I have bike amnesia...

I'm trying to keep ahead of the game and get the blog done today (Saturday) before the business that is Sunday means another late night at the computer. I'm an organised girl these days and loving it!

I'm really enjoying my training at the minute. I'm even enjoying the 'no particular' focus of it, which is generally very unlike me. I'm swimming as much as I was and managed 17km in the pool this week. I think I'll have to drop one of those sessions once my run focus becomes more scheduled but I'm loathed to drop much more of my swimming as A) I enjoy it and B) I think swimming is a great non weight bearing session that can benefit both endurance and strength. My running is ticking along at a great pace. I'm starting to get a feel for the road again and am just beginning to shake off the Ironman shuffle that I had perfected. It did me well for four years and actually suits my natural running style. I have the knee lift of a 90yr old and barely raise my feet off the ground, in fact Tom often wondered if I was speedwalking but no that's me and my Oompa Lumpa running style.

Getting running fit I think I'm going to really enjoy. Mainly because it's a great change to what I've been doing for the last four years and also I can set myself completely new goals, ones I didn't even have when I used to just run. I also think I'm benefiting hugely from the volume of Ironman training that I've put my body through. I just have to find some of those 'fast twitch' muscles I hear talk of, as my legs ignore me when I ask them to switch on!

However, the speed is coming slowly and I'm enjoying the short, sharp sessions. Well, I have been used to 8-10hr training sessions so a 50min speed session mentally seems like a walk in the park...until my brain realises that it's now got to forget 'going long' and instead learn how to go short and painful. The perfect test of my speed has become Leeds parkrun and having pb'd again this morning by 34 seconds I'm really enjoying that lighter, faster feel that comes with actually picking my feet off the ground. So with a 20min 31second 5km under my belt I can feel the lure of the lower numbers drawing me in, can I get under 20mins? I have done a 20:10 but that was on an uber fast course one Summer when I was only running and getting plenty of miles in. So with that in mind and being generally fitter and stronger I'm sure with more hard work that elusive sub 20 should start getting closer. How close to Tom can I get???

As for the bike :( :( :(

I've been a little naughty and kind of neglected it. I've done two turbo sessions a week but haven't actually been outside on it since The Vitruvian which was about 8weeks ago!! I've lost my bike mojo to be honest, I'm just not interested in getting out on it! However, my mate and fellow Ironman Emma Rand has seen my naughtiness and in a bid to stop it any longer has asked me to go out for a ride with her. I hope I find my mojo whilst on tomorrows ride in York... maybe it's fallen under a bramble bush. I couldn't really tell you why. I think the bike has always been something I've had to force myself to enjoy because IM training has such huge bike volume in it. I actually do enjoy racing my bike, just not training on it. Anyway, I can't thank Emma enough for forcing me out tomorrow I just hope my legs don't fall off in the process down to the fact that they don't know what riding is anymore...or hills for that matter... hmmmm hoping Emma's planning a flat ride!! So tomorrow I shall know whether my destiny lies in staring at the back of the garage door for short sharp sessions or whether I'll actually bother my big beeee-hind to get out again.

So that's it for me this week. I'm off to find my bike memory...let me know if you see it...it could be in Starbucks feeding itself on cake and coffee!! Oh and my month of no caffeine, biscuits, choc etc is up on Monday, yeahhhh... but, I'm going back to one treat a week and I'm enjoying my new found discipline... well I never said there was a size limit on the size of that one treat did I ;)

Daily pix still here and here...

Chow for now.

Hels x