When Is Consistency Not Consistency?

It’s fair to say that training since the New Year hasn’t got off to a flying start.  Injury and a little illness has set me back a bit.

Week	Swim		Bike		Run		Other		Total
	Time	Sessions	Time	Sessions	Time	Sessions	Time	Sessions	Time	Sessions
1	0:00	0	8:18	5	3:40	4	0:00	0	11:58	9
2	0:45	1	5:35	3	0:40	1	0:00	0	7:00	5
3	1:30	2	4:00	5	0:00	0	0:30	1	6:00	8
4	1:50	2	3:30	3	0:00	0	0:40	1	6:20	6
Total	4:05	5	21:23	16	4:20	5	1:10	2	30:58	28

Week 1 was a great start to the year – totalling 9 sessions over 12 hours (5 bike and 4 run sessions) – including two outdoor rides, a long run and some run speedwork.

Week 2 and injury struck - twice!  First the calf pull on Tuesday - there has been no running in the month since then, followed by a sore and swollen knee on Saturday.  Fortunately, the group Sunday cycling was slow and steady!

The beginning of week 3 saw me taking two consecutive days off to nurse my swollen left knee!  Swimming started properly here and the five turbo sessions I managed that week must be my new record!  I also had some sports physio during the week.

Week 4 started with an off-colour day, followed by some physio on the Tuesday and finished the week with a no training break in Centre Parks!  In the middle of that I managed to squeeze in two swim sessions (including my epic 39x100m session on my birthday!) and three turbo sessions.

Despite seven rest days (mostly due to illness, injury or weekends away!) I still racked up 28 sessions, over 31 hours, with most of my sessions being 1 hour or less.  In the case of cycling, this is due to two reasons.  Firstly, I have only been out on two Sunday group rides, the rest of the time on the turbo, due to the weather.  Secondly, the turbo sessions in the main are short and sharp, focussing on higher intensity intervals rather than endurance work.  This is very deliberate.

Swimming sessions are almost always less than 1 hour, unless I go to the MerseyTri masters sessions – which I haven’t done this year.  Any longer than 1 hour and my technique starts to fall apart!  As we progress through the year, the sessions may increase in time and distance.

My physio confirms what I thought too - I haven't been doing enough stretching or strengthening work to keep pace with my training volume and intensity.  

Compared to last year, this month saw me do more swimming (3:25 last January) and more cycling (16 hours last January).  Last January I did a fair bit of running (14:12).  So despite the injury and pretty much 3 weeks of no running, I have done a similar number of sessions and more or less the same overall training time.  

For the next four weeks we’re looking for greater consistency in training, with fewer rest days and breaks in momentum.  I’m also looking to get outside on the bike a bit more and do some longer sessions.  February will also see the return of running (I hope!).  At the moment I'm not too worried about the impact of not running on my overall goals for the year - providing I'm able to start again this month.  Also in February my ‘20 weeks to Roth’ training plan starts (20^th February) - which I'm really excited to start!!

All in all a decent month, in terms of quantity and quality of sessions, but too many interruptions characterise the first four weeks of the year.