What ya' been up to?

Quite a lot actually, training, on the bike, a little bit of running and swimming... not too much, little and often mainly and once a week a long ride on the bike, and I'm definitely feeling the benefits!

Hubby and I joined our local fitness centre a few weeks ago which has a 25m indoor pool, gym and various fitness suites and classes, everything you could possibly want.

I've been swimming 3 times a week and getting up at silly o'clock to do it!  In a weird way I've actually enjoyed swimming first thing in the morning and my husband has been joining me.  It really sets you up for the day and once I get over the initial shock of having to get up at 6am, eat some breakfast (my trusty overnight oats) and trudge off down the road, I'm usually buzzing by the time I'm dried off and done.

Many many moons ago, way back in the days when we didn't have t'internet or blogs, I was a very good swimmer, representing my county and holding all sorts of records.  And although I haven't been a regular swimmer since I moved to Nottingham 6 years ago, it's a bit like riding a bike for me, I've got good form and get back into it really quickly.

So for my triathlon next month I have to swim 200 metres indoors; 8 lengths of our pool, although on the day the pool for the triathlon is 33m so it will be 6 lengths.

First time I went swimming I managed 400m (16 lengths), that was a surprise! :o)

But, I can only swim breast stroke at the moment cos I've got a painful left shoulder, which has taken some abuse over the years from crashing motorbikes on trackday's and a nasty road crash in 2002 and then recently a couple of off's on the mountain bike, the last in March when the front end washed out on a left hand berm and boy did I go down hard, so hard I bruised my jaw! 

I've tried front crawl and back stroke and it really hurt for a couple of days thereafter so I'm being sensible and every session I've done has been breast stroke, slow and steady, not my favourite style but it's exercise at the end of the day and I can do 200m -8 mins, not brilliant but I don't want to wreck my shoulder so I can't ride my bike!

My last swimming session was nearly 2 weeks ago but the shoulder was being problematic so I decided to rest it and get myself booked in with physio.  Luckily for me, a member of my bike club is a newly qualified physio and she was offering a members discount at her clinic so I went to see her this week and she's diagnosed neurological and muscular problems and joint scarring (I already have thickening of the AC joint from the m/b crash in 2002) so the shoulder is weak so I've got exercises to do twice a day and I'm going back to see her next week.

She says I can continues swimming but only breast stroke, oh joy!

The good news is the shoulder isn't affecting my riding, so I've been out on the mountain bike 3 times a week, lots of sessions at my local TC hitting the blue and red routes and really enjoying it and I've bought myself a lovely little cyclocross/touring bike to play on and to use for the triathlon.

I'm not gonna lie, riding a road bike is the weirdest thing ever!  Firstly there's the riding position, not just one but a choice of 3 different positions! The saddle feels like an ironing board and as for those skinny tyres... I was quite literally terrified the first time I rode this as I was convinced I wouldn't stay upright! 

This photo was from the advert so I have removed the reflectors (lol) and I've fitted some spd's so it looks the biz now!

With 2 weeks until Torq in your sleep, I'm feeling the pressure to up my game a little bit and get out on some longer rides, so I'm done with work for the rest of this month (joys of being self employed!) and I'm gonna focus on cardio and stamina for the next week and a half and resting for a couple of days before the bank holiday weekend so I feel nice and relaxed for the weekend.