Today is a rare complete rest day so I thought I would take the opportunity to write a little update. I can’t remember the last time I had a full day off and it’s mostly because for the past 10 months I have been coaching myself. I think it was the right decision to be self-coached when managing my first steps in returning to training after a long break due to injury. I could assess how my body felt day to day and could train accordingly, but as usual when I coach myself I tend to want to do perhaps a little more that I should and rarely have a full day off. As I built up a base and things began to progress I started to think about getting a coach. I decided that I would keep doing what I was doing and see if an opportunity came up. It came up quicker than I thought and I began working with a new coach 2 weeks ago. I’m very grateful for the opportunity and it’s been a very different kind of program for me. I’ve never really used power or pace when biking and running never mind uploading sessions for a coach to see but I am slowly getting used to it and am really enjoying having a program to follow. It allows me to just get on with the training without thinking too much. I was planning to race some 70.3 races in early August but now I am happy to be a little more patient and will wait until at least the end of August to get started.
I left Thailand around a month ago and after 7 months I was really sad to leave. I loved every minute of my time in Asia and am so grateful to have had the opportunity to train at Thanyapura and to do my rebuild and rehab in such a beautiful place with such world class facilities. Without it I would not be doing the sport anymore. I feel so lucky to have met some really amazing people along the way and I can't wait to go back later in the year for more training and some races.
I managed to do my first race at the end of May which was absolutely amazing and a great weekend away seeing more of Thailand. The Thai Tri League races are very professionally run and such great fun with a real community feel. I was underprepared and hadn’t started any proper run training, just a few slow jogs, so I didn't have any plan for the race except to run easy and to not set myself or my recovery back. I stuck well to the plan but in hindsight was a big risk to race so soon though luckily my body coped well. I had a good swim (maybe one positive from my injury) and took the lead quickly on the bike. I really enjoyed just being in a race again and I managed to hold on for the win.
I spent a short time at home in Ireland and my hometown was host to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, I’m not a big golf fan but it was a great experience. I also did completely unplanned 10k with my brother, I hold the overall course record of 34.29 on the hilly course and I was way off that mark but am definitely making progress. Right now Ritchie and I are settling in to some training in Scotland. It’s a bit of a shock after the heat of Thailand and we could do with a few more sunny days but I’m slowly getting used to it and enjoying getting in to a rhythm in training.
Thanks once again to my sponsors for standing by me and for being so patient, Alameda Triathlon Team, Thanyapura, Trisport Arabia and On Running
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