Over a week’s worth of update!!!

29 May 2009

What a week….last time I updated this it was Thursday last week and I was in sunny and extremely hot Barcelona. This week I am stuck on a train that seems to be as hot, but not as pleasant….

I would love to report a fantastic week of training with only two left after Sunday but alas no…what with work taking me all over the place it has def been a case of fitting stuff around the day job. To save time I shall summarise things:

Friday (last week) – I managed to get 20mins in the hotel pool, a five star lux hotel in Barcelona (Hotel Arts) and was the pool heated……NO! Wow was it chilly!! Still the sun was warm and managed approx 1200m.

Saturday (last week) – I think I managed about an hour on the turbo…could not have been memorable though as I cannot remember!

Sunday - best day for ages – what a session….a long brick session! I set up the turbo with a transition area beside it and the front wheel 10inches off the floor. Programmed a hill repeat program and then started the session.
8x (run 4mins/bike 10mins/run 4mins) All at approx RPE3-4 (last two felt like RPE 8!)
In total it took about 3hrs to complete – I think Lizzie thought I had vanished….

Monday – OFF – Bank Holiday and really needed to spend time with Lizzie and the girls – had a good chilled day

Tuesday – long work day up to Blackpool followed with Manchester before going to the Sqn in Bristol (450miles driving plus meetings), adding in a 5am get up for a quick trip to Lake 32 seemed the obvious choice! Lake 32 is nice and clear, quite warm but at 5.30am deserted so only a quick dip in the shallow end – too much of a scardy cat to do long swims with no other people there…..why did I bother sleep would have been better…

Wednesday – Swim speed focus day.:
3x200m swim/kick/pull
16x50m (odds RPE4/evens RPE8-9)
150m c/d easy
In the evening I put in a 30min hill session on the turbo RPE4-5

Thursday – Another tough day. An early start 5.50am 10km run nice and smooth RPE4ish cadence around 174-5. In the evening I went to the pool in Malmesbury for a coached session, rather annoyingly a bit cut short by a fire drill!
The session was a sprint effort – very handy for the Westonbirt Tri on Sunday (which I entered last week – well a bit of last minute transition practice seemed a good idea and I have to beat 1hr 45):
100m f/c warm up
6x25m kick sprint (on 1min)
400m best effort (5min 26s – 14s faster than 6wks ago)
8x25m f/s on 50s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 35s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 30s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
100m b/s
50m f/s
Finished about 10.15pm – quite late….

Today – Nothing! I had to get up to Middlesbrough (for a work presentation) which required an early train from Cheltenham….a fun 15hr day at work….

Next few days – I am thinking about doing a quick swim up at Lake 32 tomorrow as apparently a lot more people turn up at the weekend….it is also meant to be my last long bike (3hrs) but I have a distinct feeling that will not fit in with family plans (birthday parties, etc) so maybe a long turbo instead….Sunday is the 3rd Westonbirt Tri (400m/22km/5km) and next week in a US trip and my first Tapering…the Fear has set in again…..

Hope you are all well
i.

Trip to Barcelona

21 May 2009

Okay I new it was going to be hard to do any phys whilst out here but this is silly!

Tuesday I managed nothing (up at 3.55am to catch the flight)

Yesterday I got a short brick session in (in the hotel gym):

7min 30sec at 10%
10min bike approx 150W
5min at 7-10%
10min bike at 150W
5min at 7-10%



Today I finally managed to get out for a run! I got to bed after a big work dinner at about 11.30pm (some of the team were out until gone 2am...) and had a breakfast meeting at 7am. Managed to get up at 525am and drag myself out for about 6.5kms from the hotel (www.hotelarts.com) to the statue of Columbus (pointing the wrong way!!) and back. Interesting place to run - nice and cool at that time but company was only tramps/dog walkers and drunk people!

I will post sat download and data when I get home tomorrow!
Later
i.

Weekend and Monday

18 May 2009

Well managed to do nothing over the weekend - I was away with my "other" work and so had little time - not assisted by either the food containing shellfish or celery, which I have an intolerance too....I haven't spokeon the great white phone for some time and boy do I still feel washed out today...

I jumped in the pool though for an early set - managed to complete 
6x50m (alternate f/s and kick (Board/L/R arms)
2x 600m (first RPE3, second 100m RPE9 500m RPE5)
2x 50m c/d

Not a huge amount but had to get out to do some work!!

Later
I.

A quick lunchtime spin before the TC madness begins

15 May 2009

I just managed to squeeze in a lunchtime spin on the turbo before I go on to endless teleconferences this afternoon...

11km in 27mins over rolling hills (with the front wheel raised about 20cm) with effort varying from about 100W to 415W. 

10min w/u
3x (3min tempo/2min recover)
3min c/d

Nice and easy but got the blood flowing!

Later
I.

Thursday evening swim

Well despite it being a recovery week I did the evening session - yet another killer hour, 2300m....

2x (100m f/s, 50m b/s)
2x (100m f/s, 50m brst)
4x 50m (1 left arm lead, 1 right arm lead, 2 with board)
200m max effort RPE9-10(going on 2min 35sec)
2x50m recovery swim, steady on 1min 10s
4x100m max effort RPE9-10(going on 1min 15s)
2x50m recovery swim
6x50m max effort RPE9-10(in 35sec going on 45sec)
2x50m recovery swim
3x50m max effort RPE9-10(in 35sec going on 45sec)
100m b/s
50m own choice (25m fly/25m f/s)

Hard work and certainly a lactate tolerance session....oh well recovery spin today

Wednesday 13th....

13 May 2009

I should have guessed the 13th would be a rubbish day - for everything else but not for training!! (well almost...)

A recovery swim this morning, nice and easy

5x200m (50m Easy/Build/Easy/Hard)
150m cool down

All went okay apart from a sharp pain in my right shoulder for the third 200m, which spontaneously resolved....

Then after some work getting in the way ;-)) I managed to get in a 30min spin session on the turbo (front wheel on a block...), data below.



Later
I.

12 May 2009

Updated the pics for last weekend

Tuesday

Ah recovery week :-), two nice easy sessions today covering a bit of recovery on the bike and run - although the run finished off quite hard!

30mins on the bike (well turbo) covering 11.22km
10min w/u
3(3min tempo RPE4/3min recover RPE 2-3)
2min cool down
nice and easy

41min 36sec running (standard route out along the lanes and back at RPE3-4, but stopping short of home to do 6 reps of 20sec stride - i.e. run strides out jog back) the data download shows the strides as peaks at the end.

Tomorrow swim and run
I.

So....

11 May 2009

Well I have utterly failed in keeping this up to date for nearly a week....I blame it on a trip to Italy, two days solid cramming for exams and a trip to Aintree (for work not horses!!)

So a brief summary of the past few days....

Wednesday (last week) 45mins on the road - run at RPE3(ish) with strides every 5mins - really hard work!
Wednesday night - Friday night Business trip to Rome only managed 15mins running on a rubbish treadmill and 15mins in the hotel pool :-(( I would have loved to have gone running outside but the hotel we stayed in was miles from the city and near a Autopista - fun!!
Saturday - 1hr 30mins - 15kms long run at a steady RPE 4 - really struggled to get the HR up (look at the plot! Tried a new route really good but want to do the reverse...bigger hills!


Sunday - 2hrs - 49ish Kms on the bike round the areas - home to Tetbury - Avening - Nailsworth and home via Westonbirt - hard work but good!





Today - managed to get in a session in the pool

200m w/u
1000m TT (400m RPE7/400m RPE3/200m RPE5 build to 6)
3x 50m c/d

And now I am up to date!!

Plus I have bought the new crankset/bottom bracket and cassette (12-27) for the bike as advised by TriLife - now to get Jason to fit it at TBA!

Later
I.

Images in the 70.3 route

6 May 2009

I have now added images for the 70.3 bit

Images in the 70.3 route

I have now added images for the 70.3 bit

Last night and today

Last night after a long day in London I managed to squeeze in a 30min turbo session - I tried out lifting the front wheel as suggested by the coaches at the weekend - it really works! A good solid set of hill reps.



This morning was a nice easy run with some strides (10min w/u strides every 5 mins 10 c/d) what I was really happy about was the HR managed to keep it in Zone 3 (<160bpm)>Anyway - I am not sure how much training I will get over the next few days as I am off to Rome for a meeting and then away with my other work at the weekend!


Later
I.

Last night and today

Last night after a long day in London I managed to squeeze in a 30min turbo session - I tried out lifting the front wheel as suggested by the coaches at the weekend - it really works! A good solid set of hill reps.



This morning was a nice easy run with some strides (10min w/u strides every 5 mins 10 c/d) what I was really happy about was the HR managed to keep it in Zone 3 (<160bpm)>Anyway - I am not sure how much training I will get over the next few days as I am off to Rome for a meeting and then away with my other work at the weekend!


Later
I.

Swimming

4 May 2009

Rest day yesterday - thank good...

Today not feeling great - chesty cough, Resting HR 56 and 64 after 2mins standing so training should be okay - decided on a gentle swim

500m f/s RPE3
500m f/s RPE5
500m f/s RPE3
500m f/s pull
50m f/s c/d
50m b/s c/d

I.

Swimming

Rest day yesterday - thank good...

Today not feeling great - chesty cough, Resting HR 56 and 64 after 2mins standing so training should be okay - decided on a gentle swim

500m f/s RPE3
500m f/s RPE5
500m f/s RPE3
500m f/s pull
50m f/s c/d
50m b/s c/d

I.

The 70.3 Familiarisation Day....

Well Saturday started early - 4.30am get up and breakfast - porridge with californian jumbo, crimson raisins and agave nectar (breakfast of the gods), then into the car before heading down to the Brendon Hills (Exmoor) for a reality check with the bike course! I attended the first one day intro to the UK 70.3 that Tri Life had run - and it was of huge benefit!

I arrived at 6.55am to find most people already at the lake and in wetsuits - we were not due to get in until 7.30 I had the distinct feeling that they were all a bit keen......

Just before I got suitably atired a nice lady from UK IronMan asked for my name I replied and heard someone in the background say "Iain Sainsbury what are you doing here?" - the voice belonged to David Rich, a former colleague from Novartis - small world!

Anyway we got suited up and briefed by the coaching team from theTriLife.co.uk (who are simply excellent) on the day - a brief swim in the lake ("well it [the temp] might just be in double figures today!") followed by an intro to the bike course and once round the run route - seems easy...hmmmm

Into the lake and OMFG how cold.....within about 10sec noone could feel their feet/hands/face and within about a minute most people had "ice cream head" - the feeling when you eat too much ice cream too quickly! After a brief acclimatisation we did a short loop of about 500m to get everyone use to the lake and the swim conditions and then us keen ones did it again. My first proper experience of Open Water (OW) swimming and I loved it - no walls/slow people/etc great stuff....and the wetsuit (Orca Alpha) - wow! Fantastic - a few rub areas (remember the lube next time I think!)but just excellent - thanks Orca!

After we had warmed up and consumed some energy gels/drinks we got kitted up for the bike. This was the first chance to see how pro or amateur people were based on kit expenditure! One guy turned up with a beautiful Ridley bike which would simply have been wasted on me but most turned up with a selection of road bikes and fairly high spec aero bikes - one or two had ones straight from the shop including pedals and cages (not clipless) which the coaching staff seriously urged them to change later.....

The bike route itself is what one might call complete and more than a little challenging! Straight out of transition there is little time you are not climbing for the first 20mins but after that it turns into a rather pleasant rolling hill course until about 28kms at which point it all goes horribly nasty there are two hills fairly close together which are simply evil - just look at the data - I think I managed a Max HR of 196! Following those is a slightly better two stage hill and then it goes back to rolling with some hard climbs until you reach the course start again. On return to transition the downhill to the lake is fantastic (I hit over 50kph but for some reason the GPS did not pick it up... :-) ) and there is only then a nasty rise before it is all over...



The run defines why this is not called "a littlebitchallengingman" or "mildlydifficultman" but IronMan - after doing two laps of one of the most technical and challenging bike routes on the world circuit the run is not a flat breeze. It starts of nice enough with a downhil bit but then it just seems to be up, down, up, up, up, and a bit down and so on...see the data - very hard! Also you keep going back on yourself which is a little demoralising...



Overall though a fantastic day - equal parts of OMG and thank god I went down to see it. The coaching staff were fantastic and Andrea Whitcombe (former UK elite, Olympic squad and Commonwealth Games medalist) and Richard Jones (also former UK elite) made the bike and run both enjoyable and really informative! Lots of hints/tips including a strong suggestion that swapping out my dinner plate size chainset for a compact might be a really good idea - MasterCard here we go again!!

Now with eyes open training starts again.
I.



The 70.3 Familiarisation Day....

Well Saturday started early - 4.30am get up and breakfast - porridge with californian jumbo, crimson raisins and agave nectar (breakfast of the gods), then into the car before heading down to the Brendon Hills (Exmoor) for a reality check with the bike course! I attended the first one day intro to the UK 70.3 that Tri Life had run - and it was of huge benefit!

I arrived at 6.55am to find most people already at the lake and in wetsuits - we were not due to get in until 7.30 I had the distinct feeling that they were all a bit keen......

Just before I got suitably atired a nice lady from UK IronMan asked for my name I replied and heard someone in the background say "Iain Sainsbury what are you doing here?" - the voice belonged to David Rich, a former colleague from Novartis - small world!

Anyway we got suited up and briefed by the coaching team from theTriLife.co.uk (who are simply excellent) on the day - a brief swim in the lake ("well it [the temp] might just be in double figures today!") followed by an intro to the bike course and once round the run route - seems easy...hmmmm

Into the lake and OMFG how cold.....within about 10sec noone could feel their feet/hands/face and within about a minute most people had "ice cream head" - the feeling when you eat too much ice cream too quickly! After a brief acclimatisation we did a short loop of about 500m to get everyone use to the lake and the swim conditions and then us keen ones did it again. My first proper experience of Open Water (OW) swimming and I loved it - no walls/slow people/etc great stuff....and the wetsuit (Orca Alpha) - wow! Fantastic - a few rub areas (remember the lube next time I think!)but just excellent - thanks Orca!

After we had warmed up and consumed some energy gels/drinks we got kitted up for the bike. This was the first chance to see how pro or amateur people were based on kit expenditure! One guy turned up with a beautiful Ridley bike which would simply have been wasted on me but most turned up with a selection of road bikes and fairly high spec aero bikes - one or two had ones straight from the shop including pedals and cages (not clipless) which the coaching staff seriously urged them to change later.....

The bike route itself is what one might call complete and more than a little challenging! Straight out of transition there is little time you are not climbing for the first 20mins but after that it turns into a rather pleasant rolling hill course until about 28kms at which point it all goes horribly nasty there are two hills fairly close together which are simply evil - just look at the data - I think I managed a Max HR of 196! Following those is a slightly better two stage hill and then it goes back to rolling with some hard climbs until you reach the course start again. On return to transition the downhill to the lake is fantastic (I hit over 50kph but for some reason the GPS did not pick it up... :-) ) and there is only then a nasty rise before it is all over...



The run defines why this is not called "a littlebitchallengingman" or "mildlydifficultman" but IronMan - after doing two laps of one of the most technical and challenging bike routes on the world circuit the run is not a flat breeze. It starts of nice enough with a downhil bit but then it just seems to be up, down, up, up, up, and a bit down and so on...see the data - very hard! Also you keep going back on yourself which is a little demoralising...



Overall though a fantastic day - equal parts of OMG and thank god I went down to see it. The coaching staff were fantastic and Andrea Whitcombe (former UK elite, Olympic squad and Commonwealth Games medalist) and Richard Jones (also former UK elite) made the bike and run both enjoyable and really informative! Lots of hints/tips including a strong suggestion that swapping out my dinner plate size chainset for a compact might be a really good idea - MasterCard here we go again!!

Now with eyes open training starts again.
I.



Today a squeezed in session!

1 May 2009

Today's session fitted between work, Anja's assembly and work (well I am having to work late for a global telecon).

Unfortunately I don't have my GPS watch today as I forgot to charge it! So....onto the fall back Timex IM watch (bought before I knew what IM was but I thought it looked pretty cool!!)..

10km in 1hr 56s (really struggled today - not sure why) used my new Orca run cap and new Orca 226 trisuit - wow both really comfortable

6.8km bike in 18mins 22s - really quite slow but I had the chain skip off the chainrings twice and I was playing with my new (mountain bike looking) cassette - a 16-27 cassette - looks a bit odd and reduces the top speed quite dramatically (from 50.6kph to 37.9 kph (according to my calculations) but reduces CV load, very important when you are simply trying to get to the start of the run!! It was a bit of a bargin and I will see how it fares tomorrow (when I do the route) although if I run out of speed on the small cogs I might have to go back to a 12-27 or the DuraAce 11-28.

That is it for today but I am looking forward to the run through day tomorrow - not looking forward to the get up time though - 4.30am!!

Later
I.

Today a squeezed in session!

Today's session fitted between work, Anja's assembly and work (well I am having to work late for a global telecon).

Unfortunately I don't have my GPS watch today as I forgot to charge it! So....onto the fall back Timex IM watch (bought before I knew what IM was but I thought it looked pretty cool!!)..

10km in 1hr 56s (really struggled today - not sure why) used my new Orca run cap and new Orca 226 trisuit - wow both really comfortable

6.8km bike in 18mins 22s - really quite slow but I had the chain skip off the chainrings twice and I was playing with my new (mountain bike looking) cassette - a 16-27 cassette - looks a bit odd and reduces the top speed quite dramatically (from 50.6kph to 37.9 kph (according to my calculations) but reduces CV load, very important when you are simply trying to get to the start of the run!! It was a bit of a bargin and I will see how it fares tomorrow (when I do the route) although if I run out of speed on the small cogs I might have to go back to a 12-27 or the DuraAce 11-28.

That is it for today but I am looking forward to the run through day tomorrow - not looking forward to the get up time though - 4.30am!!

Later
I.

Last night's swim session

As the coach was away she kindly left us a session to do - it was meant to be a sprint session to allow those doing the Sprinfield Tri this weekend a bit of "fast" practice - my session ended up as a bit of a threshold aerobic session - damn hard!!

In total took about 58mins for the 3150m

200m:f/c warm up
200m:25m b/s, 25m f/c
200m:f/c pull
16x50m:f/c going every 50s
8x100m:f/c going every 1min 30s
4x200m:f/c going every 3min 15s
2x50m:f/c kick
50m:b/s

Tiring!!

Last night's swim session

As the coach was away she kindly left us a session to do - it was meant to be a sprint session to allow those doing the Sprinfield Tri this weekend a bit of "fast" practice - my session ended up as a bit of a threshold aerobic session - damn hard!!

In total took about 58mins for the 3150m

200m:f/c warm up
200m:25m b/s, 25m f/c
200m:f/c pull
16x50m:f/c going every 50s
8x100m:f/c going every 1min 30s
4x200m:f/c going every 3min 15s
2x50m:f/c kick
50m:b/s

Tiring!!
 

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