Hi Peter,
Thanks for sharing your recent ILC experiences with us. I enjoyed reading your post. It's good to hear about ILC on the other side of the pond.
In regards to maintaining vs improving fitness, I personally think it's important to be improving fitness. I approach it like I approach any training. You should be constantly striving to improve, but realize that it's a slow and steady improvement with occasional jumps in advancement. The injuries and setbacks happen when you push too hard and too fast.
Johnny