Everything is coming together

In my last post I spoke about my rehab and how things were starting to move in the right direction. Well, here I am, a few weeks on, looking forwards and feeling positive. I'm now back training in all areas, cycling, running, swimming, and back in the gym, and whilst I'm being good and building up slowly, I'm confident of soon getting back to where I was. I'm having a performance re-testing this Thursday with Simon (@bodybullet on twitter) which will show how much specific fitness I have lost in terms of my MAE and FTP. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but, it will mean Simon can devise a unique training plan based on these new figures to ensure I'm training right, not too hard, and not too easy! My goals now are for a couple of races end of season and then consider some races over the autumn and winter. I've got a super sprint lined up in Carmarthen in October, which should be fun to just be going full pelt again, and then the postponed Carmarthenshire duathlon comes later in October. October is usually when I unwind, take some time off, but given that it's felt like I have had too much time of not doing enough then I'm happy to be back training and getting back a training routine.

Another thing I'm giving serious thought to is an obstacle course challenge/race. I've always loved obstacle/assault courses, and used to love watching The Krypton Factor as a kid, wondering what I'd be like if I were doing the courses. I even considered joining the forces just so that I could do the training and obstacle courses!

Another thing I've signed up to, for a bit of fun, is the www.colormerad.co.uk fun 5k run at Margam Park in late September, where there's no timing, rather, it's all about paint and getting as colourful as possible whilst running! I've roped in some friends from work so chances are I won't be running my usual pace, but instead keeping with them so that we can paint bomb each other!

I'm back running and whilst my calf gets very stiff afterwards, I'm not really getting pain as such when I'm running. I've been told there is no damage in the calf or surrounding area so I've been given the go-ahead to run and build my training. I am however, being referred on for an assessment to see whether it's low level compartment syndrome, but I have no idea how long it will be before that comes through.

I'm back swimming pain free though which is amazing!!! Last week I did a 1.6k with some sprints and longer sets and felt OK, so this week I upped that to 2k, a full set for me, and again did sprints, pushing myself, and again I felt great, no pain, and my swim times are as they were before my injury lay off and I've even knocked 6-8 seconds per 100m off my times just by changing my breathing pattern to breathe less regularly, but I have to train myself now to try and keep that up for a full race distance.

Another major development is that I'm now finally fulfilling a long-time ambition of working privately, helping other sporting people enhance their performance through psychology. My moto is #youcanyouwill and you can find out more on Facebook with a page of that name, as well as my upcoming website @ www.youcanyouwill.co.uk. I'm also on twitter as @DrHPsych. I've even had my first taste of Skype, with my first client, a guy who lives abroad, and he has signed up to weekly sessions so I'm chuffed about that. I'm waiting for my business cards to arrive and then the last piece of the puzzle will be my website which the guys @ www.blossomassociates.co.uk are helping me with. I've also been approached on twitter about a potentially big project with a big company which came completely out of the blue, but at the same time is exciting and potentially huge! I'm having a conversation tomorrow with the PR man about an interview with me and then discuss possible ways forward so I'll keep you posted!

So right now things are moving in the right direction. I'm confident that when I come back I'll be better than ever, but I am under no illusions about coming back flying. My races this season will all be about enjoying them, enjoying the thrill of cycling and running at pace, and seeing how my newfound confidence in swimming serves me. Although, I will have to wait until next season before I test out my open water confidence again, saying that though, I might try and get in some open water swims before the temperature dips now that my arm is strong and hopefully the wetsuit won't aggravate the injury with the slightly restricted movement.

I wish you all success in whatever adventures you are currently pursuing, and remember, if you have a dream, an ambition, believe you can do it, plan what needs to be done, and then go put it into practice and become what you have always wanted to be!!