Who's a knotty boy, then?

I'm ramping up the exercise, and it's wonderful.

Total exercise duration per week, all logged in Training Peaks

Ran my first parkrun without stopping last weekend - it's only 5km but parkrun is a big psychological milestone for me. I went down to the inaugural Clair parkrun event Haywards Heath. It was an unexpected hill-fest - but I ran it all non-stop, and set a "comeback PB" (my personal best since coming back from injury) of 28 minutes and 29 seconds. A far cry from my 21 minute all time PB, but all in good time!

4 and a bit laps of the recreation ground - dizzy yet?

You can see the hills in my heart rate, until it all just goes through the roof on the last lap!

There were a few familiar faces there including some inaugural hunters, and parkrun team member and host of The parkrun Show podcast Danny Norman. Great to see you all again, it's been too long.

I've been on a few bike rides too, including a 110km mission on my Time Trial bike - first time I've ridden it since Galway last year!

I vowed that once my training ramped up I'd make sure I was doing the right things to stop myself just getting injured again. Part of my multi-prionged defence was to get strong, and Ben and Josh at Athletic Edge have been doing a great job getting me started down that road over the last month.

Another tactic was to get regular sports massage, so this morning at 7am I turned up at SW19 Physio to get beaten up by Christine the chirpy South African masseuse. Mrs has been seeing her for quite a long time, on and off, and it was about time I tried it.

In their own words:

SPORTS AND DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

Our massage therapists specialise in sports and deep tissue massage and can help you in the treatment of:
✓ Minor injuries
✓ Injury prevention
✓ Back and neck discomfort
✓ Maintenance 
✓ Pregnancy massage
✓ Relaxation.

When you come for massage treatment, our therapists will ensure your muscles are assessed, stretched and stimulated by using techniques of deep stroking, cross fibre friction and vibrations.

About massage: 
Minor injury is by far the most common musculoskeletal problem. It can be extremely painful and may seriously affect a person’s occupation, sport or quality of life. If not treated properly at an early stage, a minor injury can sometimes lead to a more serious condition in the long term. Massage can treat the majority of such minor problems quickly and effectively.

Injury prevention is another area where the importance of massage should not be underestimated. Massage is the only actual treatment that can be applied specifically to help prevent injury. This is not only in a sports context but also in terms of posture and stress.

By stimulating the blood circulation through the body with massage, the waste that has accumulated is removed more quickly and completely and more fresh blood from the arteries is supplied for repair and nutritional needs to damaged muscles. And in a complementary role with other therapies, such as physiotherapy and chiropractics, massage can greatly speed recovery because of its wide ranging benefits:

✓ Breaking down of adhesions
✓ Breaking down of scar tissue
✓ Increase tissue permeability
✓ Improved tissue elasticity
✓ Pain reduction through increased circulation.

Firstly it didn't hurt anything like as much as I was expecting - sure there were moments that made me yelp a bit, but for the most part I could carry on a normal conversation. I explained my background and how I got injured in the first place. She started by working on the left IT Band ("Wow, that's tight!") and then the right ("Oh my God, this one is even tighter!"). She found a few knobbly bits and gave them some attention. Most of the bits that really needed work were on my calf muscles and glutes. There were lots of gristly bits ("Ahh yes, here's one right here!") that needed attention.

After that she spent the final few minutes on my back and shoulders, and packed me off with some advice about drinking lots of fluid today (apparently there's a lot of "stuff" that gets released from the muscles into your blood after a massage) and keep moving.

The first few times I got up from my desk today I hobbled around like an old man. It's the evening now and I'm home and showered. Legs are feeling better, but apparently tomorrow they'll feel floaty light.

I'm booked in again for the Tuesday after Ride London, and I'm already looking forward to it. I'll aim to go every second week or so, but not too close to a race or heavy training session.

Happy to be making positive pro-active choices about injury prevention. First race is this coming Sunday - Virgin Active London Triathlon, Olympic Plus distance - 1,500m swim, 80km bike, and a 10km run. Mrs will have lots of obligations over the weekend (more on that later!), and I'm really looking forward to it. Can't wait!

This rest day is a training day

I have been almost relentlessly positive about my training progress. This is in part because progress has been rapid - I had (and still have) weight to lose and strength to gain, therefore any structured plan would show an improvement. It's also in part because I try to take a positive approach to everything I do - I find that if I can remain positive and focused about training that transfers directly to other areas of my life. I've found it's important to have a mental strategy to deal with alterations to the training plan as it can become a problem if that level of positivity hinges on each session being completed succesfully.

This week the weather has been very warm in the UK. I'm a big fan of summer, I love the sun and being outside on my bike or (now I'm a bit lighter) even running. It does take a few days to adapt to the overnight temperature though - as a result this last week I've had three consecutive nights from Wednesday to Friday night of very broken and unrewarding sleep. This peaked on Friday when I'll wager that I got no more than 30 minutes uninterrupted sleep at a time. Not only nowhere near enough sleep, but definitely not enough to sustain a heavy training load.

Saturday was due to ba a long and hard day, challenging at the best of times. Up at 4am, pick up Danny Norman (go and download The parkrun Show now) and drive to Marple in Cheshire for their inaugural parkrun, drive home. Sleep for 3 or 4 hours. Get up again, cycle up to Clapham and meet some work colleagues at 11pm for the London to Brighton Night Ride - and, in order to make it a real Ironman-worthy training session - cycle back home afterwards.

Marple parkrun was gorgeous. A challenging undulating course on a beautiful hot early-summer morning. I met some great people including Tom Williams and his wife Helen and daughter Rosie, Tom is a presenter on Marathon Talk (grab it from iTunes) and UK Manager for parkrun. David and Sharon Rowe who have been involved in the parkrun community for many years; and James, Marple parkrun event director, and his crew. I even got to say hi to Tony Audenshaw, who I know as the voice of Tony's Trials in Marathon Talk, but is apparently better known as Bob from Emmerdale. We had a lovely coffee afterwards at sleepy coffee shop and bakery Libby's in Marple Bridge - I'm not sure they knew what had hit them!

Marple people and parkrun people in the sun (check out how sharp the shadows were at 8:30am)

As I was driving back yesterday early afternoon I knew something had to give. I was absolutely shattered, only a Grande Filter from Starbucks and Danny's chirpy chatter kept me focussed enough to get home. I collapsed onto the sofa and was micro-sleeping almost immediately. Regrettably, I had to call the night's 180km mega-ride off.

I have a real problem with people who promise to do things, and then don't show up - it's a behavioural trait that winds me up, particularly when others have gone out of their way or might be looking forward to your presence. I try very hard not to be that person so missing the ride was not a decision taken lightly.

Would I enjoy cycling 180km (if indeed I made the distance) in a catatonic haze? Would it make me a better Ironman? No on both counts, and it would have a negative impact on my adaptation of the week's productive load.

I ate well yesterday afternoon, made an effort not to nap, and turned in at about 11pm in the end. I slept solidly until 9.30am today - a sleep that gave me far more training benefit than the ride would have done.

So I'm sorry I missed the ride, I hope the guys that did it had an awesome time, but for me - my night's training was spent dreaming and recovering. It was a positive decision, it was the right thing to do.

Rest is training too.

New wetsuit

My wetsuit is very old, about 8 years now. Technology has come on a long way in that time, and wetsuit design, construction, and materials are no exception. For long swims it rubs, moves around, and generally becomes uncomfortable. Not what you want in an Ironman swim.

I've been very impressed with the reports on the latest Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit, so when the Legends Of Triathlon podcast auctioned one off as part of their sponsorship from Blue Seventy, I gave it serious consideration.

The ebay auction was for 10 days, and was due to expire while I was on a business trip to the US. In fact, it expired while I was sat in a presentation. Thankfully there were 208 other people sat in the session too, so I could keep a half-eye on my iPad and see what was going on with the auction.

I set a mental upper limit, and with a few seconds left made (yeah I'm one of those people, sorry about that) I made my bid, and... I won! The good thing about last minute bidding is the instant gratification.

I won! In dollars!

It could have been worse, it could have expired at 9.30am the next day when I'd have been on stage presenting - much harder to furtively check ones iPad from there...

So, the big unknown, is I kind of assumed it would be a 2012 version, seeing as that's what everyone has been excited about lately. However, checking just now I learn that it's not out until February (though it is February now) and you can't buy it yet.

So, will I get the really very good 2010 version at a bargain price? Or will I get the super amazing bar-raising 2012 version at a mega-bargain price? I'll let you know as soon as I know - one thing is for certain, it'll kick the arse off my old wetsuit!

(Actually I've just realised the one in the picture is a 2010 version so I reckon that answers that question...)