Picture of my training bike

I've noticed it is common practice to post pictures of flash new racing bikes on triathlon blogs. I don't have one. Here is my trusty steel framed Zarossi training bike, no frills, two wheels , handlebars and a chain.

Perfect post ride recovery

Perfect post ride recovery. A shower, a bowl of warmed porridge left over from breakfast and playing with my children. I'm not sure being jumped on, bounced on, walked all over and generally used as an all purpose trampoline counts as post ride massage but my entire body received it.

Had a good night sleep Cameron didn't wake up at 4am as he has been doing and it follows on from Friday night when I was in bed for 7.15pm.
Weather was great this morning not as cold as yesterday but I was out an hour half later. I am exploring roads I've never been down before as I am relatively new to the area.

Did my 3mile run before breakfast and the ankle is not feeling as good as it has been.

Mouse pooh and other activities

Last weekend was spent taking out the kitchen units and filling in holes in the matai timber floor (matai is a native new zealand hard wood) to stop a mouse coming into the house. I had already done some and thought I'd solved the problem. Tomorrow I've got to spend time stopping the plumbing and dishwasher from leaking which was caused by me taking out the kitchen units last week.

I am just loving cycling, time to myself I don't know why people use iPods on the bike I just love being alone with my thoughts or concentrating on what I'm doing. I guess because I don't ride for riding sake everything is very focussed, don't have time for aimless miles and even in my pre arthritis pre children days I didn't either I just didn't realise it. A friend of mine James commented that he found training indoors boring, I mentioned he must be doing it wrong. I follow Michael McCormack's advice for indoor training and never do the same workout twice because of him I've learnt a lot and refined my thinking about indoor training (I've used it a lot in the past summer and winter) but now Wow!

This morning was 18miles mostly in 53x12 strength training. I realised that last year I didn't do much real strength training on the bike and although I did ok on the bike I could have gone better. Also on reflection was a bit complacent with training and hence I following the advice of Michael McCormack. He just explains things in a way I never could and he makes me realise that is the way I used to train instinctively - I just thought I was a lazy trainer.

Tomorrow I will run my third 3mile run for the week, the best run week for about 10 weeks, hopefully my infury is a thing of the past. I will ride another 18miles "fixed wheel" in 53x21 mostly flat. And hopefully catch up for a missed swim Friday night when the pool was closed for a swim meet.

Major happenings

First running injury not related to arthritis for 7 years. I haven't run properly for 10 weeks. I follow the coaching philosophy of Michael McCormack and he recommends an aid for helping sort out running injuries called eGrip. Now I haven't had a running injury (apart from a twisted ankle) since I got orthotics for planter fascistis (spelling??), I bought them for Teresa who had a persistant niggle. I used them for 6 weeks thinking it might improve my running form, decided I couldn't be bothered and a day or so later had the sore spot above the ankle bone on the inside of my right foot. It seems to be on the mend at long last.

Emily started school. Children in New Zealand typically start school on their fifth birthday. She started at Napier Central School where Teresa teaches, I do relief teaching and designed the website. The lead up to Emily's birthday was okay it was the stress leading up to and including the party was the killer. It was a long build up because it coincided with the school's stage production at the local theatre that Teresa was jointly responsible for.

Change to racing plans : will be doing local sprints again and local olympic distance because we are just not ready to travel away for races yet, so I just have to patient .

Absolutely loving the Total Immersion way of swimming. I no longer train in the pool it is thoughtful practice, every variation and nuance is thought about. If I can just stop sighting so frequently in the water I'll hopefully go a minute quicker. The other big thing for is my aging race bike has been finally upgraded from 8speed to 10 speed giving me a better combination of gears for the flat.

I'm back

Forgive me it has been almost 4 months since my last post. I am back and more determined than ever to keep blogging for my own sanity. The reason I read other triathletes blogs : 1.to keep me from feeling isolated and in touch because I do all of my training alone 2. Makes me realise I am quite sane.