January and February Training

First blog of the year and I seemed to have missed a Jan training post, so I will include here. Stats for Jan and Feb; 

 January 

 SWIM 

Count: 5 Activities Distance: 9.01 mi
Time: 5:04:05 h:m:s

BIKE
Count: 25 Activities
Distance: 525.47 mi
Time: 34:08:43 h:m:s

RUN
Count: 2 Activities
Distance: 16.16 mi
Time: 2:24:28 h:m:s

February

SWIM
Count: 4 Activities
Distance: 5.72 mi
Time: 3:10:35 h:m:s

BIKE
Count: 13 Activities
Distance: 428.47 mi
Time: 26:59:42 h:m:s

RUN
Count: 12 Activities
Distance: 87.53 mi
Time: 13:47:16 h:m:s

I’ll start with a short summary of Jan…I got injured, Achilles strain at the beginning of the month hence the low run volume. Injury happened when I had finished my night shifts and had about 4 hours sleep, jumped out of bed, kit on and out of the door…in cold weather…uphill. I think I strained by calf here and it had a knock onto my achilles. I felt it tight after the first half mile but as I felt good in myself I carried on. I had to stop to stretch and after about 5 miles it seemed to fade. Stupidly I continued and ran 11 miles. As soon as I stopped I basically couldn’t walk without limping. 

After much investigation on the internet I self diagnosed a strain and set about making it better. To cut a long story short I foam rollered, did heel drops and rolled a golf ball on the sole of my foot a few times a day for the rest of the month. It worked…I hope. The main thing was I did not run at all during this time, I cycled and swam but no running which I think is very key to recovery for achilles injuries.

Managed to get out on my bike a few times in Jan, but the main thin was I successfully completed the Tour of Sufferlandria. 9 days of Sufferfest videos, it was pain from start to finish, but loved doing it and would definitely recommend as a great winter training focus.  



I swam 5 times. 

February was different I managed to get out more on the bike, less turbo and managed to get back out running…what a relief, I hate being injured as does everyone. Its very frustrating and must be extremely difficult for people who cant do any exercise through injury.

Outdoor rides have increased in distance as the month has gone on and hoping to bank a few century rides over the next couple of months.



Running I built back up to 14 miles and achilles has managed ok. I have had some pain but it has been tightness and through more stretching I feel I have got it sorted.

A couple of decent swims this month as well, when me and Jo go on Tuesday mornings when I am off there is an older guy who does masters swims there who has started giving some free advice and helping with sets etc. The final swim of the month saw me getting a PB in 400m 7:05 which was part of a 400/200m repeat set. My swimming is really taking shape now and although not strictly Jan/Feb I did a monster session on Tuesday which resulted in me PBing 4 times at 100m. Finally getting 1:29 which I am absolutely amazed at considering the number of times I actually go. Although I am consistent I don’t go enough but now I am seeing some inroads I think I will try to go more. 



A good 2 months training overall which gets me into the feeling of being ‘In training’ and not just stuttering along like I felt I was early part of the year. All good, moving forward to March and not long until IM Lanzarote now…