Back on it

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Happy new year to both my blog followers!

Had a cracking 2 week break to Dubai with the fam Preston for my 40th and over crimbo. Stayed in Atlantis on the palm and it was an incredible place. Obviously ate and drank like a king and did a grand total of about an hours floating in the sea exercise wise. A break was definately needed but as usual my hard earned fitness had all but dissapeared by the time I got back.

So, back home and back to it! Got to admit EVERYTHING was bloody hard at first. Running is always most affected and pushing too far too soon has given me a torn calf. Pretty minor but needed anoteher few days off. Calves are always brutally tight when I have time off and the shortening (I hope) makes the pace really, really slow! I am hoping that's what it is because I'm barely threatening 8/mm let alone 7s & 6s !!

Always reckon I can get in good run shape in 3/4 weeks so no panicks. Usual solid 3 sessions a week is bang on for me but need to be running pain free first.

Swimming started really slow but has picked up a bit now I'm getting decent amount of volume back in. I need to work on my swim fitness this year, think I'm about as far as I'm going to get with technique (i.e. not the shittest but not up with the fishes). I'm too much of a pussy on volume though, 30-40 min sessions are not enough. Enjoying my swimming at the moment, less worry about pace and more worry about having fun in there.

Bike is where it is at for me this year. Started already with some hard turbo sessions and some easy rides and planning to knock out a few more TT's this year. Got to pick up the bike at all costs!! Read some great books while I was away and spent some time day-dreaming about what I need to do. Basically I reckon I need to work on my leg strength and cadence. Mainly on the leg strength side to be fair. I have big quads but they push out about 37 watts flat out !! I am determined to enjoy the bike this year and that means do not be shit!!

Got some good races lined up. Horst is all booked for an early season long course duathlon. I am not doing London so it's something for a bit of bike focus. Got some sprint duos lined up before then and some TT's. Then it's main focus of the national sprint at St Neots and Olympic distance at Geneva. Apart from that I am going to hit some local races this year. I am sick of finishing on page 3 and 4 of results so rather than work at getting quicker I guess it's easier to focus on lowering the starndard of competition #completor ;) haha

Peace out x

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