Swings and Roundabouts

I was hoping to be writing this post about my first race back of the season, the Hole Park Cross-Duathlon. However that plan was scuppered by catching the office bug that had been threatening to take hold for the last month or so, that hit with perfect timing to drag me into a grumpy snotty mess for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
Any athlete who is training alongside a full time job always has that thought in the back/front/whole of their mind of how far could they go if they had the chance to train full time. What could they do if they got the chance to wholly focus on training and racing without fitting it around the precious time that they have outside of work, their free time for which they can dedicate to whatever they want, whilst still of course reminding your family of what you look like. This is why our weekends are cherished so dearly as we get to decide when, where and how to train without worrying if we'll get to work on time or if we'll be able to miss the traffic and make it to the pool/track/wilderness before it closes/gets dark. Even better are long Bank Holiday weekends like the one just gone by for Easter, where we get the chance to have 4 whole days in a row of solid back to back training days with the added incentive of eating (more) chocolate. It's fair to say that I always look forward to the Easter break.

For the past few weeks I have been feeling a little under the weather, a little bit off but nothing too major to throw much of my training off. A couple of days here and there where I couldn't quite hit the reps, sets or times wanted but still able to get some quality sessions in. I didn't think much of this until the Wednesday before Easter when it all got a bit worse; sore throat, blocked up head and a bit spaced out. I knew I had finally succumbed to the office bug. A coldy/fluish bug that's made it's way through pretty much every department at one point and had hit a few colleagues in the weeks before. By Thursday it had officially hit and I retreated home early from work to collapse on the sofa and a 3 hour sleep followed, just in time to scupper those weekend plans of miles and smiles.
Now from here this post could quite easily have descended into self pity and cursing at cyclist I saw riding past my window enjoying the early spring sunshine (this might have happened). But instead to my surprise, I quickly found a new perspective on the enforced rest. I had the chance to veg out on the sofa, watch some films and eat chocolate whilst my better half looked after me (she did pretty well to put up with me to be honest). Yes I was still thoroughly hacked off to be ill and not able to do what I wanted, but for the first time I think ever, I was able to accept it and just get on with recovering. I must be getting old!

Hannah's form of sympathy...

This led me to look back at my recent training and how happy I am with how far I've come on since teaming up with B&J Racing. Coaching really does work and if you're thinking about signing up with a coach, be it long or short term, I would really recommend that you jump in and commit fully to it. It's not an automatic ticket to improvement, you still have to put in the hard work, but knowing with every session that you're ticking off that you are moving in the right direction, at the right pace and with the right recovery. It's a great feeling.
Now looking forward I have a few xc mountain bike races in the next few weeks and then I'll be travelling to some local and then some not so local cross-triathlons in Europe. With 4 days of very light training under my belt since starting to feel human again, fingers crossed I'm out the other side of this bug. I cannot wait to get going again with training properly and now that the days are getting longer, warmer and brighter, it's going to be a great season.


But for now ladies and gents do like have been, take it easy :)
Tom