Kevins Training Diary 2022

So the bulk of this fortnight was the World Championships in Targu Mures, and both those races, and a lot of the surrounding recces and the like, get their own posts which I have only half written. Then the second week I was hit by a cold or flu (not Covid according to daily LFTs) so was basically just trying to do something minimal every day to keep my streak going without aggravating my illness.  By Friday I was at least able to get out in the sun on the bike, and I put in weights and core sessions in the evening as well. I clearly wasn't over the cold though as I struggled to a 21 minute Parkrun on the Saturday morning. I got back in the pool for a half freestyle / half breaststroke paddle on Sunday, so I at least feel like I am back to a place where I can start to train normally again from tomorrow. I have 9 weeks until the World Aquathlon Champs. That seems like plenty of time to re-gear to just swimming and running. But obviously that would be too simple....

 This one is on my list as an Annual Target.  "Stretch Targets Medal at the Scottish Aquathlon Champs. " Every time I have raced this event I have finished on the podium. Every time I have failed to win it. This year there were only 4 starters on the list, and having looked up their race history, I couldn't tell if I would finish 1st or 4th. In previous 7 races there hasn't been more than a minute and a half between all of us and last time I raced each of them I got beaten. I know I am running well, I think I am almost back to swimming well so this is as good a chance as I am going to get to put my name on a Scottish title. Ayr is just out of same-day-racing range. It is technically possible now that they moved the start time back by an hour, but it would have meant a very early start and racing straight off the back of 3 hours sat in the car. So, a friend and  I travelled down the afternoon before and stayed in a local hotel. That meant a chilled out dinner in the lo...

So the big news from this fortnight should come in two parts, and neither of them are here.  I am going to post a separate race report about the Scottish Champs at Ayr, and then multiple posts about Romania. So this is a purely numbers effort, along with an opportunity to say that British Airways are crap with bikes, but Wizz Air were excellent.  I am in Targu Mures, and all set for my races tomorrow and Wednesday. I have done too much since I got here but I felt I needed to in order to get confidence on the mountain bike course and to try and acclimatise to the temperature.  The bike and run courses are both tough. The bike course is right on my technical limit in a couple of places, and there is a chance I will have to walk a climb section, especially on the later laps. The run has a climb that even the pros are walking up, but is effectively a Scottish cross country or hill running course in summer, with hard packed trails and plenty of ups and downs, just super h...