And I'm back...

And I'm back...

It has now been 49 days since my Ironman challenge and about a month since the final post on my blog - Journey to Ironman Austria.

Apparently my previous blog was more popular than I thought and I have had a number of requests to continue with some brief details of my training efforts and future sporting challenges.

There are a few races already in the diary and a number of interesting ideas for 2013 - details to follow in future blogs.

In the final posts of my previous blog I highlighted the need for life balance. Post Ironman this is still very much my intention, how to incorporate the training with my work and family commitments.

Since the Ironman my training has been light to mixed - on average only about 5-8 hours a week but one week I managed about 13 hours, which was more like my normal rate.

As I reassess my goals for the latter part of the year and 2013 beyond I will start to put some structure around my training. With no imminent 'A' race ahead, with the possible exception of Brighton Marathon in April, I am going down the self-coached route. My preference would be to continue with Coach Mark T but until I am clearer with some specific race goals I have decided to save the coaching fees for a possible training camp in 2013.

Meanwhile I have a couple of challenges for the coming week, worthy of comment:

Tonight I am travelling to Cardiff to participate in a charity bike ride on behalf of the late cricketer Tom Maynard. I will be one of around 30 cyclists including Freddie Flintoff cycling about 140 miles over 2 days from the Cardiff cricket stadium to the Oval.

On Sunday 26th August I am competing in my first off-road triathlon - Vachery XTri event - a 1,500m swim, 30km MTB and 10km off-road run.

I will report back on both events plus any other training I manage to complete during the week. Thereafter I will provide details of my training plans and my progress with getting the balance right (or not)!