Time for an update, it feels like its been a while, but I think I've just been busy...
The Xmas break was great and the first time I actually took some time off work. My plan of riding in different areas around the state didn't quite happen as planned. My Brother Chris, was hit by a car just before Christmas. He fractured he's cheek and had plenty of road rash, but is back out there training and getting ready for Ironman Melbourne. So I decided to not take the bike down to Margret River and give my Mum a bit less to worry about.
The next trip was down to Albany for the first edition of the Albany Half Triathlon. Not racing, but I really enjoyed commentating on the race with Simon Beaumont, who made it really easy. The race was tough with the wind picking up late and the pro race was interesting with Guy Crawford going for broke off the front and Matty White flying on the run to chase him down.... all before "litter gate" and Matt's DQ became apparent. We knew he had been red carded and that it would be discussed post race, so we called it as he was going for the win.
The commentating had me a little nervous, but returning to racing a week later raised the bar. I hadn't done the work to race well, but I wanted to get my first race out of the way and knew I'd get a motivational kick from racing. But pre-race I was praying not to have a shocker and get lapped on the bike or something like that. Looking at the field it was low on numbers and full of good swimmers. This might have been a draft legal race, but I knew I'd be riding solo.
The swim went well, I had a bit of fatigue in my arms from the 3.8k swim set the day before, but was happy to get through not too far back. Onto the bike and I had to just smash myself! White line fever all the way!
I was hurting and making progress, taking 30-40sec out of the group of 3 I was chasing on the 2nd lap. I just couldn't quite catch them on the last lap, fatigue was kicking in. The run felt average from riding with everything, but I was happy to get through in 1hr 3min and 11th place.
It's good to be back and I got a great lift from racing!
Since getting back from Albany I'm training at my usual level and my body is being challenged massively. It caught up with me, which resulted in two days in bed. The next few weeks will be tough adapting to the training load, squeezing in rehab as well is making it very busy.
It is reminding me of the ups and down of my last comeback. Sunday I had a great day on the bike, 110km in the hills with a few solid efforts and then a double run Monday. Things were looking up, but then this morning my back was stuffed. Pain between the shoulder blades, no strength and stiff. A hot shower and plenty of stretching to loosen it up, but training is missed as a result. Hopefully this is a one off or this will become very frustrating.
Rehab at Sports Med Subiaco is going ok (the bike isn't helping). I'm working with Rob Naish who has joined the Sports Med team. Rob was head physio at Rugby WA, working with the Western Force and has had a bit more experience with neck injuries than my usual physio John Annear. During my rehab I basically have a strap around my head which is attached to a pulley system and lifting 2.5kg (I'll try and get some photos up on twitter). I can feel the benefit, but I have to stay on top of my posture. Every bike ride has a degree of back and neck pain and also seems to set me back with tightness after each ride, which is why rehab is only going ok.
Coming up I have the State Olympic Distance Champs in Mandurah, not sure if white line fever lasts two hours, but I'll try. Two weeks later another Sprint down in Rockingham which I haven't raced since 2008 (last race before fracturing my hip), so looking forward to making a return there. Might have the new TT bike from Churchill Cycles by then too!
Mikey
