Fire up the engines again....

Last Thursday Physio Jonty from Body Dynamics gave me the OK to get out and run to see how the recovering body felt. So up to the "Craters of the Moon" mountain bike park I went on Friday to do so light running on soft dirt tracks. I'm happy to say everything felt fine, no jarring and my tender right hip was not an issue. In fact I felt great! Normally after a month of no running my cardio system is rubbish and I puff, wheeze and struggle through my first week or 2 of running. I think due to the fact I have kept my swimming up I'm still reasonably fit. So feeling good and loving being out on a beautiful day with the tracks to myself I extended the run slightly and ended up doing around 50mins. It was pretty slow and I finished stoked and excited about being back in the game! Since then my legs have been stiff as boards and back to limping around the place! What a wally, never mind, nothing major and I will run again today and start getting a routine back into my weeks.



I have also had a couple of rides on my new Litespeed, what a difference to my last frame! A real pleasure to ride and its nice to have something I catch myself "ogling" over every time I go into the garage. I will try to make the most of the remaining good summer weather and get out on it at every chance. The pic is of another bee sting in my leg I picked up on one ride. Not as bad as the one I had earlier in the year on my eyebrow but impressive all the same!

I have over the last month put serious thought into what the year is going to look like. I have concluded that this year will have more focus on Half Ironman racing to work on my swimming and running speed. It will allow me also to race more often and travel to some interesting locations for some "life experience!". Here is what things will look like through to The World Long Course Champs in Perth in October....

1. King of the Bays Ocean Swim, 19th April


2. N-Duro off road 1/2 Marathon, Tauranga 24th May


3. N-Duro off road 1/2 Marathon, Rotorua 28th June


4. Putrjara 70.3, Malaysia 26th July


5. Capricorn 1/2 Ironman, Nth Queensland 16th August


6. Gold Coast Training Camp, Mid September


7. World Longcourse Champs, Perth 25th October

There is also the option of doing the Phillipines 70.3 a week after Yepoon. If Putrjara 70.3 goes well I may be in a position to do this, I will wait until after then to make a decision.

Its an exciting plan and the build up started yesterday! Training through the Taupo winter is going to be tough as it was last year but with more things to break it up this year is will be more manageable. After the Worlds it will be onto the NZ summer with the big goal being retaining my NZ title at the Mt Half. IMNZ will follow on from that as the demons must be exorcised!

I must also mention the "Tenon" team who completed the Oxfam 100km race again this year. They took 3.5hrs off the time from last year and ended up 4th overall. The terrain this race goes over is brutal and these guys nailed it. In their preparation two of there big training days included going over the Tongiriro Crossing, and back again! It just shows if you prepare well, race day is that much easier. Maximum respect to you boys, inspirational stuff.

Cheers

Dunc.