What am I doing? I’m tired, I’ve got too much to do, I can’t afford it; so why am I doing this triathlon thing again?
It’s another one of those times of the year when the fatigue is starting to set in and the bank balance is starting to look unfriendly. I’ve almost finished my first build training block (just a week of rest and test coming up now) and the shift to high intensity training has knackered me out. I’ve got a book deadline in a couple of weeks, exams are looming (I’m setting them, not sitting them) and I have to wonder why I’m not getting fat and middle aged sat in front of my gaming PC with a big packet of biscuits and bottles of beer. Wouldn’t that be easier?
Podcast feeds and Windows Phone 8.1
Finally Windows Phone has a proper podcasts app with the latest (developer) version of Windows Phone 8.1. All you Windows Phone users (anyone?) will be able to search for podcasts from within the app, and Bing does a pretty good job of finding the stuff you like to listen to. When I tried it the big podcasts I like were all available but mine didn’t work, so I sat down and sorted out the RSS feeds so that they’re a lot friendlier to different devices and podcast subscription services. I should have done this in the first place.
From within the Windows Phone podcast app go to the search for podcasts page and try searching for my stuff. Maybe try “swansea embryology” or “swansea neuroscience”. It didn’t work for me when I started writing this but Bing may catch up and it might be ok for you.
If that doesn’t work you can put the link to the RSS feed for each podcast directly into that same search bar. The feeds are:
Anatomy & embryology: https://www.samwebster.net/embryology-rss.xml
Neuroscience: https://www.samwebster.net/neuroscience-rss.xml
If that works you should see the podcast, the icon, all the episodes and the description. Neat and tidy.
Tearing it up
Towards the end of my base phase of training, when the training volume was getting high (and the training load was higher than ever before, but mostly due to all the swimming I’ve been doing) and I added in some early season racing, I got a fair bit of calf soreness. My legs have been rock solid for a while, and a lot of the work I’ve been doing under the care and guidance of Gareth at Swansea Health Solutions has paid off.
I had to run very hard at the Mumbles Duathlon but I was feeling good again a few days later. I had a long, well paced run that felt fine until the last 20 minutes or so, when I started to get a medial soreness in my right calf. The next day on the bike it was sore so I skipped the planned brick run, and ran the next day off road in an easier workout than scheduled. Maybe I’m getting sensible in my old age? It felt ok. I had a day off running, and ran on Saturday, again dropping the planned long run and going for a soft, trail run over the Gower. Running a tarmac section I picked up a sudden pain in the calf. I walked it off and finished the run ok, although my legs generally felt like crap. I iced the tear for a couple of days, then added some heat and stopped running.