Follow the latest in Roz's triathlon life as she overcomes injury and pushes herself over longer distances...
Fingers crossed I seem to be well back on the road to recovery. The two discs I herniated in my neck in November seem to be tolerating my return to some pretty intense training!
As I have been allowed to cycle on a stationary bike for some time, I decided that The Tour of Sufferlandria was well worth doing in order to find some much needed bike legs.
This was a nine day ‘virtual tour’ on a turbo which was pretty tough going, but I seem to have come out of the other side of it with stronger legs - so happy days! My new training bike arrived just at the end of the tour and has been a great incentive to get back out on the road. Riding outside does still aggravate my neck but there seems to be improvement week by week which is great.
I have also managed to get back into running some longer distances which feels fantastic. I am surrounded by lots of muddy trails out in the Hertfordshire countryside and absolutely love getting outdoors whatever the weather. What is slightly strange for me though is that this year I have decided to go searching for hills to run up and down. I have always avidly hated hills but as running on the track aggravates a longstanding niggly Achilles, this year I have decided to try hill repeats as an alternative and surprisingly I even enjoy it! Working in London with Primrose Hill on the doorstep means that I have no excuses, and anyway, you can never tire of the view across London at the top or a chat with the camels on the way back to the office.
Last weekend I travelled to Ireland to run in the Kinvara Rock and Road Half Marathon. The hill repeats definitely worked in my favour to make for a pleasant hilly half in spite of the fact that it was blowing a hoolie! I was very pleased with my time and placing, and with Irish relatives living in the area and participating too it made for some great pre & post race celebrations and of course the race organisers were very welcoming too.
Later this month I have tentatively entered an off-road duathlon. I did this race last year and really enjoyed it. I’m very much a novice when it comes to mountain biking so 10k, 32k, 10k is going to be quite a long day out, but I am sure it will be great fun.
I have now started swimming again too. Two disciplines were definitely easier to manage than three so that has been a bit of a shock to the system - but so far so good.
Alison, my blind friend that I am hoping to guide through a triathlon later this year is doing brilliantly. A local Park Run has just started in her neighbourhood which means that she gets to run outside once a week. The organisers have been fantastic at helping out, guiding when I cannot and looking after her dog when she is running. This Park Run is not on the easiest terrain, being three laps of a muddy, hilly field and I am full of admiration for her toughness and determination.
Ever have those days when you cannot find your training mojo? I know I have in the past but just remembering those less fortunate than ourselves that have to overcome hurdles to train or cannot train when they would love to always helps me get my butt out the door!
Roz's next blog will be posted Wednesday 22 April. Read her previous blog post here.
