November miles in BC

A long third training phase is finally coming to a close here in Vancouver and I can feel my easy week creeping up on me once again. Been a tough three weeks with over 70 hours of work in, last week being my toughest at just over 25 hours. Lots of long rides, fast pool work and distance runs have made dodging the injuries a challenge but looks like I'll be coming out of another hard phase with no pains to report once again ... all smiles!

Last week had just under 400km on the bike, 60km running and a little over 25km in the pool. A relaxing few days in Whistler to clear the lingering fatigue on Monday and Tuesday then back to Vancouver for another hard couple of days before my last midterm tomorrow.

Really encouraged with my running these last few months, it was only April when I was dying of shin splits and running about 10km a week, even through worlds and the rest of the summer i was rarely managing over 20km a week. Great to get out and put in some distance ... something I never thought I'd enjoy. Bike wise I've been loving the miles for a long time now, there is something fundamentally enjoyable about just driving through the long, rainy miles on a bike...at least I love it! And swimming is swimming, always have and always will love my time in the pool ... except 15x400m's...never loved that.

Team mate and friend Fraser Cartmell raced last weekend at the 70.3 World Championships coming in an awesome 10th, out of the water in 3rd in what I think was about a 22minute swim...which is crazy. I watched online and was inspiring to watch, beating some of the top Pro's in the world just confirms he IS one of the top Pro's in the world.

Before I go to bed...almost 8 (triathletes don't party....on week nights anyway)...I'll share the core workout from hell I did last night. I know people are always convinced their core workout is the hardest but this set off the back of 3 hours of training yesterday and over 35 hours in the previous 9 days was Seriously tough...

Front Plank

Left Plank

Right Plank

Front Plank

Left Plank

Right Plank

Tricep Dips

Crunches

Jump Squats

Russian Twists

Wall Sits

Twice through as 90 seconds on 30 seconds off.

Killed me...think I even cried "why do I do this" half way through, that's always a great sign you're working hard.

The answer to the above question is easy for me, as long as it stays an easy answer I'll be doing this for a long time to come...something I honestly hope I can do.

"Why do I do this?"

Simply put, I love the challenge

Mike