Christine here. Sorry ground control, I've been orbiting in space for a while, out of range to all but the closest around me. Now finally I feel like fixing the reception to the rest of the world.So what has been happening? I last wrote here in September as I headed off for my last race of the season in Barcelona, having decided that it would be my last race in the professional ranks as I was wanting to retire at the end of the 2012 European season. Now, 4 months later I am gainfully retired from racing, recovered from a profound exhaustion that hit at the end of the season and ready to take on some new adventures.
Sorry for the outage but it was important for me to recover properly after the end of last season, spend some time focused solely on those in my inner orbit and building some exciting new opportunities. Watch this space, Tribelles a new website offering advice, a community forum and fun and interesting stories from and for female triathletes all around the world is coming online to a computer near you very soon.
Meanwhile a few of my fellow triathletes and good coaching sites have been writing some great articles so in part as an apology for my lack of writing over the past few months here are a few I particularly liked.
The first one is by Rachel Joyce about losing your mojo at this time of year. My mojo went on holidays for a while after my season ended through a combination of fatigue and a simple preference to spend time with my family doing little not always heading off training, racing or taking on the next big thing. I am back doing some training just for fun now but have also re-engaged my mojo in a wide range of new adventures. Rachel, coming off the back of an awesome season but with a disappointing Kona has some interesting thoughts.
Rachel Joyce writes about missing mojos
Given that this time of year is the perfect time to review and correct any form errors in your technique here are two options to get you going, one for the run and one for the swim from two of my favourite commentators, Bobby McGee for the run and Swim Smooth for the swim.
Bobby McGee's Running Form Video
It's a great time to do a time trial now to determine your Critical Stroke Speed (CSS) rate. A 400m and 200m TT will give you your current CSS from which you can appropriately baseline your training speeds. It is also a great pre-season point from which you can measure your progress as your training. Try and redo a TT every 6 weeks or so to ensure you are training at appropriate speeds for your current conditioning and efficiency.
Swim Smooth Time trial
Lastly for all those based in the UK, Germany, France, USA, Canada... suffering cold, wet and icy road conditions and short days, you may be needing some fun turbo sessions. Personally I've ditched the bike this winter replacing it entirely with cross country skiing and running. If I was racing seriously in 2013 I would need to be doing plenty of these sessions but to be honest, this year I'm happy not to partake. You can do an extra session or three for me! Personally I like (liked) starting and finishing my sessions on rollers to keep me focused and my bike handling skills in good shape with the really solid efforts on a turbo in the middle. On steady sessions I tend to stay on the rollers throughout.
Turbo sessions from Bike Radar
So wishing you all a fantastic 2013! May you find and follow your mojo to great success this year.
À bientôt
Christine
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