Weekly News Number33

Another week of foot rehab and plenty of exercises is coming to an end or is already history. There was also a cold morning at the pool when, for the first time, I actually thought the water felt quite nice, plenty of rain, and a bike ride where I got properly soaked and cold. That might have been the final little push my body needed to catch a cold. After a few easier days, though, I'm feeling much better again and ready for a new week.

Still working on the foot

But let's start from the beginning. Monday was a normal training day, finishing with another shockwave therapy session at my physio. This time, we changed the head on the device and used the smaller attachment. I also learned that there are actually different attachments for it. So from now on, the little cannon is coming into action.

The less exciting news is that I still can't run. And to give away the ending already: that didn't change during the week. Kurt and I have a few options for what we could do next, but we still need to sit down together and decide how to move forward and what alternatives we have.

In the meantime, I'm staying consistent with the rehab. After every swim session, I still head to the gym and do my exercises for the foot.

Back to a day-by-day recap

Since we're already here, let's do another little day-by-day recap.

Tuesday morning started, as usual, with squad swimming. Afterwards, we've now developed something that is almost becoming a little ritual: I have a coffee with Ryan and Cudi. Cudi, Ryan's son, gets a babyccino – back home, we'd probably just call it a warm chocolate. I really like this routine because it gives us a chance to catch up and see each other regularly.

Ryan is currently training for the Ironman World Championship, so our training schedules are often quite different. Either he has different sessions to me or our training times simply don't match, which means riding together has become a little less frequent. With my foot issue, it's even harder at the moment because normally we'd also go for the occasional run together.

In the afternoon, I had a nice bit of variety. A friend from Switzerland called me and even though I was on the stepper at the time, we managed to chat for around 20 minutes while he was on his way to work. It gave me some entertainment and, for once, a nice change from listening to podcasts.

Four hours on the indoor trainer

And just like that, we were already in the middle of the classic working week. Since we'd had so much rain over the previous few days, I decided to play it safe and do my training indoors. So that meant four hours on the indoor trainer. Luckily, I had intervals on the programme, which at least gave me a bit of variety.

Another problem around here at the moment is the magpies, which sometimes seem to attack you completely out of nowhere. Like any good attacker, they don't exactly give you a warning. One second everything is fine, and the next there's a bird diving down and attacking your helmet.

Then there's all the water left on the roads after the rain. When you've got intervals on the programme, it's not particularly fun having to suddenly dodge puddles or move closer to traffic. So staying on the indoor trainer was probably the sensible decision that day.

After four hours on the bike, I went to Pilates feeling pretty tired and with some heavy legs. The good thing about our Reformer Pilates is that you can adjust the springs and control how hard you want the exercises to be. That day, I was quite happy about that.

Maybe one wet ride too many

By Thursday, I wasn't particularly motivated to get back on the indoor trainer again. So I kept checking the rain radar and eventually convinced myself that I'd be safe heading outside for my ride.

Unfortunately, I wasn't.

The rain eventually arrived and it also got properly cold. Maybe that was just the little bit too much my body didn't need, because on Friday morning I woke up with a cold. Nothing serious, but you always feel a bit rubbish when you're sick. Jänu, as we say in Switzerland just make the best of it.

So I took a few easier days and gave my body some time to recover. Luckily, I'm already feeling much better again.

A relaxed afternoon at the beach

At the weekend, I went for a walk along the beach and climbed some stairs up to a lookout with a beautiful view over the long stretch of coastline. It's a really great spot.

The view over the beach and the sea.

It was nice just to stop and watch what was happening around me. Some people were sitting in camping chairs enjoying a beer, surfers were out making the most of the waves, while others were simply walking up and down the beach enjoying the afternoon.

After the previous few days, it was exactly what I needed: a little bit of movement, some fresh air and simply being outside without any pressure to train.

Coffee obviously can't be missing

To finish off the week, we visited Compound in Coolum and went out for a relaxed coffee for the first time in a while. Of course, coffee can't be missing from my week. I really enjoyed sitting down with friends, having a coffee and simply chatting for a while.

I almost forgot to mention that I also worked on Friday. I'm enjoying having something different alongside my training routine, seeing other people and doing something completely different every now and then.

And that's another week done. With the foot, it's still about being patient, doing the exercises and figuring out when the right time will be to start running again. Kurt and I will look at the different options and decide how we're going to approach the next few weeks.

So we'll see where the running is at when you hear from me again next week.

Until then, I hope you all enjoy the rest of August.

See you next week.

Cyrill