The only way is up... and down...

Gone are the days of long swims, long, long runs and even longer rides. I did promise myself that post Ironman I would re-visit the shorter distances and try and recover what fast twitch muscle fibres I have left. Actually I'll re-phrase that. I'll try and discover my fast twitch fibres! Ironman has almost certainly stolen any kind of speed I had but strangely only in my running. Through the whole of my training I've gradually improved both swim & bike and recently had some cracking results in both, but my poor old running has been unravelled and I no longer feel light of foot or fast.

Lanza & Switzerland have flown way into the past and I will no longer be revisiting the Ironman world for quite a while but I'm really enjoying trying to up my game in a bid to get a bit of speed into these old legs of mine. Swim sessions are short and sharp, and run sessions are much more speed focused, heart rate pushing sessions. I'm loving it, although my legs beg to differ. The bike I'm ashamed to say I've neglected a little bit :( I've managed to get a few short hard turbo sessions in but as for road miles, they've been few and far between since Switzerland. I MUST get out to do some mileage before The Vitruvian kicks my proverbial ass! I have however, pb'd big time in our local 20km time trial and have been shocked at how hard and fast I've managed to push myself on the bike, it's been quite a revelation. I'm terribly inconsistent though and this is something I'd like to try and work on. One week I'll exceed my expectations and then the week after I'll be way below what I would even normally expect to do???

However, as the above pic suggests (taken in Bournemouth last weekend) the only way is up... for the painful sessions, and down in the cake eating sessions! I like my new challenge and I'm looking forward to having a little more time in every day life now that Ironman won't be stealing it. One thing I have succumb to though since July is cake eating! Not good when you're trying to improve speed that's for sure! I've enjoyed being more relaxed about what I eat and I think it's a necessary part of coming out of a solid block of Ironman training and racing but boy can I feel the difference when I'm running. I think it's a little bit too late to do anything about it for The Vitruvian now, I am what I am and I'm fine with that. I'm feeling a little bit raced out to be honest and I'm looking forward to crossing the line at The Vit and then having a complete month of rest. Then come October I'll be concentrating on getting lighter (holding my strength) upping the pain in the sessions and crossing my fingers that the outcome will convert into two speedier legs :) :) :) Watch this space!

I'm still taking my daily picture and really enjoying it. I hope you've all managed to make the transition over to seeing them on Facebook or Twitter. Work's going well and I've got some exciting shoots on the horizon, up is the new black :)

I'm off to eat more cake ;)

H. x