I survived just...this is the short version the long version is to follow
Swim was okay but slow for me as I sighted off the wrong one of the three buoys near the end of the swim (where was the exit IM hoop they always have) and added a fair distance to the swim doh!
T1 was the usual run half way up the hill from the lake and die and then try and find the bag
Bike was okay apart from shifting my chain into my wheel on the Morebath hill and Haddon hill on lap one and only just not go over the handlebars - I held it on Haddon Hill (and fell off gracefully) but came off properly on Morebath - damaging my (SRAM Force carbon ) gear/brake lever...lap two was good but why did they put no overtaking on the biggest hill - I got stuck behind a slow coach.....
T2 was a BCTTT cluster - managed to leave my Garmin on my bike when the helper took it...I realised in the tent and had to wander around all the bikes to find it again....
and the run...well that is best forgotten...I only decided not to do a planned DNF on Wednesday (I put small tears in my Achilles tendons about five weeks ago) when a test run went okay only to find they were not on the run course - every hill was painful...add to that the normal GI probs (nausea/vomitting/etc - I need to see a nutritional bod I think) and I had a dreadful 1/2 marathon...
but hey I PBd by 53mins coming in at 8:01....a bit gutted not to make sub 8 - I will not be back though...I think less hilly courses are more my thing.....also due to the comms blackhole that is Wimbleball Lizzie had no idea whether I was alive or dead until I got back to civilisation...not popular...on Fathers Day (who chose the date...)....a full report will make it on here when I find the time to write it
I am racing on Sunday!
16 June 2011
Well after a worrying few days - will I, won't I do the run at the 70.3 on Sunday I am happy to report that I survived the test run yesterday morning!
Basically this week (touch wood!!) has been going fairly well. I am a little pressed for time today (as I have a load of work to do and I still need to pack! So just a quick update on training -
Monday - Power hills on the turbo (basically 350W for 1 min/off for 1min x lots) – went really well – got the saddle position dialled in (I think...)
Tuesday – Swim 10x100s and 6x50s – all around 1:16-1:19 and 37s, felt a little fatigued but still good – managed 2x4mins deep water running too
Wednesday – make or break day – turbo was a good set – all nice and smooth followed by a 20min out and back run....I kept the pace to waterver felt good – and although the HR was a little high (155-160) the pace was fine (5:45-6:00/km) and as for the ankles...well no needle pains apart from one bit where I went from pavement to road – ankles a little stiff and calves were stiff in the evening but otherwise good so I think the run at Wimbleball is on...in the evening I spent 40mins or so working out the niggles with my grid roller – ooooow!
Today – deepwater start 5x200s – all in around 2:46-48 felt super good – I pushed the first 100 and cruised the second at race pace – then 3x4min deep water running and just been for a quick 10km spin to sort out the bike – all good although I did spend a few mins trying to work out why I could not go above 25kph – my brakes were rubbing! indexing and brakes sorted....
Overall feeling I am feeling pretty good – I am icing and ultrasounding my calves nightly and (almost) generally feeling ready for Wimbleball....
I have a meeting en route and will be staying Friday night with the folks in Truro but I am camping on site Saturday night. If anyone is about at the Race I will be around from about lunchtime Saturday probably wearing an IMCH finishers shirt - I will be the short stocky one with a naked carbon Isaac bike :-) – maybe see you there!!
If not - check back Sunday/Monday for a race report - wish me luck!!
Later
I.
Basically this week (touch wood!!) has been going fairly well. I am a little pressed for time today (as I have a load of work to do and I still need to pack! So just a quick update on training -
Monday - Power hills on the turbo (basically 350W for 1 min/off for 1min x lots) – went really well – got the saddle position dialled in (I think...)
Tuesday – Swim 10x100s and 6x50s – all around 1:16-1:19 and 37s, felt a little fatigued but still good – managed 2x4mins deep water running too
Wednesday – make or break day – turbo was a good set – all nice and smooth followed by a 20min out and back run....I kept the pace to waterver felt good – and although the HR was a little high (155-160) the pace was fine (5:45-6:00/km) and as for the ankles...well no needle pains apart from one bit where I went from pavement to road – ankles a little stiff and calves were stiff in the evening but otherwise good so I think the run at Wimbleball is on...in the evening I spent 40mins or so working out the niggles with my grid roller – ooooow!
Today – deepwater start 5x200s – all in around 2:46-48 felt super good – I pushed the first 100 and cruised the second at race pace – then 3x4min deep water running and just been for a quick 10km spin to sort out the bike – all good although I did spend a few mins trying to work out why I could not go above 25kph – my brakes were rubbing! indexing and brakes sorted....
Overall feeling I am feeling pretty good – I am icing and ultrasounding my calves nightly and (almost) generally feeling ready for Wimbleball....
I have a meeting en route and will be staying Friday night with the folks in Truro but I am camping on site Saturday night. If anyone is about at the Race I will be around from about lunchtime Saturday probably wearing an IMCH finishers shirt - I will be the short stocky one with a naked carbon Isaac bike :-) – maybe see you there!!
If not - check back Sunday/Monday for a race report - wish me luck!!
Later
I.
Swimming and a good end to week one of the taper!
12 June 2011
So the theory goes that tapering is all about winding back the distance so you don't hurt yourself before the race whilst uping the tempo a little to push yourself and reinforce the neuromuscular pathways you will be using in race....
Well I hope I haven't peaked a week too early is all I can say! Yesterday was one of the best races I have ever done, swimming or tri! I entered the Great East Swim (GES) 1 mile swim (1600m) on a whim a couple of weeks back just to hone the competitive swimming element of tri. During Marshman I had a panic attack, the start was more challenging and competitive than IMCH and other more recent tris combined with having my goggles pulled off, so I decided I needed more OW swimming and racing practice so two weeks ago when I managed one OW swim (the second this year) I thought well lets combine an OW swim with a race - the GES looks good :-)
Wind forward to yesterday morning and we (the family) arrived at Alton Water for the GES, my first competitive swim since I was racing Masters pool swimming during my PhD - nearly fifteen years ago! The onsite organisation was a bit of a cluster - lots of tents and signs for spectators but a lack of direction to the start....anyway I eventually found it and waited to be logged in. Our warm up time arrived and we got into the (frankly tiny) patch (about 10mx10m) of water to try and warm up - we had a whole resevoir why such a small warm up area???? I kept waiting for more orange hatted people to turn up for our wave but we ended up with most of the 60 entered in the wave - apparently I had entered the top Age Group (AG) wave - the next wave was the elites....as far as I know I was the only triathlete there all the others were OW swim specialists...oh dear, this could be a disaster I thought.....we had an "interesting" warm up led by a fitness instructor and the starting klaxon was set off (by the German chap who came 2nd in the elites). Prior to the race I had not really thought about the difference of swimming races vs triathlons that much, i.e. in a triathlon the klaxon or gun starts the time for everyone, in this OW race the time started when an individual went over the timing mat - hence I could have waited at the end and gone over on my own and into clear water, but I didn't instead I was in the second row and sprinted in to the water. A short session of aqua-ruck later I was in clear water and heading for the second buoy. After a pretty uneventual swim - which involved a fair amount of drafting two other swimmers and trying not to kill people from the previous wave (who were soooo slow and just appeared from nowhere doing breaststroke....) I rounded the last buoy and headed for the exit chute. In a triathlon I would have controlled my pace a little more and thought about T1 from about 400m out but this was a straight thrash for the end (and it shows on the video) - I jumped up onto my feet as soon as my fingers hit the bottom and sprinted for the mat - over the line in 24:44! Sub 25mins is a pretty good time for an OW 1 mile race to give some idea I was 38th overall out of 1285 swimmers, 32nd Male and 4th in my Age group (and gender), all without specific training for the race - I guess if I get bored with triathlons I could always make a go of racing OW swimming!!!
Well I hope I haven't peaked a week too early is all I can say! Yesterday was one of the best races I have ever done, swimming or tri! I entered the Great East Swim (GES) 1 mile swim (1600m) on a whim a couple of weeks back just to hone the competitive swimming element of tri. During Marshman I had a panic attack, the start was more challenging and competitive than IMCH and other more recent tris combined with having my goggles pulled off, so I decided I needed more OW swimming and racing practice so two weeks ago when I managed one OW swim (the second this year) I thought well lets combine an OW swim with a race - the GES looks good :-)
Wind forward to yesterday morning and we (the family) arrived at Alton Water for the GES, my first competitive swim since I was racing Masters pool swimming during my PhD - nearly fifteen years ago! The onsite organisation was a bit of a cluster - lots of tents and signs for spectators but a lack of direction to the start....anyway I eventually found it and waited to be logged in. Our warm up time arrived and we got into the (frankly tiny) patch (about 10mx10m) of water to try and warm up - we had a whole resevoir why such a small warm up area???? I kept waiting for more orange hatted people to turn up for our wave but we ended up with most of the 60 entered in the wave - apparently I had entered the top Age Group (AG) wave - the next wave was the elites....as far as I know I was the only triathlete there all the others were OW swim specialists...oh dear, this could be a disaster I thought.....we had an "interesting" warm up led by a fitness instructor and the starting klaxon was set off (by the German chap who came 2nd in the elites). Prior to the race I had not really thought about the difference of swimming races vs triathlons that much, i.e. in a triathlon the klaxon or gun starts the time for everyone, in this OW race the time started when an individual went over the timing mat - hence I could have waited at the end and gone over on my own and into clear water, but I didn't instead I was in the second row and sprinted in to the water. A short session of aqua-ruck later I was in clear water and heading for the second buoy. After a pretty uneventual swim - which involved a fair amount of drafting two other swimmers and trying not to kill people from the previous wave (who were soooo slow and just appeared from nowhere doing breaststroke....) I rounded the last buoy and headed for the exit chute. In a triathlon I would have controlled my pace a little more and thought about T1 from about 400m out but this was a straight thrash for the end (and it shows on the video) - I jumped up onto my feet as soon as my fingers hit the bottom and sprinted for the mat - over the line in 24:44! Sub 25mins is a pretty good time for an OW 1 mile race to give some idea I was 38th overall out of 1285 swimmers, 32nd Male and 4th in my Age group (and gender), all without specific training for the race - I guess if I get bored with triathlons I could always make a go of racing OW swimming!!!
Lizzie recorded a videos of the swim finish http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150284244735522&comments - and a photo too!:
A good day's work! Very happy and slightly surprised!!
So why is this blog post not just entitled - a good swim? Well this morning I did a turbo 10mile time trial, basically a 25min warm up and then flat out for 16km of the last section of the Marshman route. My previous best for 10mile TT was 27:42 this morning I managed it in 26:01 :-) Okay it was the turbo but I have it fairly well dialed in for accuracy as I managed 535W max/237W av and HR 186 max/162 av which is pretty close to what it should be!!
So there you go - taper 2/52 done - two swims, three turbo sets one rest day and a race - DONE! Next week is the final taper week to UK 70.3 IM in Wimbleball - turbo x2, swim x2 and 1 road session to test the bike. Also I have my mid week test run - my biggest fear.....why well three weeks ago I put some small tears in my Achilles tendons and I have been icing/ultrasounding/resting them as much as possible - if they are not 80% on Wednesday then Wimbleball will be a swim/bike and probable/planned DNF on the run....it was my A race but it is now my B race with Ireland 70.3 as my main focus....fingers crossed.
Finally if you find this interesting and want to sponsor my efforts please go to http://www.justgiving.com/Iaindoesthreehalfironmanracesin2011 and donate some money for the Urostomy Association - they helped my mother - a really worthwhile cause!!
Keep well
Iain.
So tomorrow is the Great East Swim....
10 June 2011
For me it is really a bit of a training session with added adrenaline. I needed to do another OW set before Wimbleball next week and venues around here are hard to find, also I it has been ages since I just raced a swim race - so why not....Mike thought it was a good idea :-)
This week has been pretty good - still no running - next Wednesday is make or break day - if there is pain...no UK 70.3 8-O :-(
....but the swimming is going well - today was a sprint set in prep for tomorrow main set was 10x100 (all between 1:14-1:19) and 6x50 (all between 34-38sec)....and the cycling seems better as the power based turbo sets seem to be getting easier :-) 350W seems accepable rather thasn impossible now!
As far as next week goes - it looks like I will be driving down on my own and camping overnight the night before the 70.3 - I have my camping comfirmation :-) so at least that is one thing sorted out!!
Anyway - the taper continues - no alcohol since last weekend (wow alcohol free beer is missing something!!) and the attempt at sorting out my ankles continues with a new ultrasound machine and a roller - The Grid - which hurts....
anyho...I will update after the race tomorrow - my wave goes at 1130 BST - wish me luck!
later
I.
This week has been pretty good - still no running - next Wednesday is make or break day - if there is pain...no UK 70.3 8-O :-(
....but the swimming is going well - today was a sprint set in prep for tomorrow main set was 10x100 (all between 1:14-1:19) and 6x50 (all between 34-38sec)....and the cycling seems better as the power based turbo sets seem to be getting easier :-) 350W seems accepable rather thasn impossible now!
As far as next week goes - it looks like I will be driving down on my own and camping overnight the night before the 70.3 - I have my camping comfirmation :-) so at least that is one thing sorted out!!
Anyway - the taper continues - no alcohol since last weekend (wow alcohol free beer is missing something!!) and the attempt at sorting out my ankles continues with a new ultrasound machine and a roller - The Grid - which hurts....
anyho...I will update after the race tomorrow - my wave goes at 1130 BST - wish me luck!
later
I.
So it's 11 days to go to Wimbleball....
7 June 2011
Well do I feel that my last four weeks have gone well building to my "A" race - UK70.3? in one word "NO!" the last few weeks have been a bit of a step backward (with a few small shuffles forward too).
Why is this? Well last year one of my biggest challenges was reaching the start line for IMCH healthy, something I almost managed except I damaged both of my Achilles tendons just before my warm up 70.3, these than plagued me through the rest of the training season and nto the race itself, ultimately requiring a fair amount of rest, recovery and physio afterwards. Unfortunately I have managed to damage them again :-(
Unfortunately during my disasterous week in London at EULAR I had no gym or pool to go to so I overdid it running - I ran 5 days back to back finishing with a run which I did at my friend's pace not mine and I pushed it a little (5.11km in 25mins). As a result the following day when I tried to do a brick set everything hurt, but mostly my Achilles, small needling pains down the middle of them - a sure sign of acute tendon damage....As a result no running since, nearly two weeks now. I am speaking to my coach later but I think it is going to mean shifting my "A" race priority from Wimbleball to Galway in September....
On the plus side my cycling is improving - I managed a 40km TT effort in training in 1:14:23 - on an undulating route, on my road bike with my training wheels on - a new PB by 4mins pretty happy with it as my previous best was at Dorney Lake on my TT bike with deep aero wheels 8-)
Also I am out getting some OW swim training in - I managed to get to Datchet Lake last week (see my previous post) and I am entered into the Great East Swim (http://www.greatswim.org/Events/British-Gas-Great-East-Swim/) at the weekend - a straight 1mile OW swim - I am in the fast wave (under 30mins) which should make it interesting! My next OW swim race is Henley Challenge (http://www.henleyswim.com/challenge.asp) a 1 mile upstream swim on the Henley Regatta course on the 10th July.
My totals for the last 90 days had me amused...1102km on the bike, 81km running and 52km swimming - I didn't think I had trained that much!
And finally it was announced today that NYC will host the US Championships for IRONMAN next year (http://ironmanuschampionship.com/) - looks like we will have to look at budgets but maybe Roth has some competition as my "A" race next year...
I'll post an update after the swim - wish me luck!
Later
I.
Why is this? Well last year one of my biggest challenges was reaching the start line for IMCH healthy, something I almost managed except I damaged both of my Achilles tendons just before my warm up 70.3, these than plagued me through the rest of the training season and nto the race itself, ultimately requiring a fair amount of rest, recovery and physio afterwards. Unfortunately I have managed to damage them again :-(
Unfortunately during my disasterous week in London at EULAR I had no gym or pool to go to so I overdid it running - I ran 5 days back to back finishing with a run which I did at my friend's pace not mine and I pushed it a little (5.11km in 25mins). As a result the following day when I tried to do a brick set everything hurt, but mostly my Achilles, small needling pains down the middle of them - a sure sign of acute tendon damage....As a result no running since, nearly two weeks now. I am speaking to my coach later but I think it is going to mean shifting my "A" race priority from Wimbleball to Galway in September....
On the plus side my cycling is improving - I managed a 40km TT effort in training in 1:14:23 - on an undulating route, on my road bike with my training wheels on - a new PB by 4mins pretty happy with it as my previous best was at Dorney Lake on my TT bike with deep aero wheels 8-)
Also I am out getting some OW swim training in - I managed to get to Datchet Lake last week (see my previous post) and I am entered into the Great East Swim (http://www.greatswim.org/Events/British-Gas-Great-East-Swim/) at the weekend - a straight 1mile OW swim - I am in the fast wave (under 30mins) which should make it interesting! My next OW swim race is Henley Challenge (http://www.henleyswim.com/challenge.asp) a 1 mile upstream swim on the Henley Regatta course on the 10th July.
My totals for the last 90 days had me amused...1102km on the bike, 81km running and 52km swimming - I didn't think I had trained that much!
And finally it was announced today that NYC will host the US Championships for IRONMAN next year (http://ironmanuschampionship.com/) - looks like we will have to look at budgets but maybe Roth has some competition as my "A" race next year...
I'll post an update after the swim - wish me luck!
Later
I.
Today's swim at Datchet
2 June 2011
More analysis to follow - pretty happy with the sighting tho especially as my goggles were fogged for the entire time....
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