It has been a while since I last took my keyboard and focused on writing a blog post, don't despair I'm still training. As most of us I'm still trying to juggle many activities at the same time and I'm having a very stressful period at work. I don't think I have ever been so busy at work.

Apart from being busy I have started struggling with my right leg and I have not been able to run as much as I wanted since the beginning of the year.I have gone through periods of pain on my quad, groin, ITB, hamstring, lowerback and buttocks. I have seen a physiotherapist, had some rest of running, doing some acupuncture, cancelled my half and full Brighton marathon in the hope that by resting I will start to pick up the running on a regular basis again very soon (maybe today!). The latest is that I might have a trapped nerve between vertebrae L2/L3 as I experience numbness on my quad. But as Lance Armstrong would say: Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.

At present I am in week 9 of my 20 week 1/2 Ironman training plan of Matz Fitzgerald, which is the first week of the build phase after 8 weeks of base training. I was unable to follow all prescribed run sessions but increased the number of bike sessions instead and added a few core strength sessions as well.

For the first 3 months of the year I cycled 1250 km and swam 50 km in a 50m Olympic pool in Aldershot, my 400m swim went from 9:22 down to 8:50 in about 10 weeks time, with a 1:57 for 100m. I ran for 90 km since the beginning of the year and I'm training for 6.4 hours on average/week excluding any strength and stretching sessions.

Future is very bright, just checked out today and my local open water swim lake opens on the 24th of April. We are having a break soon in Egypt and I'm looking forward to train in good weathers. Was initially hoping to take my bike but I'm not going to risk this. Will concentrate on swimming and running and a spot of diving in the Red Sea. The 1/2 Ironman UK familiarization camp is mid May.

And what's more I purchased a proper Tri bike, I bought a Specialized Transition Expert 2010 and had a BG bike fitting in the Specialized Concept Store in Ruislip (London).

I have signed up for the biggest Triathlon in the world, I was lucky enough to get hold on a last minute space in the London Mazda Triathlon. I will be competing the Olympic distance and I'm hoping that I will be reducing my time from previous Olympic Triathlons.

That's all for now – Don’t just train – train right.

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