So i have now been back at home for just under a month to enjoy the festivities, family time and a bit of relaxation, or in other terms, hill walking, mountain running and cycling in the ice! After a first successful big block of training in Mallorca it was great to come home and get away from the structure a little and enjoy the colder temperatures. Over Christmas i was still training hard with a lot of base miles running and on the bike. It helped having a good friend and old training partner Ian up from England as he was very keen to see the Scottish roads! I tried to enjoy as much mountain running as i could and discovered some incredible trails just north of Dundee so i have really enjoyed this block of training at home.
After Christmas, and coming runner up in the infamous Plum Pudding plod it was time to really get back some structure especially with my swimming, i always feel i can miss a few days on the bike or running but swimming i need to constantly be doing! Having got my hands on a power meter for the bike i had some fresh motivation to hit some numbers and have been out riding whatever the weather!
Yesterday was a trip up to Inverness to meet up with my coach Graeme and go over my swimming, carry out a CP20 power test as well as have a catch up run in the trails around Inverness. It was fantastic to show Graeme my swimming and where it has changed in the last few months but also to know what i still need to work hard on, my swimming is definitely getting faster but technique still needs a lot of tweaking! The power test is essentially 20 minutes of riding as hard as you can on the turbo. The average power you ride for 20 minutes gives you your FTP number and from there you can calculate training zones, watts per kilo etc!
Although being very nervous for the test i really pushed very hard and felt pretty good. And the numbers proved so! My power was up by 10% from the test last year and it really was numbers i was extremely happy and surprised with! It is an incredible feeling to know how much the hard work and training is paying off!
On Saturday i am racing the Great winter run in Edinburgh for a chance to race on old training ground and then this Sunday it's back to Mallorca for the next phase of training and a big build up to the season! I'll kick off the season in April and also be heading back to Barcelona for a training camp with G and the guys! I'm really excited to get back into the big hours and miles and have really enjoyed the break and my time at home!
I wish everyone all the best for 2015, i have some big goals for this year and it's time to really step up. I'm going to set my goals and targets high this year and hopefully over the season my hard work will pay off.
A few photos from my time at home:
