2020...

Bambaata · 14-10-2019 6:41pm #1

The comeback??

So... ive been a few years away from triathlon now. I had it in my head it was 2016 but it was actually 2015! :eek: I surcame to plantar facititis at Kilkee Hell of the West and never returned. Id not proberly managed it to that race and it hit me hard. Ill never forget that race, ****e swim, good bike coming into T2 about 6th/7th and had been in good run form but 500m out the course the foot blew to pieces! Id started new job not long after where stress was on a high so never got to the bottom of it and just went biking for a few years. Ive moved back to a much less stressful job now with loads more time off (2.5 times time off!!) and have got the foot in order so Im hoping i can return in 2020.

Id a knee op in June to sort an issue with medial meniscus and attended Aidan Woods since August to ensure i built it back ok as well as treating the foot. All has gone well and Aidan has seen me off now to my own devices.

Plan for next year is to just do Sprint and Olys. Perhaps look to Lost Sheep at end of year if all going well. That said is Ras Tailteann is on next year (doubt it) ill aim for it and just through in some triathlon

Aim of the log is to keep me ticking over, hoping i can update once a week or so. Getting back to the pool is going to be the biggest challenge, never liked swimming! Ive barely swam in those years! Bike wise im fine, FTP is up 8-10% from triathlon days. I should be a lot stronger than i was previously. If im not hitting sub or very close to 60min 40ks ill be disappointed. Run should come back with time.

So aim for each week for the coming month or so will be 3 swims, 3 runs, 3 bikes with 3 core/strength sessions consisting of lots of single leg squats, heel raises, sumo squats etc! I need to keep the foot right this time!

EC1000 · 14-10-2019 7:42pm

Come back from the dark side!

BTH · 15-10-2019 7:01am

We're all in trouble now. Welcome back

tunney · 15-10-2019 11:57am

Good man, Corkers will be onto you about rejoining his swim group

Bambaata · 15-10-2019 12:52pm

I intend getting back with them but I'll leave it a few weeks. I made the mistake of joining them for a swim a while back and my arms and lats were destroyed for days!!

pgibbo · 16-10-2019 1:39pm

Welcome back Ed. Great to hear you're back. Hope all's well.

P.

Bambaata · 17-10-2019 12:51pm

And so into week 1. Slow and steady start ;-)

Monday
Jumped into a bike race on Zwift Monday. I generally have an idea of my FTP and figured I was ok for the B cat this week. They are always hard races, always near the limit with surges here and there. 312AP for 40mins had me in a heap at the end! Lost contact with the few Cat A guys 6k out and almost caught by peloton behind but held on for B cat win

Almost sick at the end trying to stay away, as close to getting sick as I can remember for a very long time! These races will be a feature once a week for a few months but will be dropped when I need to get serious. They are not too dissimilar to the hour of power type sessions.

Tuesday
25mins strength/core work followed by 30min easy run. No issues, I struggle with some of the strength exercise but need to keep at them.

Wednesday
Easy bike for 50mins followed by a trip to the pool! hoped to do 20mins or so only to be booted from the pool 5mins in! I hadn't realised pool shuts an hours before gym! Swimming fitness is zero! Did 200m without trying to put much effort in but was still fading towards end of it!! Hope to get a longer session in again this week. When I say long I mean 20mins, don't laugh!

Weighed myself fearing the worst for the first time in age and pleasantly surprised to be 3/4kg lighter than I expected!

mossym · 21-10-2019 9:01am

great to see you back, remember meeting you sitting on the wall in kilee after that hell of the west, remember knowing straight away there was something up. didn't think it was going to be the last race for 4 years!!!

Bambaata · 21-10-2019 9:52am

Cheers, I remember that day too well!

Thursday
25mins strength/core work followed by 37min easy run again. Pace has really started to pick up the last few sessions now for same effort, body seems to be adapting. Am about 20s/km quicker than I was 3/4 weeks ago for same effort. Ill look to build in some 15 sprints in another week or too, going to keep things 95% easy to then.

Friday
Just had time for a short cycle (40mins) before driving to Galway. On zwift again, did 1 5min steady to warm into a harder 4 (110% of estimated FTP) and 3 min (120% estimated FTP) rep with short break between them to wake the body a bit.

Saturday
Some core work with lunges etc before another easy run but for 1 hard 1.5km in the middle. Into a woods beside my mother in laws again. It has a nice 1.5km loop which I went for again. Didn't hurt myself as much as I did when I did this last week but still hurt enough! 03:40/km pace feels a whole lot harder than it used to!

After some food and a few coffees headed out on the bike for just an hour. Spun away for the first half and then threw in a hard 5 min, 10min and 30s near then end.

I had a lot of driving to do with family things Sunday so Id no chance of any more training. Ill aim for 1 day off a week anyways. This week might have a few more as I'm groomsman at friend's wedding Friday which starts Thursday, ends Saturday. Im also away at a college course Wednesday and Thursday in Nenagh but the hotel we stay in has a pool so at least ill have no excuse for not swimming this week!

Bambaata · 30-10-2019 11:18am

As expected last week was a bit manic. Id college two days and friends wedding that went on for 3 days so not much done

Monday
40mins bike on Zwift with some short efforts.

Tuesday
Nothing as had to finish some pre-college reading and get to Nenagh

Wednesday
Strength work - 20mins of core work, lunges, squats etc
Run - on threadmil from the strength work for 7km with 6 x 30s at 18km/hr/30s easy. Felt fine, gym was bloody roasting though
Swim - 600m in 15mins. Tiring a lot after 10mins! Hopefully some swim fitness starts to return soon!

Thursday
Swim - managed to get 720m in over about 15mins at lunch break from college course.
Over to Wexford from Nenagh for friends wedding so no chance of anything in the afternoon.

Friday
Got an easy 9.5km in with other groomsman in the morning before friend's wedding

Saturday
Nothing - the day after and another session that evening/night

Sunday
Nothing - recovery!

Not a great week but expected this and really enjoyed the wedding. Onto a more productive week next week!

Bambaata · 30-10-2019 3:56pm

Finally managed to get to a run store for an analysis and recommendation on new runners. Id worn Saucony Fastwitchs for training and racing for years but was mindful I was at the upper weight limit recommended. Considering issues with the plantar facia I wanted to get something different, or advice at least.

So yesterday I picked up some ON Cloudswifts adfter trying on a number of options. I wore them for the first time last night for a 40min run and I'm in ribbons today!!! Left achilles is particularly bad to the point I was limping this morning, its slowly loosening out now! I normally do some heel raises after a run (as well as before) and I couldn't manage one last might afterwards!! Ill be consulting with the store before running on them again (the guy I dealt with is off today).

Bambaata · 04-11-2019 1:02pm

A mixed week last week with foot issues, no swimming and a slight worry that the comeback could be in jeopardy!

Monday
Bike
I started week 1 of a 6 week plan on zwift to do some structured work. Id lowered my FTP in zwift to a guess of 330 to get things going but immediately had to push the intensity +10% as it was just too easy. Session consisted of 4min reps which were supposed to be tempo and went easy enough. HR never reached 130 so need a harder session next time!

Tuesday
Strength work/Run
20mins of strength work again before the run. Id dropped in to a run sore to get an analysis done and new runners. I did 40min easy in the evening which went fine. I was slightly drifting to steady at times and had to keep pulling myself back! The new runners seem to have a much stiffer sole and my feet were sore by 20mins! The right foot had slight numbness in toes and a little sore on the ball of the foot. Left leg had stiff achilles which as post above was very bad the next morning! I was limping around and still today its stiff despite just 1 10min later in the week in the old runners! UI can feel a little ache in sole of left foot which isn't a good sign! I could be ending the comeback before 2020 already!

Wednesday
Bike
Session consisted of some tempo to warm up into 2 sets of 5 x 10s on / 01:50 off at 560W. I increased the second set to 580 as again zwift were going too easy on me, could have done with it a bit harder but 110% if the max you can lift intensity by without going into settings and adjusting FTP.

Thursday
Bike
It would have been run day but for foot issue so did a repeat of the Monday session which was next planned session on zwift. Id adjusted FTP a little so session had a little more bite to it. HR was into the 140s at least

Friday
Day off

Saturday
Bike
Last zwift planned session for the week. Slight increase in intensity again with power into mod. Good session. Legs good again and had to work a bit here.

Strength work/Run
Did 20mins work before attempting another run, just for 10mins easy which was fine. Did the run in my old runners,. I wont be wearing the new runners until I get to speak to the run store (guy id dealt with is off til next week).

Sunday
Planned on a longer ride than the others (all had been around the hour mark). Did just under 2.5 on zwift. The first hour was pretty hard with AP about 300. I cooled if after that and spun out the remainder.

Bit worried about the foot at the moment. I don't plan on running until all the stiffness is gone, ill continue strength work and get some rolling in on it. Ive a tendency to do heel raises as I brush my teeth etc so will keep these up too. I need to find the hockey ball too and do some work on the base of the foot with it again. Plan this week will be bike five days (zwift plan), swim twice and do at least three strength work 20min sessions.

joey100 · 04-11-2019 3:34pm

Completely anecdotal but I found the on runners very similar. Found them very sore on my feet, at the time was running in anything, puma's, saucony, nike, new balance, they were they only runners I had the issue in. After a while they did become more comfortable but never went back to them after it. Probably not worth anything but sounded familiar when I was reading it.

Bambaata · 04-11-2019 3:45pm

Cheers Joey. I've started wearing them walking the dog and around the house on some advice from another from these parts so hopefully they loosen up a bit!

Bambaata · 06-11-2019 1:14pm

This week going ok so far, for what little has been done. Ive set myself a plan on Training Peaks and have put in some tentative goals for next year. Whilst I am trying to get back to triathlon I wouldn't mind a good shot at the Gorey 3-day stage race. Due to injury, and not racing this year, (hence picked up 0 points as an A1) I'm expecting to be downgraded to A2. Gorey isn't open to A1s so I would like to give it a good shot all going to plan. I'm not exactly going to say I want top 10 etc as anything can happen and there aregenerally some serious riders there (junior etc). All I would expect of myself is to be in good condition to be able to get into/create and survive in breaks as I'm zero sprint in me. The TT is a bit short for my liking but will suit me more than most. I know I can sustain 450+ W for 7 odd mins if I get myself right. Ill need to see what the club are thinking too, there's a few more A2s now so they might prefer Ras Mumhan but I'm hoping there might be a good team interested in Gorey. Its a long time since the club has had good riders, a fair few have developed in the last 2-3 years with some more on the horizon. The nearest goal however comes 30th November! The prestigious hamper race!!

I know trying to do both disciplines will mean I wont perform at my best in either but I don't mind that. I will probably maintain a bike focus as its my preferred sport of the three.

So this week:
Monday
Bike - Tempo intervals (short still) of 6mins on/2 mins off. I upped zwift's recommended power target slightly which was still easy. the session is labelled as "foundation" which is aiming at top of easy zone but I see zero benefit in that so i've been adapting it to tempo. I might just up the FTP to get it into high tempo range next week as HR is still only sitting around 130. I'm aiming to do a proper test second week of December before really getting into a plan. For now the aim is to get fitness moving in the right direction and get used to near daily training again.

Tuesday
Strength Work - Did 25mins of stretches, planks, lunges, squats, rolling etc. Left heel is still tight. I'm not going to run until that is 100%

Wednesday
Swim - I finally made it to the pool. I just did 1000m in 20mins consisting on 5 x 200's. Going to do similar and up the distance slowly and start introducing some drills once a little fitness returns. I certainly felt better than I did a few weeks ago when I had my first session. 200s started out at 03:10 for the first and then 03:20-03:25 for the other 4.

pgibbo · 07-11-2019 10:59am

This might be of interest. Brad Beer posted it on Insta yesterday. He's a running physio in Oz but seems to work with a lot of top athletes.

I run in on shoes and love them and found that they gave me some relief when I was starting to develop foot pain from Saucony shoes.

P.

peter kern · 07-11-2019 11:00am

It makes perfect sense to mix bike and tri this year as you won't peak in tri anyway this year. So better do what you enjoy
And be careful building the run with a 2 year plan.

woody1 · 07-11-2019 2:18pm

pgibbo wrote: »

This might be of interest. Brad Beer posted it on Insta yesterday. He's a running physio in Oz but seems to work with a lot of top athletes.

I run in on shoes and love them and found that they gave me some relief when I was starting to develop foot pain from Saucony shoes.

P.

sorry to hijack your log, thats interesting though, wearing saucony last few years and have slight plantar / achilles trouble.. is there much support in On shoes

Bambaata · 07-11-2019 4:34pm

pgibbo wrote: »

This might be of interest. Brad Beer posted it on Insta yesterday. He's a running physio in Oz but seems to work with a lot of top athletes.

I run in on shoes and love them and found that they gave me some relief when I was starting to develop foot pain from Saucony shoes.

P.

Cheers Paul, good read. Ive had the shockwave and acupuncture previously and am currently doing the calf raises and stretching along with some standing on the old hockey ball so hopefully they keep it at bay. Those dreaded night socks would never stay in position for me! I sleep belly down and hook my feet over a pillow now as I found the soreness was amplified if I slept toes and feet stretched out. Unfortunately I cant sleep on my side of back so the pillow at the ankles seems to help a bit. Its a habit now as ive slept like this for about 5/6 years!

When the calf goes back to normal ill be starting running in short durations in the new runners to see how it goes. The season is a long way off so I'm not going to push it!

pgibbo · 07-11-2019 5:27pm

woody1 wrote: »

sorry to hijack your log, thats interesting though, wearing saucony last few years and have slight plantar / achilles trouble.. is there much support in On shoes

I wear Kinvara, Breakthru, Triumph & Ride depending on the session. Like you I started to notice foot pain so alternated in on Cloudsurfer and Cloudflow. They are neutral but feel great. I've run 2 IM marathons in the cloudsurfer as I find them very comfortable over long distances. Haven't taken much notice on the stability front to be honest.

P.

Bambaata · 11-11-2019 3:43pm

And for the rest of the week:

Wednesday - evening
Bike
A "strength" session as described by Zwift. It involved 10s reps just below 600W at a lower cadence than normal. Not sure 10s is really enough. If I was in proper plan mode i'd probably up those reps to 30s and lower the power a bit. It was a decent session anyway. No fatigue yet, but I'm not really doing enough hours to warrant fatigue, for now I'm just getting back into routine of training 6/7 days a week and keeping it consistent. The Zwift plan helps with that at least. Ill get to proper BG/low cadence sessions of 4-6/8mins in December. The knee seems fine and able for them but ill start small (Z3/short) and build. Id have done them in zone 3 previously, I might play with upping this towards threshold this year. I understand Bradley Wiggins used these (threshold low cadence) along with the T to build towards his hour record.

Thursday
Strength work
It would have been a strength work followed by run day but left achilles is still tight! I've also a very minor sensation on the base of left foot. Core/strength work went fine, I always dread the single leg squats the most but got through it all.

Friday
Swim
Did a mixed 1000 of long and short (300 / 100) with some intensity involved in 2 100s near the end. Swimming is starting to come along, ill lengthen to 1200/1400m next week build to 2000 by the end November hopefully. From there I hope ill be ok to start real swim training again. I'm not swimming all that slow, just don't have any fitness but its improving! Generally around 01:37-01:40/100m. The few "fast" 100s were sub 01:30.

Bike
Zwift FTP Foundation rep today again, again I upped the intensity from high Z2 into low Z3 (260s). Looking forward to longer higher Z3 efforts which ill be doingwhen I get down to things. I like to keep an eye on HR and it can be interesting to see how much it varies across the reps. Here the first 6min averaged 120BPM, the 6th (and last) averaged 134BPM! A fairly big drift.

Saturday
Zwift FTP Tempo day (officially tempo!). This is actually a nice session, a series of 4 min high Z3 (285'ishW) and then into 3 sets of backing Z3/Z4/Z1 3/3/3mins. I upped the last one to threshold. After this are some 1 min threshold efforts which I maintained the +10% difficulty so they came in at 360+W's. Enjoyed this session. I wont say I'm looking forward to the 120% reps for longer durations but they work! This session feels like a small taster of what those sessions are about. Not an overly hard session but enough work to remind the legs of what lies ahead!

Sunday
Bike
It was to be a run day but on account of little to no improvement on the foot/Achilles I did a 50min easy spin out on Zwift again.

I'm a little concerned on how slow the tightness is to go away on the achilles! I noticed its a little stiffer early morning and loosens out when I bring the dog for his morning walk. I've stopped stretching it as there must be some minor strain present, not just DOMS! Ill hold off on running until midweek and try 10/15min run to see how it goes.

Biking is going fine, swimming ok too. Ive taken out the TT bike as it needs an overhaul before season starts. I hope to do some duathlons in Jan/Feb. The bike has been completely neglected for 4+ years now. I hadn't bothered doing any work on it the past few years, what few TTs i've done with the cycling club involved basically just pulling it out for the day and back to storage. Itll need to be stripped and I also need to work on my position. I know some work to it along with some positioning work will help. Id love to beat my 10miler (21:23) and 40km (55:39) times next year regardless if I'm involved in tri or not so some time on the turbo and road on the TT bike will be on the cards anyway.

sconhome · 13-11-2019 8:32pm

woody1 wrote: »

sorry to hijack your log, thats interesting though, wearing saucony last few years and have slight plantar / achilles trouble.. is there much support in On shoes

Woody1 just watch the stack height in the shoes. Saucony are almost all 8mm now and you should switch between different shoes to vary the length the heel travels.

A lot of people felt they had to force a midfoot landing even in low rise shoes which meant the calf being engaged too much. I remember pgibbo used to vary from an ASICS shoe to Saucony at the start. I'm a divil for it myself I use the same shoe model over and over on road but have a few different options from zero to 10mm for trail.

Keep mixing it up and work out any calf tightness. Any shoe is worth trying, theres good and bad reports from every brand ON is no different. Find what suits you.

sconhome · 13-11-2019 8:32pm

Bambaata wrote: »

Cheers Joey. I've started wearing them walking the dog and around the house on some advice from another from these parts so hopefully they loosen up a bit!

Did things settle down afterwards or any change?

woody1 · 14-11-2019 12:18am

sconhome wrote: »

Woody1 just watch the stack height in the shoes. Saucony are almost all 8mm now and you should switch between different shoes to vary the length the heel travels.

A lot of people felt they had to force a midfoot landing even in low rise shoes which meant the calf being engaged too much. I remember pgibbo used to vary from an ASICS shoe to Saucony at the start. I'm a divil for it myself I use the same shoe model over and over on road but have a few different options from zero to 10mm for trail.

Keep mixing it up and work out any calf tightness. Any shoe is worth trying, theres good and bad reports from every brand ON is no different. Find what suits you.

Cheers kinda by accident but all my shoes trail race flats and training are all saucony at the moment so that's definitely something to think about. Have been in Brooks and mizuno before might be an idea to mix it up a bit.

Bambaata · 14-11-2019 10:36am

sconhome wrote: »

Did things settle down afterwards or any change?

Just today now I feel that the Achilles stiffness is gone! Ive been walking in the shoes at least once a day for 15-20 mins so will try a run over the weekend. Fingers crossed!

Bambaata · 20-11-2019 10:34am

Not a great week last week. It was a college assignment hand in week which meant I needed to focus on that more than training.

Monday
Bike
Zwift foundation which again consisting of 6 x 6 on/1 off) which pushed into low tempo range. I see no benefit to Zwifts suggested high easy so I max this up the 10% I can. A drift this week from 126BPM AHR for rep 1 to 137 AHR rep 6.

Tuesday
Bike again
Strength session consisting of some tempo wo warm up into 585W 10 spurts where goal is to lower cadence slightly. Would have liked to have run today but just not happy with foot/achilles still!!

Wednesday
Strength
20 mins odd of planks, lunges, squats, heel raises. I thought foot was improving but not really. Still stiff on Achilles which at this stage is really puzzling! Weeks now since I ran!

Swim
Just a 20min swim of some 200s and then 4 x 100 off 01:45. Each coming in about 01:27/30 for not massive effort which is good. Slowly getting there with the swimming. Really need to start to go longer now though! Just hate swimming a lose interest after 10/15 mins!

Thursday
Bike
A "Team Ireland" zwift meetup which was all easy but for an allout last 5km. My turbo wasn't working right though, I was experienced about a 10s lag so when I tried to take off near the end the power didn't translate so I was easily beaten in the final sprint. Still though AP for 6mins was 394W with some recoveries in there so a decent short hit-out. Probably over 410NP.

Friday
Nothing had to drive 400km!

Saturday
Bike
Busy with college work but I managed to get out of the house for a short effort. As time was tight and I knew id get nothing done Sunday I did 4 x 4km on/2km off aiming for about 110-120% FTP. Nice little session, the 4km efforts were typically about 5-6mins long depending on whether I was climbing or not. Id not really planned it and thought id just do two but then bargained with myself to do another, and then another!

Sunday
Nothing - college work following by a long drive back to Dublin.

I've a club bike race fast approaching that I'm really looking forward to! I ended up sick last year for it so couldn't do it so fingers crossed I'm good this year. Its just a 40km handicapped race where we never really catch all ahead but nice to get just under and hour of hard effort in to shock the system. Ran last night too for just 10mins which went ok and no after effects. Going to go slow back into it with the new runners now and see how it goes. This week will be light enough training wise as I've a touch of a cold developing and hence I don't want to go too deep and let it take a hold. Ill be getting down to a more dedicated plan in about 2-3 weeks and hope that some races start to get announced so I can start to develop an annual plan.

Bambaata · 20-11-2019 4:51pm

And with that the Ras for 2020 is announced!! Decisions decisions!!! I wasn't expecting it to be held in 2020! Although seems like its a 5 day to start which isn't as appealing but its better than nothing

joey100 · 20-11-2019 7:10pm

Bambaata wrote: »

And with that the Ras for 2020 is announced!! Decisions decisions!!! I wasn't expecting it to be held in 2020! Although seems like its a 5 day to start which isn't as appealing but its better than nothing

Was just coming here to put that up. You have some decisions now for next year!

Bambaata · 24-11-2019 11:26pm

An ok week, some sessions not hit (run/swim). 5 bikes, 1 swim, 3 strength sessions and just 1 run for just 10mins to test the waters. I reckon I've got mild tendonitis on achilles. Its stiff first thing n the mornng and slowly loosens out. To still be stiff weeks after issue means theres definitely something going on that i need to be careful with. From some brief reading i should give it a little break but not too much, continue strength exercises and minor running, if it gets stiffer then pull back and if same or improves continue and slightly lengthen running.

Bike is going fine, I reckon FTP about 335 now. Swim slowly returning although theres still no grá there! Ill start to set swim sessions from December as ill never get back to it if im just dipping the toe in the water for 20mins here and there. Now that Ras is back im siding with going for it again. Im not sure if my own club will enter but if not i hope i might be able to get a spot with another team. Thatll mean a bias towards bike for early part of the year, likely to involve 5 bikes a week, 3 runs and 3 swims. Ill need to maintain, and develop, the 5-10min big repeated effort power range which is of little benefit to triathlon but vital in bike racing! I still reckon ill hammer my previous tri bike form regardless. The biggest issue will be the run though, i can get swimming back for 22-23min 1500m but pushing the run will mean i wont be able to push the bike to the degree ill need to so next year will likely be about just getting reasonable on the run and swim and making up with the bike.

I wont go listing every session as there're prob of little interest to anyone but this week involved some decent effort on the bike for once. Todays high tempo to just over threshold to tempo to just ovver threshold for 14mins was a nice little effort! Legs are definitely starting to feel like they are being worked again as theres been some fatigue there on the morning commute. The commutes are great, im only 6-7km from work but have never cycled slow! I enjoy the little sprints and 2-3min efforts here and there!

Next week has a race i it!! I cant wait for it, its a social race about 40km but i am just looking forward to absolutely destroying myself whatever happens! The race is normally too heavily handicapped so a win isnt likely but i hope to test threshold and see if i can break from the group im in and try to stay away (not likely though!). Hopefully the weather plays ball! These sort of races in very cold temps can destroy the lungs!

Bambaata · 07-12-2019 6:07pm

Bit of a bump in the road the past 2 weeks. Week before was so so. I managed 3 bikes, 1 run, 2 swims and 1 strength session. Legs felt a bit tired so I dropped a bike pre-race and that then led into trying to fix the turbo (Kickr Core)! It has been very noisey over the past few weeks so i attempted some repairs which took way longer than expected. Didnt work and so its due to be returned and a new unit shipped to me. I seem to have gotten a model from before they resolved a flaw with them so thanfully a no fuss return in action. Id hoped to get it hipped by Thursday/Friday but didnt

Bike race last weekend went ok, we went out very hard, to the point that i was worried i was a bit further off fitness than i relly was. Thankfully it turned out everyone was suffering (5 of us originally). We dropped one handy rider within 10km (think he's an A1). I was doing lots of work too, everytime someone would skip a turn, which was fairly regular, id push it on again. Id a slight stitch about 10/12km from finish so I eased a little to try let it pass. In the end we would have caught the last of those given gaps only to be caught up in traffic into the last roundabout. Still stuck out for a decent sprint, by my standards. I kicked about 1.5km out to see how others were (fine!). This kick saw me record a 5s power record and i didnt think id actually gone 100%! I still had enough for an ok sprint to finish 2nd of the 4, the strongest sprinter being last! Happy enough with the race. A heavy night out after meant nothing the next day.

This week has been crap, a lot going on every evening so no training time and now no turbo for a few days. The foot is not good so i've not ran, the base of foot is tender despite just a 10min run in the last fortnight. If i cant run, i wont swim and triathlon for 2020 wont happen. Ill have to look at getting it looked at again i think. I must need some form of support or perhaps whatever damage i did years ago is still there. My mother has had a few operations through the years for dropped arches so there might be something in the family. I can remember a therapist being surprised at how my toes settle, in that they seem to be taught all the time.

Got out for a decent bike today, legs felt heavy, possibly because ive done nothing all week. I didnt test them much but did bring up the intensity as the ride went on to finish with 259NP and 160TSS so a decent enough ride.

I hope to get the turbo shipped off tomorrow and Wahoo tell me they will ship one to me as soon as they see UPS recording the return so i hope to have a replacement by early week after next.

Bambaata · 09-12-2019 10:52am

Interesting seeing the reports of Ras recon by the organisers over the weekend. Seems to be going south west again. I thought I might be based around a few counties but seems not! 15 counties, 3 provinces and long stages (148km, 155km, 174km, 154km & TBC) means it must be a point to point race again.

2020...

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