Another year end nearly here. Time certainly accelerates - as does aging, seemingly! And what a strange year it has been. The COVID-19 impact has been huge everywhere. As I have said before, from my training and domestic circumstances, the impact has been nothing but positive. My training volume has increased massively, as has the training consistency. My hope is that my race performance at the London Duathlon will be somewhere back to expectation. But what is that expectation? My last true long distance race test was way back in 2015 at the Bahrain IM 70.3!
My feeling (physical sensations) is that the passing of time and the ravages of 'stuff' since leaving the RAF will mean I will never get back to that 2015 performance level. Mentally, I think I have finally accepted this fact and now I can focus on enjoying the racing but maintaining a competitive edge.
Also vitally important - and I have been saying this for at least 10 years - is strength and conditioning. Over the last 2 months I have maintained this training focus and I feel in a better place for it. I do find it difficult to sustain these sessions as my head tells me that I am missing specific training! But this is specific training! To help, I augmented my Kettlebell collection by adding a 12.5kg and a 20kg
So the pain-cave is now a great utility and I really love the value it provides. I have also been very fortunate to get some good deals on Le Col cycling clothing. Whilst this gear is very expensive, the quality and look is fabulous. Here is the latest addition - the Eurosport bespoke kit:
I look forward to some sunny rides next year!
So I have improved training consistency, a great pain-cave with the best smart turbo trainer available (the Tacx Neo 2T, IMHO), but the one thing missing to maximize my training for the best performance possible is my ability to monitor recovery/fatigue. This is something that has always been really difficult for me; I tend to smash everything and rest when I break. This is not good. To remedy this, I have signed up for a Whoop band! Not cheap but the data provided for this wearable tech looks awesome. The Variable Heart Rate monitoring looks great, as does the sleep monitoring capability. In essence, I will receive guidance on my physical and mental stress levels that will indicate how well recovered I am - or not! Then is is up to me to decide on the intensity of my training for any given day. . . .who knows, I may even rest more and take days off!
Definitely more reports to follow on this aspect!
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