The picture above is from my training diary showing week to date run mileage. The green line is last year and the pink this year. It clearly shows the taper down to Lanzarote in late May and how my run volume never got back to anywhere near the volumes leading into Lanzarote. In the summer it was a combination of niggly injuries and lack of motivation. The latter probably resulting in me using the injuries as more of an excuse not to run than would normally be the case. The big question is: was the big mileage through the winter the cause of the bad summer of running ? This is key because I ran strongly at Lanzarote – though not my fastest Ironman run it felt my strongest and was off the bike of the hardest bike leg I’ve ridden. At the time I certainly felt the big winter miles  paid off and as such have a desire to repeat or even increase that volume. BUT… if it causes the niggles then I’d be better off with lower volume but consistently through the whole year. I’m very carefully building up the run mileage at the moment … even holding myself back. Today I decided not to run …had to hold myself back from running off the bike. Did a very easy ride out to Cycles Dauphin to discuss my bike set up with Rohan. The plan is to try out a set up with drop handlebars and clip on aero bars. Oval now do a neat stem face plate to attach the aero extensions and arm pads to so you can get a very neat integrated set up with drop bars. The hope is to allow myself to stay aero whilst covering the brakes – will be very useful in Kona or any other very windy course.