The healing continues

Well the healing process has continued to be a rapid one. Last Friday I went to the pool for the first time in over 3 weeks and to my surprise, I was able to swim full stroke freestyle and breast stroke. I’m still aware that I can’t go all out and really fling the arm about too much, but to be able to swim and put pressure through my left arm is fantastic. As with all my other training since the accident, I’m not going to rush it here though. A couple more very easy 30 mins swims to ease back into it, followed by plenty of Glens drill sessions next week and then the job of regaining my fitness and speed in the water can begin.

My running and especially my cycling is on its way back to its best. The beauty of the SRM's is that I can literally see if watts were I’m at. This morning I did a nasty VO2 max session.... the numbers were better than I was getting before the accident!!! It’s all very encouraging for me and gives me confidence that I might be back to full fitness and competition level sooner than I had hoped..... I’m even thinking that the national Middle Distance champs in a week’s time could be a possibility. I don’t want to do them if I’m not in a position to challenge for the title, but I’m feeling strong on the bike and my run strength seams to be coming back quickly too.... we'll see.....

I’ve entered a 70.3 race in Michigan at the start of August to try and get a World Champs slot. There’s another 70.3 race 2 weeks later (also in Michigan) which is very unusual, especially so close location wise. It’s full but I’m going to try and get a spot (if the pro field is still open).... 2 races in 3 weeks..... Well why not ha ha!

One thing that this mini break will have ensured is that I don’t burn out in what could be a VERY LONG season if I qualify for Florida. I have to say though that looking at the 70.3 UK results; I’m disappointed I couldn’t race it. Sounds like a tough course, but it would have been great to see how I measured up to the other guys racing. There’s plenty of time for that though.

All my mates head off on holiday this week. Its one of the things that I find hard to handle with the goals I’ve set myself in life. Things have to be sacrificed and this kind of thing is one of them. Matthew Pincents autobiography was very inspiring on this subject though. He frequently mentioned the weddings he had to miss, the sacrifices he HAD to make in order to pursue his dreams of Olympic greatness. Not that I’m comparing myself to him of course but it’s important I remember what it takes to achieve success in sport. Gordo made a great statement once "it only takes one totally obsessed guy and you'll finish second EVERY TIME" I'm not happy with second! Guess I’d better start obsessing......