With the end of 2011 nearly here perhaps it is time I should reflect on all that I have achieved, and what I've failed at.
Going into 2011 there was only one thing on my mind. Ironman. Granted that is a big thing to have on your mind. The thing is even though it was at the forefront of most of my decisions I wasn't paying it the respect it deserved. I mean it is only twice the distance of a half right? And that is only a little over double an Olympic? How hard can it be right? Well I got my wake up call in February (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/02/time-to-resurrect-this-blog.html) In a rather training light week when I got a cold I went out for a 50+km. A ride from hell where I realised I couldn't blag IM training like I'd done my half. So I set about creating a plan of epic proportions that would see me do one hell of a lot of training over the following weeks and months.
In February came one of my first races, the MK half marathon (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/03/better-week-with-tough-finish.html). Now in my 'oh MK is flat and I'm fitter now' mindset I'd decided this would be PB territory and a good chance to break the 1:40 barrier. Oh that run went horribly wrong. I learnt a lot about pacing though. You learn from your mistakes as the saying goes. I got carried away in the moment at the start, and held that stupid notion for 10K, and like a true idiot, almost broke my 10K PB, with over half the race left. It was a painful lesson I can still remember vividly, walking up the ramps from the underpasses, the tears in my eyes as I walked up the bridge. If you have a pacing plan stick to it, don't let macho bull**** throw you from it at the start of a race.
The start of April brought the start of the tri season, and I was entered into my first event of the year at Ringwood, the first time the event was being run. All my training was paying off as I managed a 2:25 finish, for an odd distance event, but one that is probably comparable (just short) of an Olympic. I swam well, I biked OK and I ran reasonably well. Training ploughed on and as Easter arrived I took a trip up to Bridgtown Cycles for a bike fit, of course as anyone that has been knows, you often find the bike doesn't fit.
Having spent nearly 5 hours having every last detail checked, including the placement of washers under the cleat of my right foot to account for a minor leg length discrepancy I left with what Dad later termed 'a clown bike'. Yes the bike was too small, so with the largest stem available and the saddle really high, using loaned handlebars Mike had bought me a little time. A couple of weeks in fact, as the next week a new bike was on order. Ready for me to pick up when I returned a couple of weeks later. In the meantime I had a bike I could ride faster.
On the clown bike I did the Randonee, effectively an Audax around the Isle of Wight. Wow that was a tough day at the office. There was one hell of a wind blowing (25 mph) and it made the hill (on my hilliest and longest ride ever) really tough. I did it though, and was pleased as anything to have got around in one piece. The next weekend I was heading back up to fetch the new bike.
What a beauty she is, Maddy madone, my Trek 3.1. Mike had done an excellent job putting her together for me, and after a few tweaks she was ready to rock. What a dream it was riding carbon after aluminium, and the wheels they built are still running perfectly true even after the 2000 odd miles I've done since getting her in May.
Late may brought the BCTTT tri camp out at Les Stables in France. What a great time that was. Some great coaching from Daz, Sibs, and Mark. Plus morale boosting hill sets on the bike with Mark. Can't wait to get back there in 2012 now.
Then it was back into the peak build weeks of June. Wow, the miles really racked up there. 17-18 hours of training, on top of a full time job. Not easy, and clocking up 7/186/40 & 7.5/300/37km of swim/bike/run in the 2 biggest weeks. Tough times, but it was to prove worth it. Early July and I had Bedford Olympic, my last little tester race before Ironman (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/07/bedford-classic-tri.html) It went pretty well, improved over the year before with gains on the bike and the run, suffered more on the swim, but that might have been because I wasn't able to draft as I was a leader in the wave.
The rest of July was my taper, and I had intended to do speedwork, until I gassed myself in the lab and had some respiratory difficulties I needed to sort out if I was going to make the start line. I do not recommend inhaling chlorine. It most certainly isn't performance enhancing. Then of course that brings me to Ironman. I'm not going to say much about it here, I wrote a rather long story on it already (http://issuu.com/jibby26/docs/imde_story). It was tough, I went into it with a goal that was respectful, but not respectful enough. I have to say It is the hardest thing I have ever done. It breaks you physically, then you stop feeling the physical pain as the mental pain kicks in. Still I loved it, and want to get back out there again, guess that makes me a little crazy.
August was a month of rest, every time I tried to train I just felt so lethargic. So I just went with it and did stuff for fun. Competing in the club relays at the end of the month. That was a wild and fun weekend. The BCTTT know how to have fun at a race. I put in a respectable performance too, so more than happy about that.
Coming into September and I was starting to get back into the groove, training was coming back and I was getting strong in the pool. It all went wrong though when I slipped on some mud and rolled my ankle. A proper sprain of my left ankle and the metatarsal ligaments. D'Oh. The day after I entered, and 10 days before, I entered Ringwood triathlon (The Return). A week of rest and taking care of it and the plan was to do pull for the swim (600m of pull hurts), ride the bike to death (weather was grim) then abandon the run (I carried on in the end and ran pretty well). Having spent a week in Italy unable to train, but rehabilitating my ankle I then returned for a week of biking and swimming before my last tri of 2011, Bedford Sprint. The ankle was alright riding, I could walk fine, just swimming that hurt. So I was employing the same strategy as Ringwood.
Swim wasn't good, bike was great, and my run was actually excellent. Almost breaking 1:15 for it, with a 2m53 saved on the bike and 27s in the run (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/10/bedford-autumns-sprint-end-of-season.html). A great finish to a season that could so easily have gone the other way.
October can be characterised by cycling and swimming (pull) I threw a few runs into the mix, but mostly I rode on the turbo. At some I went a little more crazy and decided 2012 was the time to do something for charity. Why I don't know, maybe it was dehydration from the turbo sessions. I went slightly loopy though and decided riding a bike for 24 hours would be a good thing to do. I have a feeling I will never be able to forget what an idiot I have been. This is going to hurt, and hurt good. Please check out http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ to see more about it and the good causes I'm trying to support.
The end of October brought the Minstead stinger, I was back running and this was a challenging 9 mile run through the hillier bit of the New Forest. I seemed to do alright, posting a respectable sub 1:10 and finishing in a pretty decent place. My new love of trail running was founded. Come November and I was back doing all 3 sports; swimming, cycling (mostly turbo) and running trails and road. I think as a result of all the turbo sessions something changed and I put in a supper speedy 10K in training. It was also suggested to me I give parkrun a go, I'm not sure who gave me the final nudge, but I have a feeling it is down to a woman, these things normally are. Of course having given me the final nudge it was suggested I didn't beat 19:49. My first run was good, almost beating it and so nearly going sub 20 for my first ever 5K. I tried again a week later and managed to slash 25 seconds off it with a 19:38. So in good form I ended November looking forward to my annual half marathon in December.
Just to make things awkward I got in in the week leading up to the half. Not the best prep, but a good taper. The race was tough, and far from fun, I suffered a few issues at 4 miles, and ran to the point the world was spinning in the last couple of miles. All to finish a way off the 1:30 I'd been trying to pace to. (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/12/half-marathon-time-again.html) Still, I managed to run a 1:33, taking another 7 minutes off my PB. At this rate I should be on for a 1:26 next year :-D The rest of December has been a bit of a bust really. Got some decent off road running in though. A long run with Gary that nearly destroyed me, and a couple of below performance parkruns. Well, it means 2012 has a better chance of a good start.
I seem to have rambled on for long enough now. So the all important stats for the year:
Total Duration: 437 hours, 43 minutes
Swimming: 104h 11m, 246.45km
Cycling: 175h 27m, 4421km
Turbo: 33h 59m
Running: 123h 15m, 1347km
Total Calories burnt: 388,167 (that's about the same as the energy in 50 litres of petrol, or 1492 mars bars!)
With that I'll close 2011 and stake my claims on 2012. In 2012 I will:
Run a sub 19 5K
Run a sub 40 10K
Ride a bike for 24 hours
Finish a middle distance in under 5 hours
Finish an Iron distance in under 12 hours
Most importantly, I'll have fun doing it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Friday 30 December 2011
Sunday 11 December 2011
Half Marathon Time Again
So December brings my annual half marathon. Since I smashed my 10K PB a couple of months ago on a training run the thoughts of another great HM personal best have been floating around in my mind so I was really looking forward to this. Couple that with two great 5K times in the last 4 weeks and my hopes were high. All was going great until Monday. I had a headache on Sunday night, thought it was just from not having had my cup of proper coffee. Things weren't better on Monday and didn't feel like the turbo I had planned. Woke up on Tuesday and felt like ****, couldn't take the day off sick though as we were on shifts and as the lead I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't get the early run on. By 2pm I was ready to curl up on the sofa. I thought the worst had passed and was feeling better as it morphed into a head cold on Thursday. Moved back to my chest yesterday though just as I'd decided on a pacing strategy.
Last year I had a good idea of what I could do, so my pacing was to target a slightly ambitious 1:40, I missed, but only just. This year the same formula I used last was telling me I could do a 1:30:45. That would be 10 minutes quicker. That seemed to good an improvement, I tried a few other calculators and they gave similar results. The end result: I had my heart set on a 1:30. Pacing strategy was to go out at with 4:20/km and return with 4:10/km. This should play to the course, flattish first 5K, short sharp up&down, then uphill to 10K, down&up over next 2K, flattish next 5K, then nice downhill before a little kick up before the finish. The forecast on Friday: heavy rain, Saturday: heavy rain if I'm slow, this morning: dry. Ignoring the forecast in the hope it would change turned out to be a good strategy. I was also trying something else daring; new kit. My shorts have got a bit loose, so I thought new kit can't do more damage than worn out kit.
Race morning came and I was feeling alright, still had a bit of a chesty cough and blocked nose, but I was coping, I'd just pretend I was in perfect health. What's the worst that could happen? Dad dropped me off at the start with a little under an hour to spare, about enough time to fight into the hall for chip collection, collect my free race memento jacket, take off my nice warm hoodie and drop my bag off, make sure there was no excess weight being carried around then warm up. Tweaked the ankle sprain during the warm up, got me a little worried. Then to the start pen, stood at the front of the 91-100 minute pen, and was a little surprised by how few people were in front of me. Hmm, was I being a little over optimistic?
Walk to the start line and then the gun went off, little walk and broke into a jog on the line, then into a run. Remembered to try and keep my pace in check and took it what felt easy, 4:05 for the first, actually slightly quicker for the second with a 4:03, out onto the open roads and another speedy km in 4:05. Then a turn back into the wind. That was a bit of a shock to the system. There was quite a wind and it was tough going. Pace dropped as I made it towards the water station on the corner, just before the first hill. Got a measly cup of water then assaulted the hill, nice and easy on the way back down. Now my GI system was starting to complain, I'd only had a little water, why? Then just after mile marker 4 it all went wrong. I started getting horrible abdominal cramp, move up into my diaphragm, so bad I couldn't breathe, so I had to admit defeat and start walking. I say walking, I was staggering about like a drunk after 10 pints. I was actually better running, so tried a slow run until I'd regained composure. Things settled down, but if I ran too hard then I started cramping again. I was obviously not over being ill. So pacing strategy was out the window until I'd made it to the 'top' of the course. Maybe I could still aim for a 1:31, there were plenty of entries in the sweepstake from there down. 1:30:xx was the barren ground in the sweepstakes, maybe I could get that 1:30:45?
Reached to second aid station around km9 and got a little more water, that set the stomach off again, but throttled back the effort using the downhill and kept the worst away. The wind was relentless through to km15 though, the realisation that a sub 1:30 set in and I started sinking into a dark place. I was trying to pick runners and stay with them, sometimes it worked, sometimes they were too slow. I was using the sweepstake to keep my mind out of it, who had bet on what time? Who could still win? I'd really been looking forward to this race and it was becoming a little anti-climatic, I was sinking into the hole that I experienced on lap 3/4 in the Ironman run. Eventually I made it to Cranfield and the start of the downhill, I knew I'd broken the back and there was only 30 minutes left I put my mind in the right gear. Enjoying the downhill I put in a 3:57 km, I could see the average pace start to drop and that helped things, and back on the flat I settled into a steady pace. I settled onto a guy that was a good pace and that helped, another little hill around km18 and I held in there, water station just after and I lost my guy as I walked through. Just a few km left, and I tried to up the pace, well the RPE went up even if the pace remained the same.
I was starting to hurt now, my calves were niggling, breathing was hard, and the dizzy staggering was coming back, I could feel the road swaying. Maybe I should have backed off, but the stupid sweepstake had me wanting to run a respectable time, especially after all those quick bets. Turned the corner onto the final stretch, the nasty uphill, man it was hurting, I managed to overtake a guy as my breathing got loud. Summoned the last drop of energy I had and crossed the line. Then staggered about, stood for a minute while my chip was cut off. Then laid in the car park trying to compose myself, didn't even have the energy to call dad over as he walked past.
Made it 1:33:38 on my Garmin, but obviously started early/stopped late as the chip time puts me at 1:33:34, with a Gun time of 1:33:45 putting me in position 234/1523 finishers.
Having crossed the line I was actually a little disappointed, I missed the time I 'should' have done. In reality though it was a PB by over 7 minutes. That is still one hell of an improvement over an already reasonable PB. I shouldn't be disappointed. I am capable of more though, if I hadn't been ill in the run up, and hadn't had the abdominal/dizziness issues then I could have run harder. The other bonus is it gives me a chance to improve on it next year without a huge amount more effort.
Last year I had a good idea of what I could do, so my pacing was to target a slightly ambitious 1:40, I missed, but only just. This year the same formula I used last was telling me I could do a 1:30:45. That would be 10 minutes quicker. That seemed to good an improvement, I tried a few other calculators and they gave similar results. The end result: I had my heart set on a 1:30. Pacing strategy was to go out at with 4:20/km and return with 4:10/km. This should play to the course, flattish first 5K, short sharp up&down, then uphill to 10K, down&up over next 2K, flattish next 5K, then nice downhill before a little kick up before the finish. The forecast on Friday: heavy rain, Saturday: heavy rain if I'm slow, this morning: dry. Ignoring the forecast in the hope it would change turned out to be a good strategy. I was also trying something else daring; new kit. My shorts have got a bit loose, so I thought new kit can't do more damage than worn out kit.
Race morning came and I was feeling alright, still had a bit of a chesty cough and blocked nose, but I was coping, I'd just pretend I was in perfect health. What's the worst that could happen? Dad dropped me off at the start with a little under an hour to spare, about enough time to fight into the hall for chip collection, collect my free race memento jacket, take off my nice warm hoodie and drop my bag off, make sure there was no excess weight being carried around then warm up. Tweaked the ankle sprain during the warm up, got me a little worried. Then to the start pen, stood at the front of the 91-100 minute pen, and was a little surprised by how few people were in front of me. Hmm, was I being a little over optimistic?
Walk to the start line and then the gun went off, little walk and broke into a jog on the line, then into a run. Remembered to try and keep my pace in check and took it what felt easy, 4:05 for the first, actually slightly quicker for the second with a 4:03, out onto the open roads and another speedy km in 4:05. Then a turn back into the wind. That was a bit of a shock to the system. There was quite a wind and it was tough going. Pace dropped as I made it towards the water station on the corner, just before the first hill. Got a measly cup of water then assaulted the hill, nice and easy on the way back down. Now my GI system was starting to complain, I'd only had a little water, why? Then just after mile marker 4 it all went wrong. I started getting horrible abdominal cramp, move up into my diaphragm, so bad I couldn't breathe, so I had to admit defeat and start walking. I say walking, I was staggering about like a drunk after 10 pints. I was actually better running, so tried a slow run until I'd regained composure. Things settled down, but if I ran too hard then I started cramping again. I was obviously not over being ill. So pacing strategy was out the window until I'd made it to the 'top' of the course. Maybe I could still aim for a 1:31, there were plenty of entries in the sweepstake from there down. 1:30:xx was the barren ground in the sweepstakes, maybe I could get that 1:30:45?
Reached to second aid station around km9 and got a little more water, that set the stomach off again, but throttled back the effort using the downhill and kept the worst away. The wind was relentless through to km15 though, the realisation that a sub 1:30 set in and I started sinking into a dark place. I was trying to pick runners and stay with them, sometimes it worked, sometimes they were too slow. I was using the sweepstake to keep my mind out of it, who had bet on what time? Who could still win? I'd really been looking forward to this race and it was becoming a little anti-climatic, I was sinking into the hole that I experienced on lap 3/4 in the Ironman run. Eventually I made it to Cranfield and the start of the downhill, I knew I'd broken the back and there was only 30 minutes left I put my mind in the right gear. Enjoying the downhill I put in a 3:57 km, I could see the average pace start to drop and that helped things, and back on the flat I settled into a steady pace. I settled onto a guy that was a good pace and that helped, another little hill around km18 and I held in there, water station just after and I lost my guy as I walked through. Just a few km left, and I tried to up the pace, well the RPE went up even if the pace remained the same.
I was starting to hurt now, my calves were niggling, breathing was hard, and the dizzy staggering was coming back, I could feel the road swaying. Maybe I should have backed off, but the stupid sweepstake had me wanting to run a respectable time, especially after all those quick bets. Turned the corner onto the final stretch, the nasty uphill, man it was hurting, I managed to overtake a guy as my breathing got loud. Summoned the last drop of energy I had and crossed the line. Then staggered about, stood for a minute while my chip was cut off. Then laid in the car park trying to compose myself, didn't even have the energy to call dad over as he walked past.
Made it 1:33:38 on my Garmin, but obviously started early/stopped late as the chip time puts me at 1:33:34, with a Gun time of 1:33:45 putting me in position 234/1523 finishers.
Having crossed the line I was actually a little disappointed, I missed the time I 'should' have done. In reality though it was a PB by over 7 minutes. That is still one hell of an improvement over an already reasonable PB. I shouldn't be disappointed. I am capable of more though, if I hadn't been ill in the run up, and hadn't had the abdominal/dizziness issues then I could have run harder. The other bonus is it gives me a chance to improve on it next year without a huge amount more effort.
Saturday 26 November 2011
A Mixed Bag
Last week was a great week for training, and what was meant to be an easy week. This week was meant to be harder, felt harder, but sort of involved less training. A tough week at work has made things hard.
Monday was a well needed rest day. It seems spending two and a half hours running with a 5kg backpack disagreed with my shoulders and upper back. I felt like a crippled old man on Monday. Still it gave me the chance to bake what have to be the best cookies ever; Golden Oaty Carrot Cookies. So good in fact I had to bake more on Friday. Monday also brought the release of Sufferfest: Extra Shot. A painful 20 minute extension to any turbo session. I diligently downloaded it on Tuesday for Wednesday's turbo session.
Tuesday was swimming, actually felt pretty good in the pool, apart from the kick sets where I was the slowest, I actually managed to hold a reasonable enough pace. Maybe I can venture back into lane 2 soon....
Wednesday, well I had one hell of a day at work, spent most of the day in the lab, a fairly hostile place to be working and wasn't in the best of moods by the time I got home having worked an extra 30 minutes. So I decided to take it out on the turbo. I lined up a triple 'fest and set about beasting myself. TrainerRoad released a power profile for A Very Dark Place, I was keen to see what it was like so made AVDP my first order of business. I was able to follow the profile pretty well, in fact I actually ended up riding at an RPE that felt much lower than when I normally do AVDP. Guess that means one of two things, either my FTP is out of date and I need to fit in another test on Tuesday, or I have a great ability to suffer. The latter would be most useful given www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk, but the former is probably the most likely. Second on the menu was Extra Shot. Now it was sold as something to add on, with no warm up and cool down. Well what can I say about it. It hurt. Quite a lot. It is a great little addition, but it is 20 minutes of sheer brutality, RPE 7 is lowest it goes, builds from there then has lots of little attacks and "bergs". Great video though with some good Pro Women's footage and a soundtrack that I quite like. It's really a missing 20 minutes from Hell Hath No Fury. Not that I would advocate attempting the two combined without first seeking medical advice. Last on the 'fest menu was Revolver. The most painful trainer workout experience ever. Fact. Well, my 'warm up' seemed to have got me to the start in reasonable condition. Perfect for 16x 1 min max effort, 1 minute recovery. I was actually putting out a decent amount of power, turning out about 350W for them, except the last where I managed to hold 400+ watts. Pretty pleased with that.
Thursday was another horrific day in the lab, barely got a break all day, so swimming wasn't as much fun. I was just dead, so doing 25s and 50s at max effort was not pretty. Not much to say about that really other than I was hurting by the end.
Friday, well, by the time I finished work and set off for my lunchtime run I was a zombie. Wasn't expecting much from it at all. Idea was a run out to the lakes, run round and back. we set off and then when we got to the new OS building Mike took us on a back route. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd put my calf guards on, but I didn't, and the narrow path was lined with stinging nettles. Didn't feel them at first, but they kicked in a bit later on. Ouch. After that it was across a lumpy field then out to the lakes, multi surface running, but none of it too bad for road shoes thankfully. Once at the lake we did a lap at 'your own pace' I seemed to have plenty of pent up aggression as I went off like a madman, running 4 minute kilometres, I was loving it. Built up quite a lead too by the time I finished the 2.5 or so km. Then we agreed to run easy on the way back, I think my idea of easy ended up being a little harder for the others. Oh well.
Saturday was another parkrun day. Given how I've been feeling all week I went into this with few expectations. In fact I'd pretty much decided it wouldn't be a PB run before I started. As the start gun drew nearer I realised I need the loo again. Great. A second week with a bursting bladder. Only 20 minutes though right? I made sure I was nearer the front this week after last weeks poor start. Turns out the opposition was a little better this week too. The guys started off pretty hard and I followed. 0.5K in and a glance at the Garmin told me I was in danger of overcooking things, 3:32 or so. Still, I wasn't feeling too bad for it, so pushed on, managing 3:38 for the first, the pain started to draw in on the second and slipped to 3:42 Halfway through the second lap and the suffering started to take hold, pace slipped a little more and the elastic was starting to break on the guy in front as he slipped out to 10m, just keep running, looked at the pace, I had about 20s in hand compared to last week's average at this point by my reckoning, so just kept pushing. 3:49 3rd km, slipping now. Onto the final lap and the push. Overtaking people now, making life a little tricky, 3:59 through 4km. Deep inside the hurt locker now, got passed by a guy in a 50 shirt, tried holding on to him, someone came up alongside me, she got a cheer from some 2nd lappers, she was the first lady. Damn, got to old on, avoid being chicked. Glance at the Garmin. I've definitely gone sub 20, can I push on for sub 19:50? Keep holding on, catch 50 timer, first lady finds her finishing legs, I try but just don't have it and Mr 50 passes me in the finishing chute. I'm not bothered though. I've gone sub 20 :-) Sub 19:50, sub 19:49 too ;-). The Garmin reckons 19:38, seems I started and stopped right as that was the official result. Placed 31/233 in the end, 30th male and 2/16 in SM25-29, taking 25s of last weeks PB. Wow. Not gonna have time to do it for a few weeks, but sub 19:30 has to be the goal now, sub 19 would be nice for the new year too. Plan on giving Bedford a try, a tarmac run with shallower bends might make things a lot easier. We'll see about that one... You can see the suffering here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130945533
And finally Sunday, got up feeling surprising perky for 6am. An hour of the day that should only exist when it involves a sporting event in my opinion. Unfortunately it was to go into work for 5 hours again. Plan was to head into the forest afterwards though so I packed up all my freshly laundered, and just about dry, running kit and headed into work. Mid morning break came, and given last weeks epic fail of a trail run based on 3 crumpets for breakfast and no lunch thought I'd join Leigh in a trip to McDonald's for a bacon roll and coffee. How is it possible to get a bacon roll wrong? Even using proper bacon it wasn't great. Felt a bit off afterwards, that'll be another 6 months until I go to McDonald's when I forget again why I don't like it then. Finish time came and I headed off to do the route I did last week, well mostly. I slightly modified it, it was to be a figure 8 rather than a loop, going from the top of the sandy slope where I was mentally broken last week. I headed off for the first loop of the plains. Bit less wet this week, although that meant I got muddier as I didn't pick my way around the puddles so diligently. Picked the right underpass too, after finding a ford to cross a stream at rather than a leap of faith across a steep sided bank. Back through the car park and down into the woods. I was running pretty well and the kilometres was flying by. I even remembered the route perfectly, no map checks required, so pleased about that wasn't quite as short as I'd planned, ended up being 24km in the end, taking just over 2 hours, 23 minutes quicker and only a mile shorter than last week. If I can run trails like that with a pack on my back, then a road half marathon shouldn't be too bad. I'm feeling it now though, legs were pretty sore on the drive home. Hoping my f-likes will hold my legs together and refresh them overnight.
The week was pretty good in the end I think, only managed 8h15m of training, but I needed some rest and the quality was probably better as a result. 2 weeks until Bedford half marathon and I have a lot to think about, what time should I aim for? and what pace to set off at? In theory I should be able to do a 1:30-1:31 based on extrapolation from my 5K time using a few different formulae. Is that too quick? or conversely is it too conservative, parkrun has come out long the past 2 weeks, it's on grass, and has 6 tight bends on each of 3 laps. I shall have to ponder that one. Oh and the toughprint paper I mentioned last week, another thumbs up, I put my parkrun bar code through the wash by mistake, and it came out fine!
Oh, and turbotorment news, apparently mum has secured 50 t-shirts from Mencap for people who want to come and take part, which is a great bonus!
Monday was a well needed rest day. It seems spending two and a half hours running with a 5kg backpack disagreed with my shoulders and upper back. I felt like a crippled old man on Monday. Still it gave me the chance to bake what have to be the best cookies ever; Golden Oaty Carrot Cookies. So good in fact I had to bake more on Friday. Monday also brought the release of Sufferfest: Extra Shot. A painful 20 minute extension to any turbo session. I diligently downloaded it on Tuesday for Wednesday's turbo session.
Tuesday was swimming, actually felt pretty good in the pool, apart from the kick sets where I was the slowest, I actually managed to hold a reasonable enough pace. Maybe I can venture back into lane 2 soon....
Wednesday, well I had one hell of a day at work, spent most of the day in the lab, a fairly hostile place to be working and wasn't in the best of moods by the time I got home having worked an extra 30 minutes. So I decided to take it out on the turbo. I lined up a triple 'fest and set about beasting myself. TrainerRoad released a power profile for A Very Dark Place, I was keen to see what it was like so made AVDP my first order of business. I was able to follow the profile pretty well, in fact I actually ended up riding at an RPE that felt much lower than when I normally do AVDP. Guess that means one of two things, either my FTP is out of date and I need to fit in another test on Tuesday, or I have a great ability to suffer. The latter would be most useful given www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk, but the former is probably the most likely. Second on the menu was Extra Shot. Now it was sold as something to add on, with no warm up and cool down. Well what can I say about it. It hurt. Quite a lot. It is a great little addition, but it is 20 minutes of sheer brutality, RPE 7 is lowest it goes, builds from there then has lots of little attacks and "bergs". Great video though with some good Pro Women's footage and a soundtrack that I quite like. It's really a missing 20 minutes from Hell Hath No Fury. Not that I would advocate attempting the two combined without first seeking medical advice. Last on the 'fest menu was Revolver. The most painful trainer workout experience ever. Fact. Well, my 'warm up' seemed to have got me to the start in reasonable condition. Perfect for 16x 1 min max effort, 1 minute recovery. I was actually putting out a decent amount of power, turning out about 350W for them, except the last where I managed to hold 400+ watts. Pretty pleased with that.
Thursday was another horrific day in the lab, barely got a break all day, so swimming wasn't as much fun. I was just dead, so doing 25s and 50s at max effort was not pretty. Not much to say about that really other than I was hurting by the end.
Friday, well, by the time I finished work and set off for my lunchtime run I was a zombie. Wasn't expecting much from it at all. Idea was a run out to the lakes, run round and back. we set off and then when we got to the new OS building Mike took us on a back route. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd put my calf guards on, but I didn't, and the narrow path was lined with stinging nettles. Didn't feel them at first, but they kicked in a bit later on. Ouch. After that it was across a lumpy field then out to the lakes, multi surface running, but none of it too bad for road shoes thankfully. Once at the lake we did a lap at 'your own pace' I seemed to have plenty of pent up aggression as I went off like a madman, running 4 minute kilometres, I was loving it. Built up quite a lead too by the time I finished the 2.5 or so km. Then we agreed to run easy on the way back, I think my idea of easy ended up being a little harder for the others. Oh well.
Saturday was another parkrun day. Given how I've been feeling all week I went into this with few expectations. In fact I'd pretty much decided it wouldn't be a PB run before I started. As the start gun drew nearer I realised I need the loo again. Great. A second week with a bursting bladder. Only 20 minutes though right? I made sure I was nearer the front this week after last weeks poor start. Turns out the opposition was a little better this week too. The guys started off pretty hard and I followed. 0.5K in and a glance at the Garmin told me I was in danger of overcooking things, 3:32 or so. Still, I wasn't feeling too bad for it, so pushed on, managing 3:38 for the first, the pain started to draw in on the second and slipped to 3:42 Halfway through the second lap and the suffering started to take hold, pace slipped a little more and the elastic was starting to break on the guy in front as he slipped out to 10m, just keep running, looked at the pace, I had about 20s in hand compared to last week's average at this point by my reckoning, so just kept pushing. 3:49 3rd km, slipping now. Onto the final lap and the push. Overtaking people now, making life a little tricky, 3:59 through 4km. Deep inside the hurt locker now, got passed by a guy in a 50 shirt, tried holding on to him, someone came up alongside me, she got a cheer from some 2nd lappers, she was the first lady. Damn, got to old on, avoid being chicked. Glance at the Garmin. I've definitely gone sub 20, can I push on for sub 19:50? Keep holding on, catch 50 timer, first lady finds her finishing legs, I try but just don't have it and Mr 50 passes me in the finishing chute. I'm not bothered though. I've gone sub 20 :-) Sub 19:50, sub 19:49 too ;-). The Garmin reckons 19:38, seems I started and stopped right as that was the official result. Placed 31/233 in the end, 30th male and 2/16 in SM25-29, taking 25s of last weeks PB. Wow. Not gonna have time to do it for a few weeks, but sub 19:30 has to be the goal now, sub 19 would be nice for the new year too. Plan on giving Bedford a try, a tarmac run with shallower bends might make things a lot easier. We'll see about that one... You can see the suffering here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130945533
And finally Sunday, got up feeling surprising perky for 6am. An hour of the day that should only exist when it involves a sporting event in my opinion. Unfortunately it was to go into work for 5 hours again. Plan was to head into the forest afterwards though so I packed up all my freshly laundered, and just about dry, running kit and headed into work. Mid morning break came, and given last weeks epic fail of a trail run based on 3 crumpets for breakfast and no lunch thought I'd join Leigh in a trip to McDonald's for a bacon roll and coffee. How is it possible to get a bacon roll wrong? Even using proper bacon it wasn't great. Felt a bit off afterwards, that'll be another 6 months until I go to McDonald's when I forget again why I don't like it then. Finish time came and I headed off to do the route I did last week, well mostly. I slightly modified it, it was to be a figure 8 rather than a loop, going from the top of the sandy slope where I was mentally broken last week. I headed off for the first loop of the plains. Bit less wet this week, although that meant I got muddier as I didn't pick my way around the puddles so diligently. Picked the right underpass too, after finding a ford to cross a stream at rather than a leap of faith across a steep sided bank. Back through the car park and down into the woods. I was running pretty well and the kilometres was flying by. I even remembered the route perfectly, no map checks required, so pleased about that wasn't quite as short as I'd planned, ended up being 24km in the end, taking just over 2 hours, 23 minutes quicker and only a mile shorter than last week. If I can run trails like that with a pack on my back, then a road half marathon shouldn't be too bad. I'm feeling it now though, legs were pretty sore on the drive home. Hoping my f-likes will hold my legs together and refresh them overnight.
The week was pretty good in the end I think, only managed 8h15m of training, but I needed some rest and the quality was probably better as a result. 2 weeks until Bedford half marathon and I have a lot to think about, what time should I aim for? and what pace to set off at? In theory I should be able to do a 1:30-1:31 based on extrapolation from my 5K time using a few different formulae. Is that too quick? or conversely is it too conservative, parkrun has come out long the past 2 weeks, it's on grass, and has 6 tight bends on each of 3 laps. I shall have to ponder that one. Oh and the toughprint paper I mentioned last week, another thumbs up, I put my parkrun bar code through the wash by mistake, and it came out fine!
Oh, and turbotorment news, apparently mum has secured 50 t-shirts from Mencap for people who want to come and take part, which is a great bonus!
Sunday 20 November 2011
An Excellent Weeks Training
It seems it has been quite a while since I last wrote something. Funny how life gets in the way sometimes. A lot seems to have changed. Following the post Ironman blues I cracked on and got eventually and started reaping the rewards of Ironman training as my speed and power increased and I smashed my PB at the Bedford Autumn Sprint. Not before I managed to sprain my ankle though after getting cocky on a trail run, slipping on a patch of mud and sprain both the ankle and probably the metatarsal ligaments. Of course having entered a triathlon I rehab'd it for 10 days and (foolishly?) cracked on, then flew to Italy rested it for a week and did another tri a week later. The sprain has kept me from running for a while so I got stuck into cycling instead, getting a lot stronger on the bike, and dusting the turbo off.
Along the way I decided to do something stupid. If you've read this far then you probably already know about http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ an idea that sort of morphed out of a desire to do something big for charity. Not content with just riding the turbo for 24 hours, I foolishly added the challenge of doing all The Sufferfest training videos back to back as part of it. That is probably the most stupid thing I have ever done. There is no backing out now, I still don't know how to train for it, and I still haven't got the hang of going a bit easier to do just 2 of them back to back. I'm left wondering if I'll still be alive in March next year. Please check out the pages, spread the word, and 'like' the facebook page too (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twentyfour-Hour-Turbo-Torment/274568199231603). Oh and if please donate too!
So that kind of brings me to this week, and what should have been an easy week of training. Somehow I was convinced to give parkrun a try, and so I signed up and the focus of the week became maintaining training and getting to parkrun in peak physical shape. So Monday kicked off with a quick 10K run, I smashed my PB on a training run last week, so went out pretty hard, especially considering it was dark, and came home in 45:23 for 10.14 k, 7 days earlier that would have been a PB so I was pretty chuffed I'd managed to do it twice in 7 days, shows it wasn't just a fluke.
Tuesday brought Masters and the one aspect of training that isn't going well for me. My ankle just can't handle swimming and 7 weeks of arms only has taken it's toll on my legs and form, I'm now free of the pull buoy but I'm stuck in lane 1. Having been leading lane 2 the week of the sprain. Quite a fall from grace. The swim started great and I thought I was finally swimming well, then we were split up to do the main set with 75s, and things went downhill. I felt like I'd been hit by a train by the time I got home.
Wednesday was turbo day, opted for "Hell Hath No Fury" from the sufferfest collection. Another one that hurt. The first 20 minutes wasn't too bad, but suffered through the second 20 minute effort. 75 minutes of footage of from the pro women's circuit ought be be enough to motivate any guy on the turbo, I just ground the pedals praying for it to stop.
So at this point it must sound like my week is going rapidly downhill and the title has lured you in on a false promise. well things start picking up again. Thursday's masters session wasn't too bad. I was swimming well in the warm up and started the main set swimming well. Of course I set about destroying myself by going too hard on the 2x75m IM, making the rest of the set tough. Apparently my catch has improved though, so swimming in lane 1 has helped me iron out some of the problems at least.
Had the day off on Friday to get the tumble drier fixed, so did a short run before lunch, the Garmin froze so I was running blind. It was easy, and 6 K in under half an hour. Then, bearing in mind the parkrun I had on Sunday morning I opted for an easier hour on the turbo, and did one of the trainer road workouts. A 3 repeats of 3x 2minutes below FTP, 2 minutes above. A nice set and it did me good, my legs weren't too bad afterwards, possibly as I held a nice high cadence of 100, but I still got a good workout. Looking through my training log for 2011 on Friday night I realised I had got up to 398 hours, 48 minutes. So It was looking like I'd break the 400 hour milestone on Saturday!
Which brings me to Saturday, the best day of the week. So having been talked into trying parkrun by a number of people I opted to attend the one at Eastleigh, and they were holding a newbie friendly one, complete with pacers. I've never 'run' a 5K before, done more, but nothing as short. So wasn't sure if my strategy of holding the pace I thought I could manage would work. So, in the spirit of trying new things I opted for someone else's strategy, go out hard and hang on as long as possible. I thought I'd try this by trying to hold on to the sub 20 pacer. Of course it started all wrong when I got caught behind slow runners, so I nailed it to catch the pacer. Well it does fit the strategy of going out hard. Caught the pacer and hung in there, 1st km in 3:50, 2nd km in 4:00, On the second lap, I decided I got out run the pacer. Looking at my 1K splits as they happened I knew how much time I had in the bank for a sub 20, with a 3:53 3rd km I now had 17 seconds in the bank, well the Garmin bank, as it was coming up slightly short of each marker. Onto the third lap and I was now feeling it, just kept telling myself there was only a mile to go. 4th km in 3:58 and I had 19 seconds. So it seemed the 19:49 I'd been asked not to beat could be in danger. Alas it was not to be, going out hard was really starting to take it's toll, people were overtaking me, and according to the Garmin I slipped to a 3:59 5th km, but the 19:49 was still safe, as there was an extra 100m to run in the real world. Taking me an extra 23 seconds and completely lacking a sprint finish. 20:03 was my official time, getting pipped into 25th spot on the line. So a fantastic performance, far better than I'd thought possible, and what a start to the day.
Have to say it was a lovely friendly event, with lots of nice people and even a few taking (and sharing online) photos. I'll be back next week I think with the aim of starting at the front and going out slightly less hard and trying to hold pace. The other bonus was the option to enter a competition for a London marathon place, I somehow doubt I'll get it, but why not try something else stupid in 2012?
Saturday didn't stop there though, after the run I headed home for a few minutes to change, grab a snack and head out to meet Bob in Fareham to go for a ride. It was a lovely day for it and we had a nice social pace ride out to New Arlesford, a stop for coffee and cake before a nice ride back again. A perfect 68km ride really, and I didn't feel bad for it.
Today was a nice early start, the wonders of Sunday working. Of course that puts a limiter on training. Of course I'd planned a way around this, I took my run kit to work with my pack all ready to sling on too. I figured I might no have the time to make it out to Boldrewood and run trails there, so I'd bought some toughprint paper (great stuff, expensive but worth it), planned and printed a route on OS getamap and tied it to a strap on my pack and hit the trails around Denny wood instead. Now the route I'd planned worked out at 22K, I new I'd cut a couple of corners so expected 23K. Of course I hadn't banked on knee deep mud making parts of the route impassable, carrying on (lost) until I found a river I couldn't cross, doubling back, finding less deep mud and getting back on course. Then running an unfamiliar route took lots of map reading, slowing me further. By the time I got to 22K I was flagging. And I knew I still had 3+ km left to run back to the car and light was fading. Skipping lunch for a long trail run was seeming a bad idea 8 hours after a 3 crumpet breakfast! Still I made it through 25.6 km in the end. So happy about that, the pace less so, but I ought to be able to run it faster next time now I know the turns.
So that concludes a great week. A (well earned) rest day tomorrow and hopefully another great week to come!
Along the way I decided to do something stupid. If you've read this far then you probably already know about http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ an idea that sort of morphed out of a desire to do something big for charity. Not content with just riding the turbo for 24 hours, I foolishly added the challenge of doing all The Sufferfest training videos back to back as part of it. That is probably the most stupid thing I have ever done. There is no backing out now, I still don't know how to train for it, and I still haven't got the hang of going a bit easier to do just 2 of them back to back. I'm left wondering if I'll still be alive in March next year. Please check out the pages, spread the word, and 'like' the facebook page too (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twentyfour-Hour-Turbo-Torment/274568199231603). Oh and if please donate too!
So that kind of brings me to this week, and what should have been an easy week of training. Somehow I was convinced to give parkrun a try, and so I signed up and the focus of the week became maintaining training and getting to parkrun in peak physical shape. So Monday kicked off with a quick 10K run, I smashed my PB on a training run last week, so went out pretty hard, especially considering it was dark, and came home in 45:23 for 10.14 k, 7 days earlier that would have been a PB so I was pretty chuffed I'd managed to do it twice in 7 days, shows it wasn't just a fluke.
Tuesday brought Masters and the one aspect of training that isn't going well for me. My ankle just can't handle swimming and 7 weeks of arms only has taken it's toll on my legs and form, I'm now free of the pull buoy but I'm stuck in lane 1. Having been leading lane 2 the week of the sprain. Quite a fall from grace. The swim started great and I thought I was finally swimming well, then we were split up to do the main set with 75s, and things went downhill. I felt like I'd been hit by a train by the time I got home.
Wednesday was turbo day, opted for "Hell Hath No Fury" from the sufferfest collection. Another one that hurt. The first 20 minutes wasn't too bad, but suffered through the second 20 minute effort. 75 minutes of footage of from the pro women's circuit ought be be enough to motivate any guy on the turbo, I just ground the pedals praying for it to stop.
So at this point it must sound like my week is going rapidly downhill and the title has lured you in on a false promise. well things start picking up again. Thursday's masters session wasn't too bad. I was swimming well in the warm up and started the main set swimming well. Of course I set about destroying myself by going too hard on the 2x75m IM, making the rest of the set tough. Apparently my catch has improved though, so swimming in lane 1 has helped me iron out some of the problems at least.
Had the day off on Friday to get the tumble drier fixed, so did a short run before lunch, the Garmin froze so I was running blind. It was easy, and 6 K in under half an hour. Then, bearing in mind the parkrun I had on Sunday morning I opted for an easier hour on the turbo, and did one of the trainer road workouts. A 3 repeats of 3x 2minutes below FTP, 2 minutes above. A nice set and it did me good, my legs weren't too bad afterwards, possibly as I held a nice high cadence of 100, but I still got a good workout. Looking through my training log for 2011 on Friday night I realised I had got up to 398 hours, 48 minutes. So It was looking like I'd break the 400 hour milestone on Saturday!
Which brings me to Saturday, the best day of the week. So having been talked into trying parkrun by a number of people I opted to attend the one at Eastleigh, and they were holding a newbie friendly one, complete with pacers. I've never 'run' a 5K before, done more, but nothing as short. So wasn't sure if my strategy of holding the pace I thought I could manage would work. So, in the spirit of trying new things I opted for someone else's strategy, go out hard and hang on as long as possible. I thought I'd try this by trying to hold on to the sub 20 pacer. Of course it started all wrong when I got caught behind slow runners, so I nailed it to catch the pacer. Well it does fit the strategy of going out hard. Caught the pacer and hung in there, 1st km in 3:50, 2nd km in 4:00, On the second lap, I decided I got out run the pacer. Looking at my 1K splits as they happened I knew how much time I had in the bank for a sub 20, with a 3:53 3rd km I now had 17 seconds in the bank, well the Garmin bank, as it was coming up slightly short of each marker. Onto the third lap and I was now feeling it, just kept telling myself there was only a mile to go. 4th km in 3:58 and I had 19 seconds. So it seemed the 19:49 I'd been asked not to beat could be in danger. Alas it was not to be, going out hard was really starting to take it's toll, people were overtaking me, and according to the Garmin I slipped to a 3:59 5th km, but the 19:49 was still safe, as there was an extra 100m to run in the real world. Taking me an extra 23 seconds and completely lacking a sprint finish. 20:03 was my official time, getting pipped into 25th spot on the line. So a fantastic performance, far better than I'd thought possible, and what a start to the day.
Have to say it was a lovely friendly event, with lots of nice people and even a few taking (and sharing online) photos. I'll be back next week I think with the aim of starting at the front and going out slightly less hard and trying to hold pace. The other bonus was the option to enter a competition for a London marathon place, I somehow doubt I'll get it, but why not try something else stupid in 2012?
Saturday didn't stop there though, after the run I headed home for a few minutes to change, grab a snack and head out to meet Bob in Fareham to go for a ride. It was a lovely day for it and we had a nice social pace ride out to New Arlesford, a stop for coffee and cake before a nice ride back again. A perfect 68km ride really, and I didn't feel bad for it.
Today was a nice early start, the wonders of Sunday working. Of course that puts a limiter on training. Of course I'd planned a way around this, I took my run kit to work with my pack all ready to sling on too. I figured I might no have the time to make it out to Boldrewood and run trails there, so I'd bought some toughprint paper (great stuff, expensive but worth it), planned and printed a route on OS getamap and tied it to a strap on my pack and hit the trails around Denny wood instead. Now the route I'd planned worked out at 22K, I new I'd cut a couple of corners so expected 23K. Of course I hadn't banked on knee deep mud making parts of the route impassable, carrying on (lost) until I found a river I couldn't cross, doubling back, finding less deep mud and getting back on course. Then running an unfamiliar route took lots of map reading, slowing me further. By the time I got to 22K I was flagging. And I knew I still had 3+ km left to run back to the car and light was fading. Skipping lunch for a long trail run was seeming a bad idea 8 hours after a 3 crumpet breakfast! Still I made it through 25.6 km in the end. So happy about that, the pace less so, but I ought to be able to run it faster next time now I know the turns.
So that concludes a great week. A (well earned) rest day tomorrow and hopefully another great week to come!
Monday 3 October 2011
Bedford Autumns Sprint, End of Season 2011
What: Bedford Autumn Sprint
Where: Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Course details: http://www.galeforce-events.com/
Distance: Swim 400m (Pool), Cycle 25km (Road), Run 5km (Tarmac path around park)
Closed Roads: No
Marshaling: Marshals at every major turn and junction. Sign-posts at every turn.
Facilities: Toilets/changing/showers in leisure centre, lockers, café, warm up swim area, tri shop, massage (not free)
Technical: Chip timing. Mats at swim out, bike out, bike in, finish
Freebies: Clip on light for cycling, Crunchie bar, Haribo, juice box, and water at finish
So my third attempt at this event, and my 5th time on the course (did the summer one in '09 and '10). Spraining my ankle 3 weeks ago kind of dashed my hopes from a month ago of completely smashing this event. Having 'raced' Ringwood 2 weeks ago I knew if I survived the swim without undoing my rehab then I should be able to finish the event. There is also the small matter of the weather. It was absolutley gorgeous, more summer like than autumnal.
So morning of the event, Dr Jibbenstein Sr had packed his transition box the night before, so I had fewer questions this time around as I ate my breakfast. Got to the event and registered, no t-shirt this time around, but a cycle helmet light instead. Far more useful in my opinion, I have enough DIY t-shirts now. Then it was time to rack, I chose the second row as usual (this will be important later...) and proceeded to set up a little over halfway down. Dr J Sr set up beside me then asked why I had chosen this spot. I explained and got asked the same 'because it is next to you'. Right. Race briefing time then a few trips to the facilities as AD had come to visit. Sat and watched people starting, the start the slowest first and set people off at 10s intervals. There were obviously a few newbies, one guy needed a 90s rest after 2 lengths, and there was even a DHOL :O Eventually SR started and I went off to get ready, 10 minutes later I headed out to see him off onto the bike before going poolside for my start. Thinking I had ages as I was 150 places after dad was a mistake, as I walked down the line looking for the numbers either side of me I realised I would be starting in a couple of minutes. Damn mum wasn't there and I wanted a photo of the BCTTT swim hat being used in anger, would she realise I had started?
So the swim. Normally the part I fear least, today the part I feared most. Was 7 minutes a bit optimistic for 400m when I intended to do it as fc pull? Some guy with a low number pushed in front. WTF? then I got my 10s call, off I went, it felt far to easy. Within 2 lengths (66m) I had caught the guy in front, tapping his feet. He gave me a dirty look and carried on as we changed lanes. Damn. Saw a gap with 10m left of the 3rd length and pulled hard to get the overtake. Manged it and obvioulsy made my point as he let a few people through. Next length I get my feet tapped and let a guy through. Turned out to be a good choice. I hung onto his feet for the next 8 lengths. Getting out of the water in 7 minutes dead. How about that. Turns out mum had noticed I wasn't in the line, looked in the pool and saw a 'yellow hat with stars on it' and realised it was me. Well they are hibiscus leaves mum, but the BCTTT swim hats are obviously a good investment.
T1, umm slow is one word for it. Not wanting to run too hard barefoot with no ankle support I took it easy. Then it too ages to get socks and support on. Little tip for anyone putting an ankle support on after a swim. Put talc'd socks on first. It is so much easier. Out of T1, 1.21 by my watch, slightly quicker in the official results (slower swim officially). Fumbled around trying to clip in then off out onto the roads.
The bike was where it was all at for me in this race. The one leg that I could do at a vomit inducing effort level and not destroy my ankle. Fairly flat to start with and was holding about 30km/h reeling in a few people along the way. First hill and I got a few more people, and apparently had a little rest looking at my HR, got chicked (does it count if you've already overtaken them?), some out of saddle efforts and stayed in the big ring. Then the nice little descent down onto the bypass. Unchicked myself in the process and then rode hard on the flatish section into Radwell took 3 or 4 more scalps on the hill up into Radwell then itno Felmersham. A couple of sharp left turns and onto the hardest hill, the one up to Pavenham. Got dropped by a guy on a TT bike, but he was a bit of a t**t and couldn't hold the pace, so tucked in front of me, I didn't have the extra reserves to make the overtake again so had to drop back. Few more scalps going up that hill then a small peloton of pointy hat wizards came through at the top on to the slightly technical descent into Pavenham. Started breaking coming into the tee junction to have some guy wizz past me. He was lucky there was no traffic, it's a blind junction and no way he could have stopped if needed. I knew I was onto a good thing with this bike leg so carried on working hard. I was absolutley loving it. I was reeling people in left right and centre, taking people back on the hills too. 3 weeks of bike focus have paid off. Back into Bedford and into T2. 44:55 for the 24.5km on the bike, an average speed of over 20mph, I think an aero wheel upgrade is justified for next season now. HR is also quite interesting. Managed to average 157 with a max of 167, much higher than I can normally get. Something has happened to me since IM it seems.
T2, where it all went wrong for me. So run into T2 and go down the third row. Where's my towel and shoes? Where is dad's bike? Oh, they are over there. I'M IN THE THIRD ROW. B*******. Dip the racking and get Maddy under. Re rack and change over. Then nothingness. Complete memory blank as to what I need to change. Eventually snapped out of it and got on with the run. 1:13 for T2. Not pretty, about 20-30s slower than normal.
The run. Started off quite easy, concious of not destroying my ankle given the Minehead weekend coming, but at the same time knew I couldn't be that far behind J Sr, on a 2.5 lap run there are opportunites to get the overtake in... SO ended up just slowly ramping the speed. 2 weeks of not running was taking it's toll though. Legs were actually fine, but god was it busting my lungs. 4:19 first km, then the running off the bike hit me in the second k as I put in a 4:24. Regained composure and a 4:13. Senior can't be that far ahead now. Finishing the 4th km and I spot him on the cut through for the half lap, he's only a k ahead. Ankle is holding so turn the screw a little more. 4:16 for that km and into the final K. Feeling good and a sub 21 run is on the cards. 4 min/km pace now, finishing straight coming up, breathing is killing me, haven't got a sprint finish in me so cross the line in 20:33 after 4.8km by the Garmin. 1:15:01 by my timing.
After thoughts:
I had been hoping I'd broken 1:15 given my self timing, but seems the official results put me at 1:15:01 as well so it is not to be this season. Really over the moon about the result though 1:15:01 is a PB by 2:24 over my PB from June '10, with good gains on the bike (2:53 better), and actually a new run PB too by 27s. losess were in the swim, with my slowest yet and in T1&2. Given I couldn't kick properly in the swim & took T1 easy the losses here aren't too bad. My T2 performance was a bit shocking. No excuses for the racking mistake or the mental block. The official results also make interesting reading, apparently I managed 52nd overall out of 300 starters, and 4/15 in my age group, only a minute and a half from a podium place in AG. An improvement over last season, and a far cry from my days of always being the last to finish. The most interesting thing for geeky me though is actually in the HR data.
I've always seemingly had a low max HR, I rarely see it above 160 even when doing hard run intervals, and it never seems to get about 167 in run races either. My min HR has improved a lot, and is probably down around the 43/44 mark at the moment. But in this race I averaged 157 on the bike, and averaged 162 on the run. The maxes were higher at 167 and 172 respectively. The run data is pretty good too as it shows a steady ramp. Something has changed in me after IM. Maybe I am seeing that physiological adaptation everyone always writes about following IM. Whatever it is I don't want to waste it. 3 years of triathlon and I'm still finding things I love about it. What a way to finish the season, I can't wait for April and the start of the 2012 season now.
Where: Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Course details: http://www.galeforce-events.com/
Distance: Swim 400m (Pool), Cycle 25km (Road), Run 5km (Tarmac path around park)
Closed Roads: No
Marshaling: Marshals at every major turn and junction. Sign-posts at every turn.
Facilities: Toilets/changing/showers in leisure centre, lockers, café, warm up swim area, tri shop, massage (not free)
Technical: Chip timing. Mats at swim out, bike out, bike in, finish
Freebies: Clip on light for cycling, Crunchie bar, Haribo, juice box, and water at finish
So my third attempt at this event, and my 5th time on the course (did the summer one in '09 and '10). Spraining my ankle 3 weeks ago kind of dashed my hopes from a month ago of completely smashing this event. Having 'raced' Ringwood 2 weeks ago I knew if I survived the swim without undoing my rehab then I should be able to finish the event. There is also the small matter of the weather. It was absolutley gorgeous, more summer like than autumnal.
So morning of the event, Dr Jibbenstein Sr had packed his transition box the night before, so I had fewer questions this time around as I ate my breakfast. Got to the event and registered, no t-shirt this time around, but a cycle helmet light instead. Far more useful in my opinion, I have enough DIY t-shirts now. Then it was time to rack, I chose the second row as usual (this will be important later...) and proceeded to set up a little over halfway down. Dr J Sr set up beside me then asked why I had chosen this spot. I explained and got asked the same 'because it is next to you'. Right. Race briefing time then a few trips to the facilities as AD had come to visit. Sat and watched people starting, the start the slowest first and set people off at 10s intervals. There were obviously a few newbies, one guy needed a 90s rest after 2 lengths, and there was even a DHOL :O Eventually SR started and I went off to get ready, 10 minutes later I headed out to see him off onto the bike before going poolside for my start. Thinking I had ages as I was 150 places after dad was a mistake, as I walked down the line looking for the numbers either side of me I realised I would be starting in a couple of minutes. Damn mum wasn't there and I wanted a photo of the BCTTT swim hat being used in anger, would she realise I had started?
So the swim. Normally the part I fear least, today the part I feared most. Was 7 minutes a bit optimistic for 400m when I intended to do it as fc pull? Some guy with a low number pushed in front. WTF? then I got my 10s call, off I went, it felt far to easy. Within 2 lengths (66m) I had caught the guy in front, tapping his feet. He gave me a dirty look and carried on as we changed lanes. Damn. Saw a gap with 10m left of the 3rd length and pulled hard to get the overtake. Manged it and obvioulsy made my point as he let a few people through. Next length I get my feet tapped and let a guy through. Turned out to be a good choice. I hung onto his feet for the next 8 lengths. Getting out of the water in 7 minutes dead. How about that. Turns out mum had noticed I wasn't in the line, looked in the pool and saw a 'yellow hat with stars on it' and realised it was me. Well they are hibiscus leaves mum, but the BCTTT swim hats are obviously a good investment.
T1, umm slow is one word for it. Not wanting to run too hard barefoot with no ankle support I took it easy. Then it too ages to get socks and support on. Little tip for anyone putting an ankle support on after a swim. Put talc'd socks on first. It is so much easier. Out of T1, 1.21 by my watch, slightly quicker in the official results (slower swim officially). Fumbled around trying to clip in then off out onto the roads.
The bike was where it was all at for me in this race. The one leg that I could do at a vomit inducing effort level and not destroy my ankle. Fairly flat to start with and was holding about 30km/h reeling in a few people along the way. First hill and I got a few more people, and apparently had a little rest looking at my HR, got chicked (does it count if you've already overtaken them?), some out of saddle efforts and stayed in the big ring. Then the nice little descent down onto the bypass. Unchicked myself in the process and then rode hard on the flatish section into Radwell took 3 or 4 more scalps on the hill up into Radwell then itno Felmersham. A couple of sharp left turns and onto the hardest hill, the one up to Pavenham. Got dropped by a guy on a TT bike, but he was a bit of a t**t and couldn't hold the pace, so tucked in front of me, I didn't have the extra reserves to make the overtake again so had to drop back. Few more scalps going up that hill then a small peloton of pointy hat wizards came through at the top on to the slightly technical descent into Pavenham. Started breaking coming into the tee junction to have some guy wizz past me. He was lucky there was no traffic, it's a blind junction and no way he could have stopped if needed. I knew I was onto a good thing with this bike leg so carried on working hard. I was absolutley loving it. I was reeling people in left right and centre, taking people back on the hills too. 3 weeks of bike focus have paid off. Back into Bedford and into T2. 44:55 for the 24.5km on the bike, an average speed of over 20mph, I think an aero wheel upgrade is justified for next season now. HR is also quite interesting. Managed to average 157 with a max of 167, much higher than I can normally get. Something has happened to me since IM it seems.
T2, where it all went wrong for me. So run into T2 and go down the third row. Where's my towel and shoes? Where is dad's bike? Oh, they are over there. I'M IN THE THIRD ROW. B*******. Dip the racking and get Maddy under. Re rack and change over. Then nothingness. Complete memory blank as to what I need to change. Eventually snapped out of it and got on with the run. 1:13 for T2. Not pretty, about 20-30s slower than normal.
The run. Started off quite easy, concious of not destroying my ankle given the Minehead weekend coming, but at the same time knew I couldn't be that far behind J Sr, on a 2.5 lap run there are opportunites to get the overtake in... SO ended up just slowly ramping the speed. 2 weeks of not running was taking it's toll though. Legs were actually fine, but god was it busting my lungs. 4:19 first km, then the running off the bike hit me in the second k as I put in a 4:24. Regained composure and a 4:13. Senior can't be that far ahead now. Finishing the 4th km and I spot him on the cut through for the half lap, he's only a k ahead. Ankle is holding so turn the screw a little more. 4:16 for that km and into the final K. Feeling good and a sub 21 run is on the cards. 4 min/km pace now, finishing straight coming up, breathing is killing me, haven't got a sprint finish in me so cross the line in 20:33 after 4.8km by the Garmin. 1:15:01 by my timing.
After thoughts:
I had been hoping I'd broken 1:15 given my self timing, but seems the official results put me at 1:15:01 as well so it is not to be this season. Really over the moon about the result though 1:15:01 is a PB by 2:24 over my PB from June '10, with good gains on the bike (2:53 better), and actually a new run PB too by 27s. losess were in the swim, with my slowest yet and in T1&2. Given I couldn't kick properly in the swim & took T1 easy the losses here aren't too bad. My T2 performance was a bit shocking. No excuses for the racking mistake or the mental block. The official results also make interesting reading, apparently I managed 52nd overall out of 300 starters, and 4/15 in my age group, only a minute and a half from a podium place in AG. An improvement over last season, and a far cry from my days of always being the last to finish. The most interesting thing for geeky me though is actually in the HR data.
I've always seemingly had a low max HR, I rarely see it above 160 even when doing hard run intervals, and it never seems to get about 167 in run races either. My min HR has improved a lot, and is probably down around the 43/44 mark at the moment. But in this race I averaged 157 on the bike, and averaged 162 on the run. The maxes were higher at 167 and 172 respectively. The run data is pretty good too as it shows a steady ramp. Something has changed in me after IM. Maybe I am seeing that physiological adaptation everyone always writes about following IM. Whatever it is I don't want to waste it. 3 years of triathlon and I'm still finding things I love about it. What a way to finish the season, I can't wait for April and the start of the 2012 season now.
Sunday 7 August 2011
Ironman + 2 Weeks. You may have been right, I'm might be mad
So in case anyone managed to miss the fact I finished Ironman Germany 2 weeks ago you can read about it here: http://issuu.com/jibby26/docs/imde_story
So 2 weeks on. Well it has mostly been 2 weeks of rest. The first week I was itching to get back out there. I went swimming on the Thursday, and somehow managed to hold on (albeit at the back of the lane, at a slow pace) for the whole session, clocking up a slightly reduced 1750m. Went to the pub afterwards then came back as Friday was my first day back at work. Man I hurt. It didn't get any better throughout Friday at work either. So I did nothing over the weekend. Took the "I told you so"s on the chin and got on with my homage to Ironman to hang on the wall.
With that out of the way, Sunday was spent writing the story of the race and getting there (see link above) and of course tracking the guys doing IMUK. The weekend was a training free zone.
Was thinking of a run on Monday, but after a day at work I just didn't feel like it, so I sat on the sofa a little while longer. On Tuesday I woke up with knee pain, pain that didn't want to go away all day. My left hamstring was really hurting too, the two are possibly connected. The point that hurt is the tender point that caused me to almost kick the masseuse post race. So naturally I went swimming in the evening. Except I still wasn't ready. After 40 minutes I had to quit. After 1200m I'd decided I couldn't carry on, but pushed through the Masters session to 1500m, but being IM dominant it was never going to work. Woke up on Wednesday and leg still hurt. So I went for a run after work. A natural thing to do of course. What can I say, it was very hard, and pretty slow. 6.2km in 35'30" The first 3k were absolute agony. It felt slow, but I was running as hard as I could. Then all of a sudden, about 4 k in, at the bottom of the little hill something clicked and suddenly I was running at normal training pace again. It felt like a switch had been flicked. Once home 10 minutes of foam roller action and another 5 minutes of static stretches to make sure things didn't seize.
I'd decide on Tuesday that swimming wasn't sensible on Thursday, so went sailing. In my default position of jib trim (i.e. brawn on the winch) I was feeling a little lethargic in what is effectively an anaerobic upper body interval session. Still I survived and we even won the race! Friday was the after work run session. I thought I could hack the 4.5 mile route on offer. Thankfully Dave was away and Mike is coming back from injury so it was an 'easyish' run. 6.66km in 36'28". The pace got quicker throughout, with Mike pushing me (what felt) quite hard. The last bit of the run involved an uphill. I had to admit defeat and walk it, I just couldn't get one foot in front of the other. Yesterday was another lazy day. Maddy has been in bubble wrap ever since Frankfurt, I'd never gotten around to rebuilding her. So that was my task for the day (after watching the women's ITU race). As I set about rebuilding I realised that I needed some stuff so attempted to walk into town and get it from Halfraud's. With no joy, they sell tonnes of parts for bikes but don't have any anti seize of carbon fibre assembly compounds. Eventually having been to the LBS I rebuilt Maddy.
So, today, my first ride after Ironman. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it was quite nice. After a minor cock up when I thought there was a road that cut back and missed out the bigger hills, but it was really a dead end road. So I had to endure some of the hills around Farley Mount. Now they are not major climbs, but probably average 4-5% for a km or so. I made them all though. I even managed the hill into Chilworth I hate with two sprockets spare and holding a good cadence. The only downer was it chose to rain heavily 2km from home. Thanks for that.
So that is the past fortnight. I have learnt that rest is key, just like everyone says. At the same time, I do think it is one of those things that everyone is going to learn for themselves. Training for Ironman was my life for the past 3-6 months. It was the basis of almost all the thoughts in those empty moments you have when doing mundane tasks. Having finished things seem kind of empty, I now have no focus, no goal. Now this is where the mad bit comes in. No, I'm not suicidal with the Ironman Blues. I can't help thinking about the next one. After all that pain, suffering and mental torture. I want to do it again. I really want to do it again. The only thorn in my side is the possibility of another race in mid June next year. A race that will be both longer and harder than Ironman. A race that could take a lot of training to get fit for. A race that will leave me in a far worse state post event than Ironman. Which pretty much rules out all the major European Ironmans as they are in July, or are far too hilly for me to consider. Still, it hasn't stopped me looking at the profiles of all the races and thinking. Maybe I'll go back to Barcelona and do the full distance, the half distance was quick, and the full one is late season. Oh, and it is properly flat. Or maybe I'll do a UK one. So their you have it, I'm mad. Not for doing Ironman like you thought when I said I'd entered. But for wanting to go through all that again. There was a great post by Bopo on the BCTTT forum this week:
This sums things up surprisingly well (especially as it came from someone that hasn't done an Ironman). It is also the reason why I want to do another. Some people like the feeling of driving cars fast, or falling through the air. I masochistically liked the pure unadulterated fear that was running through me as I put my wetsuit on and made my way down to the swim start. That is why I'll be doing another.
So 2 weeks on. Well it has mostly been 2 weeks of rest. The first week I was itching to get back out there. I went swimming on the Thursday, and somehow managed to hold on (albeit at the back of the lane, at a slow pace) for the whole session, clocking up a slightly reduced 1750m. Went to the pub afterwards then came back as Friday was my first day back at work. Man I hurt. It didn't get any better throughout Friday at work either. So I did nothing over the weekend. Took the "I told you so"s on the chin and got on with my homage to Ironman to hang on the wall.
With that out of the way, Sunday was spent writing the story of the race and getting there (see link above) and of course tracking the guys doing IMUK. The weekend was a training free zone.
Was thinking of a run on Monday, but after a day at work I just didn't feel like it, so I sat on the sofa a little while longer. On Tuesday I woke up with knee pain, pain that didn't want to go away all day. My left hamstring was really hurting too, the two are possibly connected. The point that hurt is the tender point that caused me to almost kick the masseuse post race. So naturally I went swimming in the evening. Except I still wasn't ready. After 40 minutes I had to quit. After 1200m I'd decided I couldn't carry on, but pushed through the Masters session to 1500m, but being IM dominant it was never going to work. Woke up on Wednesday and leg still hurt. So I went for a run after work. A natural thing to do of course. What can I say, it was very hard, and pretty slow. 6.2km in 35'30" The first 3k were absolute agony. It felt slow, but I was running as hard as I could. Then all of a sudden, about 4 k in, at the bottom of the little hill something clicked and suddenly I was running at normal training pace again. It felt like a switch had been flicked. Once home 10 minutes of foam roller action and another 5 minutes of static stretches to make sure things didn't seize.
I'd decide on Tuesday that swimming wasn't sensible on Thursday, so went sailing. In my default position of jib trim (i.e. brawn on the winch) I was feeling a little lethargic in what is effectively an anaerobic upper body interval session. Still I survived and we even won the race! Friday was the after work run session. I thought I could hack the 4.5 mile route on offer. Thankfully Dave was away and Mike is coming back from injury so it was an 'easyish' run. 6.66km in 36'28". The pace got quicker throughout, with Mike pushing me (what felt) quite hard. The last bit of the run involved an uphill. I had to admit defeat and walk it, I just couldn't get one foot in front of the other. Yesterday was another lazy day. Maddy has been in bubble wrap ever since Frankfurt, I'd never gotten around to rebuilding her. So that was my task for the day (after watching the women's ITU race). As I set about rebuilding I realised that I needed some stuff so attempted to walk into town and get it from Halfraud's. With no joy, they sell tonnes of parts for bikes but don't have any anti seize of carbon fibre assembly compounds. Eventually having been to the LBS I rebuilt Maddy.
So, today, my first ride after Ironman. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it was quite nice. After a minor cock up when I thought there was a road that cut back and missed out the bigger hills, but it was really a dead end road. So I had to endure some of the hills around Farley Mount. Now they are not major climbs, but probably average 4-5% for a km or so. I made them all though. I even managed the hill into Chilworth I hate with two sprockets spare and holding a good cadence. The only downer was it chose to rain heavily 2km from home. Thanks for that.
So that is the past fortnight. I have learnt that rest is key, just like everyone says. At the same time, I do think it is one of those things that everyone is going to learn for themselves. Training for Ironman was my life for the past 3-6 months. It was the basis of almost all the thoughts in those empty moments you have when doing mundane tasks. Having finished things seem kind of empty, I now have no focus, no goal. Now this is where the mad bit comes in. No, I'm not suicidal with the Ironman Blues. I can't help thinking about the next one. After all that pain, suffering and mental torture. I want to do it again. I really want to do it again. The only thorn in my side is the possibility of another race in mid June next year. A race that will be both longer and harder than Ironman. A race that could take a lot of training to get fit for. A race that will leave me in a far worse state post event than Ironman. Which pretty much rules out all the major European Ironmans as they are in July, or are far too hilly for me to consider. Still, it hasn't stopped me looking at the profiles of all the races and thinking. Maybe I'll go back to Barcelona and do the full distance, the half distance was quick, and the full one is late season. Oh, and it is properly flat. Or maybe I'll do a UK one. So their you have it, I'm mad. Not for doing Ironman like you thought when I said I'd entered. But for wanting to go through all that again. There was a great post by Bopo on the BCTTT forum this week:
Think about it, really think about it. 2.4 miles of swimming hurts. Oh, it's fine in the pool or the lake, but what about when 2000 other people are punching your head? You can't settle down, you can't relax, you fight for every stroke and breath.
Then you get on your bike for one of the longest rides of your life. Sure, you've done the distance, but it wasn't easy, was it? And you hadn't been beaten up for 2.4 miles in the water beforehand.
Anyway, you'll get it done - you have to... because you need to get to the start line of a marathon.
This sums things up surprisingly well (especially as it came from someone that hasn't done an Ironman). It is also the reason why I want to do another. Some people like the feeling of driving cars fast, or falling through the air. I masochistically liked the pure unadulterated fear that was running through me as I put my wetsuit on and made my way down to the swim start. That is why I'll be doing another.
Monday 4 July 2011
Bedford Classic Tri
Race report from this weekend, lifted from my post on BCTTT.com for those that may have already read it.
Where: Bedford Embankment
When: 03/07/2010
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Distance(s): Swim 1500m/Bike 40km/Run 10K
Marshalling: Guys to pull you out the river. Marshals at every turn. Policeman at the one right hand turn to stop traffic
Facilities: Portaloos. Free parking 5 min walk from transition.Chip Timed. Refreshment van. Water stations on each of 3 laps. Tri store
Technical: Swim upstream and back downstream in river. Bike out into local countryside on 1 lap course with roads of good quality. 3 lap run around the river.
Freebies: Swim hat. Fleece top. Chocolate bar. Granola Bar. Juice box. Water.
Did this race last year and mostly enjoyed it - the only crap bit was all the weed in the river, but that wasn't the organisers fault. This year it wasn't a big ETU qualifier so the number of entires was much smaller. Not really a bad thing. Transition was the same size with fewer racks, still had all the facilites, closed the road along the embankment and had a policeman to stop traffic on the righthand turn. The bike course was a little different, it was actually the course that they had meant to use last year but had to change at the last minute due to road works. This race for me was going to be an interesting test of fitness. Although in my usual style I got a bit carried away with a work fitness challenge and it took a terirble swim set on tuesday and Wednesdays hard run before I realised I was sailing a bit close to the wind on my rest week, so went sailing instead of swimming on Thursday and had a lazy Friday and Saturday.
Saturday morning and I was up nice and early, before the 0530 alarm I set in fact. As is usual with going back home to race I'd have the usual support team, mum to hold the bags and dad to ask the same questions as every tri before as I'm trying to focus (he was doing the supersprint and seems to stress over these things) and take pictures of the finish. After registering and getting my chip, which had been threaded the wrong way through the velcro strap
it was time to rack. Unnumbered racking so I picked a nice spot on the first row where the hedge starts/finishes for visual reference. Hook my bike onto the racking by the brake levers as there was no way the saddle was going to fit under the rack. At this point some officious BTF ref walks past and informs me everyone else is racking by the seatpost. Maybe I looked like a newbie, although my Challenge Barcelona transition bag full of kit should have indicated I wasn't, but I felt a bit miffed by the tone of the comment and the 'Okay' I got in reply when I explained that my bike never fits under the rack. Why is is it something for the race official to comment on? Anyawy after racking it was time to stand around and make the obligatory couple of trips to the porta potty to ensure I was as close to racing weight as possible. It was getting warm so had to start taking layers off or I never make it into my wetsuit. Time to suit up came as Dr J sr. set off on the mini tri and got help with the zip and handed a bag of luggage over to mum. Wave 3 went and it was time to get in the water. Made sure I was early in to have maximum time to acclimatise. After some warm up strokes I lined up at the front on the right side, should give me inside line to the first mark. Not sensible on an upstream clockwise loop, but should give clearest water off the line. Had a little chat with the guy next to me asking whether I was a good swimmer, 'I'm okay' , 'So what time for 1500?', 'Err maybe 24-25 minutes, not very quick this week'. 'Oh so we have a modest triathlete here then, I start behind you then and try and draft you for the first few metres'.
Well the gun went shortly after and I tried to boost of the line pretty quick so I didn't get swum over, sighted on the first mark and after 50m eased off. Quick check around and I was one of the leaders. About 400m in I could see one guy about 20m ahead and a pack of 3 a few metres to my left. My Idea of getting to the left bank for slack water had backfired as I swam towards the middle of the river. Got on the feet of the pack and tried to settle in. Calmed my stroke and worked on the catch Sibs taught us, but I just couldn't settle as they seemed to be slowing so I went out front. I was now leading the chase group (male waves were split by projected swim time apparently) By the turn (maybe 800m in) I had a 2m lead on the pack that was stringing out and was about 20m back from the leader still, but knew I didn't have it in me to bridge the gap. Soon I was swimming through the back of the wave in front and sighting into the sun. Then with about 20m to go I saw a yellow hat as I took a breath. B****** the toe touchs weren't imaginary, must have been someone drafting off me Of course he know had the energy to blast past me as he swam me in towards the wall. Feck, just accept it. Swimming inside my limits though I had no dizziness exiting and had overtook him after 10m of run into transition and got the top half of my wetsuit off inside 20. May have been a bit leasurely in transition. 2 minutes by my watch from swim exit to bike mount, with ~230m of running, no clusters though.
Out onto the bike, down the embankment, left, round the roundabout, over the bridge and on the way out of Bedford. 2.5k in and some fecker wants to use the pedestrian crossing. Cue the first stop
Then out through a few roundabout and around 'New Cardington' - the new estate that caused the route change last year. They have installed a wonderful set of traffic lights that ignore cyclists so I had to slow down to run the red light (we were told it was allowed at this set, but at our own risk) then onto a nice quick stretch of road before the first hill, a slow lead in to a 50m over 1km hill. Dropped down and ran it a nice high cadence, then out over the other side and the downhill. A nice 7km stretch of high average speed before the turn back at Shefford and my idiot moment, when I thought I could overtake a cyclist before the left hander, but ended up riding the white line through a left then a right as I was comitted to the overtake, thankfully with now traffic 
Then another nice quick stretch where I was riding well before the roundabout where I had to stop for two cars Once through there it was on to the right hander where the policeman stopped the traffic for me and off for the second incline of the ride. I picked up my future draft buddy at this point, I say buddy in the loosest sense of the word here. He saw a TT'r though and decided to follow him up/down the hill. I manged to work my way back to him after the TT'r dropped him and then he latched onto me. I could see his shadow behind me and it was fecking annoying. Onto to the turn and he thanked the marshal. We were so close together I didn't feel the need. Then a stretch on the busy road back where he must of sat <2m from my back wheel the whole 2k. As I slowed for the roundabout he got past but was then stopped by the cyclists using the pedestrain crossing, another fecking red light 
Anyway I got off the lights first and he decided to latch onto the guys overtaking that hadn't been stopped, thank christ. Back into T2 after a 1:16 bike. I fluffed the dismount. Slowed down and got off too early, oh well. Into T1 and a nice changeover.
Out onto the run and I was running very strong, no jelly legs at all. I thought I could do a good run, I was disappointed with the bike when I got off it. Frankly I didn't work hard enough and the goal I'd set of sub 2:30 as I set off on the bike was very unlikely now, bordering on the impossible. Of course with Mum, Dad and some other people they knew watching I set off on the run way too fast, running at well over my 5K pace, once past them though I eased off and got into a nice rhythm. Around the banks of the river back towards the finish, cup of water, and a sub 15 minute first lap
round again and I was running fairly conservately at around 80% HRmax back around and sub 30 minute for 2/3rds of the run, still with plenty in the tank for a strong finish 
Last lap it started falling to pieces. By the time I got to the bridge for the run back my stitch had turned into full on abdominal cramp. Still I dug deep and went for it, putting in a nice sprint finish to do the run in under 45 minutes 
Total time: 02:31:16 (47/141)
Swim: 27:14 (29/141)
T1: 01:18 (48/141)
Bike: 01:16:55 (71/141)
T2: 01:09 (93/141)
Run: 44:39 (51/141)
Overall pretty pleased. Some good improvemnts over last year, 1km/h faster on the bike (32.2 vs 31.2), 1:42 saved on the run. Swim was rubbish. 1 minute slower than last year, I'm hoping that is because I was out on my own and not swimming in the pack like last year, other possibility is the river is a little stronger this year.
Where: Bedford Embankment
When: 03/07/2010
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Distance(s): Swim 1500m/Bike 40km/Run 10K
Marshalling: Guys to pull you out the river. Marshals at every turn. Policeman at the one right hand turn to stop traffic
Facilities: Portaloos. Free parking 5 min walk from transition.Chip Timed. Refreshment van. Water stations on each of 3 laps. Tri store
Technical: Swim upstream and back downstream in river. Bike out into local countryside on 1 lap course with roads of good quality. 3 lap run around the river.
Freebies: Swim hat. Fleece top. Chocolate bar. Granola Bar. Juice box. Water.
Did this race last year and mostly enjoyed it - the only crap bit was all the weed in the river, but that wasn't the organisers fault. This year it wasn't a big ETU qualifier so the number of entires was much smaller. Not really a bad thing. Transition was the same size with fewer racks, still had all the facilites, closed the road along the embankment and had a policeman to stop traffic on the righthand turn. The bike course was a little different, it was actually the course that they had meant to use last year but had to change at the last minute due to road works. This race for me was going to be an interesting test of fitness. Although in my usual style I got a bit carried away with a work fitness challenge and it took a terirble swim set on tuesday and Wednesdays hard run before I realised I was sailing a bit close to the wind on my rest week, so went sailing instead of swimming on Thursday and had a lazy Friday and Saturday.
Saturday morning and I was up nice and early, before the 0530 alarm I set in fact. As is usual with going back home to race I'd have the usual support team, mum to hold the bags and dad to ask the same questions as every tri before as I'm trying to focus (he was doing the supersprint and seems to stress over these things) and take pictures of the finish. After registering and getting my chip, which had been threaded the wrong way through the velcro strap
it was time to rack. Unnumbered racking so I picked a nice spot on the first row where the hedge starts/finishes for visual reference. Hook my bike onto the racking by the brake levers as there was no way the saddle was going to fit under the rack. At this point some officious BTF ref walks past and informs me everyone else is racking by the seatpost. Maybe I looked like a newbie, although my Challenge Barcelona transition bag full of kit should have indicated I wasn't, but I felt a bit miffed by the tone of the comment and the 'Okay' I got in reply when I explained that my bike never fits under the rack. Why is is it something for the race official to comment on? Anyawy after racking it was time to stand around and make the obligatory couple of trips to the porta potty to ensure I was as close to racing weight as possible. It was getting warm so had to start taking layers off or I never make it into my wetsuit. Time to suit up came as Dr J sr. set off on the mini tri and got help with the zip and handed a bag of luggage over to mum. Wave 3 went and it was time to get in the water. Made sure I was early in to have maximum time to acclimatise. After some warm up strokes I lined up at the front on the right side, should give me inside line to the first mark. Not sensible on an upstream clockwise loop, but should give clearest water off the line. Had a little chat with the guy next to me asking whether I was a good swimmer, 'I'm okay' , 'So what time for 1500?', 'Err maybe 24-25 minutes, not very quick this week'. 'Oh so we have a modest triathlete here then, I start behind you then and try and draft you for the first few metres'.Well the gun went shortly after and I tried to boost of the line pretty quick so I didn't get swum over, sighted on the first mark and after 50m eased off. Quick check around and I was one of the leaders. About 400m in I could see one guy about 20m ahead and a pack of 3 a few metres to my left. My Idea of getting to the left bank for slack water had backfired as I swam towards the middle of the river. Got on the feet of the pack and tried to settle in. Calmed my stroke and worked on the catch Sibs taught us, but I just couldn't settle as they seemed to be slowing so I went out front. I was now leading the chase group (male waves were split by projected swim time apparently) By the turn (maybe 800m in) I had a 2m lead on the pack that was stringing out and was about 20m back from the leader still, but knew I didn't have it in me to bridge the gap. Soon I was swimming through the back of the wave in front and sighting into the sun. Then with about 20m to go I saw a yellow hat as I took a breath. B****** the toe touchs weren't imaginary, must have been someone drafting off me
Of course he know had the energy to blast past me as he swam me in towards the wall. Feck, just accept it. Swimming inside my limits though I had no dizziness exiting and had overtook him after 10m of run into transition and got the top half of my wetsuit off inside 20. May have been a bit leasurely in transition. 2 minutes by my watch from swim exit to bike mount, with ~230m of running, no clusters though.Out onto the bike, down the embankment, left, round the roundabout, over the bridge and on the way out of Bedford. 2.5k in and some fecker wants to use the pedestrian crossing. Cue the first stop
Then out through a few roundabout and around 'New Cardington' - the new estate that caused the route change last year. They have installed a wonderful set of traffic lights that ignore cyclists so I had to slow down to run the red light (we were told it was allowed at this set, but at our own risk) then onto a nice quick stretch of road before the first hill, a slow lead in to a 50m over 1km hill. Dropped down and ran it a nice high cadence, then out over the other side and the downhill. A nice 7km stretch of high average speed before the turn back at Shefford and my idiot moment, when I thought I could overtake a cyclist before the left hander, but ended up riding the white line through a left then a right as I was comitted to the overtake, thankfully with now traffic Then another nice quick stretch where I was riding well before the roundabout where I had to stop for two cars Once through there it was on to the right hander where the policeman stopped the traffic for me and off for the second incline of the ride. I picked up my future draft buddy at this point, I say buddy in the loosest sense of the word here. He saw a TT'r though and decided to follow him up/down the hill. I manged to work my way back to him after the TT'r dropped him and then he latched onto me. I could see his shadow behind me and it was fecking annoying. Onto to the turn and he thanked the marshal. We were so close together I didn't feel the need. Then a stretch on the busy road back where he must of sat <2m from my back wheel the whole 2k. As I slowed for the roundabout he got past but was then stopped by the cyclists using the pedestrain crossing, another fecking red light Anyway I got off the lights first and he decided to latch onto the guys overtaking that hadn't been stopped, thank christ. Back into T2 after a 1:16 bike. I fluffed the dismount. Slowed down and got off too early, oh well. Into T1 and a nice changeover. Out onto the run and I was running very strong, no jelly legs at all. I thought I could do a good run, I was disappointed with the bike when I got off it. Frankly I didn't work hard enough and the goal I'd set of sub 2:30 as I set off on the bike was very unlikely now, bordering on the impossible. Of course with Mum, Dad and some other people they knew watching I set off on the run way too fast, running at well over my 5K pace, once past them though I eased off and got into a nice rhythm. Around the banks of the river back towards the finish, cup of water, and a sub 15 minute first lap
round again and I was running fairly conservately at around 80% HRmax back around and sub 30 minute for 2/3rds of the run, still with plenty in the tank for a strong finish Last lap it started falling to pieces. By the time I got to the bridge for the run back my stitch had turned into full on abdominal cramp. Still I dug deep and went for it, putting in a nice sprint finish to do the run in under 45 minutes Total time: 02:31:16 (47/141)
Swim: 27:14 (29/141)
T1: 01:18 (48/141)
Bike: 01:16:55 (71/141)
T2: 01:09 (93/141)
Run: 44:39 (51/141)
Overall pretty pleased. Some good improvemnts over last year, 1km/h faster on the bike (32.2 vs 31.2), 1:42 saved on the run. Swim was rubbish. 1 minute slower than last year, I'm hoping that is because I was out on my own and not swimming in the pack like last year, other possibility is the river is a little stronger this year.
Sunday 10 April 2011
First Tri of 2011: Ringwood
So as I explained yesterday today was the first event in the 2011 triathlon calendar for me. Ringwood Tri. Normally it is Winchester, but they are doing it at the end of the season this year. This was a new event, and in fact not much further than Winchester is either. Distances presented enough of a challenge too. 600m swim, 28 mile bike (45km) and 10km run. Longer than Winchester. Well, yesterday involved some of the usual panic, although for some reason I was a little more apprehensive this morning than I usually am before events. I guess I don't really know where I am fitness wise and if I could do it in a time I'd be happy with. Based on recent training I went today with a 10 minute swim, 1:35 bike and 50 minute run as the criteria for a good race, with a few extra minutes for transition.
Well this morning, up at 4am, shower, shave, food, packed the car, made sure that I had cleared and potential for AD and at 5:30 it was time to set off. Google said it was a 30 minute drive so that should get me there about right. I was slightly early but they had already set up registration so it was fine. Picked up my numbers and got marked, both arms both calves. Then it occurred to me no timing chip, so this wasn't going to be chip timed, oh well, best get the Garmin right!
Had a nosey around transition to get my bearings and recce the mount line/first bend then headed back to the car to get my stuff. Got the bike sorted and headed over to transition and got set up. Tried the far racking but realised because of the curb I couldn't get my bike in, OK try the next rack in. The usual dip bike to side to get it under (why can't organisers use racking that 6' people can get their bikes under?) and laid my gear out. Bex came over and said hi, (sorry I wasn't very chatty, communication switch off when I get nerves before an event). It was blooming freezing so I headed back to the car to pick up my clothes bag and bumped into Bex and Scotty on the way back, had a quick chat with Scotty before heading in to err, use the facilities (yes there was an OMPF). Warmed up a bit and watched the first wave go off. Then thought I'd go outside and catch a picture of Bex going out on the bike. Then it was a waiting game. Having chatted with Scotty I was having doubts over my strategy of just going with the lycra tri suit on the bike. It was fecking freezing. So went back and laid my bike jersey out, chatted with the guy racked next to me and explained reasoning (tree lined roads might not get the sun benefit!). Ade was racking a few bikes over and said hi. Then more waiting, then I got a picture of Scotty mounting the bike. Then it was time to go and bin the warm clothes. Thankfully it was pretty warm poolside and I managed to get warmed up nicely. It was running 20 minutes late, no surprises there - every tri seems to be 20 minutes late by the time I get in the water. Guy next to me asked about how to do auto multisport on the Garmin, we got chatting, he's doing IM wales then finally it was time to get in the water. The other person in my lane didn't turn up so I had it to myself.
I started on the second go (why I had to I have no idea), swimming up and down the black line for 24 lengths. I'd lost count by length 5 and was trying to catch a glimpse of the Garmin on the turns. Except my goggles had fogged up (don't know why, spit and rinse has always worked before). Swimming up and down the black line was quite handy now. Think I went through 400m on 6:16, so going well. Too well? Tap of the head cam and now for an nearly all out 50m to get the legs going. Out of the water and lap the Garmin. 9:33, so probably 9:25 in the water. Hmm, thank you very much, swimming quite well, I didn't even feel pushed. Maybe I should have gone harder?
A pitifully slow transition. Number on sunnies on, helmet on. F***, bike jersey! Helmet off, sunnies off (due to water) Jersey on, helmet on, sunnies on, socks on, damn stones. Bike shoes on and off we go. Down at the mount line and on the bike, through the usual bunch of people putting feet in shoes there and off onto the roads.
The first bit was OK, trying not to draft so putting a bit of speed in to overtake rather than drop back, then the roads straightened out. Had a (draft legal) chain gang session with another guy, he would pass on the flat, I would pass on the uphill as the route rolled away towards Sopley. Eventually I won but got passed by the guy I'd been chatting with poolside on his Boardman Hybrid (damn, beaten by a hybrid rider). Then the route worked its way out into the New Forest. Mostly uneventful. Some hikers, one who was riding a bike with his backpack on got a shock as I weaved through 3 of them using up the whole road. Then the Ornamental drive. Damn the road surface was pretty crappy, there was a photographer right before the crest of a nasty bit of hill. Then pelotons of riders started flying by. There must have been a sportive on. Then a very sketchy bit of road with some serious pot holes, all under the cover of the trees. made it damn hard to see them, thankfully I came through unscathed, they had said there would be a marshal there, didn't see one. Then the highlight of my ride, being run off the road by a f***ing caravan. The driver had waited for two bikes 40m in front to pass then pulled back out right in front of me. W****R. Had to brake and pull onto the gravel at the side to avoid being hit by the thing. C**K. Road bikes don't like being ridden on gravel. Still made it thorugh alive without stopping. Rest of ride was OK, through some nice twisty sections and to the dismount line. Being a useless twonk after dismounting I pressed the wrong button on the Garmin, stop rather than lap, but realised straight away so restarted and moved to T2.
T2 was alright, hard to get the jersey off. Time for run shoes on, couldn't get the Greeper laces done up under pressure. Think Boy, Think! Gel down the front of my trisuit for later (wish it had pockets...) and out onto the road. Pressed the wrong flipping button again. Grrr.
The run hurt to start with, legs were screaming, after a mile my right hip was screaming too. 4:37 for the first K, not bad. Thinking about it now I don't remember any jelly legs, just aching. But after a procession of fast people passing me a guy of similar pace caught up and we ran side by side till the water station at 3.5K, where he went on while I attempted to drink a sachet of burning sugar. Just after 3K I passed Scotty running in the other direction where he shouted something about having retired. Can't say I understood. My powerbar gel was now about 3,000,000°, still didn't want to squeeze out of the packet either. Cup of water to wash it down then over the crossroads. I'd only lost 20m so picked up pace and ran behind for a few hundred metres then sensing an opportunity I took the lead, he was breathing pretty heavy so I could hear he was keeping pace, it is nice having a pacer to follow. I was trying to catch a new guy 100m in front, wasn't happening though. I was pretty glad by the time the water station came around again. Cup of water and what I thought was the final 3K. Seems it was shorter than advertised. As I turned the final corner just before 9K I realised I was now on the home straight. Final effort and through the finishing chute waited a couple of seconds (to account for earlier stop-starts) and stopped the timer. 2 hours 25 minutes and 25 seconds after starting. Hmm. Damn pleased with that.
Managed to have a chat with everyone after the finish too which was nice.
So crucial stats from the Garmin (awaiting the official results)
Swim - 600m - 9m33s
T1 - 2m7s
Bike - 45.06km - 1h28m40s, av cadence 85, av. HR 75% max
T2 - 1m43s
Run - 9.14km - 43m20s, av. HR 78% max
Tracks at:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iYdv9fzCLJc
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/jL2AlnrEU-s
HR seems quite low, not sure why, was running as hard as I could. I've been playing with an interesting plugin on SportTracks that calculates your gearing too, so here is the crucial data (red= 3 favourites, green=3 least favourite)
So my favourite gear was 50x17 and I barely used the granny gear 34x25, although this is all interpretation from cadence, speed and wheel size. Quite interesting if your a data geek like me and perhaps justification for sticking with a compact chainset should I change bikes any time soon.
It was obviously sunny out on the bike as I now have the makings of a nice tri suit tan. Awaiting the official results, but feeling good about this race now. The run was short but I have a prediction of 47:39 if I'd carried on another 860m, under my target, and both swim and bike were under target too.
Well this morning, up at 4am, shower, shave, food, packed the car, made sure that I had cleared and potential for AD and at 5:30 it was time to set off. Google said it was a 30 minute drive so that should get me there about right. I was slightly early but they had already set up registration so it was fine. Picked up my numbers and got marked, both arms both calves. Then it occurred to me no timing chip, so this wasn't going to be chip timed, oh well, best get the Garmin right!
Had a nosey around transition to get my bearings and recce the mount line/first bend then headed back to the car to get my stuff. Got the bike sorted and headed over to transition and got set up. Tried the far racking but realised because of the curb I couldn't get my bike in, OK try the next rack in. The usual dip bike to side to get it under (why can't organisers use racking that 6' people can get their bikes under?) and laid my gear out. Bex came over and said hi, (sorry I wasn't very chatty, communication switch off when I get nerves before an event). It was blooming freezing so I headed back to the car to pick up my clothes bag and bumped into Bex and Scotty on the way back, had a quick chat with Scotty before heading in to err, use the facilities (yes there was an OMPF). Warmed up a bit and watched the first wave go off. Then thought I'd go outside and catch a picture of Bex going out on the bike. Then it was a waiting game. Having chatted with Scotty I was having doubts over my strategy of just going with the lycra tri suit on the bike. It was fecking freezing. So went back and laid my bike jersey out, chatted with the guy racked next to me and explained reasoning (tree lined roads might not get the sun benefit!). Ade was racking a few bikes over and said hi. Then more waiting, then I got a picture of Scotty mounting the bike. Then it was time to go and bin the warm clothes. Thankfully it was pretty warm poolside and I managed to get warmed up nicely. It was running 20 minutes late, no surprises there - every tri seems to be 20 minutes late by the time I get in the water. Guy next to me asked about how to do auto multisport on the Garmin, we got chatting, he's doing IM wales then finally it was time to get in the water. The other person in my lane didn't turn up so I had it to myself.
I started on the second go (why I had to I have no idea), swimming up and down the black line for 24 lengths. I'd lost count by length 5 and was trying to catch a glimpse of the Garmin on the turns. Except my goggles had fogged up (don't know why, spit and rinse has always worked before). Swimming up and down the black line was quite handy now. Think I went through 400m on 6:16, so going well. Too well? Tap of the head cam and now for an nearly all out 50m to get the legs going. Out of the water and lap the Garmin. 9:33, so probably 9:25 in the water. Hmm, thank you very much, swimming quite well, I didn't even feel pushed. Maybe I should have gone harder?
A pitifully slow transition. Number on sunnies on, helmet on. F***, bike jersey! Helmet off, sunnies off (due to water) Jersey on, helmet on, sunnies on, socks on, damn stones. Bike shoes on and off we go. Down at the mount line and on the bike, through the usual bunch of people putting feet in shoes there and off onto the roads.
The first bit was OK, trying not to draft so putting a bit of speed in to overtake rather than drop back, then the roads straightened out. Had a (draft legal) chain gang session with another guy, he would pass on the flat, I would pass on the uphill as the route rolled away towards Sopley. Eventually I won but got passed by the guy I'd been chatting with poolside on his Boardman Hybrid (damn, beaten by a hybrid rider). Then the route worked its way out into the New Forest. Mostly uneventful. Some hikers, one who was riding a bike with his backpack on got a shock as I weaved through 3 of them using up the whole road. Then the Ornamental drive. Damn the road surface was pretty crappy, there was a photographer right before the crest of a nasty bit of hill. Then pelotons of riders started flying by. There must have been a sportive on. Then a very sketchy bit of road with some serious pot holes, all under the cover of the trees. made it damn hard to see them, thankfully I came through unscathed, they had said there would be a marshal there, didn't see one. Then the highlight of my ride, being run off the road by a f***ing caravan. The driver had waited for two bikes 40m in front to pass then pulled back out right in front of me. W****R. Had to brake and pull onto the gravel at the side to avoid being hit by the thing. C**K. Road bikes don't like being ridden on gravel. Still made it thorugh alive without stopping. Rest of ride was OK, through some nice twisty sections and to the dismount line. Being a useless twonk after dismounting I pressed the wrong button on the Garmin, stop rather than lap, but realised straight away so restarted and moved to T2.
T2 was alright, hard to get the jersey off. Time for run shoes on, couldn't get the Greeper laces done up under pressure. Think Boy, Think! Gel down the front of my trisuit for later (wish it had pockets...) and out onto the road. Pressed the wrong flipping button again. Grrr.
The run hurt to start with, legs were screaming, after a mile my right hip was screaming too. 4:37 for the first K, not bad. Thinking about it now I don't remember any jelly legs, just aching. But after a procession of fast people passing me a guy of similar pace caught up and we ran side by side till the water station at 3.5K, where he went on while I attempted to drink a sachet of burning sugar. Just after 3K I passed Scotty running in the other direction where he shouted something about having retired. Can't say I understood. My powerbar gel was now about 3,000,000°, still didn't want to squeeze out of the packet either. Cup of water to wash it down then over the crossroads. I'd only lost 20m so picked up pace and ran behind for a few hundred metres then sensing an opportunity I took the lead, he was breathing pretty heavy so I could hear he was keeping pace, it is nice having a pacer to follow. I was trying to catch a new guy 100m in front, wasn't happening though. I was pretty glad by the time the water station came around again. Cup of water and what I thought was the final 3K. Seems it was shorter than advertised. As I turned the final corner just before 9K I realised I was now on the home straight. Final effort and through the finishing chute waited a couple of seconds (to account for earlier stop-starts) and stopped the timer. 2 hours 25 minutes and 25 seconds after starting. Hmm. Damn pleased with that.
Managed to have a chat with everyone after the finish too which was nice.
So crucial stats from the Garmin (awaiting the official results)
Swim - 600m - 9m33s
T1 - 2m7s
Bike - 45.06km - 1h28m40s, av cadence 85, av. HR 75% max
T2 - 1m43s
Run - 9.14km - 43m20s, av. HR 78% max
Tracks at:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iYdv9fzCLJc
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/jL2AlnrEU-s
HR seems quite low, not sure why, was running as hard as I could. I've been playing with an interesting plugin on SportTracks that calculates your gearing too, so here is the crucial data (red= 3 favourites, green=3 least favourite)
So my favourite gear was 50x17 and I barely used the granny gear 34x25, although this is all interpretation from cadence, speed and wheel size. Quite interesting if your a data geek like me and perhaps justification for sticking with a compact chainset should I change bikes any time soon.
It was obviously sunny out on the bike as I now have the makings of a nice tri suit tan. Awaiting the official results, but feeling good about this race now. The run was short but I have a prediction of 47:39 if I'd carried on another 860m, under my target, and both swim and bike were under target too.
Saturday 9 April 2011
Recovery week before the first tri of the season
So I'm breaking tradition and writing this on Saturday, mostly so I can write about the first tri of 2011 without turning it into and epic post with the weeks training. Well this week, it's not been easy, 4 weeks of build have taken their toll.
Monday was a desperately needed rest day, I just didn't have the energy to do a thing, especially as we were shifting at work again. Oh how I love getting up at 4am to go to work, but at least I get extra pay to spend on triathlon for the effort. So Tuesday was an early start and Masters in the evening. I just didn't have the energy in the pool and spent the session at the back of the lane. Just to ensure I felt properly tired there was quite a bit of IM to start, 2x200m IM was not nice and almost had me quitting. Somehow I managed to carry on but it wasn't pretty.
Tuesday was also the day I had treated myself to a new pair of trainers. The worn out Asics 2150's have been replaced with the new 2160's. The gorgeous weather on Wednesday was just begging for me to try them out. So I gae them a 10K blast around The Common. OK, so blast may be a bit of an exaggeration, but given how hard it was to get running and how slow it felt it was actually not a bad time for a steady 10K session. Also on the new shoes I'd stuck my Greeper laces, I'd been saving these for the shoes I think will last until IMDE, well these might, but race season starts this week so I need some anyway. Having spent a while getting the lacing right they were actually quite good. Feel just like real laces but easier to get on. I'll reserve total judgement until tomorrow but initial impression is very good, not that I ever had a problem with Xentex laces.
Thursday was Masters again. This hurt, as it always does, but was slightly easier than Tuesday and I wasn't relegated to the back of the lane either so that was a bonus. a bit of IM in the warm up but then a freestyle dominant session, with less rest than prescribed to! The second 6x75m set was meant to be off 1:45, but an over zealous leader was going off 1:30 again. Still Made it through and that is what counts.
Friday is run after work day. I managed to get my way asking for a shorter interval set as I had a race, far better than the long run that was initially suggested. We ended up doing the same set we'd done a week earlier. 6x400m hard intervals with 500m jog recovery. I managed to hit 1:37 on the first one, 1s off my best from last time, second one I knocked out another 1:37, then a 1:38, then another 1:38. Sensing the end was nigh I managed to go a bit quicker and get a 1:36. Hmm all within +/- 1s, going pretty well here! Was getting pretty pleased with myself, got the pacing right and just holding out, also the secret to beating me in the run was found. I shall not disclose it, but needless to say there is a way to beat me on short intervals it seems. So that final of the 6, buoyed up by the fact they were all so close I wanted to hold that, and went out a little quicker, and held that pace, putting in a very strong finish I looked down at the watch and ... 1:33, damn, there goes the +/- 1s, but 1:33! 3s improvement over my previous one, and I wasn't feeling as strong either. I've come a long way from the 3:00+ it used to take when I was made to do 400m as my track event on sports day at school.
So today, well I was going to go for a swim, but umm, didn't. I'm resting before tomorrows race, or that is how I am justifying it to myself anyway. I've dug all the kit out, dusted off my number belt, cleaned and oiled the chain on the bike, packed my transition bag. Kind of hoping I have packed everything, can't think of anything I have forgotten but there is bound to be something. Going to have to leave at 5:30, so just like shifting this week then, up at 4am to get food in me.
Feeling slightly more nervous about this one than I normally do, I think it is down to the distance. It is in effect an Olympic distance, shorter swim, longer bike, 10K run. Is my fitness good enough to get me around? All this long steady stuff, do I have the speed? Is 10 mins too optimistic for the swim, or maybe a bit pessimistic? Argh, why do I always do longer ones at the start of the season, this always happens. It is like being a rookie again.
Anyway weekly roundup (so far) Swim, 2 hours (5250m), Run 2hr 09m (22.3km)
Mon - Rest Day
Tues pm - Swim 1 hour (2600m)
Wed pm - Run 52min (10.3km)
Thur pm -Swim 1 hour (2650m)
Fri pm - Run 1hr 16 min (12km)
Sat - Rest Day
Monday was a desperately needed rest day, I just didn't have the energy to do a thing, especially as we were shifting at work again. Oh how I love getting up at 4am to go to work, but at least I get extra pay to spend on triathlon for the effort. So Tuesday was an early start and Masters in the evening. I just didn't have the energy in the pool and spent the session at the back of the lane. Just to ensure I felt properly tired there was quite a bit of IM to start, 2x200m IM was not nice and almost had me quitting. Somehow I managed to carry on but it wasn't pretty.
Tuesday was also the day I had treated myself to a new pair of trainers. The worn out Asics 2150's have been replaced with the new 2160's. The gorgeous weather on Wednesday was just begging for me to try them out. So I gae them a 10K blast around The Common. OK, so blast may be a bit of an exaggeration, but given how hard it was to get running and how slow it felt it was actually not a bad time for a steady 10K session. Also on the new shoes I'd stuck my Greeper laces, I'd been saving these for the shoes I think will last until IMDE, well these might, but race season starts this week so I need some anyway. Having spent a while getting the lacing right they were actually quite good. Feel just like real laces but easier to get on. I'll reserve total judgement until tomorrow but initial impression is very good, not that I ever had a problem with Xentex laces.
Thursday was Masters again. This hurt, as it always does, but was slightly easier than Tuesday and I wasn't relegated to the back of the lane either so that was a bonus. a bit of IM in the warm up but then a freestyle dominant session, with less rest than prescribed to! The second 6x75m set was meant to be off 1:45, but an over zealous leader was going off 1:30 again. Still Made it through and that is what counts.
Friday is run after work day. I managed to get my way asking for a shorter interval set as I had a race, far better than the long run that was initially suggested. We ended up doing the same set we'd done a week earlier. 6x400m hard intervals with 500m jog recovery. I managed to hit 1:37 on the first one, 1s off my best from last time, second one I knocked out another 1:37, then a 1:38, then another 1:38. Sensing the end was nigh I managed to go a bit quicker and get a 1:36. Hmm all within +/- 1s, going pretty well here! Was getting pretty pleased with myself, got the pacing right and just holding out, also the secret to beating me in the run was found. I shall not disclose it, but needless to say there is a way to beat me on short intervals it seems. So that final of the 6, buoyed up by the fact they were all so close I wanted to hold that, and went out a little quicker, and held that pace, putting in a very strong finish I looked down at the watch and ... 1:33, damn, there goes the +/- 1s, but 1:33! 3s improvement over my previous one, and I wasn't feeling as strong either. I've come a long way from the 3:00+ it used to take when I was made to do 400m as my track event on sports day at school.
So today, well I was going to go for a swim, but umm, didn't. I'm resting before tomorrows race, or that is how I am justifying it to myself anyway. I've dug all the kit out, dusted off my number belt, cleaned and oiled the chain on the bike, packed my transition bag. Kind of hoping I have packed everything, can't think of anything I have forgotten but there is bound to be something. Going to have to leave at 5:30, so just like shifting this week then, up at 4am to get food in me.
Feeling slightly more nervous about this one than I normally do, I think it is down to the distance. It is in effect an Olympic distance, shorter swim, longer bike, 10K run. Is my fitness good enough to get me around? All this long steady stuff, do I have the speed? Is 10 mins too optimistic for the swim, or maybe a bit pessimistic? Argh, why do I always do longer ones at the start of the season, this always happens. It is like being a rookie again.
Anyway weekly roundup (so far) Swim, 2 hours (5250m), Run 2hr 09m (22.3km)
Mon - Rest Day
Tues pm - Swim 1 hour (2600m)
Wed pm - Run 52min (10.3km)
Thur pm -Swim 1 hour (2650m)
Fri pm - Run 1hr 16 min (12km)
Sat - Rest Day
Sunday 3 April 2011
The balloon deflates...
This week hasn't been such a good week of training, culminating with my ballon of motivation going pop this morning. It was meant to be the final week of a serious of build phases before recovery next week. Stupidly I thought even though I was going away on a training course at work I'd manage to get enough training in. Ha!
Monday is my traditional rest day, however, after 2.5 hours in the car driving up to Stansted I just wanted to do something, so thought I'd try out the hotel pool. Now I knew it was going to be 10m, but I hadn't appreciated just how short 20m feels when you get in it. I amused myself for a while doing a few strokes, tumble, dolphin kick, 2 strokes, tumble, repeat. Then got bored and went in the steam room, then got hot and did and endless tumble turn thing again. I did notice that the water level in the pool was dropping. I think my turns may have been emptying the water faster than it was getting pumped back in. Whoops.
I had set my alarm to get up nice and early on Tuesday and then go and use the gym. Felt tired though, never sleep too well in hotel beds, so turned alarm off. Thought I set a 0700 alarm. When I woke up at 0719 I realised I had set the alarm for Sunday. D'oh. Scrabbled around and went down for breakfast. Nice breakfast, I actually resisted the cooked stuff as I'd been naughty in slacking off the gym. Naively thought I'd be going to the gym in the evening. Nope, course ran from 0830 to 1800, with a group dinner at 1900 so no time at all to get down to the gym. Wednesday I was good. I got up when the alarm went off at 0615 and was the first person there when the gym opened at 0630. Plan was to do a bike run brick with the gym bike and dreadmill. Man I hate gym bikes, it's like the saddles are made for elephant arses, give me my razor blade of a saddle anyday. Too upright too. OK so I'm a little picky. Still managed to do a 25 minute interval type session doing 1 on 1 off after a warm up. Then it was on to the dreadmill. Reinforcing why I hate the things. So boring, and so uncomfortable to run on. I really don't understand why my dad loves running on his one so much when there are all the lovely fields around there place. I was ready to bin it after 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20. Pushed on and made it to 25 then quit sharpish. 2.67 miles covered - I remember now, I run slower on them too. Treated myself to a cooked breakfast as a reward though. Then in for another 0830-1745 day. Dinner was a bit later so went for a swim. Again more endless tumbling. Although for some reason I didn't really care for swimming crawl. I was a bit of a merman (without the beard...) and just felt at home swimming fly kick underwater endlessly, with some tumble turns thrown in for good measure. The
α male in me came out after a while, some other guys from the company came and used the pool and were doing underwater lengths. Of course I had to prove I was the best. Managed to chalk up 3 lengths before surfacing. Not bad going, won by a few lengths of course ☺.
Thursday I made the decision not to train again, this time because I new I'd be up late. Friday. Hmm, well this brought my usual post work run at lucnhtime. The idea was to do a 7 mile fartlek set. This was going to hurt properly. As per expectations it did, in more ways than I'd have liked. Starting with the "University Run" in reverse we took a little detour. Through a rather hilly part of Southampton. Naturally all the intervals were timed to be up the hills. Good God it hurt, especially the 2 minute effort. The downhill recoveries were so nice. By 8km I could feel the blister coming back on my instep. Damn it. Having hitched a ride, and with all my stuff in someones car I couldn't quit early so perservered through some 'different' areas of Southampton, running is definately the right speed for them. More intervals up hills, and one timed to break me mentally apparently, up a hill and around a bend. the hill flattens before the bend so you would assume it is flat around the corner, but no, it turns into another f***** of a hill. After that came a nice downhill interval, 60s on down the hill. The interval was cut short when I made it to the bottom after 50s. A split speed of 17.6 km/h. I felt totally out of control though, like my legs were getting away from me. Thankfully it all ended after 13.5k and 80 minutes. That just left a painful jog home. Instep blister was back and not pretty.
Saturday was going to be bike day, well the weather looked the best of the weekend days and a long run would have been stupid after 14.7k the day before. Planned out 90km route that took in a few different routes from last weeks 83k ride to lengthen it out and improve on it a touch. Decided to take the roadie out, it was summer weather after all. Of course that meant it needed a bit of work which was Friday evenings job, cue me redoing the operation of the front mech. Hasn't worked properly since I changed it after damaging the last one on the sportive in November. Having indexed it and got it shifting properly it was off to bed. On Saturday morning I went off and got the bottle cages it needed (put them on the cyclox bike) fitted them and by then it was 12. No time for lunch = mistake number 1, lack of energy may explain why my quads decided to die on me. t was nice getting out on the roadie though. Apart from all the little niggles. The spoke magnet was broken and kept twisting around. After 7 K I was so fed up I stopped and removed it, turns out the plastic is cracked and that is why it keeps loosening off. This bit me in the ass later when the Garmin decided my attempt at climbing the hills was so pathetic I'd stopped, and auto paused, I may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey, but I was still moving Garmin! Then my attempt at fixing the front mech failed when the cable slipped and I had to resort to using the STIs as if I were running a triple. An annoyance. Then my back hurt, then my quads gave in. So glad when I finally made it home.
That brings me to this morning, and my ballon of training excitement bursting. Really couldn't be arsed to go out for my long run. I had new socks to try, and a new way of lacing my shoes, but just couldn't find the motivation. Eventually I scooped up what little motivation I could muster and went out. It hurt, my legs hurt, I was sweating a lot, my heart rate was unusually high. All the signs were there that I should bin it. I didn't, after 5K things eased and I settled into my slow, slow pace. Similar route to last week, loops of the common with a large "University Run" loop thrown in to bulk up the distance without getting boring. Somehow I made it around. The price was a run where my HR was 10bpm higher for a 3% drop in pace. Should have listened to the body, high resting HR yesterday, sore legs this morning, salty sweat, then stopped sweating. Should have cut the run short at the very least. Oh well you live and (don't) learn.
The good thing was it was a blister free run. My new Hilly twin skin socks worked a treat, they felt great, and the new lacing method (Lydiard lacing) was also great, feet felt far more comfortable in the shoes, can sort of see why it is recommended for long distance running. Who knew how you tie your laces could have such a difference?
Weekly Roundup: Swim ??? (about 50 minutes, no idea how far), Bike 4hr 07 min (90km + 25min gym bike), Run 3hr 58mins (41.2km) Total 8hours 55 minutes
Mon pm - Swim 25 minutes
Tue - Rest Day
Wed am - Bike 25 min, Run 25 min (4.4k)
Wed pm - Swim 25 minutes
Thur - Rest Day
Fri pm - Run 1hr28m (14.7k)
Sat pm - Bike 3hr 42m (90k)
Sun am - Run 2hr 6m (22.1k)
Next week I'm going to listen to the body and actually rest properly, well almost, I've entered Ringwood Tri on Sunday. Distance wise it looks to be an OD with a short swim so think I can get away with replacing my weekends longer (60k bike, 16k run) sessions with a single event. And I can live with a nice taper too.
Monday is my traditional rest day, however, after 2.5 hours in the car driving up to Stansted I just wanted to do something, so thought I'd try out the hotel pool. Now I knew it was going to be 10m, but I hadn't appreciated just how short 20m feels when you get in it. I amused myself for a while doing a few strokes, tumble, dolphin kick, 2 strokes, tumble, repeat. Then got bored and went in the steam room, then got hot and did and endless tumble turn thing again. I did notice that the water level in the pool was dropping. I think my turns may have been emptying the water faster than it was getting pumped back in. Whoops.
I had set my alarm to get up nice and early on Tuesday and then go and use the gym. Felt tired though, never sleep too well in hotel beds, so turned alarm off. Thought I set a 0700 alarm. When I woke up at 0719 I realised I had set the alarm for Sunday. D'oh. Scrabbled around and went down for breakfast. Nice breakfast, I actually resisted the cooked stuff as I'd been naughty in slacking off the gym. Naively thought I'd be going to the gym in the evening. Nope, course ran from 0830 to 1800, with a group dinner at 1900 so no time at all to get down to the gym. Wednesday I was good. I got up when the alarm went off at 0615 and was the first person there when the gym opened at 0630. Plan was to do a bike run brick with the gym bike and dreadmill. Man I hate gym bikes, it's like the saddles are made for elephant arses, give me my razor blade of a saddle anyday. Too upright too. OK so I'm a little picky. Still managed to do a 25 minute interval type session doing 1 on 1 off after a warm up. Then it was on to the dreadmill. Reinforcing why I hate the things. So boring, and so uncomfortable to run on. I really don't understand why my dad loves running on his one so much when there are all the lovely fields around there place. I was ready to bin it after 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20. Pushed on and made it to 25 then quit sharpish. 2.67 miles covered - I remember now, I run slower on them too. Treated myself to a cooked breakfast as a reward though. Then in for another 0830-1745 day. Dinner was a bit later so went for a swim. Again more endless tumbling. Although for some reason I didn't really care for swimming crawl. I was a bit of a merman (without the beard...) and just felt at home swimming fly kick underwater endlessly, with some tumble turns thrown in for good measure. The
α male in me came out after a while, some other guys from the company came and used the pool and were doing underwater lengths. Of course I had to prove I was the best. Managed to chalk up 3 lengths before surfacing. Not bad going, won by a few lengths of course ☺.
Thursday I made the decision not to train again, this time because I new I'd be up late. Friday. Hmm, well this brought my usual post work run at lucnhtime. The idea was to do a 7 mile fartlek set. This was going to hurt properly. As per expectations it did, in more ways than I'd have liked. Starting with the "University Run" in reverse we took a little detour. Through a rather hilly part of Southampton. Naturally all the intervals were timed to be up the hills. Good God it hurt, especially the 2 minute effort. The downhill recoveries were so nice. By 8km I could feel the blister coming back on my instep. Damn it. Having hitched a ride, and with all my stuff in someones car I couldn't quit early so perservered through some 'different' areas of Southampton, running is definately the right speed for them. More intervals up hills, and one timed to break me mentally apparently, up a hill and around a bend. the hill flattens before the bend so you would assume it is flat around the corner, but no, it turns into another f***** of a hill. After that came a nice downhill interval, 60s on down the hill. The interval was cut short when I made it to the bottom after 50s. A split speed of 17.6 km/h. I felt totally out of control though, like my legs were getting away from me. Thankfully it all ended after 13.5k and 80 minutes. That just left a painful jog home. Instep blister was back and not pretty.
Saturday was going to be bike day, well the weather looked the best of the weekend days and a long run would have been stupid after 14.7k the day before. Planned out 90km route that took in a few different routes from last weeks 83k ride to lengthen it out and improve on it a touch. Decided to take the roadie out, it was summer weather after all. Of course that meant it needed a bit of work which was Friday evenings job, cue me redoing the operation of the front mech. Hasn't worked properly since I changed it after damaging the last one on the sportive in November. Having indexed it and got it shifting properly it was off to bed. On Saturday morning I went off and got the bottle cages it needed (put them on the cyclox bike) fitted them and by then it was 12. No time for lunch = mistake number 1, lack of energy may explain why my quads decided to die on me. t was nice getting out on the roadie though. Apart from all the little niggles. The spoke magnet was broken and kept twisting around. After 7 K I was so fed up I stopped and removed it, turns out the plastic is cracked and that is why it keeps loosening off. This bit me in the ass later when the Garmin decided my attempt at climbing the hills was so pathetic I'd stopped, and auto paused, I may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey, but I was still moving Garmin! Then my attempt at fixing the front mech failed when the cable slipped and I had to resort to using the STIs as if I were running a triple. An annoyance. Then my back hurt, then my quads gave in. So glad when I finally made it home.
That brings me to this morning, and my ballon of training excitement bursting. Really couldn't be arsed to go out for my long run. I had new socks to try, and a new way of lacing my shoes, but just couldn't find the motivation. Eventually I scooped up what little motivation I could muster and went out. It hurt, my legs hurt, I was sweating a lot, my heart rate was unusually high. All the signs were there that I should bin it. I didn't, after 5K things eased and I settled into my slow, slow pace. Similar route to last week, loops of the common with a large "University Run" loop thrown in to bulk up the distance without getting boring. Somehow I made it around. The price was a run where my HR was 10bpm higher for a 3% drop in pace. Should have listened to the body, high resting HR yesterday, sore legs this morning, salty sweat, then stopped sweating. Should have cut the run short at the very least. Oh well you live and (don't) learn.
The good thing was it was a blister free run. My new Hilly twin skin socks worked a treat, they felt great, and the new lacing method (Lydiard lacing) was also great, feet felt far more comfortable in the shoes, can sort of see why it is recommended for long distance running. Who knew how you tie your laces could have such a difference?
Weekly Roundup: Swim ??? (about 50 minutes, no idea how far), Bike 4hr 07 min (90km + 25min gym bike), Run 3hr 58mins (41.2km) Total 8hours 55 minutes
Mon pm - Swim 25 minutes
Tue - Rest Day
Wed am - Bike 25 min, Run 25 min (4.4k)
Wed pm - Swim 25 minutes
Thur - Rest Day
Fri pm - Run 1hr28m (14.7k)
Sat pm - Bike 3hr 42m (90k)
Sun am - Run 2hr 6m (22.1k)
Next week I'm going to listen to the body and actually rest properly, well almost, I've entered Ringwood Tri on Sunday. Distance wise it looks to be an OD with a short swim so think I can get away with replacing my weekends longer (60k bike, 16k run) sessions with a single event. And I can live with a nice taper too.
Sunday 27 March 2011
What a nice weekend.
So last weeks blog turned into an epic essay, much like writing a chapter for my thesis again. Don't have the time for that this weekend so going to attempt to keep things short and sweet. It has been an awesome weekend, the sun has been out and it felt like summer. Just what I needed to spur me on the spend most of the weekend outside.
The week kicked off with swimming on Tuesdsy night, after blistering my instep last weekend my foot was causing some issues in the early part of the week. Needless to say I am not a fan of Compeed and don't intend to buy more anytime soon. Sainsbury's blister plasters are perfectly good thank you. Anyway, the swim session, well it felt horrible, I had absolutely no energy and the 100-200m sets took there toll. Swimming 15 hours after getting up for work isn't always the best idea.
Wednesday was the first of the gorgeous days. Due to the sodding blister I decided a turbo set was in order. Local Hero it was going to be, I had to find out if I would be a hero in the hearts of the Sufferlandrians. After last weeks learning experience I was better prepared, lights off, window open, heating off 1.5 litres of fluid and 2 sweat rags. It actually felt easier. Average and max heart rates were a bit lower, but distance covered in the session was more. Hmm, maybe I'm starting to get fit. Of course with the window open the outside was calling and I thought I'd turn it into a brick session. Not the best decision to make 60 minutes after starting a workout. After a 10 minute transition (25% of which was waiting for the 310XT to get a GPS lock) I was off. Still had jelly legs but ran a good first km, the fastest in fact. Got a nice large loop of The Common in clocking up 6km for my efforts, at a respectable pace of 4m54 s/km. Off course when I got in the shower the impromptu nature of this brick session came and bit me in the behind, quite literally! Should have bodyglided the chamois in the tri shorts, apparently there is a seam that doesn't like me.
Thursday and there was to be no after work turbo, had planned on Revolver, forgetting I was going to stay at work for a webinar. Oh well. Arrived home to find two cards from Royal Fail on the doormat and a courier packet. My new Bluesenty swim gloves and Element goggles. Wohoo! Was looking forward to trying swimming in them. They didn't disappoint. The Thursday swim session was a killer. Loads of fly and IM. Main set kicked off with 12x25m of fly, of course it should have been 8x25m but the person leading didn't see it get revised down. Oh well. I was pretty dead by the end.
Friday brought another good day. After work run with some guys from work at lunch. Intervals on a section of The Common. A nice little corner with a 400m tarmac section then a 500m trail section back to the start. needless to say I tried to anhilate the intervals. Went out hard on the first one managing 1:38 for the 400m, a little easier on the second with a 1:41, a 1:37 next and they were starting to hurt, by the 4th Dave was starting to catch me at 200m and I was left to pace off him for a second 1:37, then a 1:38. I was seriously hurting on the last one, pushed myself to the limit and banged out a 1:36. Pretty chuffed with that. 5 intervals all within +/- 1s, and the whole lot with 5s. Consistency.
Of course not wanting to leave it there I went swimming in the evening, there was still and Endomondo challenge to have a go at, fastest 1000m done anyway, I chose 10x100m. Two hard interval sets in a day, bad idea? Well maybe not. Although I could still feel the run in my legs. scraped through the intervals on 01:29, 01:28, 01:31, 01:33, 01:33, 01:31, 01:33, 01:31, 01:35, 01:36. Again fairly consistent. They were hard efforts though no question, not having people to draft off made it brutal, not helped by my legs hurting still.
Saturday and it was bike time. BBC weather said the morning was going to be best, so up early, usual breakfast routine then got the bike ready for a 9:30 start. Major dilemas over what to wear. in the end I went for short bibs & top with long socks and arm warmers. Almost a good choice, the arm waremers were too warm. I'd lined up an extended route going out to the north east, up through Cheriton towards Arlesford then cutting back to the roads I am now getting to know around Bishop's Waltham. The weather of course didn't do what the beeb said it would. It was hot and sunny, gorgeous weather for spending outdoors on roads I pretty much had to myself for a lot of the time. Lovely ride and even the couple of bad driver incidents have blurred into oblivion.
Today was a repeat of one of my epic days from a month ago. Answering a call for crew I agreed to go sailing today, and frankly I would have been stupid not to with the weather. What I hadn't banked on was there only being 4 of us, and being the bowman as well as the #1 trimmer half the time. Well long story short, 4 hours on the water, 2 spent racing, couple of clusters but recovered well, a first and a second place in the 2 races. Got back to the bar and felt absolutely shagged. By the time I got home I have to say I was in no mood to go for a 20km run. Ironamn is not for quitters though and I had to MTFU and get out there, and I did. I was still a gorgeous afternoon so Camelbak loaded with water and energy foods I embarked on a trip around The Common and sports ground. Well it was actually not a bad run. Rather uneventful. Not exactly painless, but no injuries. I had a good go at choking myself at 14k when I decided to eat 2 shot bloks at once. D'oh. Then at 17k I sucked on the Camelbak and got nothing, I was out of water. Double D'oh. Also turns out the little 1k I added between 16-17 wasn't needed. My 20k run became 21k. Building a little fast, the original plan had today as 18k, but after going long last weekend I revised it. The hard day was good in the end, I think the sail primed me much like the bike leg would, little solid food and physically demnding work.
Well seems I've made it a long one again. Weekly roundup time, Swim 3 hours (7350m), Bike 4 hours 50m (83km + 1hr25m Turbo), Run 3 hours 19m (36km) for a total of 11 hours 10 minutes.
Mon - Rest
Tue pm - 1 hour swim (2650m)
Wed pm - 1hr25m turbo session
Wed pm - 30m brick run (6km)
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2200m)
Fri pm - 52min run (9km)
Fri pm - 1 hour 2m swim (2500m)
Sat am - 3 hour 24m bike (83km)
Sun am - 4 hour sail (not fully logged, counting as 2 hours)
Sun pm - 1 hour 57m run (21km)
Next week is a tricky one. Will be away for work so the session depend on what the gym facilites are like. I know it has a 10m pool, pretty useless but might be good for tumble turn practice. Next weekend should be a 20km run and 90km bike. Might do a 22km run, and may even consider the 58 mile Ride It sportive in Woking on Sunday.
The week kicked off with swimming on Tuesdsy night, after blistering my instep last weekend my foot was causing some issues in the early part of the week. Needless to say I am not a fan of Compeed and don't intend to buy more anytime soon. Sainsbury's blister plasters are perfectly good thank you. Anyway, the swim session, well it felt horrible, I had absolutely no energy and the 100-200m sets took there toll. Swimming 15 hours after getting up for work isn't always the best idea.
Wednesday was the first of the gorgeous days. Due to the sodding blister I decided a turbo set was in order. Local Hero it was going to be, I had to find out if I would be a hero in the hearts of the Sufferlandrians. After last weeks learning experience I was better prepared, lights off, window open, heating off 1.5 litres of fluid and 2 sweat rags. It actually felt easier. Average and max heart rates were a bit lower, but distance covered in the session was more. Hmm, maybe I'm starting to get fit. Of course with the window open the outside was calling and I thought I'd turn it into a brick session. Not the best decision to make 60 minutes after starting a workout. After a 10 minute transition (25% of which was waiting for the 310XT to get a GPS lock) I was off. Still had jelly legs but ran a good first km, the fastest in fact. Got a nice large loop of The Common in clocking up 6km for my efforts, at a respectable pace of 4m54 s/km. Off course when I got in the shower the impromptu nature of this brick session came and bit me in the behind, quite literally! Should have bodyglided the chamois in the tri shorts, apparently there is a seam that doesn't like me.
Thursday and there was to be no after work turbo, had planned on Revolver, forgetting I was going to stay at work for a webinar. Oh well. Arrived home to find two cards from Royal Fail on the doormat and a courier packet. My new Bluesenty swim gloves and Element goggles. Wohoo! Was looking forward to trying swimming in them. They didn't disappoint. The Thursday swim session was a killer. Loads of fly and IM. Main set kicked off with 12x25m of fly, of course it should have been 8x25m but the person leading didn't see it get revised down. Oh well. I was pretty dead by the end.
Friday brought another good day. After work run with some guys from work at lunch. Intervals on a section of The Common. A nice little corner with a 400m tarmac section then a 500m trail section back to the start. needless to say I tried to anhilate the intervals. Went out hard on the first one managing 1:38 for the 400m, a little easier on the second with a 1:41, a 1:37 next and they were starting to hurt, by the 4th Dave was starting to catch me at 200m and I was left to pace off him for a second 1:37, then a 1:38. I was seriously hurting on the last one, pushed myself to the limit and banged out a 1:36. Pretty chuffed with that. 5 intervals all within +/- 1s, and the whole lot with 5s. Consistency.
Of course not wanting to leave it there I went swimming in the evening, there was still and Endomondo challenge to have a go at, fastest 1000m done anyway, I chose 10x100m. Two hard interval sets in a day, bad idea? Well maybe not. Although I could still feel the run in my legs. scraped through the intervals on 01:29, 01:28, 01:31, 01:33, 01:33, 01:31, 01:33, 01:31, 01:35, 01:36. Again fairly consistent. They were hard efforts though no question, not having people to draft off made it brutal, not helped by my legs hurting still.
Saturday and it was bike time. BBC weather said the morning was going to be best, so up early, usual breakfast routine then got the bike ready for a 9:30 start. Major dilemas over what to wear. in the end I went for short bibs & top with long socks and arm warmers. Almost a good choice, the arm waremers were too warm. I'd lined up an extended route going out to the north east, up through Cheriton towards Arlesford then cutting back to the roads I am now getting to know around Bishop's Waltham. The weather of course didn't do what the beeb said it would. It was hot and sunny, gorgeous weather for spending outdoors on roads I pretty much had to myself for a lot of the time. Lovely ride and even the couple of bad driver incidents have blurred into oblivion.
Today was a repeat of one of my epic days from a month ago. Answering a call for crew I agreed to go sailing today, and frankly I would have been stupid not to with the weather. What I hadn't banked on was there only being 4 of us, and being the bowman as well as the #1 trimmer half the time. Well long story short, 4 hours on the water, 2 spent racing, couple of clusters but recovered well, a first and a second place in the 2 races. Got back to the bar and felt absolutely shagged. By the time I got home I have to say I was in no mood to go for a 20km run. Ironamn is not for quitters though and I had to MTFU and get out there, and I did. I was still a gorgeous afternoon so Camelbak loaded with water and energy foods I embarked on a trip around The Common and sports ground. Well it was actually not a bad run. Rather uneventful. Not exactly painless, but no injuries. I had a good go at choking myself at 14k when I decided to eat 2 shot bloks at once. D'oh. Then at 17k I sucked on the Camelbak and got nothing, I was out of water. Double D'oh. Also turns out the little 1k I added between 16-17 wasn't needed. My 20k run became 21k. Building a little fast, the original plan had today as 18k, but after going long last weekend I revised it. The hard day was good in the end, I think the sail primed me much like the bike leg would, little solid food and physically demnding work.
Well seems I've made it a long one again. Weekly roundup time, Swim 3 hours (7350m), Bike 4 hours 50m (83km + 1hr25m Turbo), Run 3 hours 19m (36km) for a total of 11 hours 10 minutes.
Mon - Rest
Tue pm - 1 hour swim (2650m)
Wed pm - 1hr25m turbo session
Wed pm - 30m brick run (6km)
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2200m)
Fri pm - 52min run (9km)
Fri pm - 1 hour 2m swim (2500m)
Sat am - 3 hour 24m bike (83km)
Sun am - 4 hour sail (not fully logged, counting as 2 hours)
Sun pm - 1 hour 57m run (21km)
Next week is a tricky one. Will be away for work so the session depend on what the gym facilites are like. I know it has a 10m pool, pretty useless but might be good for tumble turn practice. Next weekend should be a 20km run and 90km bike. Might do a 22km run, and may even consider the 58 mile Ride It sportive in Woking on Sunday.
Sunday 20 March 2011
A painful return to training
Following on from last weekend half marathon training resumed on Tuesday. The week has been a rather painful one though, the effort of the HM has remained in my legs throughout the week.
Tuesday kicked off with a 0545 alarm call so I had time to do some stretches and foam rollering before work. 20 minutes of lower leg stretches and foam roller action wasn't pretty, but it did the job and I had the use of my legs again. Tuesday evening kicked off the weeks proper training, a 2500m Masters set, finally done without the aid of a pull buoy (well almost - first couple of 200's done with just to check ankle was OK). Seemed to be keeping pace OK, in fact I think a couple of weeks of just pull may have even improved my times, felt much more powerful on the front crawl max effort stuff. The only slight issue was my legs, well my hamstrings really, from about 1500m into the set they were on the verge of cramping. Somehow I dodged a bullet and got through unscathed though.
Wednesday, I set the alarm early again to get up and do some stretching, but, well, umm, I was tired and went back to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course this wasn't to go unpunished. To make up for my very poor show I did Sufferfest's "Local Hero". Eighty five minutes of pure hell. Sufferfest makes Coach Troy look like the coach of an under 12's girls team. I knew it would be hard work, anticpating this I set up two bottles of fluids, 1500ml worth. After 70 minutes I had drunk all of this, my turbo towel was so sodden it wasn't drying the sweat off me, I had to wring it out, twice. The 3x6 minute pyramid efforts were unpleasant, but just bearable, managing to get my heart rate to just under predicted lacate threshold. The 5x3 minute road race efforts were horrible. The sprints at the end, were well, whatever word is a lot worse than horrible. The high cadence stuff was not nice, maxing out at 130. needless to say getting off the turbo came as a relief. What was more shocking was the fact that I weighed less than when I got on, even having drunk 1.5 litres of fluid!
Thursday, didn't bother setting an early alarm, I was only going to snooze anyway. Standard evening Masters session for training. Lots of short stuff, mostly front crawl but some fly and medley. The short stuff wasn't too bad, although the pacing made life very tough as it meant almost no rest.
Friday was a run with some people from work. I had hoped this would be an easier run, normally they are quite short. The session turned into a bit of a fartlek style one, with some hard intervals of varying length. On the way out we had a long interval down by the new OS building, where we did 1/2 mile intervals a couple of months ago. Then on the way out to Testwood lakes we did some further 1 minute intervals. Of course all this was being done in the rain, just to make things a tad unpleasant. When we got out to the lakes there were of course plenty of puddles. These made quite a nice other game, bounding over the puddles. It was actually quite fun when there were a few strung together. On the way back we did some more intervals, starting off with some shorter intervals then we had some intervals of unknown length. Things got quite painful in those intervals. My quads and hamstrings hadn't recovered, man they hurt like something else. I ended up losing the last couple of intervals.
Saturday was to be my epic day, kicked off with an early morning run. Fridays run was a lot further than I'd counted on, and in fact only a few K of what Saturdays run was scheduled to be, still I was going to do it. Having been labelled an 'under achiever' earlier in the week I have to prove I can hit my 33 hour target for training this month. With a stag party to go to for most of the day my long run was going to have to be an early one. Hence the 0615 wake up call, on a Saturday. An hour and a half later after feeding and watering it was time to commence the faff involved in seeing me out the door for a run. What to wear? Sunnies? Where are my sunnies? Camelbak or waist pack? Which bottle in the waist pack? What flavour gels to take? Ankle brace? Needless to say I left a few minutes late, but thankfully dressed appropriately. The start of the run was nice and uneventful, off out to the Common, a snake around it then out up to the sports centre to take in Golf Course Road. Approaching the sports centre and there was obviously something going on as there were coaches everywhere and lots of college/uni girls, netball tournament or something like that. First gel at 5K, lucky dip moment in back pocket, Vanilla! I like vanilla, sort of makes me think of coffee though, not sure why. Everything was going well and I even managed to get up Golf Course Road in one piece, without having to walk. Then back to the Common for a loop of that to finish. Then there was the decision, left right or straight over at the cross? Which way is going to get me to 16K? Lets try right, nice downhill and time for the second gel, Green Apple. Yuk, how foul, I just wanted to be sick. It was horrible and sour, but sugary and sweet at the same time. Urgh, how to get the taste out of my mouth? Sips of water and it was better but urgh. I shall not be having any of those during IM, Vanilla and Strawberry/Banana for me. Onto the final loop and what had been a really pleasant run started to go south. Starting of with do incident number 1. Two dogs that decided to have a fight around my feet why the owner(s) just stood by and chatted idly. Needless to say I was not best pleased.A few hundred metres later and my got much better again. A nice MEDSOC runner to follow, seems my pace picked up a little too much and I inevitably had to pass, shame. Only to spoilt a few hundred metres later by dog incident number 2. This one really hacked me off. If you have a large dog that needs to wear a muzzle in public places why the hell do you let it run a round a busy park off the lead? The flipping dog jumped up at me, paws on chest and nearly pushed me over. There were a couple of dog owners sat on a park bench that found it funny, don't know if it was their dog as no one seemed to want to control the f****** animal. I they had then they would have got a rather unpleasant string of words I think. The anger fuelled me up the hill and soon I was on the way back. 17K done, with 90 minutes to get ready for the stag do. Perfect.
Today was of course long ride day. I was a good boy on the stag do, drinking softs in the pub during the rugby, a few glasses of wine in the restaurant with dinner, softs again at the next bar and only a double in the club, not that we stayed that long anyway. Having go to bed at 2am waking up a 8am wasn't unwelcome. What wasn't welcome was the pain that greeted me as I put my right foot on the floor. It had hurt all afternoon evening, but the blister on my instep had gotten impressive. A glance out of the curtains and it didn't look like it had rained. Might be a nice day for a ride after all. Usual pre ride routine followed and the obligatory what to wear? A trip to the bins confirmed it was chilly but not cold. Club jersey, vest, arm warmers and bib longs then. Of course my blister chose this opportunity to burst, such a good feeling, but really not a good thing. Oh well. Having faffed around way too much I set off at 1030. Surprisingly I sailed across town and soon I was out on Alington lane on my way to Winchester. The plan was to do the Winchester/Hillier Gardens/Upper Sombourne/Ampfield figure 8 loop, around 75K from memory, longer than the plan but perfectly doable. The ride was actually pretty uneventful. Good speed out to Winchester, not so good down in Hurlsey, managed to refuel on the move on the Sombourne loop, swapping bottles and opening Cliff Shot blocks. I'd forgotten how good they tasted. They hills weren't wonderful, my legs are obviously still a touch tired, but no cramping. What wasn't nice was the pain in my right foot every time I climbed out the saddle. A quick pause as I got into Ampfield for the second time to get a gel down. My legs felt great as I set off, almost like new. So heading back and decisions as to which way home, I opted for the route I thought would make 75K rather than the longer or shorter options. Off course all these options would take in the uphill section I hate; North Baddesley to Chilworth. Doesn't look to bad, but it just drags on then goes around a corner and kicks up a bit. I've tamed it, but it is always at a point in the ride when my legs are shot. I managed to get up it with one gear to spare, but I am running a triple so it is a pretty poor show. Just over 3 hours for 76km, not the best speed, but given the week of training a respectable effort I think.
I discovered why it hurt so much when I got out the saddle on the climbs tough, I have blistered under my blister. A trip to the shops and I am now the owner of a pack of Compeed blister plasters, so hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (5050m), Bike 4 hours 34 min (76km + 1hr25m turbo), Run 2 hours 50 min (30km) for a total of 9hr25m training.
Mon - Rest
Tues am - 20 min stretching
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Wed pm - 1hr25 min turbo session
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2550m)
Fri pm - 1hr17 min run (13km)
Sat am - 1hr33m run (17km)
Sun am - 3hr09m bike (76km)
Next week is meant to be another build week. I think with my foot midweek training sessions will be turbo based, hopefully with shift working I can get some sessions in before Masters too. Next weekend should be an 18km run and a 80km bike. Will have to see how things are, but may be able to push them a little more given my over distances this weekend.
Tuesday kicked off with a 0545 alarm call so I had time to do some stretches and foam rollering before work. 20 minutes of lower leg stretches and foam roller action wasn't pretty, but it did the job and I had the use of my legs again. Tuesday evening kicked off the weeks proper training, a 2500m Masters set, finally done without the aid of a pull buoy (well almost - first couple of 200's done with just to check ankle was OK). Seemed to be keeping pace OK, in fact I think a couple of weeks of just pull may have even improved my times, felt much more powerful on the front crawl max effort stuff. The only slight issue was my legs, well my hamstrings really, from about 1500m into the set they were on the verge of cramping. Somehow I dodged a bullet and got through unscathed though.
Wednesday, I set the alarm early again to get up and do some stretching, but, well, umm, I was tired and went back to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course this wasn't to go unpunished. To make up for my very poor show I did Sufferfest's "Local Hero". Eighty five minutes of pure hell. Sufferfest makes Coach Troy look like the coach of an under 12's girls team. I knew it would be hard work, anticpating this I set up two bottles of fluids, 1500ml worth. After 70 minutes I had drunk all of this, my turbo towel was so sodden it wasn't drying the sweat off me, I had to wring it out, twice. The 3x6 minute pyramid efforts were unpleasant, but just bearable, managing to get my heart rate to just under predicted lacate threshold. The 5x3 minute road race efforts were horrible. The sprints at the end, were well, whatever word is a lot worse than horrible. The high cadence stuff was not nice, maxing out at 130. needless to say getting off the turbo came as a relief. What was more shocking was the fact that I weighed less than when I got on, even having drunk 1.5 litres of fluid!
Thursday, didn't bother setting an early alarm, I was only going to snooze anyway. Standard evening Masters session for training. Lots of short stuff, mostly front crawl but some fly and medley. The short stuff wasn't too bad, although the pacing made life very tough as it meant almost no rest.
Friday was a run with some people from work. I had hoped this would be an easier run, normally they are quite short. The session turned into a bit of a fartlek style one, with some hard intervals of varying length. On the way out we had a long interval down by the new OS building, where we did 1/2 mile intervals a couple of months ago. Then on the way out to Testwood lakes we did some further 1 minute intervals. Of course all this was being done in the rain, just to make things a tad unpleasant. When we got out to the lakes there were of course plenty of puddles. These made quite a nice other game, bounding over the puddles. It was actually quite fun when there were a few strung together. On the way back we did some more intervals, starting off with some shorter intervals then we had some intervals of unknown length. Things got quite painful in those intervals. My quads and hamstrings hadn't recovered, man they hurt like something else. I ended up losing the last couple of intervals.
Saturday was to be my epic day, kicked off with an early morning run. Fridays run was a lot further than I'd counted on, and in fact only a few K of what Saturdays run was scheduled to be, still I was going to do it. Having been labelled an 'under achiever' earlier in the week I have to prove I can hit my 33 hour target for training this month. With a stag party to go to for most of the day my long run was going to have to be an early one. Hence the 0615 wake up call, on a Saturday. An hour and a half later after feeding and watering it was time to commence the faff involved in seeing me out the door for a run. What to wear? Sunnies? Where are my sunnies? Camelbak or waist pack? Which bottle in the waist pack? What flavour gels to take? Ankle brace? Needless to say I left a few minutes late, but thankfully dressed appropriately. The start of the run was nice and uneventful, off out to the Common, a snake around it then out up to the sports centre to take in Golf Course Road. Approaching the sports centre and there was obviously something going on as there were coaches everywhere and lots of college/uni girls, netball tournament or something like that. First gel at 5K, lucky dip moment in back pocket, Vanilla! I like vanilla, sort of makes me think of coffee though, not sure why. Everything was going well and I even managed to get up Golf Course Road in one piece, without having to walk. Then back to the Common for a loop of that to finish. Then there was the decision, left right or straight over at the cross? Which way is going to get me to 16K? Lets try right, nice downhill and time for the second gel, Green Apple. Yuk, how foul, I just wanted to be sick. It was horrible and sour, but sugary and sweet at the same time. Urgh, how to get the taste out of my mouth? Sips of water and it was better but urgh. I shall not be having any of those during IM, Vanilla and Strawberry/Banana for me. Onto the final loop and what had been a really pleasant run started to go south. Starting of with do incident number 1. Two dogs that decided to have a fight around my feet why the owner(s) just stood by and chatted idly. Needless to say I was not best pleased.A few hundred metres later and my got much better again. A nice MEDSOC runner to follow, seems my pace picked up a little too much and I inevitably had to pass, shame. Only to spoilt a few hundred metres later by dog incident number 2. This one really hacked me off. If you have a large dog that needs to wear a muzzle in public places why the hell do you let it run a round a busy park off the lead? The flipping dog jumped up at me, paws on chest and nearly pushed me over. There were a couple of dog owners sat on a park bench that found it funny, don't know if it was their dog as no one seemed to want to control the f****** animal. I they had then they would have got a rather unpleasant string of words I think. The anger fuelled me up the hill and soon I was on the way back. 17K done, with 90 minutes to get ready for the stag do. Perfect.
Today was of course long ride day. I was a good boy on the stag do, drinking softs in the pub during the rugby, a few glasses of wine in the restaurant with dinner, softs again at the next bar and only a double in the club, not that we stayed that long anyway. Having go to bed at 2am waking up a 8am wasn't unwelcome. What wasn't welcome was the pain that greeted me as I put my right foot on the floor. It had hurt all afternoon evening, but the blister on my instep had gotten impressive. A glance out of the curtains and it didn't look like it had rained. Might be a nice day for a ride after all. Usual pre ride routine followed and the obligatory what to wear? A trip to the bins confirmed it was chilly but not cold. Club jersey, vest, arm warmers and bib longs then. Of course my blister chose this opportunity to burst, such a good feeling, but really not a good thing. Oh well. Having faffed around way too much I set off at 1030. Surprisingly I sailed across town and soon I was out on Alington lane on my way to Winchester. The plan was to do the Winchester/Hillier Gardens/Upper Sombourne/Ampfield figure 8 loop, around 75K from memory, longer than the plan but perfectly doable. The ride was actually pretty uneventful. Good speed out to Winchester, not so good down in Hurlsey, managed to refuel on the move on the Sombourne loop, swapping bottles and opening Cliff Shot blocks. I'd forgotten how good they tasted. They hills weren't wonderful, my legs are obviously still a touch tired, but no cramping. What wasn't nice was the pain in my right foot every time I climbed out the saddle. A quick pause as I got into Ampfield for the second time to get a gel down. My legs felt great as I set off, almost like new. So heading back and decisions as to which way home, I opted for the route I thought would make 75K rather than the longer or shorter options. Off course all these options would take in the uphill section I hate; North Baddesley to Chilworth. Doesn't look to bad, but it just drags on then goes around a corner and kicks up a bit. I've tamed it, but it is always at a point in the ride when my legs are shot. I managed to get up it with one gear to spare, but I am running a triple so it is a pretty poor show. Just over 3 hours for 76km, not the best speed, but given the week of training a respectable effort I think.
I discovered why it hurt so much when I got out the saddle on the climbs tough, I have blistered under my blister. A trip to the shops and I am now the owner of a pack of Compeed blister plasters, so hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (5050m), Bike 4 hours 34 min (76km + 1hr25m turbo), Run 2 hours 50 min (30km) for a total of 9hr25m training.
Mon - Rest
Tues am - 20 min stretching
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Wed pm - 1hr25 min turbo session
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2550m)
Fri pm - 1hr17 min run (13km)
Sat am - 1hr33m run (17km)
Sun am - 3hr09m bike (76km)
Next week is meant to be another build week. I think with my foot midweek training sessions will be turbo based, hopefully with shift working I can get some sessions in before Masters too. Next weekend should be an 18km run and a 80km bike. Will have to see how things are, but may be able to push them a little more given my over distances this weekend.
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