I’m coming to the end of my transition or recovery period after this year’s racing, and after the Dublin marathon in particular. I’ve been taking it really easy for 6 weeks, training as I feel like it and eating wheelbarrow loads of doughnuts and cakes. I’ve done very little running, had a full week of swimming, done a bit of biking, and completed some off season testing. I played a little golf, but not as much as I would have liked. The weather has been horrible (so a good time to not be training). I’ve been planning next year’s racing and training, and getting some kit together. I’m associated with a team swim across the English Channel too, so I’ve been trying to plug that into the year’s programme too. (If I end up swimming I should be in great condition by September, but I might be a bit too skinny for the cold water…)
I’ve hit the point where I’m really looking forward to getting back into a structured training regime. That suggests that this break has been good for me mentally as well as physically. I pretty much destroyed my legs in training this year and was glad of the break. I won’t be training much, but I’m actually looking forward to early nights and early mornings (I’m not sure Kim is though). I’ll be doing far less running, but will probably be hitting a similar weekly mileage to that of this time last year. I’m not sure how well I’ll fit the biking in, but it’ll be good to get in three or more swims a week with some coaching and see how much I can improve. The biking just feels like playing at the moment.
After four weeks of this I’ll begin to increase the volume, and I’ll really start training towards a season of triathlon. I completed my last triathlon 6 years ago!
