Training things have been on a slow but steady rise over the course of the summer and I am seeing some improvement which is helping my fragile confidence. I stated a few posts ago that the plan was 3-4 bikes per week, a paddle and a swim. It's no surprise that it has been on the bike that most has been gained although I was starting from a very low point. The shock of setting an all-time worst for a 10 mile tt a few months ago was the starting point. All I have done, which any coach or Internet guru will tell you is key, is to be consistent. I have not tried to smash hundreds of miles or bury myself on the turbo, but simply to ride my bike up hills and ride some bits faster than normal. Keep it simple stupid. I've raced four 10 mile tts and seen a gradual improvement in performance. In fact, a couple of weeks ago on an absolutely beautiful still evening, I set a 10 pb, without trying much. One of those, 'Where did that come from?' type of performances, and then last Saturday I was on the G10/42 course again and it was back to feeling like an asthmatic ant carrying heavy shopping. I can see from the numbers when I come back from a ride that my average speed is slowly creeping up while my rpe slowly gets lower. Let's hope I can keep that going.
Paddling was proving difficult recently. I went through a phase of simply not being able to stay upright in the Ranger for any length of time so I took a week off. Last night, I went back and I was not expecting much but it was much better. Adam accompanied me in a laance while I took to the island cut again. The first 15 minutes were really good, but then the catches started again. I've figured out what it is though. It's simply my core working very hard and gradually I lose control of my lower back and hips. I had a solid 40 minutes last night and walked away dry so that's a big step back in the right direction. I guess I need to really build up my core if I am to see some big improvement here.
My foot issue has had some developments. Firstly, I had my physio appointment a couple of weeks ago and after much prodding and poking, in a completely non-biblical sense by the very nice physio, Alison, she told me that she didn't know what was wrong. This is actually a good thing, because she has now referred me to have an MRI scan which will be the week after next. I have not run since 26th April and I have had no pain or discomfort in my foot for weeks now, so last night, after my paddle, I decided to test it out. My reasoning is two-fold. Either, it's healed, whatever it is and I'll be able to run on it or it hasn't and it may flare up again, in which case it will show up on the MRI. That said, I was not stupid. I ran for 8 minutes on grass at a very easy pace. So far, so good. Ironically, there was an article in 220 magazine this month where a reader was asking about pain on the outside of the foot. The two main culprits listed were the two things that seem to be my potential nemesis, peroneal tendon weakness or pressure on the cuboid and fifth metatarsal. The plan is to get myself some new footwear and do some small amounts of running and see how things go. In the meantime, more biking.
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