It's a drag

Swimming was never my strong point and as I stirred at 5.10am I realised I would be getting up in an hour for my swim session. At 6.10 I was thinking of every reason I could to stay in bed but then I remembered I'd have to report back to you in the blog. That's one of the reasons I write the blog almost daily as it keeps me going when the motivation is weak. So into the pool for 4 x 500m and I had to drag my ass up and down the lane whilst getting passed by an excellent swimmer and fellow triathlete on a frequent basis. He made it look so easy that didn't help my frame of mind as my times got slower with each 500m. But being realistic I can't swim once a week and expect to see improvement. It's not my priority but is there to help my legs recover from the running. So tomorrow I will bury that swimmer when I take him out running and later on will suffer at the hands of the sports masseuse. With all the running I expect there will be a few sensitive points, you'll probably hear me screaming!

Key session

When I was training for Ironman Lanzarote I realised that there were key sessions which you "banked" and they paid off on race day. But you must complete them. Today I had a key session. After 1.5 hours of wonderful yoga which keeps pushing me to new limits, I came home and rested in anticipation of what was to follow. The weather was awful with the rain hammering down so I waited till the afternoon when it wasn't as heavy. I had ran 14 miles on the road on Saturday and 10 miles trail running on Sunday. So I had miles in my legs and wanted to push it further. So I went out in the rain and completed a 14.5 mile trail run. Not a huge run but the important aspects were; I was on my own so tougher mentally; the trail is up and down and the weather made it difficult and heavy under foot; my legs had covered 24 miles in 3 days so it wasn't going to be easy. The session was a success and it's important to put in mentally and physically tough sessions. In 3 months time I won't regard this as a tough session as I'll be running with a weighted rucksack but at this stage of my training, it was important. As I sit and recover watching the footie I realise that my legs feel great. But a sports massage would be wise in the next couple of days. The yoga is really working at keeping me injury free and today I did my first headstand! Chuffed to bits.

Bike fit

A weeks holiday at home with the family and the chance time to relax, spend quality time with them and train. So today I went out on my bike for the first time in 7 weeks. I had no Garmin, no targets in mind, I just wanted to spin my legs after all the running. It was also the first time I had ridden my bike since the bike fit and what a difference it made. My quads felt great. The scenery was amazing in a crisp autumn day but I stopped to take a photo and when I started again I was freezing! It was great to be out on the bike but my bike fitness has gone. No worry there as this will improve when I started my turbo training this week. Tomorrow I have my 6.30am yoga which will be followed by a couple of hours trail run. I feel so good just now, I'm loving it!

Lighten up!

Winter is definately here and we seem to have skipped Autumn. After my yoga session I went out running at 6.50am and had to wear a head torch to enable me to avoid the potholes on the pavements and the roads and as a warning to car drivers that I was approaching. The rain was relentless but I had dressed appropriately and other than wet feet, stayed relatively dry. But it was only towards the end of the run that the darkness started to lift. I suppose there is no choice but to get used to it and not be tempted to pull the covers over and enjoy an extra hour in bed! My long runs will be contained to the weekend so I can do them in day light and having back to back long runs (between 10 - 30 miles) is ideal training for the desert.

Virgin training

I declared today my weekly rest day - I'm allowed 1 day off a week and this was it. However it wasn't exactly rest as I was on an early virgin train to London (Virgin training!) meaning a 5.30am start and I won't get home till 11pm tonight. But the strange thing about training for an event like MDS is that it's never far from your mind. On the way down I laid out the foundations of a training plan to improve my focus. When meeting with clients they ask how the training is going and usually as I lay my head on the pillow, not during client meetings, I turn my thoughts to what it will be like sleeping under the stars in the desert. This really is the adventure of a lifetime and the more I read about it the more excited I become. However before I feel the furnace of the Sahara a lot of work needs to be done and many miles covered. It's hard to contemplate how my body and mind will cope especially when I start to run with a loaded rucksack. But I've stretched the boundaries before and gone through a similar thought process so I'm not going to waste any energy worrying unnecessarily. I leave that to others. In the meantime I can look forward to my yoga at 6am tomorrow!

Being in touch with your body

I am totally amazed by the transformation my body is going through with yoga. Only yesterday I reported struggling to touch my knees after some running at the weekend. However today in my yoga class I got to touch my toes! This might not sound much but it's a major break through for me and it came about because I was able to tilt my pelvis by engaging my core muscles. I have always had good stomach muscles but your core is so much more than that. I also realised yesterday that my bum was higher in the water when swimming therefore improving my effeciency which again was down to engaging my core. The workout is hard and I am sweating buckets but with the support of my teacher Pamela Young (check out www.pamelayoung.co.uk) I am in touch with my body. I feel energised and haven't felt any of my usual hamstring or calf muscle twinges since I started. I've a long way to go but with this kind of progress and feeling so good it's not exactly a task - more of a pleasure.

Stiff as a board

My legs didn't feel too bad when I go up at 5.45am for my yoga session, but when I tried the second move in the 1st sun salutation my hands reached my knee caps and no further - ouch! Most people I know can get close to touching their toes but for me that is a goal. Normally I can get a good six inches past my knees but it didn't start that way this morning. However by the end of the session I had improved and felt a lot looser but it just goes to show how important the yoga is going to be with the running mileage increasing. Then I headed off to the pool for part 2 of loosing up my legs. I have worked really hard at my swimming over the last 4 years to become reasonable at it but I have hardly swam in the last few months so I knew this was going to be tough. My times were all dramatically down but I reminded myself there is no swimming in the desert and the only reason I am doing it is for fitness and something to help my legs recover which it does. As for my times they should improve with some hard sessions over the coming month and this will give me a focus in the pool. Having scoffed a "heart attack roll" (black pudding, bacon & egg) and a coffee I feel brand new!