Injuries – 1; First week of Challenge Weymouth training schedule – 0

I was meant to start the first week of my first half iron distance triathlon training schedule this week, but I’m still struggling with arm pain and my swollen knee doesn’t seem to be deflating, so I’m already behind schedule.

I should have been doing an hour on my turbo trainer yesterday, which might have been manageable, but my bike was off with The Bike Guy getting new brakes and bar tape fitted, so I couldn’t do that. Tonight’s session is meant to be a 2km swim (which might be further than I’ve ever done in an hour), but my arm is just too painful to risk swimming. I feel like I’m being terribly lazy, but I’m also trying to heed my doctor’s words of resting for 2-3 weeks. I think I’ll be ready to train sooner than that, but I don’t want to risk making my arm worse.

This means that I’ve had a bit more time at home than I would usually have, so I’ve entered my first race for 2015. I’ve entered the ballot for London Marathon. Even with a second chance via my running club’s ballot, I probably won’t get a place. As a consequence, I’ve now signed myself up for Marafun Southampton. It is the first half marathon to take place in the city for many years. I am familiar with much of the route:

The bridge over the river (Itchen Bridge) is likely to be the most challenging part of the run, although Burgess Road, which is the long straight at the top of the map, is also a long hill. For me, the massive advantage is that it’s a distance that I like and I’ll be able to train in familiar surroundings. I am likely to practise the route in chunks so that by the time race day comes I am feeling really well prepared.

Today’s other ‘excitement’ was that I got myself organised to use the peak flow meter that I was prescribed. I have to blow into it three times a day and record the data, to see whether my asthma is being controlled. Apparently, a normal reading for a woman who is my age and height should be about 442l/min. This morning’s reading was 290l/min, this afternoon it was 450l/min, and tonight it was 480l/min. It’ll be interesting to see how it compares tomorrow.

I also received an exciting parcel today: Odlo Evolution sports underwear for women. They’re a fairly long base-layer that I want to try out under indecently short running shorts. I’ll let you know how I get on with that!

My blog has also received a lot of traffic from Poland this week. I don’t speak Polish, but a quick use of Google Translate suggests that I was being used on a forum as an example of someone who is 30kg overweight but is still able to exercise. The topic was about the persecution of obese people. I don’t mind being used as an example, but I object to the suggestion that I am (or have been) 30kg overweight… if I only weighed 6st (84lbs/39kg) then I would be severely underweight! Maybe I’ve misunderstood the article. If any of my readers speak Polish, I’d love to know what the discussion was all about: http://forum.gazeta.pl/forum/w,567,150970875,,Dyskryminacja_otylych_wreszcie_ktos_glosno_walczy.html?v=2

My husband shared an interview with junior pro-cyclist Jasper Stuyven with me. He knows how much I love my clothing/bike etc to match! (Interview no longer available – April 2020).

I’ve been failing in my diet this week, as I’ve been feeling down about being injured and unable to exercise, however, I thought this article on Greatist was worth reading: 75 Science-backed ways to lose weight

What do you think? Do you follow any of these tips?