I thought it was about time I updated my blog. It has been a somewhat turbulent couple of weeks since my last post with an unforeseen "challenge" coming my way.
I am now in week 6 of my training plan, and I have hit a significant milestone of swimming 2.5k without stopping. My previous training has consisted of doing technique work and intervals so I must admit I wondered if I would be able to swim that far without stopping or doing breaststroke.
It is also quite hard to know how to approach that session too so I broke it down into 10 minute stints. It was actually quite relaxing and I enjoyed it more than I envisaged. I can imagine that technique of breaking down the event or task into bite size chunks will come in handy for the IM.
I have attempted to teach myself to tumble turn too as I am wearing away the ends of my fingertips touching the end of the pool on every turn!
I nearly drowned so I may have to pop along to a Sunday session with SYtri if someone will teach me?????
My biking is definitely getting stronger too so the time spent on the turbo seems to be paying off. I must admit however that after a couple of months of bad weather the first sign of rain or sun and I am outside on my bike. I just wish this snow would do one!
After a couple of months of discussion I finally made a decision about TT bike versus new wheels....... I went for a TT bike in the end........I pick up my Planet X Stealth Carbon on Friday. After speaking to many people I believe Bolton to be a more TT "friendly" course so I went for that. I know I am going to have to put some hours and miles in on it but I am prepared to do that. I went for a wheel upgrade to Carbon clinchers too.... Planet X seem to be pretty well priced so I am really looking forward to testing it out...... I am getting a Retul bike fit too when i pick the bike up so I have that to look forward to.....
Anyway onto the more serious stuff. Sometime ago I had been getting some discomfort in my knee. Before Christmas I thought I better get it looked at by a doctor to check all was ok. I assumed I may need a bit of Physiotherapy........ I saw a specialist at the Nuffield who examined me and said he thought all was ok but would carry out an MRI and X Ray just to make sure.
Off i went for the MRI.......
I went back to see the Orthopaedic surgeon and he said that I had nothing major wrong but there was some fatty tissue build up from a previous injury that he wanted to remove. He prescribed a Therapeutic Arthropscopy. I was obviously concerned about Bolton, as this meant 5 days on crutches and 4 weeks with no training or driving, and approximately 4 weeks to get back to current fitness level.
I decided to leave it and see how it goes....... (That lasted for 24 hours and one club ride later thinking was it going to go). There was no way I could go through my training with that mindset and also risk it becoming worse or even having to pull out of the IM with 2 weeks to go or worse still during the event.
I sought counsel with some close peers and family, and decided to have op now. I'll be positive and see how things go but it means my IM training plan will be 19 weeks long plus my current preparation of 7 weeks training before the operation. Hopefully it'll be ok.
I am gutted though as i will miss the Cheshire Cat so I may go and watch the Sytri lads climb those hills instead. This also means the Spinathon is postponed for the moment too, but I will look to re-arrange for sometime in May all being well.
The op is on the 23rd Feb and fingers crossed from here........ This was going to be hard enough without a further obstacle to overcome, but I guess this goes with the territory. I am looking forward to not having a knee discomfort every time I ride or run though!
Anyway thanks for reading, and thanks for the advice recently everyone and see you all soon.
Paul
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