Sunday 16 September 2007

It's all about the bike...

The pic above is of me doing my first race of this season (Eton sprints) on my brand new spangly Quintana Roo Lucero (which I love) and today I did my last race of the season on my speedy stead. From here on in and over the coming gruelling Winter months it will be time for me to effectively strap myself to a tortoise and get out there and ride, ride, ride... not on my Roo but on my trusty road bike with it's slow winter training tyres and no aero bars. Just me my little legs and the road. No more cold water swims, no more deep section wheels to help me go that little bit faster and no low aero position to cut through the air with. Plain old hard yakka is what's on the horizon for Turton over Winter.

What a fantastic season, I've loved it all and hey I'm an IRONMAN, how can I not be happy with how the year has gone! Dublin Marathon is next in 6 weeks time so all I need are my legs and feet (although I've got a bit of a gammy ankle which I'm hoping won't be anything serious.) I raced well today I thought. Talking about it with Tom before hand I'd decided to concentrate on the bike section and only that really as I tend to not quite perform as well as I'm capable of. So I ploughed through the swim -literally, it was a windy, windy day & I felt like I was swimming in the Atlantic it was that choppy - got on my bike and worked as hard as I could irrespective of the consequences for the run. I know I can run well off the bike but I don't always supply the goods on the bike so I just pushed it and worried about the run when my feet hit the tarmac. I had a good ride for me, my heart rate data shows my inconsistency's but that's something to iron out over the Winter months and the run went better than I had expected giving that I was pushing the bike. All in all another good day, a great way to end the season.

I'm seeing Liz Foley our brilliant physio tomorrow to see what I've done to my ankle (typical to injure it in the last week of the season) and then if it's okay it will be full steam ahead for 6 weeks of running for Dublin. As it's not been a target race for me I'm happy to just run it and see what happens. A no pressure race, I love them and often do better than I expect. Switch off a little bit from triathlon as a race and get the battery's recharged. Spend November recovering from the marathon and just kick back for the month, let my body recover & most of all let my brain rest. I want to feel the eagerness and the thrill of getting back into training over the Winter months and I won't be able to unless I take this step back from where I've been for the last 5 months.

I swim well and it's improving steadily. I run well and I'm not concerned about that. But I do need to push forward with the bike so there's my focus after my break. Bike, bike, bike and a bit more bike. Learning from the master (and no that's not you Tom!)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIl5RxhLZ5U

I'm hoping to be busting my ass on my bike over Winter... bring it on!!!!!

See you out there kids...

H. x

7 comments:

Debra said...

Inspirational as ever!
Any news on the ankle?
Cheers
Debra

H said...

Hi Debra,

Ankle appears to be a bout of tendonitis caused by having a wonky pelvis!!! Once Liz manipulated my back it made a huge difference but I have to wait for the swelling to go down in my foot before I can run, about a week off running I think (I hope anyway!)
How are you and your injuries faring up?

Jevon said...

H.
Have suffered from tendonitis on and off for many years. It blows up from time to time and can take a while to go. My tip would be to rest as much as possible (I know you have Dublin coming up), keep icing and use a compression bandage afterwards to get the blood flowing. Elevate when you can in the evening.
Heal well.
J.x

H said...

It's a real pain in the bum Jevon, but I'm shocked at how quickly it has improved since having my back manipulated, apart from being a little tight I have no pain at all and the swelling has gone completely, back to the physio tmrw, hopefully she'll give me a full bill of health. Hope all is good with you.

H. x

Brian said...

What can I say? Rather you than me but hang in there and best of luck with the winter training!

Debra said...

H
After 6 weeks of none mara-training due to tendonitis in my achilles you have my full sympathies. I saw Liz again Tues evening who was pleased with what she saw, even when straight after running, so last night I did a 10 mile run and am ok today, well when I say ok I should not say what still comes to mind "I only did a 10 mile run" - my body today belies that, I ache everywhere but am so relieved not to be in agony with achilles and limping about. So spirits today are high and looking forward (??) to my 14 miles on Saturday, if get through this and great north I may yet enter Dublin, if not will wait until 11th hour and enter on 6th Oct after another longer run, I have until the 8th to decide

Keep strong, you know you can rely fully on Liz's advice to get you right!!

H said...

Thanks Brian, hope you're well and looking forward to a Winter of skiing!!

Debra, Liz is amazing isn't she, I'm sure she has x-ray eyes, honestly since cracking my back my foot has improved loads. Got another appointment at 4.40pm today so fingers crossed she'll let me run soon!
So pleased to hear you're back out pounding the streets. Hopefully you'll get yourself into shape for the rest of the year and who knows you could very well be on the start line in Dublin! Here's hoping anyway :) x