December

This is the month in the year where it is almost impossible to stick to the plan and do every session, as there are parties to go to and pool/ gym closures to contend with.  I had factored all this in, so was pretty sure at the beginning of the month that I would be able to stick to my weekly mileage as well as go to the gym.  However, less than a week into December and I was struck by a cold that quickly made its way to my chest.  Ordinarily I would continue to train through a cold, but having learned from trying to train through colds previously I decided to take it easier for a day or so.....having 2 days off in fact and then getting back into it slowly.  As I was coughing all night long I wasn’t sleeping at all well.... and then Mel and the kids got it.....and they weren’t sleeping so it got really bad.  Mid-month it started to get better so I thought I could train harder again (obviously I still have not learned my lesson!) and then it got worse again....all in all the cold/ cough lasted the whole month and at the beginning of Jan the family and I still have the remnants of it.  So, my training has been hit pretty hard this month, I tried to keep going when I should have recovered fully.

Interruptions to training are frustrating, I know I should ease back and I do try, but if something is taking weeks to recover from, that is weeks of not training properly.  I am learning that this is where the mental strength comes into play.  It is better to have 2 slow weeks rather than trying to train through it and end up having more time off in the long run.

When I got back in the water just after Christmas to do a swim test  I knew it was going to be bad.  Almost a week without any swimming at all, my arms felt like jelly and my lungs felt like they were going to burst.  I felt like I hadn’t swum in months, not weeks!  Perhaps it was the wrong time to do the test, but perhaps not.  It did tell me where I was and gave me a new focus to my training. The upside to these interruptions is that it actually doesn’t take that long to get back into the swing of things and after 3 consecutive swim days I felt much stronger.  This is a fantastic mental boost, I may still be swimming ever so slightly slower than I was a month ago, but I feel like I am storming forward in terms of fitness. 

I am sure that there will be more illnesses and possible injuries between now and the end of July and I know I will have to be sensible with how I approach them.  Converting the knowing into doing is the challenge!

On a very positive note, we have just had 3 consecutive nights of the kids sleeping through, almost not sure what to do with all of this extra sleep :-)