In my last blog (Oct) I mentioned the new bikes, smart trainer, Zwift, and where I was heading in the New Year. Not a lot has changed in terms of my cycling. My FTP has remained around 320w (4.8wkg) and I’ve been enjoying taking part in events and races on Zwift. Unfortunately the L Achilles injury/tendonitis I picked-up did not sort itself out, despite the rehab. Every time I thought it was fixed it would become aggravated again in a Parkrun. This will take a lot longer than anticipated.

In January I spent just over a week in snowy Thuringen (Germany) followed by the same time in Lanzarote. I’ve done this a few times in the past. Obviously I couldn’t run much in Germany and when I tried to run in Lanzarote I pulled the R calf along with it! I was a little out of form on the Lanza sea swims, but now I’m back in the UK it’s time to re-introduce regular swims into my programing and hopefully, following treatment, strengthen the Achilles up again.

So in terms of my fitness. My running has been on hold and once I’m confident everything is in working order (!) it’ll take a month or two to get back up to speed. Swimming is never a problem as long as I can find the time to fit in 3-4 sessions/week. It’s enough to set me up for a short distance Aquathlon or Triathlon. The cycling is already at a competitive level. With more gym work I’m confident I can squeeze a little more out of my cycling and set myself up nicely for the ‘real’ races.

I’ve got the Ludlow Aquathlon on 24 Feb and Holt Duathlon on 3 Mar. Rather than DNS (Did Not Start), I’m going to come up with a plan that enables me to get something from both races. For instance, the Ludlow Aquathlon takes place at the same pool as the Triathlon (Sept). I could do the 400m swim, then drop out of the race and instead grab my bike and do a personal TT around the Triathlon bike course. For the Holt Duathlon I could walk/light run the first leg of the run, then once again TT the bike leg. IAs this is still part of the race I can compare my time with others. I don’t like pulling out of races, but at least this way I’m getting something out of it.

After that I have Storm the Castle Duathlon on 28 Apr. This is effectively my first A-race of the year. Last year I came 12th overall and 1st over 35 years old, despite very limited training and old gear. As long as I’m not injured I will take a big chunk off my bike time from last year, and hopefully a little off the runs. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden the course in training, so I’m keen to get out there at some point once the roads and weather are favourable to see just how much better I am! I’m quite happy to ride/race around beaches and volcanos (Zwift) until then – the weather never changes in our conservatory and I never have to clean the bike!

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