Looking after yourself

For a long time I used to train very hard with hard sessions every day. Whilst there was improvement there was a price to pay for constant hard work. I suffered with injuries at regular intervals and developed chronic lower back pain. Injuries obviously prevent training so I had to take time off then once whole again I battled to regain the fitness I had before the injury.

I now have a training program which is a lot easier on the body and I manage to stay on the track for a longer periods during the year. I also have a weekly massage, monthly ostepathic treatment and try and have a relaxing soak in a spa twice weekly to ward off the chances of future injury.

Back to Work

It was my first day back at work from holidays today. Despite my apprehension it wasn't a bad day and generally it is the thought of going to work rather than being at work itself which is the most daunting. I have an admin job and spend most of the day at a desk but it never ceases to amaze me how tired physically I feel at the end of the day.

We were lucky enough to get a cool change last night and the temperature was only in the low 20C for most of the day. Training today was an easy to moderate 8km jog of around 40 minutes duration. I tended to try and concentrate on a nice easy style paying special attention to my running form.

Sunday 29th January, 2006 - Back to Work

Does anyone out there actually enjoy their work? I am about to finish 3 weeks holiday and must admit that the thought of going back to work is making me physically ill. I almost hope that I am a little strange disliking work so much, because if the majority of the people in the world thought as I did there are a lot of very stressed people out there.

Training today was an easy recovery ride of 45km on the mountain bike. I like the easy stuff and as I get older I incorporate more easy sessions into my program. I sort of think that as you get older you have to start looking after yourself otherwise injuries will force you into resting more often.

Saturday January 28, 2005

Hi again from Victoria in Oz. Its still very warm here with the temp today being 31 C with high humidity.

The weekends generally are the time when I do my one hard session for the week and today it was a 40km ride followed by a 10 km run. Got through ok but had to make sure to drink heaps.

I am lucky to live in the Yarra Valley in one of Victorias prettiest spots so at least the scenery is always good when training. I don't know how the city people ever get to enjoy their jogs or rides.

Friday 27th January 2006 - Swimming training

I suppose I have a strange philosophy concerning my swimming training. I am only an average swimmer and spent years trying to use increased fitness as a basis for improving my swim times. What happened was that I did improve my times marginally but ended up fatigued after the swim leg. In short I became better at swimming inefficiently. I then decided to try the Total Immersion method of swimming. You can visit the site at www.totalimmersion.net. I now spend a lot more time using drills in my training and a lot less time worrying about how many kilometres I swim.

Anyway todays session was almost entirely a drill session of about an hours duration. Nice and easy and a great way to recover from Wednesdays race.

Training Australia Day January 26, 2006

Its hot here in Victoria today (38 degrees C) and not much was done in the way of my training. I completed an Aquathon last night and decided to just do an easy 30km on the mountain bike as a recovery session. No speed work involved just an easy ride.