The one with the rubber bands

Well, welcome to lockdown 3.0. I honestly hadn’t seen it coming! The very day on the Monday morning I had just called in an order for a new wetsuit for outdoor swimming. I didn’t get myself down over it though – I was focussed on what I could do keep my training going. I remember the summer when I saw videos of folk swimming in Paddling Pools with a tether rope…. That could work! Right?! Me and Linda talked a lot about it, and knowing how important it is to me she agreed that It may actually be a good idea.

Que a couple of days looking at suitably sized paddling pools I found one on Facebook Marketplace. It was local too! I spoke to the seller and agreed a price. However, I spent the next day thinking about it, thinking I had officially gone mad. I thought this was one step too far, even for me. I saw an advert for a swim simulator and thought I could do that on the cheap. A couple of resistance bands bought for a few quid and a weight bench – which I needed anyway.

Training like this is hard though.  You lie on your front and move your hands forwards and backwards against the bands.  It starts to burn the muscles.  Apparently that is a good thing though!  At the minute I am on the easiest band of 10lbs resistance and doing 15 minute sets.

The rest of the past week has been pretty enjoyable too. On Monday 11^th January I officially started my 16 week 70.3 Ironman training programme. The Monday was an easy day in comparison, it was a simple 15 Minute Swim band session. Tuesday was a 40 min run and 15 min swim band, Weds was a brick (Bike then Run) session and Thursday was a 45 min Turbo session followed by 15 min swim band session, Friday is strength and conditioning, Saturday is long Turbo and Sunday Long run.

So far, so good. Really enjoying it and quite happy that the focus is now (in my mind) off my weight and on my event. That said, I have lost over half a stone since NYE, so this training is acting as a catalyst for my weight. My eating is back ‘on point’ too. I’m really enjoying using the pain cave too. My training has moved indoors primarily. My rule is, if its dark – its indoor. As most of my training is done either pre-sun-up or post-sun-down that means I’m getting value out of the pain cave.

I am spending more time on my Triathlon bike too, that was set up for me in a bike fit the other month. One thing I’ve noticed is during long rides I am getting some discomfort in my lower forearms – I contacted Alex (the Bike Scientist) for his opinion. It is impossible to get back in to see him – which I will again, but for now he advised a couple of tweaks to make. I’ll try this new tweak again on my long ride on Sunday.