Swallowing broken glass

I've been dodging a cold for a couple of weeks now with family members and work colleagues all suffering. So it was inevitable that I'd catch something. I woke at 4am with a feeling of swallowing broken glass and had to eat some ice to help my throat and allow me to get back to sleep. Today I've been substituting tea for lemsip and feel this has a few days to go - hopefully it won't turn into anything like my sons which has been two weeks of hell. So I've skipped training today and I'll treat that as my one day off per week. I am scheduled for my tough yoga session with my teacher at 6.30am tomorrow and will do everthing possible to be there. I may have to adapt me training to "tick-over" mode with indoor turbo training (easy sessions) and yoga for the rest of the week. On Sunday I have a 16 mile race and based on yesterdays run I was in good shape. Time will tell but when your body starts to "break down" I've found the quickest way to recover is to back off the intense training. It's fortunate I have this now and not in March/April!

Sir Chris Hoy Veladrome Glasgow

What a fantastic weekend. It started with my early morning yoga to get the stiffness out of my legs. Then out for a fast 6.25 mile run. It felt great but had to be short because I had tickets for the Thunderdrome at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow - what an unbelievable facility, worldclass. The racing was brilliant and the drop on the banked corners frightening - I'd be scared to ski down it. Now my cycling pals have all been trying to persuade me to get accreditation so I can ride on the track but I've been refusing. There was a raffle and guess what I won? You guessed it, free accredditation! Must be a signal. The we went off to the Braveheart Cycling Charity dinner and mixed with the cycling elite including Sir Chris - it was wall to wall fit athletes. I met Roddie Riddle, ex Commonwealth cyclist, who is doing MDS and we planned a long running excursion. Good to actually meet someone of that calibre and know we will be sharing a tent in the "sandpit" - with 6 others! I paced myself so that at 9am the next morning I could go running. It was chucking it down with rain so we went for a trail run. I was hoping to do more that 15 miles but circumstances kept it to that although I felt I could have run all day. The mileage will have to increase next week though and soon I'll be running with a rucksack. Bring it on.

Cross training

I have come to the conclusion that Triathlon training is brilliant for fitness and keeping relatively injury free. Whenever you feel a niggle, you just switch the emphasis to reduce the pressure in that area - this week I didn't run for 3 days to give my ankles a rest but kept training. In addition swimming, cycling and running are all good for you but combining them gives you an all round fitness. Why am I telling you this? Perhaps just to reassure myself that while all my newly found MDS pals who will be in the sand pit in 2013 are murdering themselves on long runs, ultra races and even starting to run with back packs, I'm swimming! Apart from the fantasic cardiovascular workout it eases off my legs and helps with my current ankle niggles. This means over the weekend I can put in some decent mileage running with my ultra pals knowing I'm not causing a problem with tired legs. I'm building up so that I peak just at the right time for the event. Right now I am just building the base fitness which I can then build on.

Hill training pays off

At 5.20am I can here my son getting ready for an early shift. I'm thinking about my yoga and run when my alarm goes off at 6.10 - that was a nice lie in! It amazes me how withing 5 sun salutations I can get 6 inches closer to my toes and by the end of the short practise feel brilliant and ready to take on my run. It's midweek and pitch black outside so it was only a 6.25 mile run but it seemed effortless and fast. Obviously the hill training on the trails is having a positive affect so there will be more running at the weekend. My yoga teacher was slightly concerned with a thickening around my achilles but I've rested this and am feeling the benefits. It's nice to see results as sometimes the training can seem like a slog, but not today my friends!

Perfect practise

You'll have heard the phrase, practise makes perfect. Sadly that is not correct as practise is only any good if you are practising the right things properly. Otherwise you get better at making mistakes. Let me explain. Today was a day off training but I was running a breakfast meeting for my clients and the guest speaker was Justin Urquhart Stewart of Seven Investment Management. If you watch the BBC you'll see this eloquent investment commentator who wares the red braces - it's his brand. He is a true professional and he speaks without notes, seemingly easily. However I also had the pleasure of his company the night before and the same phrases were being used. I know just how hard he works at researching the information and rehearsing his presentation, before he stands up in front of his audience. He is a true professional who makes it look easy. If we relate this to swimming, cycling, running or any other discipline then it's exactly the same. It takes perfect practise to deliver excellence and it requires a mindset to reach that level of professionalism. Today might have been a day off training, but I learned a lot. Thanks Justin.

Mind games

Isn't our brain a wonderful thing? It seems to contain a wee voice in our head that constantly talks to us. Usually it is critical or full of reasons why you can't do something and this is a daily challenge, even to someone as positive as me. This morning was a perfect example. I was in my yoga class and being pushed hard. At times I though my muscles were going to snap but my teacher kept telling me that if I breathed then the oxygen would help the muscle stretch. In the meantime my brain was screaming at me to stop. Nothing snapped. It got worse when I went upside down, that really confused me but again the voice kept giving me negative feedback. "Just breath Derek" I was being told - so I did. The mind plays games with you and this kind of practise is going to be good for the desert when my mind and body are telling me I can't go on any longer. But if I can breath and silence my mind then I will have the best chance of achieving the seamingly impossible and that's worth working hard for. It will be relentless with 5.5 marathons over 7 days carrying a 10kg rucksack, and in the end, ignoring the false signals and focusing on breathing to feed the muscles will get me there. Why not try working on your breathing when you feel under stress? It's a great way to relax. Have fun.

Lovely nails!

When my alarm went off at 5.45am I thought I was dreaming. It was pitch black and silent the other side of the curtains and I really didn't feel like getting up. But I had to so that I could get in 20 minutes of yoga followed by porridge which would give it 1 hour to digest before swimming. In the pool I worked on keeping my legs closer together and I thought my times were ok till I checked my watch - even slower than last week! 4 x 500m was my session but I mustn't get dispondent about the time because I am not training enough to warrent a better time. I am only there to ease my legs from the running and that it did. Tonight a "foot doctor" came and checked out my feet and toe nails. They got a nice filing and any calluses were reduced with a scapel. I've been advised to put moisturising cream on my feet twice a day to get them in good shape for the desert. I know it all sounds like I'm getting in touch with my feminine side, but this is all to help me survive in the desert. If your feet aren't properly prepared the it will be a very painful and perhaps short adventure in the sand pit! It would also be a waste of all my fitness training so my feet are now a priority!