Weekly News Number 32
- 3 minutes ago
- 4 min read
From my usual swimming volume to more time on the bike and the elliptical trainer at the gym. A slightly different training week, where I'm trying to keep training while also helping my foot recover.
The good thing is that I can't really do any damage while swimming or cycling as long as I'm pain-free. And luckily, I am. So I spent more time than usual on the bike this week and was also able to enjoy some beautiful weather while riding outside.
How is the foot doing?
The most interesting thing at the moment is probably how my foot is developing. And it's actually getting better every day, which makes me feel very positive.
As always, when you're trying to get on top of a little injury, it also means extra work. Sometimes I really have to force myself to do my foot exercises first thing in the morning or simply whenever I have five spare minutes.
On the one hand, I'm working specifically on strengthening my calf, and on the other, I'm doing foot yoga. It's mainly about improving the mobility and strength of my toes. At the beginning, it was almost a little shocking to realise that I couldn't properly control some of my toes individually. Luckily, that's getting better every time. There are still some toes that cooperate better than others, but the positive thing is that all this work could also make me a better runner in the long term. So I think this will become something I continue doing in the future.
As so often in life, you think you don't have a problem until one suddenly appears. Then you realise there may have been a weakness there for a long time that you simply never paid attention to. Maybe this is exactly one of mine. After every swim session, I therefore do my exercises in the gym at the pool. That way, I can also do all the exercises that require weights.
On top of that, I'm having shockwave therapy roughly every five days, which I already talked about in last week's blog. So far, I've had a very good experience with it. That's the current situation with my foot. With patience and a positive mindset, things are moving in the right direction. And luckily, I still have time, so there's no reason to get nervous yet.
More time on the bike
As for the rest of my training besides foot yoga, I currently have two harder bike sessions each week. One is a mix of threshold intensity and tempo, while the other is mainly tempo work. The more I do these sessions, the more comfortable I feel on my time trial bike, especially in the aero position. That's an important part of my training at the moment.
This week also included three easy rides on my gravel bike. Just some steady endurance riding without too much pressure. I also try to include a few of the hills around Noosa whenever I can.
I've kept my swimming pretty much the same as usual. One thing you definitely notice, though, is that the more you ride, the worse your position in the water can become. Your legs are simply heavy and tired, which makes them sink more easily. But as long as you keep that in mind and listen to how your body feels, it's still possible to manage the training load well.
A bit of Ironman at the weekend
There was another Ironman to watch at the weekend, and of course we weren't going to miss it. This time it was Ironman Kalmar in Sweden, where some of the final World Championship slots were also up for grabs.
It was an interesting race to follow. If I start going into all the details, though, this blog will quickly turn into proper triathlon nerd talk.
Still, there were a few stories I found really interesting. One was the comeback of Daniel Bækkegård, who I know from training here in Noosa. Then there's Matthew Marquardt, who is a doctor, works in cancer research and somehow also manages to be pretty good at triathlon. A real all-rounder, as we'd say.
In the women's race, Laura Philipp was so dominant that her coach even told her during the marathon to slow down a little. In the end, her lead was so big that the second-place finisher crossed the line more than 18 minutes later.
A win I was especially happy about
But now to something that made me even happier than anything else that weekend: a good friend of mine winning a 70.3 in the Czech Republic.
Knowing that Kurt was there as well, I already had a little bit of FOMO about not being there. Then Sarah and Michael called me before the race, which definitely didn't make it any better. So I spent Sunday evening with my phone in my hand, messaging Michi and getting updates on what was happening at the race.
As usual, Sarah came out of the swim with a bit of a gap. But she was only around two minutes behind the athlete in second place. The race leader was already quite a bit further up the road. But of course, I knew how strong Sarah is on the bike. Following the tracker, I could see her getting faster, making up time on everyone ahead of her and eventually moving into the lead.
At one point Michael messaged me: "Now I'm getting nervous." I tried to calm him down a little and told him that Sarah was doing her job perfectly, so he just had to do his.
Once she got onto the run, she never gave up the lead and eventually crossed the finish line as the first woman.
What a Sunday evening. I was incredibly happy for her and proud to see her put together such a great performance and win the race. Even though I've obviously already told her personally, I'll say it again here: hats off and huge congratulations!
I'm already looking forward to the next race where we'll be out on the course together again.
So we're heading into another week with plenty of motivation for training and everyday life.
See you soon, and I'll see you or rather, you'll read from me again next week.
Cyrill
