countdown

it seems as if i'm spend half my life fixing punctures at the moment.
fixing punctures or cleaning inches of grot of my bikes. its no time of year to be riding, really, is it? .. but, what can u do ( please dont say 'turbo') other than Despite my 'all weather' attitude, though i'm struggling to maintain the bike milegage that i'd really like to be - there are just so many distractions around. obviously the festive season is one, but this year it's rather overshadowed by the move from my home of 6 years in north london to a life of temporary abode in new zealand and beyond.

The 'beyond' aspect is a recent development since having been made redundant from the engineering consultancy that i work for. a very sad time - a small firm of 7 of us, having worked hard together over the last couple of years unable to continue without a sustainable amount of activity in the industry for an outfit of our size. So, its good-bye's all round and i'm counting my blessings for having planned up to 6 months without income. perhaps things here will be moving again by the summer and i'l be able to return to Akera's - but on the other hand this really does free me up to explore any oppurtunity which present themselves over the next few months.

its a bit of a driver to really give the racing my best shot and see where that can get me. this might mean adjusting my targets a little higher as the year goes on, i'll assess that after the race in new zealand. for now, progress is satisafctory - swimming is coming along ok. i have more than doubled my swim volume to date compared with this phase last year, and seen some small progress. i remain optimistic that continuing to work at it and maintain a volume of 16-18k/week of focused swimming will eventually bring results.
My running is back on track after a slightly worrying period of trouble with my ITB and knees, and again i'm averaging about 50% more mileage each week than at this point last year - which was a good year for running with my first sub 3 marathon and a 3:20 IM run at Germany. the thought of either of those at present fills me with a cold dread, but i am certain that it did then too! that sort of thing hurts - but a year on with decent and consistent training, it should hurt that bit less. or rather - it should hurt for that bit less time ;o)

as for teh bike - well, i'm doing what i can, but for now just riding. i had some testing done on saturday - (a Vo2 max test, if you like though for various reasons we didn't go 'to the max' this time) which provide me with data that i will start using for my bike training once we get out of the bleak midwinter and onto kiwi turf. Steven has fitted the powertap to the Obi - my race bike - which i will be riding full time when we are over there. Prepartion starts in ernest in janurary - and i'm itching to get on with it - but for now i just need to keep my fitness up with at least one long ride each week, supplimented by regents park intervals and a fixed ride if possible.

i'll write more detaisl about the testing that i mentioned in my next post ( and try to do it soon ) - right now it is bed time.