It seems that I'm not going to make it to WA for the ironman after all. I thought my achilles tendon was fixed but then I had two days at work with five hours teaching each day: this meant five hours standing up and walking around, and by the end of day two the pain was back again and it was quite clear that I wasn't going to go. So that's that then.
I spent a week being grumpy and playing violent video games (Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer... oooooh it's good) but now I am resigned to my fate and am focussing on the future. It being winter and the ankle still being sore I am going to focus on cycling strength and swimming I for a couple of months. I have got a simple programme to make my biking better: three turbo sessions a week, one long intervals (e.g. 2x20 mins hard) one medium intervals (8-12 x 3-5 minutes very hard) and one nasty sprinty session (40 secs max effort, 20 secs easy, rinse and repeat 6-8 times, take a rest, repeat until you're sick over the handlebars). Add in actually riding outdoors when the weather permits (I got in 30km this morning before the heavens opened) and I should be biking well come the spring. Swimming: I'm just going to try to get two sessions a week in and just be consistent, which I think has always been my problem in the past.
What's next? I've signed up for a UK race next summer (The Outlaw in Nottingham) and I'm going to aim for that and a bunch of half-ironman races as well.
Sunday 22 November 2009
Friday 6 November 2009
Deja vu
Well, following a lot of painful and expensive physio my ankle has improved to the point where I am hopeful that I will be able to race in Busselton again. It's still a bit sore and after an incident where I went for an unauthorised run to test it out I havne been told very firmly that I am not to run for at least another ten days. I can't afford to lose any more running fitness so I am going to have to get some deep water running in. This is a bizarre activity where you get a float belt and run on the spot in the deep end of the swimming pool, thereby providing entertainment for other pool users and a workout which hits the running muscles without loading them and aggravating any injury. In order to make this a little less boring I have ordered not only a float belt but also a waterproof MP3 player. At least I won't be able to hear the little boys sniggering at me.
This is all feeling a bit too much like deja-vu. I tore a muscle six weeks before IMWA last year and could do nothing but water running until the race. That was excruciatingly boring because I was doing it in the dive pool at the local "aquatic centre", which while suitably deep had about a 30 cm space between the top of the the pool and the water surface, meaning that not only was I monotonously running in place in deep water but also that all I could see while I was doing it was the tiled wall of the pool. At least this time I'll be able to see passers by and enjoy the warm feeling that you gain from knowing you've given them something to talk about over dinner.
This is all feeling a bit too much like deja-vu. I tore a muscle six weeks before IMWA last year and could do nothing but water running until the race. That was excruciatingly boring because I was doing it in the dive pool at the local "aquatic centre", which while suitably deep had about a 30 cm space between the top of the the pool and the water surface, meaning that not only was I monotonously running in place in deep water but also that all I could see while I was doing it was the tiled wall of the pool. At least this time I'll be able to see passers by and enjoy the warm feeling that you gain from knowing you've given them something to talk about over dinner.
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