A bit of a rambling post.

I have learnt something new over the past week. I need to race more often. It's a simple fact that I spend a lot of time training without having a goal in mind and therefore the training that I do is often unfocussed and lacks direction and this week has been a case in point. While I have a vague idea that I will be probably be doing a late season half and an olympic event, because I haven't actually committed to it my training has suffered and while I have got out the door every day to do something (at least I am being consistent), the sessions have been made up at the last minute with no overall plan. This is something that I need to work on if I am to see the gains that I want to see.

The aim then, is to get me to a point in 12 months time where I can attempt a fast IM race and therefore I have been looking at which event I would like to do. The race I would love to do is Ironman Switzerland and when registration opened I went to have a look. The timing of it is perfect, falling in mid-July; the cost is not. Unfortunately, feeding and clothing my children has to take precedense over my hobby and even I balked at the cost of this event. IM Lanzarote and France are both events that have also caught my eye and they are considered much tougher events than IMCH but they just do not fall at the right time for me. The other race that I'd love to do is the Norseman. Even in the IM world it is completely unique but it is not sub 11 territory (at least, not for me) So, while a large European Ironman race is a dream, at the moment, it seems that it will have to remain just that. One day....

So, an IM next summer? I would think at the moment it will boil down to either The Outlaw or Challenge Henley. But they are both over a year away, so what am I going to do in the meantime? One word; race. In particular, half marathons and marathons in order to build up my run legs and do the Park runs a lot more regularly to gauge speed and fitness. I am going to try to get a VLM place through work again as my main goal over the winter and spring. My other main goal is to figure out a way to get my IM bike split down but I will initially do this by just continuing to be consistent and doing lots of Z1 /2 work over the winter. Core and conditioning work will consist of sitting in a K1, preparing to tackle the DW with Adam again. We had our first paddle last night with Jo; just a gentle pootle about to get the feel for a boat again but my main focus is going to be tri. I intend to be Ad's wingman and not the other way round. ;-)

My summer running campaign is going well. I have missed one day but other than that all is good and I am really excited about getting a road race or two under my belt in the near future.