Welcome to 2012!

A bit late, I know, but I've had a lot on. So far this year I've had a new implant in my left eye, and I've had a consult with the cataract surgeon to see what improvement in vision I might get and whether I need a Toric lens. I've taken my favourite bike out for a winter ride and I've done a couple of rides on the trainer. I've even done a little running and swimming.

My next swim won't be for over a week. On Tuesday I have surgery to replace the lens in my right eye. The surgery starts with a small incision (apparently it won't need stitches, which is great because I can't figure out how you'd stitch an eyeball) and is followed by 'phaco-emulsification' - that means liquefaction of the lens in my eye - and insertion of the new lens. No cycling for at least two days; no running, swimming or anything strenuous for at least a week. I'll be keeping fingers crossed for a successful surgery.

So what will I do while I can't train? Given my tentative race schedule this year I should be in a base phase at the moment, so time on the trainer at low HR will be all I'm allowed and thankfully, a good thing for my training plan. Of course, I don't really have a proper training plan...

My training plan for Ironman Austin 70.3 consisted of riding whenever I wanted all year, then 10 weeks beforehand I started swimming and running intermittently. After about 5 swims I did my first ever triathlon - a sprint distance. Then I carried on with my haphazard training until about 6 weeks out, when I read some training plans online and combined them with my schedule and some advice from Joe Friel and Gordo Byrne's book "Going Long"... I wrote my plan down on the back of an envelope (seriously) and almost managed to follow it. My results were good enough to make me happy - I mean, I finished and just about hit my target time, even though I flatted on the bike course. Of course, I felt like death on the run, but there's a lesson in that!

This year will be more organised than that. I will not rely on half-baked scribbles on the back of an envelope. I have stocked up on books (Going Long; Be Iron Fit; and Ironman Start to Finish) along with some books to address my technique limiter, swimming. I will be working to make a fully fleshed out training plan that fits around my work commitments and I will try to stick to it. My nutrition will be better thought out. I will work on technique and strength a little more. More than all that, I'll be working on a positive mental attitude; it's far too easy to let my vision problems bring me down and that is destructive thinking that I will not allow.