Well, my goodness me, even by my standards it's been a long time since I’ve posted. For many of you who know me or follow triathlon in the UK, you’ll know the reason; but for those who don’t I had to take a LONG extended break from pretty much everything last autumn when it became clear I was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. I could barely get out of bed some days I was so exhausted. It was a real test of my faith and resolve for a long time… but so much was learnt through it too. I’ll post more on it all in the next few weeks, the when’s, how’s and why’s etc.
For now though a quick update on things currently.
Outside of triathlon much in my life has changed. Some good some bad, some easy some not so easy. But change opens as many doors as it closes so I’m excited about this next year. I’ve moved out into “Hombro Institute of Sport” as we affectionally call it. It's basically this great MASSIVE house in Putney, SW London that is something of a home from home for triathletes. Complete with turbo room in the basement next door to a cinema room and a sauna… NO joke! It's perfect for any lycra loving, gluten avoiding (Liz the owner of the house is also a Ceoliac) athlete. Currently myself, Chrissie and her boyfriend Tom wonder the huge halls and rooms, with a former swimmer (now coach) making up the house guest numbers. It's about ½ a mile from my gym and pool and has HUGE larders, fridges and freezers too… so pretty much everything I need in one place. It's been hard to move out of home after so long with my hugely supportive parents; without whose help in recent years I wouldn’t have been able to race full time at all. I really miss not being around them more, but I think the change will help me re-focus on my job and knuckle down to the serious training required to bounce back from last years problems and make this year a real success.
And so that’s basically what I’ve been doing for the last 5 weeks. Ticking off each session one by one, each day… then each week. It's proving to be working too as I’m hardly missing a single session now and feel in better shape than ever before for this time of year. Being in an environment (similar to Boulder I guess… only without the 90 year old naked men in the Jacuzzi at the pool) where it's so keyed into and easy to focus on training and rest is really helping.
When I first returned to training back in November after my 10 weeks of complete rest I was not in good shape. I could honestly barely manage 200m in the pool without stopping and I think my first session back totalled 1600m… and I was SHATTERED! But one of the lessons I’ve learned from last year is the need to be patient and so this is what I’ve been trying to do. Building slowly and accepting I can’t run as fast as I want to just yet. Letting the strength and speed actually come before I do the intervals I want to do. It's been tough at times and I’ve been forced to eat large slices of humble pie on regular intervals… knowing you’re not able to push a gear 3 levels easier than you used to, doesn’t do the ego much good… but that’s not a bad thing of course
So I’ve found myself here in the middle of February feeling really good physically. I’ve got to try and do everything I can to not ruin all the hard work though, remaining patient and continue to let the fitness come instead of forcing it. I’ve also accepted that rest is KEY. Not just from the physical exertion of the exercise, but from other external things too. Some personal issues that have been on-going for some time now have meant that there have been days (including today) where I’ve just accepted that my body and mind are telling me to give them a break. Though it breaks with the program I now know I need to listen to them. It will mean that Friday and Saturdays training will be far more positive and beneficial than if I try to force myself through it.
The first target for the year is California 70.3 at the end of March which I’m really looking forward to. It will be the first 70.3 race I’ll go into confident with my swimming and genuinely optimistic that I won’t spend the entire bike trying to catch the front people. We’ll see, but with 6 weeks to go the anticipation is already building… New exciting sponsorship opportunities are on the horizon too; many things are looking really good right now. Despite so many things in recent months not being… God has been faithful and good throughout and I truly believe this year will see some real fruit coming
