Kevins Training Diary 2022

So Covid has gone far enough away that I got to do enough races this year to actually call it a whole year. So I am back to the three colour version Green - Did make it.  Red - Didn't make it. Orange - Needs explaining. All the blurb is at the bottom. April additions are included here, that is why some look strange / redundant. Targets by numbers Represent GBR age-group at an international event.  Qualify for the GBR Age-group team for a 2023 European Championships. Finish top-20 at European Aquathlon Champs. - 9th, 20th, (22nd) Finish top-30 at World Aquathlon Champs. - 6th, 10th, 12th Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for a 2023 European Champs.  Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for a 2023 World Champs. Swim 130 miles.   Swim under 6:15 minutes for 400m. - Not even close 6:46 Swim under 11:45 minutes for 750m. - Closer 11:56 Swim under 25:30 minutes for 1,500m. - Didn't even attempt one. Ride 2,000 miles. MTB 500 miles Run 1,000 miles. Run...

The last fortnight of the year and I basically used it to try and binge on swimming to get my one missing base target. I did try to go out on the mountain bike, but just couldn't handle the cold so did just 2.5 miles. And I did run a bit, including 3 Parkruns, but just enough to keep me from getting bored in the holidays. My hip is definitely starting to deteriorate again. I need to chase my next set of injections as the NHS seems to have forgotten about me.  Actuals, (T arget) -  Swim 7.6  miles / 12,400 m. (5.6 miles). Bike 17.8 miles. (79.2 miles).   MTB 7.8 miles. (19.8 miles). Run 35.0 miles.  (39.2 miles). 0 short core,   1  short light weights   and  1  stretching / rollering session.   20   mins of yoga.   Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] - S 130.0, (130.0),   [143.6] , B 2,291.3, (2,000.0) ,   [2,200.3 ] ,     MTB 685.5, (500.0),   [550.0], R 1,047.0, (1,000.0),...

First up, it isn't in Bilbao, it is a good hour out of town in a village called Balmaseda. It is a nice little place, which is basically been entirely shutdown for the day to accommodate us. Also going to bump this and my other two European Champs to 2023 as I am so far behind. 

 World Champs 12th place Going to bump this to 2023 as I am so far behind on writing. 

Buckle up. This one might take a while. In fact it has taken me so long to write it that I am back at the airport as I type, and not even for my next race! I have been to and from Bratislava for the World Aquathlon, and Bilbao for 3 Euro Champs events in between and I still have to write up those trips... ...and now it is the Xmas holidays and I have no excuse not to finish these before next year rolls round!  Anyway... I did a quick swim recce the day before. I only swam 200m through what was a mess of weeds that was as bad as anything I have ever seen. But I got out and saw the state of other people who were terrified of the conditions and decided I was much happier than average, and that plenty of people were going to struggle, and panic, and likely some would even get pulled out of the swim. I had no real concerns about being one of them. I have done weedy swims before and I knew that a lot of the people I was racing were specialist mountain bikers, so I expected to be somewher...

The weather had a decent say on training this fortnight. Winter has arrived and snow and ice have affected my ability to train outdoors. I have managed some runs, but have kept them close to home and on roads that I trusted to be at least minimally slippy. Also the students have finished up for the year so I am on my own for a while and this means replacing the missing swim and spin sessions with solo efforts, all of which I missed this week because of the weather. I passed the 1,000 run miles that I had planned for the year. I also passed my bike stretch target of 2,200 miles. And I have managed (somehow) to do all my smaller targets. I am only 8 miles from my swim target which would give me a full set of everything for the year. I should get that once we get to holidays and I can do some longer day-time swims. Obviously it is Xmas season as well. So the abundance of Xmas dinners and multitude of sweets and treats going around mean that I have managed to put on 3kg in the last fortnig...