At the beginning of September, my racing calendar became quite congested. At times I seemed to be unpacking and recovering from one race then immediately having to get ready for the next. This was without enough time to actually train for each one as when I was able to train hard, I should have been tapering so that I wasn’t screwed up on the start line…and so on. The Isle of Man, The 3 Peaks then Dusk til Dawn left me feeling quite uncharacteristically battered and only this week have I finally started to get back on top of things training-wise.

I’m now happily building, focussing and preparing for the Strathpuffer with no intention of doing any big races in between now and then. I know other ‘Puffer competitors are too so motivation isn’t in short supply either 😉

The relatively relaxed approach with some good solid training might have me back in the condition I was in earlier in the year, plus into the bargain I get to have a lot of fun riding bikes – big rides, short rides, turbo sufferfests (ok, that’s not fun), regular cyclocross racing and an utterly awesome Daft Ride with Dave.

In future I’ll be more careful with the schedule. September, whilst I raced a lot, left me less fit than I was. I can feel that lack of fitness (and a bit of extra weight) right now but gradually I’m clawing it back…