Christmas is only round the corner...

How does it happen? I mean I know it does happen, every year in fact. But why am I so surprised at how near Christmas is? Especially when the shops have been advertising the fact since Easter!!! Finding the time to train has been a lot easier now that I have the luxury of running my own business but I still have to work and I still train roughly at the same time every day yet I don't appear to have any more time? Maybe that's what I should be asking Santa for... 'Dear Father Christmas, my time management skills leave a lot to be desired and I always find I never have quite enough of it. Please could you leave me a large handful to distribute evenly throughout the year so that I can train hard, sleep well and still see the outside world? Yours in anticipation H. x'
We haven't even got any festive fare going on in the house yet. I think we need to sort that asap or we're going to feel like we've trained right through Christmas without even noticing it. Bah humbug.

I've had a very up and down week this week with my training. After a hard core weekend of cycling last week with little sleep -I blame that on Ricky Hatton- we went to our Run Club Christmas Dinner where I mingled with a few people who either had the lurgy that's going around or were just getting over it. Consequently when I got up at 5am on Monday to do my 5km swim set I felt like I had swallowed a razor blade. I rested on Tuesday and made sure I got a good nights sleep. On Wednesday I woke up ready & raring to go. I did the pyramid run session that I was due to do on Tuesday and ran well and in the evening enjoyed a 2hr turbo session with Tom. I haven't been enjoying my running since coming back from injury as my running fitness has deserted me, leaving a heavy footed elephant in it's place. So trying to get my legs to turn over that little bit quicker was horrible and great at the same time. Consequently when I went to do my longer run session on Thursday my tendonitis reared it's ugly head and I've had to take another step back, just being super cautious with it. It's still weak and clearly hasn't liked having a speed session and a longer run on consecutive days, so there'll be none of that for at least another month. Running lightly every other day for the time being. It's feeling much better & taking immediate action has prevented it from breaking down completely. I have my beady eye on it.

After getting a good 10hrs in on the bike outside last week I was looking forward to more of the same this week. Unfortunately it's been FREEZING cold here in Leeds and very, very icy so I've spent 9hrs in total on the turbo building my mental strength looking at the back of the garage door! Got to, just got to get some motivational posters for that garage door! Still it's all good for my legs and hopefully will transfer to the road when I get out there. The mental side of it is just as important too. Ironman is certainly as much about mental strength as it is physical.

So, it's been a week of highs and lows. Bloody tendonitis and 9hrs on the turbo, fingers crossed next week looks a little differently!

Before I sign off I just wanted to report on the progress of our mate Mark Redwood who was involved in a terrible cycling accident a few weeks ago, badly damaging his hip. Tom & I went to see him on Monday and if ever I've needed to look up to someone with a fantastic amount of mental strength and a humbling attitude to the future then Mark wins hands down. He's undergone 9hrs of reconstructive surgery and spent three weeks in hospital lying flat. Mark's home now and has applied the same attitude he had to training hard to his recovery strategy. He's whizzing around on crutches and has dealt with the accident as a whole, remarkably well. I struggled to want to go out riding when I heard about his accident. I'm a novice compared to Mark, he's an awesome cyclist. But speaking to him on Monday he reassured me and has no qualms (in fact he can't wait) to get back out there and ride again. His crash was a bad case of wrong place, wrong time and had he and his mate Pete been in a car they still would have had an accident. Seeing his eagerness to get back out there and continue to race (he had entered IM Austria) has shown me that mental strength is where it's at and having a good attitude makes a world of difference. Unfortunately my attitude can well and truly stink. I can be so very childish and stubborn that I hold myself back with the occasional tantrum (Tom knows all about these, oh and my mum!) but if I could bottle Mark's strength and lack of fear then I'd be onto a winner. Maybe when it comes to New Years Resolution time I should try and stipulate a change of attitude when things don't go my way and the toys are thrown way, way out of the pram?! Actually I don't think miracles can happen, but hey, there's no harm in trying.

So kiddy winkles I'm looking forward to a good week out there in the world of triathlon, who knows what this week will bring but I'd like to get outside on my bike again this week, and continue with the great swim sets that Tom & I have been doing. The running, well it's going to have to get there when it gets there, there's no pushing that tendon of mine until it's ready. When January arrives I too will start to log my weeks training...

Happy Christmas shopping and partying.

H.x

P.s A HUGE Happy Birthday to Tom's mum (and nearly my mum, 12mths to go until I'm a fully fledged member of the family) we hope you have a lovely day and we can't wait to see you and Ray at Christmas (we can talk weddings and merangue dresses til we're blue in the face!) xxx