2013 European Triathlon Championships, Alanya Turkey - Part 2
Tales From Turkey - How I Stayed Injury Free
I started 2013 injury free but I was very unsure as to whether I could stay that way until my A race in June.
Having a coach is one thing but listening, believing and doing as they say is quite another at times. Given how much I missed out in 2012 and part of 2011 I felt that it was really time to do all of the above (which I'm pleased to say I did!)
January started with some easy running with clients and on my own and only 1 run of any real length. Not something I would have ordinarily done on my own! Turbo sessions to get into a routine and into the pool to just get back into regular swimming. All good this month - no injuries but it is early days! :)
February was a pretty similar month running wise but a slight increase in distance in my 1 longer run. Turbo sessions started to feel more challenging and the band swimming in the pool feeling better. All good again - no injuries :)
March no real change to the running I am doing. The turbo sessions start to get more testing and I start to dread them (actually a good sign they are going to make me stronger!) the swim sessions continue in their distance but are getting more intense :) Another good month with - you guessed it - no injuries!
I have to say at this point I was pretty happy that I had no injuries and had managed to do just as I was told my my coach Paul Savage. I think 3 months of being able to run when I wanted to really started to give me the confidence that maybe this old body hadn't given up on me just yet!
April this month signals race season :) First up is Andover and then Duston towards the end of the month. Also for the first time in a very long time I plan to do a 5k Parkrun!! Very exciting!
With racing in the plan the long runs are replaced with brick sessions and a long run when no racing.
Andover was all a bit rusty and I think I actually put the most clothes on for the bike I ever have! Good to have raced, feel where I am strong and where I am not. Going into a race with no run injury was such a buzz. The last year I went into races wondering what would happen with whatever run injury I had. This race I could just go as hard as possible and see how it went, a very nice feeling indeed :) Unfortunately I was unwell for Duston and didn't get to start. Such a shame as I really like this race.
I'd had a bit of a niggle in my leg prior to Parkrun and foolishly still decided to run this. The night before I had some very sad news at the tragic death of someone who had been very kind to me and I think I was thinking much more about the loss of my friend than whether I should be running with this niggle. Lesson learnt. At 2 miles my leg was agony and I was gutted to have to walk to the finish line. Important not to self: if you have a niggle during the warm up - do not race unless it's your A race!
Luckily a couple of sports massages and the calf issue was gone and didn't interupt my training thankfully. A scare all the same that made me vigilant to this sort of thing in the coming months.
May I had planned to race my first Thames Turbo sprint and Grendon Triathlon, unfortunately an alarm clock malfunction and illness meant that neither of these happened. Quite a loss given that next month is my A race. I didn't appreciate the lack of racing and how that would make my race in Turkey feel but I now have a renewed appreciation for these races in preparing me for the best performance possible come race day.
June Race Month, the nerves started to kick in at the start of this month knowing there was only a few weeks until the race and really there wasn't going to be much more I could do to get hugely fitter. There was however a lot I could do to make sure that I didn't go to Turkey with an injury!!!
Everything continued as normal through the month, same swim sessions, turbo sessions still making me have to push very hard to maintain the power and running starting to progress towards being able to push in the last half of the 5k run.
I did it!!! I made it to my A race without a running injury and able to go and do whatever my body and mind were capable of delivering. I can't tell you how good it felt to go to Turkey knowing that my body was in one piece. I had no what ifs in my mind, I was going to be able to race without worry :)
With all my admin done and ready to go to Turkey all that was left to do was pack up my bike and my bag and head to the sun and my first Triathlon European Championships with great excitement :)
Next blog: The Race - A Day To Remember and what I'm doing next
I started 2013 injury free but I was very unsure as to whether I could stay that way until my A race in June.
Having a coach is one thing but listening, believing and doing as they say is quite another at times. Given how much I missed out in 2012 and part of 2011 I felt that it was really time to do all of the above (which I'm pleased to say I did!)
January started with some easy running with clients and on my own and only 1 run of any real length. Not something I would have ordinarily done on my own! Turbo sessions to get into a routine and into the pool to just get back into regular swimming. All good this month - no injuries but it is early days! :)
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| Do you remember when the weather was like this? |
February was a pretty similar month running wise but a slight increase in distance in my 1 longer run. Turbo sessions started to feel more challenging and the band swimming in the pool feeling better. All good again - no injuries :)
March no real change to the running I am doing. The turbo sessions start to get more testing and I start to dread them (actually a good sign they are going to make me stronger!) the swim sessions continue in their distance but are getting more intense :) Another good month with - you guessed it - no injuries!
I have to say at this point I was pretty happy that I had no injuries and had managed to do just as I was told my my coach Paul Savage. I think 3 months of being able to run when I wanted to really started to give me the confidence that maybe this old body hadn't given up on me just yet!
April this month signals race season :) First up is Andover and then Duston towards the end of the month. Also for the first time in a very long time I plan to do a 5k Parkrun!! Very exciting!
With racing in the plan the long runs are replaced with brick sessions and a long run when no racing.
Andover was all a bit rusty and I think I actually put the most clothes on for the bike I ever have! Good to have raced, feel where I am strong and where I am not. Going into a race with no run injury was such a buzz. The last year I went into races wondering what would happen with whatever run injury I had. This race I could just go as hard as possible and see how it went, a very nice feeling indeed :) Unfortunately I was unwell for Duston and didn't get to start. Such a shame as I really like this race.
I'd had a bit of a niggle in my leg prior to Parkrun and foolishly still decided to run this. The night before I had some very sad news at the tragic death of someone who had been very kind to me and I think I was thinking much more about the loss of my friend than whether I should be running with this niggle. Lesson learnt. At 2 miles my leg was agony and I was gutted to have to walk to the finish line. Important not to self: if you have a niggle during the warm up - do not race unless it's your A race!
Luckily a couple of sports massages and the calf issue was gone and didn't interupt my training thankfully. A scare all the same that made me vigilant to this sort of thing in the coming months.
May I had planned to race my first Thames Turbo sprint and Grendon Triathlon, unfortunately an alarm clock malfunction and illness meant that neither of these happened. Quite a loss given that next month is my A race. I didn't appreciate the lack of racing and how that would make my race in Turkey feel but I now have a renewed appreciation for these races in preparing me for the best performance possible come race day.
June Race Month, the nerves started to kick in at the start of this month knowing there was only a few weeks until the race and really there wasn't going to be much more I could do to get hugely fitter. There was however a lot I could do to make sure that I didn't go to Turkey with an injury!!!
Everything continued as normal through the month, same swim sessions, turbo sessions still making me have to push very hard to maintain the power and running starting to progress towards being able to push in the last half of the 5k run.
I did it!!! I made it to my A race without a running injury and able to go and do whatever my body and mind were capable of delivering. I can't tell you how good it felt to go to Turkey knowing that my body was in one piece. I had no what ifs in my mind, I was going to be able to race without worry :)
With all my admin done and ready to go to Turkey all that was left to do was pack up my bike and my bag and head to the sun and my first Triathlon European Championships with great excitement :)
 |
| The Mighty Midget Machine ready for action! |
Next blog: The Race - A Day To Remember and what I'm doing next
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