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Another End of Year Review

So having covered the training and triathlon bits of my year it is probably worth taking a look at how shit the rest of my life has been through this year and 2018.  In 2018 Tamarah and I had a miscarriage. I feel like that was the start of the decline in our relationship. Her response to that loss and her subsequent behaviour towards me and our relationship was the beginning of the end.  In 2019 my paternal grandmother died early in the year. This was the first family funeral I have been to in a long time (22 years?) but the statistics on that are likely to come round to a more averaged number soon as a lot of my extended family are seriously ill or ageing.  Then in the middle of the year Tamarah tried to start a fight with me over going to Romania for the European Championships. I have absolutely zero belief that Romania was the real issue, she just chose it as something that she knew would upset me to try and create an excuse for her to leave. When that didn't work, she gh
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End of Year Review

So, as with every year, the most obvious place to start is with the targets I set for the year way back in January. Except life got in the way, so a lot of them are meaningless.  Against those targets: Targets by numbers Represent GBR age-group at an international event. Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for a 2020 European Champs. Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for a 2020 World Champs. Swim 141.5 miles. - 146.3 miles Swim under 6:15 minutes for 400m. - 6:21 at Fraserburgh Aquathlon. Swim under 12:00 minutes for 750m. - 11:22 at Dundee Aquathlon. (might have been short 50m?). Swim under 26:00 minutes for 1,500m. - 25:13 at Huntly Standard.   (might have been short 50m?). Ride 1,850 miles. - 1,709 miles Run 745 miles. - 745.6 miles Run a 5k in under 20 mins or 10k in under 43 mins. - 20:09 at Elgin Parkrun. 44:48 for Moray 10k. >52 Yoga sessions  >52 Stretching and rollering sessions. >40 Core sessions. >40
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Boxing Day

I have been for my run at Kirkhill this morning. Without Dexter it was empty and a bit depressing. Also I didn't speak to another person for the whole day. Normally I have Dexter this week as an excuse to at least go out and walk him and talk to people in the park. Part of the reason I took the temporary delivery job was to try and make sure that I get out and talk to people and feel less alone. I don't always manage to get to talk to someone every day but this is the first time I have noticed. On work days I chat to a couple of my colleagues and to some customers, on swim days I normally chat to the other swimmers or the staff. And if neither of those I can normally visit my granny  so I am at least getting some human interaction.  From tomorrow I will get back to my temporary job as a bit of a distraction. I will also get a visit to the pool so at the very least I say hello to the staff on my way in and out. 
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Christmas Day

Yes, I am going to come back to regular posts. I will do an end of year round up and then set my stall out for next year. Maybe less dense than before though.  Today was Xmas; Starting with the good, I got some lovely presents, had a good run, including a 20:09 Parkrun, and spent a great day with my family.  On the bad, my best pal Dexter is in a really shit state and there is a serious chance that he only has a couple of weeks left to live. There is a possibility that he will beat his current disease and recover but it is highly unlikely. This means he hasn't come back with me for his normal Xmas holiday, so I am alone again  for the next 10 days rather than having him for company. He is also unlikely to be the only one missing from Xmas 2020. My dad, my remaining granny and her annoying little Westie are all unlikely to make it another year. 
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Christmas Eve

Today I should be celebrating my child's first birthday. Instead I am sitting alone 18 months after our miscarriage and now separated from my wife. My Dad's cancer is advancing rapidly, one granny died this year, the other one is now struggling so badly with her memory that she often can't remember things that she has been told repeatedly with the last 5 minutes. I am effectively unemployed (my minimum wage part-time Asda delivery job doesn't even cover my mortgage).
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Break

I am going to take a break from blogging.  It has just become a tracker for training and since I am not going to be racing any more there is no reason to be training and there isn't any real point in blogging about what I am not doing. 
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Training Review - Week 20 - May 13 to 19

Monday was hard work. My legs are still very heavy from racing on Saturday and my sunburn is very painful. I took a pair of easy rides but the weight of my backpack was pretty intense on the burns. In the evening I went to swimming. The first 30 minutes or so was fine but beyond that I started to run in to a wall of fatigue and the pace dropped off.  Tuesday I did an easy ride in to the office and then an easy run home. Only neither were easy. It still feels like I am using someone else legs. That didn't improve when I went to the pool in the evening. I started a reps session, struggled through 4 x 50m and then bailed out for an easy recovery swim.  Wednesday I abandoned my plan to run to work and instead just jogged round to the train. I am still not in the shape to run two 7 milers for consecutive commutes. After work I went to see the Detective Pikachu movie before riding home. The lack of traffic on that ride took the best part of 3 minutes off the time.  Thursday I had t
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