Merry Christmas!

One last blog before Christmas! This is aimed more at people either new to triathlon or those thinking of taking up the sport. A lot of it is common sense, but since when did exercise junkies use common sense? Here are some tips and observations I’ve made since taking up the sport in 2006:

• ·         If you’re ill, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re injured, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re physically wiped out, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re just mentally tired, get your arse out there and train.
• ·         If the weather’s rubbish, get out there and train.
• ·         If the weather’s so rubbish it’s dangerous, train indoors.
• ·         A strong core is more important than you think, don’t ignore it.
• ·         To improve at swimming you need to do some swim training.
• ·         A rest day here and there is good for you.
• ·         Too many rest days in a row are not good for you.
• ·         Discover what motivates you and use it.
• ·         Cleary define your goals.
• ·         Fitness compounds year on year – keep at it.
• ·         Replenish well post workout.
• ·         Improving your marathon running will dramatically improve your IM times.
• ·         Learn to eat on the bike, have a nutrition strategy and stick with it – especially when you don’t feel like it.
• ·         Take the bike leg as easily as you can without compromising your goals. Take any free speed on offer and get up hills with as little effort as possible. Keep as much in the tank as possible for the run.
• ·         Once you get into a groove with swim training, keep it up. Stopping for a while is lethal.
• ·         To become a fast swimmer/cyclist/runner you need to swim/cycle/run fast. Sounds simple but you need to be prepared to hurt to improve.
• ·         Just because you train a lot, it doesn’t mean you can eat tonnes of rubbish.
• ·         Try and recognise injuries before they become injuries. Especially repetitive ones, don’t ignore the signs just for the sake of finishing a workout.
• ·         If you’re going to spend thousands on a great bike, spend a fraction more and get a professional bike fit.
• ·         An old station wagon makes a great tri-car.
• ·         Race with a smile and thank the volunteers and supporters. Enjoy!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and successful  2013!!

Indoor Training

Training has been just about an exclusively indoor activity just lately.

The recent cold snap has resulted in icy roads and paths which I just don’t do anymore. I used to cycle in sub-zero temperatures but a spate of crashes on the untreated country lanes rocked my confidence on a bike so much it took a full two years to fully regain. I’d rather not chance it these days and if there’s any chance of ice on the roads then I hit the turbo.

Same goes for running. Aside from weekends, the only real opportunities I get to run are in the dark and even with my head-torch on it’s hard to spot patches of ice, therefore much of my mid-week running has been done on a treadmill.

Turbo cycles and treadmill running have their pros and cons – by far the biggest con for me is boredom. Pedalling or running on the same spot for more than a couple of minutes is incredibly dull. External entertainment is essential for me to get through longer sessions with any semblance of sanity remaining.

I have a Tacx iMagic, so have the option of Virtual Reality rides and other multimedia options. I use these sometimes but most of my training is quite specific so I mainly use the Catalyst option which basically gives you the functionality and stats that a good gym bike offers.

One constant companion is music. Sometimes I use my mp3 player, sometimes I listen to my DAB radio. All variety is good. On the DAB radio, I rarely listen to the same channel twice in a row.

For sessions under 90 minutes, I usually take my Kindle along for the ride. Tri-bars with a towel over them make a great platform. For rides over 90 minutes I will sometimes hook up my laptop and either watch a movie or time my ride to coincide with a sports event I want to watch online. This really does help pass the time.

My turbo trainer is in my (unheated) garage and it’s been so cold that the last three rides have been done wearing overshoes and gloves! I really suffer in my extremities in the cold, it’s not enough to stop me riding outdoors when not icy but it is nice to finish a winter ride without the painful foot de-thawing process!

The only sessions on the turbo that I don’t use any other stimuli other than music for are the hurty ones that require 100% focus and effort. These tend to be short in duration and hard in intensity and I’m usually in too much pain to get bored. Strangely, these are my favourite turbo sessions.

As for running on a treadmill, there’s not a heck of a lot to keep your mind from going numb other than music. The machines at the gym I go to have TV monitors but I find the usual TV programmes that show between 5:30-7:30pm way more dull than running on a treadmill so nothing to be gained there. Instead I play mind games with myself, count strides to make sure my cadence is nice and high, watch myself in the mirrored glass to make sure my head is steady and my form is good.

Treadmills are good for set-pace interval workouts and also measured time trials. I don’t have a track nearby that I can use for these sorts of workouts so the treadmill provides me with a standard platform to test and measure my progress on from month to month.

Saying that, I’m gagging to get outdoors again and this weekend is looking good!!

TTFN!

The Missed Session

A missed session will decrease fitness by 12.5%.

A missed session increases the risk of accelerated fat accumulation by 342% over the subsequent 24 hours.

A missed session will scupper any chance of achieving goals.

Although I know the above statements are rubbish, I can’t help but think them every time I miss a scheduled training session.  The very word “scheduled” is also part of the problem for those of us with a slight OCD leaning. If it’s there in black and white without a tick against it, it will play on our minds until we go and sort it out. This usually means catching the session up later in the week, thereby compromising other scheduled workouts which get done at a less-than-optimal intensity.

Sometimes it just doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t.

This is something I have struggled to realise in the past. I get quite tunnel-visioned when it comes to goals and what it takes to achieve them. I tend to put these things first in the priority queue and fit everything else around them. Even realising this in myself doesn’t change the fact that I’ll continue doing it to some extent, it’s the way I’ve always been and habits of a lifetime are often difficult to change.

Life, however, has a habit of opening your eyes to what’s truly important. Over the weekend, we lost a much loved member of our family. The clarity of what really matters hit me like a tonne of bricks. Family and loved ones matter. They are top of the pile and all else should fit in around them, not vice-versa.

Life is too short and too precious. By all means, I intend on keeping fit and healthy and pursuing my sporting ambitions to the best of my ability. But I shall not be doing it at the expense of the things that really matter. If this means missing sessions here and there, then so be it.

Rest in peace Malc, a true man’s man and a joy to have as a father in law.

The Long Ride

Most endurance triathletes have at least one session on their weekly training schedule marked with the words “Long Ride”.

Some people really look forward to them but for others it looms on the horizon like a big, black cloud.

I fall into either camp depending on mainly the weather forecast. The weekend just past was awful, after studying the forecast it became apparent that there just wasn’t going to be a good time to ride so the best thing to do was to get out of bed first thing on Saturday and just get it done.

I’ll be honest here, I’m a fair-weather cyclist. I thoroughly enjoy my cycling when the sun is shining, the wind is light and it’s not freezing. A negative change to any of those variables really dents my enthusiasm towards hitting the roads.

So, with that in mind here’s a brief breakdown of a typical ride for me in rubbish conditions:

Pre-Ride

Decide on the best route for the conditions: I was scheduled to ride for 4 hours. I have a number of routes available to me but I decided the wisest move on a day such as that would be an out-and-back. This would remove the temptation to abort the ride if the conditions turned really bad and I was only a few miles from home.

Decide on best gear for the conditions: It was cold and foggy, so it was full winter gear with reflective waterproof jacket and the bike lit up.

Decide on best nutrition for the conditions: It wasn’t going to be a fast ride as I was only allowed to use two gears. I selected 53x17 and 39x17 as my gears of choice as I knew there would be a lot of climbs on this ride. As such, gels weren’t necessary – I went for 1 Powerbar cut in half and 10 cubes of M&S flapjack at 80cals per cube. 12 bits of food, enough for 1 bit every 20 minutes for 4 hours mimicking the feeding intervals I use during races. 2x750ml of water is usually enough to get me through a long winter ride.

Start of ride

The first thing I noticed was the cold on my face, the only part of me not covered by some item of clothing. Experience told me this would be fine once my face had gone numb so I ignored it.

The first 15 minutes were spent warming the legs up with a high cadence using the 39x17 gear. At this point I was feeling ever so smug at getting my arse out of the door so early.

An hour in

Visibility was very bad and hard to see anything through glasses that were soaked with mist. Off they came, although visibility wasn't improved much as the fog was getting thicker the further into the countryside I got. Still feeling ok and enjoying being in the countryside while the roads were still quiet. Still feeling quite smug.

Halfway

Despite losing the feeling in my feet, I reached the turnaround point at 2 hours still in pretty good spirits. I still felt strong and the fog had cleared. I made an internal cheer as a hint of sunshine broke through the mist!!

10 minutes later

It was pissing down with rain. Very cold rain. I was still a very long way from home and I knew it was important to keep working hard. Again, experience from previous winters told me that if I let my HR drop too much my core temperature would drop and that can sometimes mean real trouble.

I switched my Garmin 910XT (strapped to my handlebars) over to the display with the Heart Rate and off the display with the speed. Going slower than you usually go can sometimes be dispiriting so best not have that particular fact staring me in the face. Keeping the HR up was the most important factor at the time.

The smug feeling was quickly being replaced by feeling slightly daft.

The last hour

Now getting very wet, sealskin lined gloves are great retainers for water. Core temperature was OK, but my sense of wellbeing was being sorely tested with each vehicle that sent spray over me – especially the bastard trucks. I also prayed that Santa would be very cruel to the brat who laughed at me through the back window of one of the passing cars. My sense of humour had well and truly deserted me at this point.

The end

I threw my bike in the garage, I’d deal with unloading and stacking it properly later. I didn’t even take my Garmin off it as I wasn’t particularly interested in shitty stats of a shitty ride at that moment in time.

The best bit

I stripped off next to the washing machine (into which all my gear went). I then made a huge mug of hot chocolate and climbed back into bed where I stayed until my feet thawed out.

Guess what, the smug feeling returned at getting that ride completed in those conditions to the point where I took to Facebook and Twitter to gloat.

What next?

Same again this weekend!

TTFN!

Motivation

mo·ti·va·tion/ˌmōtəˈvāSHən/

Noun:

.        1. The reason or reasons one has for  acting or behaving in a particular way.            2. The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

Motivation is a funny thing. It’s a word that just about everybody will apply to their self on a daily basis. We all have this is common. However, where a lot of us differ is our motivating factors.

A motivating factor for one person may be positively de-motivating for the next. Learning and accepting what your motivating factors are and using them can go a long way in achieving one’s goals.

Fear of failure is definitely the biggest of my motivating factors. This is why I usually go public with my goals and expectations of my races. In my mind, if I don’t meet these goals then I’ve failed and everyone knows I’ve failed. This gets me out training and also keeps me going in races when all I really want to do is stop.

A friend made a comment last week whilst congratulating a mate of his who broke 1:30 for a half marathon, as it being something that both him and I had tried and failed at. He knew this because I did my usual Facebook/Twitter/Blog trick of telling everyone I knew (and a lot I didn’t know) that I was gunning for a sub 1:30 in the MK Half Marathon in March and I missed it by about a minute. I had failed and everyone knew I had. I was just about over it (but not quite!) when he unknowingly re-opened the wounds. Lol

So, what did I do that evening? I had a scheduled 1:30 run to do anyway so I made sure I ran more than 21.1km whilst doing it, I actually passed the HM distance in 1:28:56. It was on a treadmill so doesn’t really count as a half-marathon PB but it made me feel better. J

Of course the silliness of proving that point knackered my legs for 2 days but that didn’t matter.

Hence the major reason and title of this blog. Yes, I’m probably bigging myself up a bit with my lofty aims and I know there will be those who read my blog who will think I’m being over-confident and will be willing me to fall flat on my face. I’ve had a couple of emails from friends who think my target times are beyond my ability, but all that does is invoke another motivating factor: “wanting to prove people wrong”.

Another major motivating factor for me is competition. I usually get involved in “Smackdowns” with friends around my ability doing these races. The way it works is you can either issue a Smackdown or accept a Smackdown off a rival. Once a Smackdown pact has been made, all manner of trash-talk prior to and during a race is expected. It’s all good natured fun but it does add spice and having people to chase or knowing that others are chasing you really does push you harder during the race. 

Let’s face it, I’ll need all the motivation I can get over the next few months to get myself into the shape I need to be in standing (or treading water to be more accurate) on the start line. Once the gun goes, I shouldn’t need any more motivation than the carrot that’s waiting for me at the finish line.

TTFN!!

Weighty Issues

For Halloween my daughter dressed up as me 15 years ago!

Along with swimming, weight has been an enigma of mine for as long as I can remember.

I was a chubby kid and a stocky teenager, it was in my early 20s that I accepted that to manage my weight I had to exercise more that the average person.

I was playing football at quite a serious level at the time which required squad training sessions every Tuesday and Thursday evening and a match on Sunday. For most of the lads, this was ample – but not for me. To maintain my playing weight I needed to hit the gym every lunch hour and run on the evenings when there wasn’t training.  And I watched what I ate and drank.

My playing weight was 71kgs which I maintained up until around the age of 29-30 when babies and work demoted football to more of a hobby than anything serious. The gym stopped and the running became less frequent and the weight piled on. I peaked around 94kgs following a stint when I was based in Texas where they do EVERYTHING bigger – especially meals!

After moving back to the UK I wanted to start playing football again, so I picked up the training and cut down on the food and managed to get down around 79-80kgs. I found I could maintain this weight but only if I trained at least 4 days a week. If the training stopped for whatever reason, the weight piled on. I could pack up 4kgs in a week’s holiday very easily.

Clearly the problem was food. Exercise (and a lot of it) managed to keep my weight in check, but even when I was trim I felt there was a fat person bursting to get out.

Constantly striving to be 71kgs again had become my raison d'être. I’ve come close a few times and sabotaged myself with binging and laziness. It was almost as though attaining that goal would leave me without purpose.

I’ve been accused (rightly) of being obsessed about my weight. Rach often says we place way too much emphasis and importance on food, also correct. Rach, being a Hypnotherapist, works with a lot of very overweight people who have similar issues to what I’ve had.

Yes, “had” – past tense. I think we’ve cracked the Yo-Yo weight gain-loss cycle and have finally got it all under control without even having to think about it too much anymore.

The secret was to make eating correctly part of everyday life and “normal”. As simple and obvious as that.

About a year ago we adopted the Paleo for Athletes philosophy. 90% of the time we eat pure Paleo with specific post-exercise windows for taking on extra protein and carb. Bread, pasta, rice  and potatoes dramatically disappeared from our diets and were replaced with meat, vegetables and fruit. Like any new diet, it took a while to adjust but now it’s completely natural.

Now that it’s the norm, we no longer beat ourselves up for the odd non-Paleo meal if we’re out for dinner or even if we just fancy something different. It’s not like smoking where one careless smoke can break someone’s resolve completely. We actually enjoy the food we eat and being on this diet isn’t viewed as a hardship at all.

As a result of eating this way, I very quickly dropped back to around 73-74kgs and have stayed there all year. My race weight for 2012 was 71-72kgs which was achieved naturally by the increased training hours with no real changes required to the diet. The weight loss was all fat and I think I’ve actually gained muscle mass during this time.

Unlike other fad diets, Paleo eating makes sense. Just eat what we as humans were intended to eat. Except sprouts. And fish. Yuk.

So, less weight and more muscle mass – the holy grail as far as going faster on the bike and running are concerned. I’m certain this was the main factor in my setting PBs this year and I’m hopefully of continuing this trend into 2013.

I’ve still got a bit of padding to lose and the aim will be to drop to 69-70kgs whilst maintaining or maybe even gaining muscle mass in the legs. Every little bit helps!!

TTFN!

Not a Real Ironman

“You’re not a real Ironman unless you’ve gone under 12 hours”

I’ve heard and read this on numerous occasions over the years. I did my first IM in 2007 at Sherbourne. Afterwards I spent 3 hours in the medical tent being attended to by a nurse and two masseurs who tried valiantly to stop every muscle in both legs from locking up in cramp if I so much as moved my big toe. I missed seeing my wife finish her first IM because of this and then later she had to drive me back to the hotel (after I was driven off the Sherbourne Castle grounds in an ambulance). I managed half a glass of the bottle of celebratory champagne we’d arranged to be waiting in our room for when we got back before crashing completely. It was 4 days before I could walk properly again. I left it all on the course that day and definitely considered myself an Ironman. My finishing time was 12:30. When someone made that comment above on the TriTalk Forum it hurt more than I cared to admit.

But it spurred me on. Next time I would go under 12 hours.

That next time was IM Austria in 2008. I thought I was in shape for a sub-11:30 but finished in 11:46. I don’t think I overestimated my own abilities when aiming for the 11:30 milestone, I’m sure I was physically fit enough but nutrition issues let me down that day, something I didn’t pay enough attention to on the bike really cost me on the run. Lesson learned. But at least this time I was there to see Rach finish an Ironman which was fantastic and was also progress!

My next Iron Distance race was the Forestman in 2010. I wanted to go sub-12 in this race, not because I wasn’t as fit as I was for IMA, but because the course was much tougher. It was a brutally hot day also, but I got my nutrition issues sorted and finally was able to run without the usual stomach cramps every time I took on food or drink. I finished in 11:50, which sounds a modest time but was good enough to win my age group. For the first time I could enjoy a beer and some food after an Iron distance event and soak up the atmosphere at the finishing line. I finally felt like I was starting to get the measure of this distance.

Then a few days later I was browsing the Slowtwitch forum and read the following gem:

“You’re not a real Ironman unless you’ve gone under 11 hours”

This time it really didn’t bother me at all to be honest because I knew it was a load of bollocks written by an extremely ignorant poster. I had 3 Iron distance results under my belt by then (and also a Double Iron distance race) and I knew I’d put the same effort into all the races, the only variable being the speed I was going for that effort.

But still, I like a challenge and set a sub-11 as my next milestone. I achieved this at The Outlaw in 2011 with just 40 seconds to spare and then again this year with 17 minutes in hand.

I’d like to think I’m capable of going sub-10 at some time in the future. I’m realistic enough to know it will take a combination of me having an exceptional race on a quick course in perfect conditions to do it but it’s something I’d love to achieve. Because as we all know, you’re not a real Ironman unless you’ve gone under 10 hours. ;-D

Hola from Spain!

A few years ago, before either of us even considered triathlon, we invested in a holiday home in Spain. The rationale back then was that with 6 kids between us it would cost just as much to pay a mortgage on a foreign property for a year as it would to give our offspring a continental holiday each summer.

The kids have grown up since then and are not too interested in going on holiday with their parents but rather fortunately for us our house is situated in just about perfect triathlon training terrain. We’re inland with loads of great roads, hills and mountains and scenic lakes. There are some challenging run routes, off-road and on-road and the village has just installed a lovely 25m outdoor pool. Perfecto!

We keep a couple of road bikes out here to train on and on this trip we invested in a mountain bike each. We didn’t intend to, but we ambling through a 2^nd hand market on Saturday laughing about the amount of useless tat that they had on sale when we spotted two bikes that looked in ok nick. In fact, the woman’s bike looked like it had hardly been used. The vendor was selling them for 60 Euro each (cheap for Spain!) but we managed to get them for 80 Euro for the pair. I spent a couple of hours getting the gears indexed, brakes working and a general lube and they were good to go.

It has been several years since I mountain biked and I forgot how much fun it was. The trails here are great but the ones I took Rach on for her first ever MTB ride may have been a little advanced.

We’ve been out on the bikes every day since we’ve been here so far and a couple of runs. The weather at this time of the year is perfect, low 20s Celcius. In the summer it gets a bit too hot and training is restricted to earlier or later in the day – especially running.

We try and get out here as much as we can these days. We came out just for a long weekend about 3 weeks before The Outlaw in the summer and it was perfect for getting the peak training sessions in without the distractions that come with being at home. When there’s nothing else to do other that train, rest, relax and eat & drink then it makes it easy and the scenery here makes it much more pleasurable. I know a lot of people who go on training camps for this sort of thing, but it’s nice to have it there available whenever you need it. I’m hoping it’s one of those little advantages I can use in my favour on the quest for a Kona spot next year!!

Anyway, must dash – got a mountain I need to climb. Adios!!

TTFN!

Winter Miles

I love training, always have and hopefully always will.

As a footballer, I rarely missed a session. My favourite time of the year for footy training was winter, under the lights. Everybody working so hard that they’re steaming like carthorses and it’s so cold that the only way to keep warm was to work even harder.

My football days are long behind me now but the love of the training is still there. Just as well I suppose as preparing for an Iron distance race would be a real grind elsewise! Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I have to force myself to train, but once I get going I’m in my element.

The main example of this is swimming. I’m guessing most triathletes are the same in this regard. I’m betting there are very few of us who leap out of bed at 6am on a dark, cold, wet morning full of enthusiasm to hit the lanes of the local pool! Once I’m there and I’ve pushed off for that first length then I’m fine but up until that point I’m the epitome of ‘grumpy’. However once the session is finished I feel great. There’s nothing like a decent swim to work out any residual muscle soreness from bike & run I find.

I just need to maintain the discipline to get up and go throughout the winter. This has beaten me in previous years but I can’t afford to let it slide this time. I’ve not had to scrape ice or snow off my windscreen yet – that’s when the real test of my resolve will come.

Long outdoor rides during the winter have suffered the last year or two also. In the first few years of IM I was good at putting the winter miles in so I’m not too sure why it slipped away. I think part of the reason was boredom as I tended to do the same routes over and over again. This year I’m going to make an effort to ride different roads, if I get lost – so what. Also changing the nature of the ride should keep things interesting. Hill reps, fixed gear rides, etc. The weekday rides will all be on the turbo, I’m not a big fan of riding the roads at night – I’ve had enough accidents as it is without the odds being stacked even more against me.

Running ... what can I say? I’ve always enjoyed running and I’m loving it more than ever at the moment. I don’t even mind running on a treadmill but much prefer to be outside. Sunday’s long run was one of the more enjoyable ones. The first 10km was at a comfortable HR around 80% of max HR then gradually picking it up for the second 10km up to 90% at the end. The route was half on-road and half off-road through rural Buckinghamshire – a lot of which I brought back home on my person.

So far, I’ve managed to get out for just about all my scheduled swims, bikes and runs. Having a specific, ambitious goal (Kona!) really is helping. On those mornings when the alarm has gone off and I’m contemplating blowing the session out (which is just about every morning if I’m being honest), I ask myself “Will your rivals be skipping training this morning?” This is usually enough to get me out there.

The exception is if I’m just plain knackered. I’ve been doing this long enough now to recognise the difference between physical exhaustion and mental tiredness. Last week I had to bin a fartlek run halfway through as I had nothing to give. I’d done a few hard sessions earlier in the week which may have affected things but it was my heart rate that persuaded me to stop. It was about 10bpm higher than it normally was for the pace I was running and I felt generally dreadful. I decided to listen to my body and called it a day. A few years ago I would have beaten myself up over this but I knew it was a blip which was proven a couple of days later during the long run.

So, what is the secret of training through the winter? Make your training enjoyable. Do new things to keep it interesting. Make your training relevant – every session should have a purpose. Have a goal and keep it in mind at all times. Listen to your body!

TTFN!

Roade Sprint Race Report

Terry Wooton Roade Triathlon – 30-Sep-2012

The Roade Sprint is a funny little event. The venue and course suggests a small, local race but every year it seems to attract between 400-600 participants.

It is a pool-based triathlon based at a school. The pool is an unusual 23m long and you do 18 lengths for a total distance of 414m. T1 is in the school field just outside the pool, with a 150m run to the cycle mount/dismount line. The run is a 2 lap out-and-back through a suburb and back around the school field with the finishing chute at the end of lap 2 on the field.

Being only a small 4 lane pool, waves were set of in groups of 4 every 2 minutes seeded by your normal 400m time that you submitted upon entry. Slowest went first around 7am with the quickest swimmers not starting until around 1pm. Rach’s start time was around 10:15 and I went about an hour later. Normally that meant there were 4 people in each lane at any one time. If everyone was honest about the swim time they submitted, this would have worked well. Unfortunately there were those who knew the system and wanted to get their race done early so logged a time much slower than they were capable of. This caused loads of issues with dodgy overtaking, head-on collisions, etc. I remember commenting that I’d been in more civilised Ironman swims!

The later starts for us meant for once we could wake up at a reasonable hour. Roade is only 20 minutes drive from MK so we had a bit of breakfast and bimbled our way over. Registration was quick and easy and we racked and watched the earlier waves go until it was Rach’s turn to make her way to the pool. It was by far the most relaxed I’ve seen her before a race, so I knew she’d go well.

I watched her first few lengths then went into transition to yell encouragement to her there as she set off on the bike. I got myself sorted and waited for my turn.

The Race

Swim – 414m

Fortunately the lane I was assigned looked orderly with everyone around the same speed. When we were told to go I had the best part of a length clear in front of me. Unbelievably I got a clear swim the entire time and never had feet in front of me nor anyone tapping on mine. The water was extremely choppy though! I swam ok and felt relaxed throughout but probably could have pushed more as I was barely breathing heavily when I exited the pool. The swim split was recorded at a mat outside the pool so the split for 414m, getting out of the pool and out of the building wasn’t too bad for me.

Swim – 7:59

T1 

I thought I was pretty slick through T1 but the split suggests otherwise!

T1 – 1:41

Bike – 18km

Getting out of the suburb was about the only issue I had. Within a minute of starting the bike I had to bunny-hop onto the kerb to avoid a head-on with a Tesco delivery van on my side of the road going around parked cars. That got my HR up!!

Once out onto the open roads I started to put the foot down and have a good time. Being a slow swimmer and an ok cyclist meant I tend to do a lot of overtaking.  The bike course had a couple of drags up slight inclines but nothing that could really be classed as a hill. There was one left hander that was > 90 degrees that required a bit of concentration but other than that I found it all pretty straightforward and surprisingly unaffected by traffic. I managed an average speed of around 36kph which I was a little disappointed with given I’d maintained the same speed over 45km a couple of weeks prior, but I suppose when you predominantly train for endurance you become a little one-paced.

Bike (+ runs to & from mount/dismount line) 30:24

T2 

Uncomplicated and quick (for once!)

T2 - 00:48

Run – 4.3km

As usual in sprints, the start of the run felt hideous and I felt like I was running very slowly out of T2. Rach (who had already finished) reckoned I went off like a rocket which shows how different your perception is when you’re out there! The wind was really picking up and the run out to the turnaround point was into it. Saying that, the run out was very short and before I knew it I was on my way back to HQ for the first time.

I expected a shout from Rach at the turnaround point but she was getting herself a cup of tea – she reckoned she wasn’t expecting me back so quickly! I pinned my ears back and gave it everything on the 2^nd loop knowing that the course was short and I’d only have to endure the pain less than 10 minutes and that I had of chance of breaking an hour in a sprint. (I know, the bike & run were short but you grab these chances when they occur!)

Rach had her cuppa and was there to cheer me over the line. I was knackered but the nice thing about sprints is that you’re just about fully recovered within a minute!

Run – 17:42

Total – 58:36   28/478 overall finishers   4/67 in M45-49

Rach had a great race and finished 3^rd in her AG – result!!

We hung around a little while and watched the real quickies finish. These included a couple of our mates, Rob & Kat who each finished 2^nd overall male and female. Impressive!

All in all a good little event, albeit a bit hectic in places. 

TTFN!

Kona Race Report

The preparation leading up to the event went well. We went into Bletchley town centre and got batteries put into 3 dead sports watches (marginally cheaper than buying new ones), had a Costa Coffee and some cake to start the carb-load for the endurance feat that lay ahead, then nipped into Sainsburys for nutrition to see us through the event – Hawaiian Pizzas, Beer, Barcardi and Pineapple & Coconut juice for the Pina Coladas.

We got to HQ in plenty of time to set up the equipment, getting the ironman.com live feed going and hooked up to the TV in the lounge and Facebook/Twitter on my mobile. We were ready!

Before we knew it, the pros were off. I marvelled at how effortless they made the swim look. It was all quite civilised for the pros with so few of them going off at the same time. The Age Grouper’s start just looked plain scary! I’ve been in quite a few mass starts now, including IM Austria which resembled what Kona looked like. I used to handle them ok, but in the last couple of years I’ve developed the annoying tendency to suffer anxiety attacks when swimming in packs at the start of swims. I’m ok once my breathing settles, but sometimes it takes a while to get there. This is something I really need to get over as I can’t afford to lose 5 minutes on my rivals before the race has even begun!!

Anyway, onto the bike and watching the route with interest. The surface looked lovely and smooth, not like the potholed, metal surfaces we have to put up with locally. The hills didn’t look too bad, although it was hard to tell from the camera angles. It was the things you can’t see on TV that seemed to be the main challenges on the bike, the wind and the heat.

Entering the last hour on the bike, I changed my nutrition strategy from beer to Pina Colada and thought it would be wise to get some solids on board, so we stuck the pizza in the oven.

The run looked quite brutal. I’ve never seen people take so much from each aid station. It looked like a supermarket grab at times with athletes taking anything they could lay their hands on. I’ve biked and run in severe heat quite a bit and am not too bad at it, but this did look extreme.

Pete Jacobs was dominant on the run, it was so impressive. Just his ability and presence pushed Marino over the brink, but hats off to him to going for it. He could easily of took his foot off the gas and settled for a podium, but took the “death or glory” approach instead. I like that sort of attitude.

Leanda Cave was equally impressive. A very well judged run, she knew what she had to do and paced it to perfection.  Unlike Rach, who crashed on the sofa an hour into the run. She took on too much of the Barcardi-based nutrition and DNF’d. Hopefully she will learn from this experience when she’s in Hawaii supporting next year!

I made it until the first Age Grouper came over the line. It was past 3am and I was whacked. I loved watching it though and learned/reinforced a few lessons, not just about Kona but racing in general.  

This time next year ... !

TTFN!

Kona baby!

Two blog posts in a day?? Ah, but it's a special day ... it's Kona day!!

I'm at home wearing my Hawaiian shirt, Hawaiian pizzas ready for the oven, Pina Coladas and beers in the fridge and the laptop hooked up to the big screen ready to stream the coverage off the ironman.com website!

I'll be paying extra special attention this year as I really want to be at the other end of the webcast stream this time next year!

Not that we haven't got a personal interest in this year's event. Our mate Savaloy (or Matt Malloy as some people call him for some reason) is there competing for the 2nd year running. Sav's a bit of a beast and I reckon he'll be gunning for sub-9 in a few hours time. 

Kona is the pinnacle of most of us triathletes' sporting career. I know and can appreciate the cynical view that here is a World Championship run by WTC that you can only qualify for by spending a large amount of cash to do one of WTC's regional events. If you are good and/or lucky enough to qualify, you still need to spend another large amount of cash to enter the Kona event, then pay for flights, accommodation, etc, etc, etc. It's a huge money spinner for WTC, but people sign up and pay for it nonetheless - me included. When I do make it, it'll probably be a one-off I think but I will enjoy every second of the experience!

After I've been and done Kona, I'll probably only return there when Rach qualifies! :)

Looking forward to the Facebook and Twitter banter later, it's going to be a long night - better crack open a beer and get warmed up!!

TTFN & Aloha!

Ringwood Triathlon Race Report

Ringwood Tri - 16.09.2012

Rach found this event online about 10 days prior to it happening, so it was definitely a spur of the moment decision to race it.

When she asked me if I fancied it, I had a quick look at the bike course and was sold. Rach & I are both regular racers where it comes to New Forest events. Personally, it's my favourite part of the UK to ride a bike. Cycling there is almost a privilege as well as a pleasure. If you’ve never visited the New Forest (let alone raced there) then you’ve missed out!

In the past all our New Forest racing has been in events organised by the very excellent Race New Forest team.  In fact, my one and only AG win in an Iron Distance race came in the Forestman so the place has a special place in my heart!

The Ringwood Triathlon however was the first race we've done that was organised by Results Triathlon. The organisers may have been different, but the friendliness and feel of the event was no more welcoming. New Forest events tend to be smaller events raced by mainly locals which surprises me as this area is well worth the trip!

We travelled up on Saturday morning, arrived and registered then went and bought a picnic lunch and found a lovely spot in the Forest to eat it. Never one to miss an opportunity to ride in the Forest, I went an recce’d the course and was pleased to see I maintained an average speed of over 30kph at easy recce pace. The course went up the famous Bolderwood Ornamental Drive which is about 2-3km of stead climbing with a sting in the tail through some stunning scenery. A lot of NF races use this road and it was good to be riding it again. I got held up a couple of times on the recce by the wildlife that roams free there and hoped for a clearer ride on the day, but that’s one of the things about racing there that you need to accept.

Race Day

Alarm went a 6am, a bit of toast and jam then off to the leisure centre. The race was fairly unusual distance-wise with a 600m pool swim, a 45km bike and a 9km run. Being a short swim but standard-ish bike and run suited my strengths and weaknesses somewhat.

Rach’s wave went off about 25 minutes before mine. I watched her finish her swim from the viewing area before heading down for my wave. There were 4 in my lane and after a quick chat it was established that I was probably marginally the quickest (THAT doesn’t happen often!!). But the way the start was seeded, I had to go off last – 10 seconds after the person in front of me.

I quickly caught the person in front and stayed on their feet. By the end of length 2 we were all in a line of 4. I stayed put conserving energy until length 6 when I started tapping feet. By the 8^th length I was in front and stayed there until the end. I never really pushed too hard (one of my problems with swimming) and got out with a split of 11:09 – about where I expected to be.

T1 was pretty straightforward then onto the bike. Unlike the glorious sunshine I had for my recce, race day was pretty grey and cool but quite still which made for a pretty quick bike. I found my rhythm nice and quickly and was passing people regularly. It wasn’t long before I was past everyone in my wave and making in-roads into people from earlier waves. The ride flew by and I was loving every second of it. My split for the 45km + T1 + T2 was 1:19:27, average speed on the bike was about 35kph.

Quickly onto the run and I was maxing from the start. I went through the first km in 4:07 and didn’t think I could sustain that so I slowed a little to 4:15/km pace until I felt settled. Some young lad that I passed towards the end of the bike leg flew by me at this stage – the only time I was overtaken on the whole bike & run.

Shortly after I went passed Rach who was running well. Soon my breathing settled and I steadied on a pace between 4:10-4:15/km. I held this until 7km and managed a bit of a kick (but not much!) to record a run split of 39:30. I would have liked to have gone a bit quicker and probably could have as I certainly didn’t feel like I’d left it all out on the course after I finished.

My total time was 2:10:06, which put me 9^th/117 overall and 2^nd in my age group. Happy with that!!

Not too long afterwards Rach came in looking strong and happy.

All in all a cracking little event. They run a race over the same course in the spring which we’ll probably go do next year just for the fun of it!

TTFN!

Bloody Swimming!

Swimming. The bane of my triathlon life. The thing that makes duathlon look inviting.

Some years I try very hard, some years I ignore it. It doesn’t seem to make much difference, I’m still crap at it. When I was training for the Double Ironman I was swimming 3-4 times a week with a very long swim on Saturday morning. That was when my swimming was at its most comfortable and quickest. I had my 500m down to about 8:50, so nothing really to scare the real swimmers out there. These days my 500m times around up around 9:30. In a word, shit.

I know what the problem is though, which I suppose is the first step to improvement. It’s my legs. Not only do they not propel me, they slow me down.

Yesterday morning I did a little experiment to prove this. I did 5 x 500m timed sets at around 85% effort:

Set 1: Pull Buoy :  9:38

Set 2: Fins : 9:45

Set 3: Pull Buoy and hand paddles: 9:30

Sets 4&5: Free swim 9:50, 9:55

My fastest sets were ones where my legs were raised using a pull buoy. Most swimmers’ fastest set by far would have been the one using the fins. At least I know the problem but fixing it is another matter.

When I use a kickboard, I don’t go anywhere. It’s like running on a treadmill, I can kick like hell and stay still. Mind you, this is progress ... I used to go backwards!

“Get a coach! “ I hear you cry. I’ve had Total Immersion coaching, triathlon club coaching, tips from mates, a coaching course from a member of the GB Olympic Swim team, coached sessions at the local pool most Wednesday mornings. I’m just not getting it and it’s really starting to vex me!

I still remember broaching the subject with the Olympian. He didn’t believe it was possible to go backwards when kicking with a kickboard. The look on his face was priceless when I showed him how annoyingly possible it was. So I had someone who has spent a very large proportion of his life in and around swimming pools telling me I was doing something he’d never seen done in a pool before ... niiiice!

Back to the drawing board then! I’m going to allocate a session per week to working on my kick as until I do this then it’s obvious I’ll be limited in my improvement and I need a LOT of improvement! My last IM swim split was 79 minutes, I need to get that down to 65 minute. So, all kick drill tips gratefully received!!

On a positive note, enthusiasm for training is very high considering the Tri season finished on Sunday. I re-introduced leg weights at the gym on Monday and still have the DOMS to prove it today! I also picked up the core work again, something I was religious about during pre-season but let slip a bit during the season. I still managed to plank for 5:16, so the slippage wasn’t disastrous. Add in a couple of 2.5k swims and a steady turbo trainer session and all is good. Planning on an easy run tonight to sort these DOMS out.

TTFN!

*      Thanks again to Sue Jarman for the photo!

End of Season Flurry

One of the things I don’t really like about endurance sport is that the training hours: racing hours ratio is pretty poor. To put it simply, you do a lot of training for very few races.

There are people out there with better rates of recovery who can race endurance events week in, week out – but I’m not one of them. I need a complete week off after a marathon or an iron distance race, then an easy “recovery week” before I can resume training properly again. I wouldn’t even contemplate racing again for a month after one of these events.  The MK Marathon in April knocked me on my back for a whole month, I caught every bug going and my legs felt like lead for ages.

Up until a few weeks ago, the sum of my 2012 racing was:

1 x Half marathon

1 x Marathon

1 x Standard Triathlon

1 x Middle Distance Triathlon

1 x Iron Distance Triathlon

A grand total of five races! Weigh that up against the hundreds of hours of training I’d put in, it’s a bit disproportional. I enjoy training, but I love racing. Racing is the reason we train, it’s what gets our juices flowing. They are also nice and social too. Rach & I have been on the tri scene for about 6 years now and have met loads of great people from across the country. Races are where we get to catch up with them face to face and talk about training, the race to come and afterwards exchange the war stories about the race just completed. Facebook and the forums are good to keep touch in between races, but you can’t beat seeing people in the flesh (ooh err!).

So, our end-of-season flurry of races has been great fun: Rach & I have raced 3 times in the past 4 weeks. One standard triathlon and two local sprints – all pool based. All have been quite low-key and had nothing really riding on them. We did them for the pure fun of it and I thoroughly enjoyed each one. I haven’t got round to writing race reports yet (most unlike me) but I will over the next few days.  I’m no sprinter and am a bit one-paced (my average running speed was the same for the standard as it was for the sprints!) but I finished in pretty respectable times and placed quite highly.

We’re in the process of planning our race schedule for next season. I’d like to race a little more but I need to keep focussed on what I’m trying to achieve. Every race must be significant and have a direct purpose on the goal at the end. I will repeat the run focus with the aim of running a fast marathon at London and carrying that run speed into the season. Prior to that, I want to run a fast half marathon. My PB is 1:31, that needs to be dropped well under 1:30. I’d like to race some hard duathlons in the spring to sharpen up for tri season. Maybe a tough sportif or two, then I’m thinking of a Sprint, a Standard and one or two Middles leading up to IMUK. The timing of these races is important and allowing the right amount of recovery time without disrupting training too much is crucial.

Rach is putting together her race schedule for next season also. For the first time since we took up triathlon we have vastly different agendas. She’s concentrating on short course and speed next year whilst I’m ... errrm ... not. We’ve historically raced the same races but I’m looking forward to cheering her on from the sidelines. We’ll get a few races in together earlier in the season which will be enjoyable. :)

TTFN!

Thanks to Sue Jarmin for the photo!

Mind Games

My gorgeous wife, Rachael, posted this picture on Facebook this morning and linked it to me. I think it sums me up rather well.

Rach is a Hypnotherapist and is studying Psychology at the excellent Open University. She is the founder of the Hypnolife Centre and is very successful in identifying how different people tick upstairs. Her current OU course is all about Psychology in sport, which I think will be helpful to both of us in the years to come. I haven’t talked to her yet about it, but I suspect she was planting another little message for my brain to absorb. She’s good at this. I suspect her shopping for bikinis to wear in Hawaii was another “message” ;-D

The mind is a powerful weapon and is as important to athletic success as a decent pair of legs.

I used to think I had to place pressure on myself in order to perform to my own expectations. I usually publically predicted a podium if I thought it was possible, or an ambitious time target. Not wanting to look like a prat was an obvious driving factor during the races – there was no way I wanted to report a failure once I went on record predicting I was going to achieve something.

Usually this went well. I predicted podium age-group finishes in a couple of smaller events and duly came 2^nd in a middle distance (half Ironman distance) and a 1^st in an Iron Distance event. I took it further in 2011 and predicted I would go sub-11 in The Outlaw and achieved that – albeit by only a few seconds! Earlier this year I went on record as saying I wanted to go sub 3:15 at The Milton Keynes Marathon in order to get a “Good For Age” slot in the 2013 Virgin London Marathon. Despite the horrendous conditions that day and the subsequent extra 400m added to the course to get around flooding, I came in at 3:14:00. I still don’t know how I pulled that one off as my previous best was 3:29!

Strangely enough, the race that convinced me to have a go at qualification was the exception to this trend. A complete lack of swim/bike training had me playing down my chances instead of talking them up. I honestly thought I would struggle to break 11 hours and went on record with a prediction of 11:30. Going into the race with no expectations was actually quite strange and I was the most blasé I’ve ever been standing on the start line of an Iron Distance race.

Did this result in a better performance? I don’t think so. I think having a great base after 5 years of going long definitely helped. A winter/spring of marathon training definitely helped also. But having someone who knows how your mind works and can manipulate it definitely helped most.

Although I predicted 11:30, Rach told me I’d do it in 10:45. I ended up finishing in 10:42. I think I’ll leave the predictions up to her in future. She tells me I’m going to qualify, it’s a done deal.

Who am I to argue?

TTFN!