April fool

And so we enter the month of April - that time of year when lazy weekends (as if) get replaced with competition and all that it encompasses.

March was the month when I can say that my training actually clicked into second gear and started to cruise a little. I'm pleased to say that I stayed illness free for this block, and just have the slight worry of a hamstring niggle which has been hanging around for the last month. I've chosen my usual tactic of attempting to ignore and hoping that it will go away - although I'm dreading the first time that tactic backfires properly...

This week has been a rest week. I break my training up throughout the year into 4-5 week blocks, building the intensity and reducing the volume through the block with the last week being a chance to recover a little and have some easy training with some time trials in all disciplines to check on my progress. I didn't employ this tactic for my first couple of years in competition, and ended up a complete mess by August each year. Building in the rest periods allows more recovery and the chance to come back stronger. However, I always find it strange that the easy week seems to leave me feeling the most tired and lethargic!?

I had my swim TT this morning - timing myself from a push for 400m, then after a little rest a 200m. Certainly didn't come out of it with times to set the world on fire, but have progressed since last time - and that, as they say, is the aim of the game. Tomorrow is my first real 10k of the season - I've done this race for the last 2 years (possibly even 3) so have a definitive marker on where I'm at at this time of the year. My best is around 37.20 here as it's a tough course (35.19 elsewhere) - I only ever like aiming for times in my head, but here goes - aim is sub 36.30. We shall see - hamstring and awful weather forecast will attempt to play their part I suspect.

Then on Saturday it's a week in Spain with the HPU guys. Hadn't really given it too much thought but now it's arrived and I'm really looking forward to it. With so much seemingly going on on a daily basis it will be great to have a week with just training on the mind and no distractions.