Winter is Coming

 The days are shorter and the temperature is dropping. I’m not a fan of winter - I like the sunshine. But this time of year is good for regrouping. I’ve constantly felt like I’m regrouping though and would really like to see some good results next year. But results from what? Well I’ve had an idea. The last few years . . Or decade actually. . . I’ve gone long with my racing. But long distance events are expensive and draining on time when training. I discovered what May be just a cosmetic scratch on the handlebars of my evo2max bike. 

So I thought I’d play it safe and replace the front end cockpit. This lead me to think why don’t I try some draft legal sprint Duathlon racing?! Nice thought and quite motivated by this plan. I just need to stay healthy! The Darley Moor 2023 sprint Duathlon is draft legal and a 2024 European Age Group qualifier. Plus the event is in May, which will be warmer (I hate the cold and many Duathlons are held in early or late year). So game on👊

The evo2max is in getting pimped now, with these goodies:

 I have often been frustrated that the supplies integral bars on this bike couldn’t accommodate clip in aero bars. This should be possible now but I’ll wait to see how the draft legal racing goes before trying to add aero bars. Clip ons nit permitted for this category of racing. But these new bars and stem should be great as the bars are narrower  - aero rules 😎. 

Training lately has been more of the conditioning focus with treadmill fast feet running. I did my first outdoor run for a while this week and felt ok but everything he’d the next day. It was odd; my hamstrings, glutes and hips all ached in a strange way. First thought was the cause was wearing the Nike Tempo Next % for the first time. 

These trainers felt very different. Such a responsive rebound and not a shoe for running slow. I zipped round 2k repeats in a relaxed 4:00 per/k pace. Now I’m thinking I am fighting off I’ll was as if not felt right the last few days. I have an 8k easy planned today so let’s see how the legs feel. 

I want to build up the conditioning with heavier weights during Nov/Dec. Then build more specific bike/run volume during Jan/Feb. Then dial in the speed Mar/Apr. There, easy 😂