Hello....

It's been ages since my last post... lots of things have been happening, more injuries I am sad to say but things are starting to come right again...

I had a pretty good winter training block, racing frequently in local cross country races whilst making progress between each race... Things still weren't ideal in the biomechanical department, but this isn't something new... After racing the Southern Cross Country Champs at Parliament Hill I was happy with my strength and speed, the foundation had been laid... Unfortunately 2 weeks after the Southern's, my left hip flared up and this set me back for almost 3 months, crap...

With the realisation that things needed to be sorted, I decided to go and see a highly recommended Podiatrist working at Pure Sports Medicine called Amanda Lau... After a thorough assessment she was brutally honest and told me Orthotics were not the answer, instead strength and conditioning needed to be undertaken... Amanda referred me to an excellent strength coach called Matt Curley, also of Pure Sports Medicine who I have been working with for the last 3 months... It has been hard work but I feel stronger and can see the benefits across all 3 disciplines... I am totally indebted to both Amanda and Matt, I only hope one day I can return the favour to them and one day athletes in a similar position...

The enormity of the task of qualifying for the Olympics has been realised and it looks as if I may have to adjust my goals slightly... I am unlikely to have the form or finances this year to race internationally in order to obtain qualifying points... If it was a year later, it would be a different situation... As such, I will have to see how I progress over the next few months and take things as they come, if I can find around about 2 minutes over 10k it may still be a reality but it is imperative that I now stay consistent and injury free...

Thanks to my sponsors Team Torq and Elagen Sport for all their help, I hope over the next few months I can justify the help you have given me...

Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed... Chris =)

Thanks for the help...

Just a quick post to say thanks to Matt Hart and James Emery @ Torq for welcoming me to Team Torq and for agreeing to help me out for the upcoming season.

I have used Torq products for a number of years now, especially their Raw range and remain a firm believer that they are superior when it comes to nutrition and supplements.

If you don't already know, Torq products have no additives, preservatives or colourings meaning the ingredients they use are all natural. If you haven't checked out their website, I highly recommend it to you.

An interesting series of events...

Woo... More time has passed, too much for my liking... Some things are going well, some things are not... Let me start with the good stuff...

Swimming wise, I am happy with the progress I have been making as of late. It's definitely a bit of a weird one though, sometimes you make progress, sometimes you go backwards... I always use my swimming to monitor my physical state too, a couple of weeks ago I was feeling a bit low and this was confirmed when I was about 7 seconds per 100m off what I would normally hit in the pool. Rest was definitely overdue...

Unfortunately this came in the form of some debilitating back pain, not fun... I had a couple of faster run sessions with some intervals which tightened my gluts and hamstrings a bit... After a VO2 interval session, I was sitting a little awkwardly and this caused my SI joint to misalign and the next morning I could barely get out of bed... Not much to do but chill out, relax and catch up on some overdue admin...

After about 3 days, things had eased to the point I could start to do some easy running again... Unfortunately, with the lack of activity my legs and back had seized so much that I couldn't run for more than 20 minutes without being in pain... As such, I went back to the masseur who battered my shins subjecting me to agony for the next hour...

It has been almost a week since seeing the masseur and I have managed a couple of 40 minute runs at a pretty decent pace... The shins are holding up but I need a lot more treatment to get to where they need to be... I have managed to swim 6 hours over the last 3 and feel pretty good in the water... I will try a bit of cycling tomorrow after another swim and some cross training, maybe another run too...

My racing season is fast approaching and it's time to start performing not only for myself but also for my sponsors who share belief in my ability...

Long time...

Apologies for being slack... As I always say, time slips by and it has definitely been far too long since my last update...

So, what have I been up to? The same old stuff really, battling against the abysmal Winter we were subjected to and trying to keep those niggles from developing into anything more sinister...

The biggest news is a new sponsor in the form of Torq Nutrition (seriously good stuff) and that I am now working with a new coach, Dan Salcedo... You should check out his biography at TheTriLife... suffice to say, he knows his stuff and I am really happy to be working with him =)

Ok, back to the boring stuff...Due to the conditions and my dislike of being absolutely numb on the bike, I spent my of my Winter on the Turbo.. Woo =? It really isn't possible to keep the hours up to the same level as riding outside so my sessions consisted of lots of intervals an power work... No easy turbo sessions anymore unless it is in a double turbo day... Now I have made it back outside I have been feeling it a little on the longer rides, although I know this will only be for the next couple of weeks and then my riding will be sweet... Just need to start TT'ing and Crit racing again, but definitely not at Crystal Palace...

My Swimming is still making the necessary progress, trying to keep the weekly distance at about 23-25k with a couple of hard sessions in there to build the strength... I am not really stressing too much over my swimming as I know I have a couple of months to get that 1500m time down... I recently swam a 1500 at the Middlesex champs but it was on the back of a tough week... I ended up hitting 18:05, about 40 seconds off where I want to be... After speaking to Dan he did say not to worry as he would be more surprised if I was swimming well, sometimes you really need another person's view and this meant I could just shrug this swim off... This was almost a month ago but I am still hitting decent times in training, I managed to swim a 4.38 400m on Friday morning without even finding it much of an effort, yay =)

And finally, the running... Well, this has been a difficult one for me... I manage to get a few good weeks in my legs and then everything just seizes leaving my feeling pretty damn low... Having evaluated why this keeps happening it pretty much falls down to a lack of maintenance, massage really does stop me falling apart...

I have been hitting the cross trainer at the gym to get some interval work in and I really can't stress enough how effective it is... When I make it out running I feel solid and have a nice little kick of speed so I am not stressing too much... My aim over the next couple of weeks is to get a shed load of treatment and then to keep on top of it, just ashame massage is so damn expensive in town...

I did make it to race the Southern XC Championships this year though, yay... I was happy with my performance but had a little too much left in the tank... It was 15k of pure effort around Hampstead Heath, but I managed to make it through in under an hour finishing 138th overall... If only I could have found another minute I would have been in the top 100, definitely top 50 next year though =)

Right, time to eat lots and go swimming... 3 hours done, 2 to go... Here's hoping my new breadmaker delivered another awesome loaf... Yum...

Chris =)

Remember remember, it's almost November...

Yet more time passes me by, I really do lose track of dates as the day gets ignored and is just replaced by the training sessions that need to be completed. It has been 6 weeks since I last posted and I have honestly been going through some seriously low times as of late.

Issues following the bike crash I had almost 2 months ago have irritated my shins to epic proportions. This appears to not only be a result of a a spinal issue manifesting as shin splints, but also a due to a change in mechanics when running. It has taken 6 weeks to get to the route of this, but it appears a change in posture and foot strike means I no longer need as much support when compared to heel striking.

After seeing an excellent Osteopath (James Walsh, link to follow), it became apparent the crash I sustained had caused a large portion of my lower back to become misaligned and left a large amount of muscular spasm. This was irritating the nerves supplying the anterior and medial shin on both legs manifesting as 'shin splints'. After a few treatments, lots of massage and stretching religiously, I have managed to mobilise everything again and the symptoms have almost disappeared.

Following my visits and lengthy discussions with James, we decided to utilise a process of elimination with regards to the support in my shoes. As such I have changed from a moderately corrective shoe (Saucony Hurricane and Omni) to a Saucony Ride, which is a lovely stable neutral shoe without correction. It now feels as though I am springing along and I am able run pain free.

My swimming and cycling have been going really well and continue to do so. I recently swam 58 seconds in training for 100m freestyle and believe this will be sub 56 in a race situation. If only I could sustain that pace for 1500m.

I know I always go on about consistency being key, but it really is. If I can make anywhere near the progress I have swimming and cycling, my running is going to be awesome next season.

Pain free but slow

After resuming my training again last Monday, I am starting to feel a little more like myself. I really liked having some downtime but couldn't wait to pick things back up again.

After a nice easy 25 minute run and 60 minute turbo earlier in the day I was welcomed back to swimming with a main set of 32 x 100's, yay. I just cruised through, thought about maintaining a good stroke and didn't feel too bad. 5.5k later I didn't feel quite as fresh but happy to have no real discomfort from my elbow or knee. The following day I did a light 15 minute run, and some stretching followed by some electrotherapy treatment on my knee to help speed up the healing process, maybe University wasn't such a waste.

I have continued with the light aerobic work on all 3 disciplines and have not really suffered with any adverse effects following training. I will continue staying aerobic through the rest of this week before I have something more solid drawn up by my coach, really hope I return to my pre-injury state soon.

It is tempting to push things too early but I need to feel comfortable before the intensity returns. Mostly I look forward to not feeling like an elephant when I run, I think I must have left my bounce at the roadside where I crashed.

Downtime

So, it has been a little while since the previous post. Yet again time seems to have slipped me by. Quite a bit has happened since my last post, although none of it particularly beneficial to my progress.

A few weeks after my last post I went to Athlone, Ireland to compete in a European Cup race. My training had been a little sporadic coming into this race resulting from pool closures and some niggles on my left shin, but I thought I may be able to make it through and pick up some much needed points. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

I had a bit of a poor swim and ended up towards the back of the field coming around the final turn buoy. I knew there were a few people around so I was not too worried as it was feasible to catch up on the bike. Swimming upstream the current was strong and caused the other athletes to push me under the turn buoy. I ended up getting my left arm and knee stuck in the buoy rope and this cost me around 8 seconds, this ended up being the difference between making a bike pack which subsequently caught the lead pack. Our pack worked poorly and we lost more time to the leaders. End of race.

I returned home a few days later a little down due to my poor performance. It was only 2 weeks until the London Triathlon at the Excel Centre so I resumed my training with the hope of getting 6-8 days of good work completed. I pushed hard in all three disciplines until the Wednesday preceding the race and started my taper from there. I felt really tired and miserable from the Wednesday though which is not like me and knew I was unlikely to race well. Race day came and I still felt tired and had the shakes just before the swim start, crap.

The hooter sounded and I just tried to stay in contention with the front guys for as long as possible. This ended up being until the turn buoy and I just slipped further and further back. I hit T1 and just resigned myself to getting into a bike pack and working again. This plan came together after about 10k and we had a pack of about 10 athletes andI decided not to bother trying to pull through as my legs felt bad enough. Coming into T2 no ground had been made on the front packs so I just put my head down and ran. I came across the line several minutes down on the winners and posted a pretty terrible run split, considering the course was well short. Sad face.

I then took a week off and decided to resume training once I felt happy to do so. I had a solid Monday training for just over 6 hours and decided to crit race on Tuesday. I did my hour run in the morning feeling pretty good and rode to the race that evening. My legs felt good despite pulling some early turns and quickly the last lap came around. As we came up the final hill an idiot decided to sprint up the grass on the outside of me and then pull straight across my line, nice one. The resulting crash left me on the floor with a rather sore elbow.

I got up and shouted at him muttering a few profanities and after calming down assessed the damage. A cut to each knee, a deep cut to my left elbow and a right elbow I could barely move, but at least my new shoes and bike were ok, haha. I knew my elbow was possibly broken and with the help of my friends caught a cab home so I could go to hospital. After an X-ray I was booked into the fracture clinic the following day for an expert's opinion, "all clear" thankfully.

What I didn't realise was my left knee took a whack, either on my bars or stem and swelled to twice it's original size, so much so I couldn't even see my kneecap. I knew there wasn't any ligament damage and it was just a haematoma (bruise with pronounced swelling), but this has ended up being more problematic than the elbow. After 2 weeks it has almost settled down so I will try to run tomorrow for 20 minutes, fingers crossed.

Fundamentally that is the end of my racing season, back into winter training I go. I have to prioritise my swimming and running to get them to an appropriate level for the next season. After my 2 weeks off I am really looking forward to training again, it is indeed true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I just have to make it through tomorrow and things will continue to improve from there.