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James' Blog - May '15

Published:

A triathlon career brings with it both highs and lows. James tells us how he's dealing with his road to recovery and where exactly he's targeting his comeback.

After 7 years of waking up at 4:30am for my job as a Breakfast Radio Producer, my working hours have recently changed to the bog standard 9 to 5:30. I used to think it impossible for people to do Iron Distance training that didn't work in Breakfast Radio! I'm learning the hard way of how to fit in all that volume around a normal day shift having had it so good for so long.

So I still have to get up at 5am, but now I am training before work, therefore the only real thing that has been taken away is my afternoon nap and 'Deal or No Deal' fix! I can do a productive 90 minute Turbo session or 3 400m swims and still make it to the office for 9am. The only absence from my current training program is any running. Since my last blog when I wrote of being hit by a car on a training ride, I've not ran at all. I decided to take 4 weeks off to let my legs recover from an ongoing niggle around my shins which flares up between sessions with far too much regularity. It did mean however, that unfortunately I had to - for the first time ever - withdraw from a race. The British Middle Distance Championships (who do a very generous withdrawal policy I may add) as I just wasn't in any kind of triathlon race shape.

It was with a heavy heart and I left right up until the last minute as I had singled out this event as a high priority on my 2015 race schedule. A good marker to lay down before the final 3 month build up to the European Long Distance Championship at Challenge Weymouth in September which has now taken on even more significance.

Despite my recent woes and being a triathlete that just trains like one but never races, there are always positives to take out of the sport. No running has equaled much more focus on swimming and biking, which have come on incredibly well. With no training bike (written off in the car accident) I've been forced on to the TT bike prematurely, which has been beneficial training. I think its good to track progress and I often to a series of tests every 5 or 6 weeks to see where I'm at, inclusive of a 100m target paced TT on the flat which I did this weekend. Both in swimming and cycling I'm clocking PB's at the minute, I just need to start running again - then racing of course! 

To read James' previous blog post, please visit here. His next post will be on Wednesday 1 July.

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