It is almost the end of February.
Since I last posted on 9th November, its fair to say I have been a little bit busy.
I am 4 months into the biggest challenge of my life (to date)
So far, I have trained myself over a distance of 1496km (929 miles in other monies)
This has taken in the region of 137 hours ish.
I daren't think about how many hours have been spent procrastinating, getting changed, packing kit bags, doing maths about what time I need to set the alarm, preparing food, eating the food.... then of course there are the technology fails..... And the washing up of cooking implements, kit and my sweaty self.
Those hours aren't included in the 137 hours so far.
One Sunday bike session which should have taken 3 hours to complete, took a whole day.
Literally.
A whole Sunday.
I got up, with the intention of riding outside.
Winter kit on, Josephine ready for her maiden voyage, all new and sorted, we set off, turned the corner and were met with a crippling head wind.
I hadn't ridden outside since September and my road confidence was still on the floor after the accident.
10 minutes of negative voice and headwind and I was back home setting up the turbo and changing from winter outside riding kit to as little as possible to keep cool - but enough to protect the bits that mattered.
Then I had a technology fail where I couldn't log my data.
So i sat and sulked... then cooked.
It took all day to get the session done.
The harder the sessions get, the longer they become, the more focused I am finding myself.
I had a really tough couple of weeks in January - just after new year, the time when the money is at its lowest post Christmas and the darkness has been too dark for too long.
Every session was a battle.
Every time I trained, it felt like hard work - and not in the usual sense of challenging and pushing yourself
It was a huge effort to make my body move at all, let alone move at pace, uphill, or over distance.
Every discipline was hard and enjoyment was limited.
In fact, during this time, there was no enjoyment.
But I knew it would pass.... and it did.
I just had to be consistent.
These tough sessions were ticked off a minute at a time.
I knew if I could do 60 seconds, I would be able to repeat it.
If I could repeat it 5 times, I would then be able to repeat it another 5 times.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Left foot.
Right foot.
60 seconds.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I don't know how long it took for the difficult patch to pass.
It felt like it would never shift.
It did though... and now I am loving training again.
Its hard and I am knackered.
And I am oh so hungry.
I would be lying if I said otherwise.
But I AM loving it.
(mainly)
I am giddy about the progress I am making and I can feel myself getting stronger.
The scales were kind at the beginning of February - they said I had dropped overall weight, my body fat % had gone down and my lean muscle mass had gone up.
I will see what the beginning of March says when I next jump on them.
I'm not obsessing about what I weight - I am more concerned with what my body can do right now.
I seem to be eating A LOT, but, *most* of the time, I am eating well/
I can't expect my body to work if I fuel it on the wrong things.
When I am tired, I tend to reach for the sugar n junk.
This is the bit I need to be mindful of, monitor and modify.
I would like to be lighter - I will climb better if I weigh less.
Simple science.
I haven't been swimming as much as I would like to - but I'm not worried about it.
Cycling and running are the area's I will make most gains.
When warmer waters come, I will be able to combine riding to venues with long swims in the open.
I am also looking to try out a SwimBeam soon for personal use as well as coaching.
You don't need to know about my sores from cycling.
No. Really.
You don't.
Norseman is creeping ever nearer.
There are in the region of 162 days until the 6th August, which is about 3888 hours (depending when you're reading this)..... and for now, I am feeling positive about it.
