I’m hoping with the way my swimming is going that come October 11th I’ll be on the front line of the above ! Been going well all week with swimming. Focussed on quality sessions by only doing the 3 coached sessions. On Monday morning we had a main set that could really test how my swimming is going. Started with a solid 1500m warm up which I did in 22 minutes. Main set was Pauls lovely ‘Accumulator’ set. The idea is you do 100m off a time of your best 400m pace plus 15 seconds. We do 400m time trials every few months so we use that. I’ve improved alot since my last time trial so I was confident I could hit my target of 1:20s going off 1:35. So… you start with 1 100 then do 50m easy. If u make that you do 2 x 200 then 50m easy. You keep going adding a 100 till you don’t make the time at which point you start over. We all keep doing this for 45 minutes. Well … I went 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5, then 6, and got 4 of my 7 done before the 45 minutes was over. I was hitting them all between 1:16 and 1:19. 1:19 felt like cruising but to get 1:16 took significantly more work. I could so feel the water and just kept being able to pull it with all my might. A great feeling.

I’ve started to feel strong throughout the three disciplines but unfortunately a couple of niggles have arisen.

Firstly last week during my long run I felt my right groin get tight. This has progressed abit since then and though it eased off during my long run on Tuesday it felt bad enough when I ran off the bike for me to stop after 5 minutes. It felt to me like it would ease off with rest so I didn’t run on it Wednesday but getting to swimming I could feel it still so arranged for a massage Friday afternoon. On Thursday I could even feel it on the bike so I knocked my planned run for the day on the head. I jogged to the club run session and organised it but didn’t run myself. This proved to be the right decision as this morning it felt alot better running to and from swimming. With the massage this afternoon I held off any further running, even though I was sorely tempted, to try and ensure it had every opportunity to recover.

More worryingly is the ball of my left foot. I’ve been getting pain on and off there during cycling for quite a while now but not thought too much of it. Recently though it has been getting worse and I’m feeling it sometimes when running now. It’s becoming a little bit of a concern. Having done some searching on the web I think it’s to go with the two sesamoid bones under the metatarsal of the big toe – ie right under the ball of my foot. The concern is that this is chronic and will take alot to recover from. My thoughts are either I just need to adjust my cleats or I’m going to have to take a big break and let it recover. Fingers crossed it will keep ok through to Kona. The discomfort isn’t that bad and it’s still intermittent so I can handle it. You never know moving my cleats may sort it out.