Winter Update

It's been a while since my last post - mainly because technology has been failing me (no phone for 6 weeks and no laptop for 8 soon showed how much I rely on technology these days!) and I've been busier than ever juggling training, work and family/friends.

It feels like we've broken the back of the winter and thoughts are on the fast approaching race season. Goals have been set and races have been entered so there's no going back.

To sum up my winters training so far I’d use the word ‘consistent’. I’ve strung more consistent weeks of good training together than ever before, with more consistently strong individual workouts. I’ve not been breaking many PB’s but I’ve not been reaching for them either, using the zones set by Sportstest after a day spent in the lab (see last post) I’ve been able to train efficiently minimizing waste miles in ‘no man’s land’ and keeping every session purposeful and progressive. Later this week I'll be heading back into the lab with Sportstest and we’re hoping to see some significant improvements in my aerobic efficiency, which was highlighted as a weakness in the last tests.

Whilst training has been consistent I’ve also thrown in a few races to keep things fresh. In December I raced the Christchurch Christmas Pudding 10km and - after a stressful period I wasn’t expecting a lot but was over the moon to come away with a PB of 32.52! I’m sure there’s more to come off that though… I’ve also taken part in a local cross-country league scoring two 2nd’s and one 1st so far in a strong field. I’ve got my final cross-country race tomorrow and then I’ll be starting my multi-sport season at The Dambuster Duathlon on the 5th March to really see where I’m at physically and whether I have an outside chance of qualifying for the Duathlon World Championships that will be held in Spain in June.

There's plenty to be excited about as race season is just around the corner and things are falling into place nicely for the summer. I'll post again soon about my support team for 2016 and my race plans, until then I’ll leave you with a quote I’ve been thinking about a lot recently during training and day-to-day life:

‘I am made of the days you don’t see, not just the one that you do’