Recovery (the Second)

As I told you all last week I didn't much enjoy the driving on Saturday, and my foot enjoyed it even less. Add brick sessions on a Sunday and footy on Monday and we were back to square one with the pain. It was frustrating, annoying and many other words I'd rather not grace this blog with. Once again Monday nigt went by, no workout, though the kittens are absolutely fantabulous. For more info visit my wife's blog (go to www.accidentallykle.com - apologies for it not being a link but my wife ain't around to remind me how to do it). Tuesday morning was excruciatingly painful, every step felt like someone was stabbing me in the foot, so lots of 'Deep Heat' equivalent, some care and attention and another day of rest meant that I woke up feeling better this morning. There is still niggling pain but it is much much less than it was. So after what can only be described as a mind-numbingly boring day at work (I wasn't busy so time tends to drag) I headed home early (5:30 is really as close to a half day as you can jokingly get and officially the earliest I've been out of the office for no reason apart from the fact that I just wasn't busy in over a year), spent some time with the kittens and then got on me bike. I'm a bit more confident and a bit more adventurous. There's a small road close by to our development that leads to a small carpark so I've included that road and the carpark in my little circuits. I'm even trying to signal when I turn (in preparation for having to actually do it on the road) - its wobbly but its happening. Its a bit frustrating being so c$*p on a bike because I really want to be out on the road racking up the miles, doing the hills etc., but if I do do that at the moment the risk of me killing myself and causing a serious car accident injuring others is quite high. So for my safety and that of the motorists/pedestrians in my area, I'll gain a bit more confidence and skill before I do venture out on the road. I plan to head to a running track surrounding the lake where I swim with the bike over the weekend and getting a few miles under my belt without cars around.

The pent up frustration was excellent motivation to head to the gym and that I did. Back on the spinning bike to get the bike feel for 50 minutes in total. 5 minute warm-up, 4 10 minute sets comprising a 5 minute 'flat' on a fairly hard gear and then a 3 minute 'uphill' (for those of you who read this regularly its my equivalent of being out of the saddle pushing fairly hard at high(ish) resistance - since I haven't been out on a bike I don't really know what a hill will feel like) and 2 minute recovery. All this was followed by a 5 minute cool-down and a nice long stretch.

For the first time I tried one of the SIS Go Gels during the cycle. I can't say that I felt much of a difference though it probably did help. The most important thing is for me to get more comfortable with consuming these things ... they're not easy to feed on one-handed, and the fact that they didn't (or at least haven't yet) upset my stomach or give me a stitch etc.

On further news ... I today received my UNICEF fundraising package which also contains the T-Shirt I'll be wearing over my Tri-Suit during the race. I know it'll take time to put on in transition and all that but I am going to be participating for a cause and I want that to be very clear, so come race day, I WILL be wearin my UNICEF t-shirt for the bike ride and the run - the cause and the children more than deserve the extra few seconds its going to take to put that T-shirt on.

I hope and pray that my foot doesn't react badly to the training this evening and that I wake up better. I've strayed from my programme long enough, its time to get back on track and I need my foot to co-operate!