Those of you that joined me at the start (there weren’t many admittedly) probably thought that I was yet another new blogger who had come along, put up a couple of posts then decided it was all too much effort and so disappeared into the ether. Well you’d be half right. The truth is that (despite my best efforts) work got in the way of my training repeatedly and I didn’t think you’d find it very interesting with me posting the same “training plan delayed again” blog on a weekly basis.
There was one period that I had managed to train consistently for two or three weeks and things were looking up, that was until I fell over whilst setting up my turbo trainer one evening and ended up with a repeat of an ankle inversion injury from last winter. Luckily, whereas last year’s saw me on crutches for three weeks, this time I just had to hobble around work for a few days and push my training plan back (another) week or two. That said I’ve gotten myself in with a physio again in the hope I’ll be able to strengthen my ankle to prevent another occurrence in the future. I’ll likely cover off exactly what the physio has got me doing in a couple of weeks’ time when I’m more into the plan.
So why have I come back now? Well I’m just coming up to my third consistent week of training, I’ve adjusted next year’s goals to better reflect what I think is now achievable (maybe – more of my new goals later) and I need something to keep me busy in the evenings rather than sitting around thinking of all the emails I’ve not got to during the workday. Basically, I’m in a similar position to this time three months ago and thought I’d try again (a weekend away in Madrid last week probably helped) and, let’s be honest, whilst I’ve not been putting any posts up here, I’ve still been fairly active on Instagram and, more recently, in the TrainerRoad forums so I never really went away.
New goals
I previously mentioned that next year I was targeting two early-season Duathlons, one as an A-race (namely the British Standard Duathlon Championship); well, that’s had to change. Talking through options with my physio he is fairly sure that my ankle never properly healed from last year which is why I’ve always had some residual pain (and also why it happened again so easily). As a result, he’s recommended I ease off on the running for a while and concentrate on making my lower body stronger to ensure it can cope with long, hard miles (I’ll still be trying to slot in a couple of short runs each week when I can). Whilst I was initially disappointed at my goal events being unattainable before I even got close, it led me to think now could be an ideal time to try out another event I’ve wanted to attempt – LEJOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats). For those of you not in the UK it is one of our most iconic cycling events and takes riders from the South-Western most tip of the Cornish peninsula to the North-Western most part of Scotland (around 970 miles, depending on route).
To be honest with you when I sent a message to my work team’s WhatsApp group asking if anyone was interested I was expecting one or two at best and felt that would give me an easy escape. (Un)fortunately for me the take up was significant (within an hour I had five or six other riders and three support crew). Whilst I’m fairly sure most of these willing participants don’t really appreciate what they’re signing up for (particularly as I’ve said I’d like to target 9-days and do a scenic, not necessarily the shortest or easiest route) I’ve subsequently had more people show interest and so I think the event will go ahead. In light of the unexpected interest I’m now busy route planning and looking at possible partnerships with local bike shops who may be willing to support us with servicing, spares etc. Luckily one of the guys hoping to ride has some friends who have done the event previously (and one of my school friends did the route in reverse last year) so we’ve got plenty of experience to draw on. Now I just need to convince people to get out training (including me!).
How are things going with you, are you still taking it easy in your offseason or have you started back with Base Season? Full disclosure, I’ve decided to have a second (semi)-off season until Christmas so that I don’t feel bad when parties get in the way of training, that said I’m still trying to be sensible and am considering trying my first Rapha Festive 500 this year – if I can get permission from my wife to have that many hours out the house!
West Country Triathlete 