Pleased to say that I’m coping with this post Ironman period better than before and this week have got myself moving again. Monday morning I got up and did the club squad swim, the water was 31c which is an insane temperature to train in but still got myself through the session. Did a 45 minute run over to Janes which felt ok.

Tuesday I was hoping to get out and ride but I felt pretty jaded so rested for the day. Wednesday I got up after 9 hours of sleep and then within an hour of being up just felt so tired I slept a further 3 hours. Met up with Stephen for an 8 mile run and it was hardwork. Luckily the chatting kept my mind off it but with 2 miles to go it seriously crossed my mind to walk back. Amazingly when I came to run to swimming I felt so much better, almost like the run at lunchtime and cleared out my system of all it’s crap and now I was good to go. This thought was backed up by swimming really well. We did 3 x (5 x 200m) with 100 sculling between each set of 5. The odd 200s in each set were off 3:00 and the evens done stroke count. Headed off on the first, pushing it but comfortable and came in on 2:32 !! The 200s on 3 minutes went 2:32,2:33,2:34 then 2:33,2:34,2:38 and finally 2:34,2:44,2:39 Died abit but the 2:44 was really loss of focus. It’s been a few years since I’ve been getting even a single 200 under 2:40. One of my concerns has been lifted with this. I had worried a little that following a taper and recovery from Wisconsin I’d lose some of my swimming strength but it looks like I’ve moved on a little.

Yesterday did a session round Regents Park. Did it on a HR cap of 146 and was pleased that I didn’t get completely caned by the other guys at that HR. Did a short run yesterday and felt good. This morning back in the pool, big set with hand paddles 7 x ( 4 x 100 on 1:30) with 50 easy between. Felt pretty strong, the coach kept commenting how much better I was looking in the pool now, I could turn over my arms with the paddles on. Great !

Running yesterday with Stephen we chatted about my race and how it compared to other performances. I ranked it beside IM Lanzarote last year. It also got me thinking back to IM Germany and what happened there. I think I blamed alot on my weight on the run but at Wisconsin I was at most 5lbs lighter – it helps but doesn’t explain it. With more time to give perspective I think it really boils down to me being drained going in to the race. I didn’t take recovery from Epic Camp seriously enough.  Our hopes are to do Epic New Zealand in the January so I mustn’t make the same mistake if I want to perform well at Ironman New Zealand.