Found Out!

Before all the pain!

The start line of a marathon isn't really a good place to be if you haven't prepared yourself properly. Unless, of course, you're just going to satisfy yourself by pootling around the course well within your capabilities. The last thing you should consider doing is setting off chasing a 10 minute PB. That would be silly.

So, when the claxon sounded I took off at 4:20 pace with a 3:05 target in mind (my PB is 3:14). This target was based on the 1:27 I set in the MK Half back in March. This in itself makes sense, but when you factor in that I haven't had a longer run than that since, with a 3 week (4 weekend) holiday in Australia and an extra 3 kgs on the waistline as a result then it doesn't make any sense at all.

Fact is, I was conceited/complacent enough to believe that my residual fitness would carry me through fine. In fact, the CV fitness probably would have but to run a decent marathon you must have the miles in your legs. I didn't.

Despite the years of experience of doing these things I'm still prone to making the obvious rookie mistakes. Things like being on the shoulder of the sub-3:00 pace maker at the 3-mile marker for instance. It was at this point I came to my senses a little and realised that this pace wasn't going to feel this comfortable for too much longer. I backed off a bit but was still ticking over 4:20min kilometres.

My longest run since the half marathon was 10 miles. Predictably it was just about exactly at the 10 mile marker that the wheels fell off.

Rachael was cycling around the course stopping at various spots to take photos and shout support. I decided that when I next saw her I’d step off the course as I just couldn’t see how I was going to run out the full 26.2 miles. It seemed to take ages until she popped up around the half-way point. I stopped and told her that I was pulling out. She told me to man up and get it finished, that she’s seen me in much worse states with further to run and still finish. She also helped re-parameterise the remainder of the run as IM training rather than a race. This helped as it gave value to me continuing. I tried various things to keep going; run-walk was resulting in 6min kilometres, which was hopeless. In the end I settled for the tried and trusted Ironman Shuffle. The kilometre splits gradually started to get better and by the last few kilometres I was under 5min/km pace again. It wasn’t pretty but I dug in and got there in 3:24:54. 

I was disappointed with my time but quite proud of the way I battled for the best part of 16 miles. Once Rach kicked my butt I had to put my head somewhere to ignore the pain and get to the finish line. In the end, I had a well-earned medal, 26.2 miles in the legs, some more experience (that I’m likely to ignore in the future), a nice tan and most importantly – a firm agreement with myself that I’ll not allow myself to stand on the start line of an event under-prepared ever again. The long weekend sessions are key sessions and need to be hit from here on in if I’m going to stand half a chance of getting to Kona.

If you don’t prepare for one of endurance events properly, they find you out very quickly and boy was I found out!!


TTFN!!!

Early Season Racing

The blog has slipped somewhat but I'm still here and still have the goals in place.

I've had the usual assortment of early season races; a couple of cold duathlons, a half marathon and a pool sprint triathlon. My early season form has been pretty good without really setting any houses on fire. My running has been strong but my cycling has been a bit ordinary, largely due to me not getting my bike out on the roads.

The first race of the season was the Dorney Sprint Duathlon in early February. It was a bright and very breezy day at Dorney Lake and pretty cold. I managed the first 5km runs in 20:23 and 21:16 and the 20km bike in 33:36, but my transitions were slow. I finished 5th Vet which I was quite pleased with over sprint distance.

My next race was the Althorp Standard Duathlon at the start of March. I had a pretty good race here and won my Age Group and finished 18th overall. My run splits were 39:40 and 19:18 but my bike was a little disappointing at 1:15 (the bike was a bit long and the run was a bit short). Still, a win's a win and I received a nice trophy so pretty chuffed. My wife, Rachael, qualified for the GB team for the ETU sprint duathlon at the same event so it was a great day all round for the Slacko household.

Later in March was the MK Half Marathon. This was the first real test of the year as I was chasing a long coveted sub 1:30. Despite the usual horrendous weather this event seems to be cursed with, I had a great run and recorded a 1:27:13. Almost as pleasing was the recovery from this race, no soreness whatsoever.

Then came a 3 week holiday to visit family in Australia where training suffered somewhat but a very good time was had!

Last weekend I did a pool sprint at Bedford. It toom me a minute longer than it did last October with the bike taking 2 minutes longer. I was 6th in my AG and initially a bit disappointed but there were positives to take out of the race and I know what I need to work on.

Tomorrow I race in the Milton Keynes Marathon. My marathon PB is 3:14:00 set in the same event last year - I'm fairly confident I'll go under that.

TTFN!!!

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!!