on fabulously and I’m running and swimming so much faster than last year, but at the moment I’m not. I’m starting to feel fitter and stronger, but we’re trying some new things in the pool, changing my stroke, which just feels uncomfortable and slow at the moment. Recovering from hard run sessions is something I struggled with last year and lacked confidence in my ability to run fast as a result, so that has been a priority. So far, with more stretching, better warm up and cool downs, weight training and more core stability work I have been able to do more running, and have not suffered with sore tight legs and niggly injuries. So things are moving forwards. It’s still really early as my goal is a late season Ironman. The only thing that has got in the way of training has been work, either having to do a bit at work, or being very stressed and tired at the end of the day. Both of which obviously impact on training time and quality. But I’m learning to appreciate this and adjust my training as required. If work stress if high, then adding a lot of training stress is likely to make me feel run down and lack energy. It’s funny that since I accepted this, work stress has felt a lot lower, although there are still manic days.
For the past couple of years I have been fortunate to receive a generous amount of support from DJM Products, the UK distributor of Zoot Sports. Their ultra range of triathlon training and racing apparel has been fantastic and the compression clothing is the best I’ve used. However, I’ve now decided it’s time to end that partnership. I thank Martin Branfoot and DJM for all their support.
I have now teamed up with Craft for this coming year, which I am very excited about. 1 large box of goodies arrived this week, it was like a second christmas. There’s nothing like new kit to get you out training on cold and wet winter days!
Anyway all that lovely time off training, left more time to do the things you neglect to do when training lots. We got quickly settle into our new flat. Our old flat (which we moved into in the short term, but that quickly became 5 years) was a bit like a student flat. We now have a much more grown up flat, which is so big we often lose one another and has a gym room (meant to be spare room!) with treadmill, turbo set up on bike, and small weights selection. Simon’s sister also had a baby, so much baby Max cuddling has been had. Spent time catching up with friends and family and doing all those other things you neglect or run out of time to, like drink wine!
After Christmas and New Year, I finally got back to some proper training, which by that time, I was ready to do. The focus so far has been on my swimming and running. I’d like to say both have come on fabulously and I’m running and swimming so much faster than last year, but at the moment I’m not. I’m starting to feel fitter and stronger, but we’re trying some new things in the pool, changing my stroke, which just feels uncomfortable and slow at the moment. Recovering from hard run sessions is something I struggled with last year and lacked confidence in my ability to run fast as a result, so that has been a priority. So far, with more stretching, better warm up and cool downs, weight training and more core stability work I have been able to do more running, and have not suffered with sore tight legs and niggly injuries. So things are moving forwards. It’s still really early as my goal is a late season Ironman. The only thing that has got in the way of training has been work, either having to do a bit at work, or being very stressed and tired at the end of the day. Both of which obviously impact on training time and quality. But I’m learning to appreciate this and adjust my training as required. If work stress if high, then adding a lot of training stress is likely to make me feel run down and lack energy. It’s funny that since I accepted this, work stress has felt a lot lower, although there are still manic days.
For the past couple of years I have been fortunate to receive a generous amount of support from DJM Products, the UK distributor of Zoot Sports. Their ultra range of triathlon training and racing apparel has been fantastic and the compression clothing is the best I’ve used. However, I’ve now decided it’s time to end that partnership. I thank Martin Branfoot and DJM for all their support.
I have now teamed up with Craft for this coming year, which I am very excited about. 1 large box of goodies arrived this week, it was like a second christmas. There’s nothing like new kit to get you out training on cold and wet winter days!
