Swimming, bike fitting and cycling.

5 weeks have come and gone since I sprained my ankle. I am not back to full fitness, but have at least kicked my dependence on painkillers into touch. This week saw a resemblance of a return to training with 3 swimming sessions, a spinning class and a very long bike thrown in for good measure. Tomorrow will be an easy swim followed by a strength session in the gym.


Last weekend I joined a gym. What a pleasure to be able to walk 5 minutes and be greeted by a massive, well equipped gym that's even got 12 indoor tennis courts and 2 pools. There are master swimming groups and a number of spinning classes every week, so I will definitely visit them as often as I can. I have always seen gyms as a bit of a luxury, but since I got a glimpse of what it will take to realise my goal at the Ironman Cozumel I can see that a gym within walking distance is not only a luxury but also a necessity.


Since I bought my bike last year, I have never been fully happy with my riding position. I found out about a talented and friendly bike fitter in West London and booked my session with Richard from Freespeed. After four hours of chatting about all things triathlon, I felt happy that we nailed both positions for the foreseeable future. My primary objective is to convert my road bike into a time trial bullet whilst ensuring that I stay comfortable and relatively aerodynamic for the full 112 miles. Another challenge was to ensure that my legs are able to do a 26.2 mile run after the bike.  I took my aero bars, tri saddle and tt seat post to the session. These items allow for a road set-up to be transformed into an aerodynamic and still powerful position (on a budget). Richard was great and it took a couple of hours to get the best out of my equipment.  What was also very helpful is that Richard has a wide range of saddles and aero bars in his studio. This gave me the opportunity to trial a different position which was good as I now have a proper pair of aero bars on my shopping list :-)

My new aero position for the Ironman.

Ironman here we come!

Thursday night was my first session at my triathlon club's swim group and my first ever coached swimming session. I struggled with all the drills but managed to stay with the group throughout the hour swim. I can now see that swim classes is the way to go. My own swim workouts were never structured enough, and I always managed to find an excuse not to go all the way.


I emailed my weekly riding buddies yesterday to ask what the plan was for today. I had a busy week, so I was oblivious to the fact that London was going to be wet. I learnt that the plan was to take train to Southampton at 6:10am (apologies to my wife for waking her) and arrive there for 8am to start our 80 mile ride in the (hopefully) dry. All went well apart from Edo that forgot his over-shoes. A pair of shopping bags had to do and we were off around the south coast and through the New Forest. The plan was to finish in Basingstoke, but we ended up catching a train back from Andover. The ride itself was out of our comfort zones and we suffered in turn as we ran out of energy and took turns to complain about the other guys not taking their turn at the front. The ride took a lot out of us, and the train ride back was very quiet as all three of us fell asleep.

The route, Southampton to Andover.

My legs feel fine and I am very happy about the fact that I can push things when it comes to cycling. The 5 hour ride really took it out of me, and my aerobic fitness is nowhere near where it was before my accident. I am feeling confident however that this will change, and I am excited about another week of swimming and biking. I will also try my first run towards the end of the week, but that would just be a bonus, I do not want to risk making it worse!

The road to recovery, long bike ride...done!

After four weeks of sitting around with a solid two and a half week stretch reliant on crutches, I can celebrate some success. The ankle gave me all of my days especially at night when the pain woke me at times. 


A group of friends were going out for a medium long ride this morning +- 100km. I decided to go along, and tested the ankle on the turbo trainer last night. The foot felt fine, so I prepared my rig for the Saturday morning ride. The first half of the session was easy as we had a couple of extra (slower) riders with us. I was not so lucky after we said goodbye to them at the half way point. 


My two riding companions, clearly making the most of the 5 weeks since I last joined them on a long ride rode steady into the wind on the way back to London, and I was soon falling behind. 
Watching them stop and wait for me about 3 or 4 times made me decide to spare my legs/ankle/pride and head for the nearest train station to complete the journey by rail. I completed 75km and I was quite tired, but happy that I was back in the saddle...and about to get out of it! 


The journey back was a little bit of a train smash, not literally :-). I first discovered that I would have to travel about twice the distance back as there were no direct trains to my stop. After buying my ticket and crossing the footbridge, I took out my phone to call my wife to explain why I would be two hours later than expected. My bank card flew out with my phone and floated right onto the track! All I can say is sorry to the passengers on the line, and those waiting to buy tickets, as the kind man at the ticket office abandoned his station and got the train signallers to halt trains on their way past us so that he could jump on the tracks to retrieve my card. 


My ankle feels good tonight, and walking has become easier during the past week. My guess is that it can be attributed to my wobble board, and persistence at doing stretches and strength exercises for about an hour every evening. I will continue to do this, as it has been proven to be invaluable for recovery. I am also convinced that it will strengthen my ankles to make them more robust than ever before.


I am quite excited about this year, as I have just finished re-reading the Triathlete's  Training Bible by Joe Friel. The book gets quite scientific, but that is what I love about it. The reason is to work out my training plan for the Ironman Cozumel in November. Currently I have a marathon, some sportive rides and a fair amount of triathlons as B and C races planned in the run-up to the big daddy. The goal is to be as well prepared for my first long distance race as possible, the rest will just be done in preparation.


I hope to be back and running in another two weeks, so I should (hopefully) be documenting and updating my blog as proceedings gather momentum!

My bike getting some well deserved rest, and sun.