So this was a fun jaunt from the hotel to the Arc, round the tower and up the French equivalent to Oxford Street - all rather nice :-)
Galway 70.3 Race Report
5 September 2012
So where do I start? I have written the beginning of this several times, I have started it in the bar of the Salthill Hotel in Galway, the departures lounge at Dublin Airport, the departures lounge at Heathrow T5 and now I am starting (again, as the computer crashed and lost my previous drafts) on the TGV platform at Geneva Station.
Let's start at the beginning - how did the preparation for the race go? Well it has been a busy year. If you have read my previous blog entries you will know that I have had a hectic time running around the world with my work - I have visited over twenty countries in the past eight months (some of them multiple times) and this plays havoc both with the body clock (when changing time zone) and life in general. This has not led to building a good platform for middle distance triathlon performance. In addition, at home, Evie has led me to change priorities as well, I try and help out when I can, although this is not always possible. Through it all Lizzie has been unbelievably understanding and supportive and the children have not complained too much when I have not been there for breakfast (again) and then when I turn up from a run or ride, run away, as apparently, I am "all sweaty". Also I have a fantastic coach in Mike, he is excellent at adapting the training program to my work travels and has helped keep me injury free all year.
So enough of the reasons why the year has been hard, what about the build up itself. In the last few weeks before Galway the session intensity increased, Mike put in a few of the (30EZ, 30 Tempo, 30EZ, 30 Tempo+) sets and one of the 'put it in the highest gear and just go for it' sessions on the bike, the runs got longer and the swims (when I could fit them in) were more pace focused. Finally a week out from the race and after a week in Chicago hammering the treadmill in the middle of the night I started tapering, and worrying about how to transport my bike on a plane. I eventually opted for the soft bike bag option, building a foam former to hold the crankset and BB housing in place and then using high density pipe lagging to protect the farm - I am glad to report it worked (see the pictures below).
After a great week of very little training (and finding somewhere to live for the next six months!) I flew out to Dublin on the Friday, checking my bike into the hold and taking all the important bits (bike shoes, pedals, running shoes and helmet with me in hand luggage. The flight was good and I was delighted to meet my bike off the plane very quickly at the other end. However, at that point, the day went downhill, I had booked my flight myself but everything else, transfers, hotel, etc through Nirvana Europe. My BA flight got in 10mins ahead of schedule however they had booked several of us on the same transport back from the airport to Galway (it is a 2+hr drive) and the others were coming with Ryanair - it was scheduled to arrive 5mins after my flight, but when I landed it had not even taken off! Steve, from Nirvana, bought me some water and a coffee and apologised a lot - eventually nearly 2hrs after we should have, we left Dublin for Galway. When we arrived on the west coast we checked into the Salthill Hotel, which I can recommend for this race - very well placed, just make sure you get a room at the front (as I did for the night before and after the race) as the room I had on arrival (at the back) was directly above the events room and as they have a lot of weddings there the noise level was awful. I built my bike (everything was fine), ordered a sandwich from room service and went to bed at midnight, the end of a long day.
The following morning I headed over to registration, or rather I was blown to registration as overnight a gale had hit the city, the wind was a steady 25mph and gusting up to 40mph....this was not in the plan. I registered, watch the race briefing PowerPoint presentation - without the worst bit of the build up as the race briefing always gives the race itself a bit of a "gee up" and a start point with all the athletes in the room - and headed back to the hotel to get my kit for the practice swim. This is the first time I have made a practice swim as I normally have family with me and the pre race day tends to be a register, rack and get away from it experience. So this was different. I was really glad to have made the practice as I have not swum in the sea properly since Galway last year, the conditions were absolutely awful, the waves were about 2m high (almost the height of last year's ones) and as a result we were only allowed to swim about 200m out to a buoy and back - but it was enough to calm my nerves of sea swimming and get my head in the right place. I exited the water and went back to the hotel to fix all the new hole in my wetsuit (it is old!), organise my bags for transition and my bike.
Once I had sorted the blue (bike/T1) bag with all my kit for the swim to bike transition and my red one (T2) with all my bike to run kit I took the bike out for a quick spin to check my rebuild before racking it. As soon as I started riding I thought OMFG what have I done, I have brought HED3 trispoke wheels to one of the windiest places around! For the uneducated trispokes are wheel made almost entirely of carbon with a deep (50mm) rim and three big spokes, each about 40mm wide. They are phenomenally fast in most conditions but are hard to control in really high winds, think about being pushed across the road with each gust of wind....terrifying practice spin over I racked my bike, hung my bags in transition and collected my chip - I was ready to race.
I headed back to the hotel, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon (after a quick 15min run and a short swim in the hotel's amazing 25m pool), gave Lizzie a call and watched a film. In the evening I did the BCTTT required thing and had the compulsory pre race meal fish and chips (with an optional pint of Guiness). I went to bed early hoping for a break in the weather.....
The Race
I woke up aground 5am and headed down to transition, as I left the hotel, I breathed a sight of relief - no wind - as forecast the storm had passed completely. I did my final check on my bike, dropped some of my kit back at the hotel and headed to the swim start.
The sea was calm and I watched the pros and the first wave leave from Black Rock just as the sun rose over the headland - magical. The course looked fairly different from the plan at registration, there seemed to be orange and yellow buoys (not just yellow ones...) oh well I guessed I would not be at front so I could 'follow the herd'. The 35-39 and the 50-59 AG waves were mixed together, we were an eclectic bunch of about 200 heading into the water at 7:05am.
Once we had hung about for 15mins bobbing about near Black Rock the horn went and we were off! I had intentionally placed myself on the far left of the pack and to at the front - this paid off, I swam over a few people to get clear on the left side and headed for the first buoy. the water was pretty calm and the wave fronts were pushing us back towards the beach at a frequency of about ten strokes (ie one went over you every ten strokes) but they were not that strong. At the first buoy I avoided trouble swam in close and exited for the 1km swim, straight down the beach, keeping the yellow buoys on my left. This was easier said than done as the waves kept pushing you in towards shore, however the current/tide kept pulling you back as you tried to move forward - this maybe the reason for the relatively slow swim times (either that or the course was long). I got into my rhythm and just swam my own race, keeping pace with one chap to my left. We caught the back markers of the 7am wave about 300m from the turn buoy and chaos ensued as they were engulfed by the faster wave. I kept mostly out of the ruckus and just carried on swimming my own race towards the turn buoy (which I had worked out what the orange buoys were). I turned and immediately thought "where do I go now?" eventually after swimming toward the only buoy I could see (a yellow one) a helpful kayaker pointed me and the small group I was with in the right direction (the big red buoy) about 200m off to our left - a schoolboy error - it probably cost me around 2 mins in total. Eventually we turned the buoy and headed for the beach. Once out of the sea we headed on the long run (about 800m) to T1 - the transitions in Galway are long.
Into T1, I got my bearings grabbed my bag and headed for a chair to change -
Wetsuit off, quick dry of the feet with a towel (sand everywhere!), socks on, shoes on, race number on, helmet on, pack wet kit in bag, eat a haribo sweet (to take the salt taste away), Oakleys on and away!
The T1 was in a tent, to exit T1 you left the tent, went up some stairs, all the way round the outside of racking and then in to collect my bike, the Joule Aerotic - I found it first time, grabbed it and did the long 300m or so run to the out line. I jumped on and started cycling, but I could not engage my left cleat. I stopped a few hundred metres up the road to take all of the grass and mud out of my cleats, this sorted I thought, 'right let's get going!' as I crested the first hill I hit a pothole and the velcro holding my toolkit let go, my X-lab toolkit bag sailed into the air and landed about 100m back - did i want to carry on and hope that i did not get a puncture? Nope i guessed that would be a bad idea! I I stopped and ran back to get it, fun in cleats! Toolkit reattached I headed off (subsequently I found these two events cost me nearly five minutes).
The bike itself was fairly uneventful - it is a rolling (500m climbing) course with a few short, steep climbs. It is an out and back which means you get to see everyone on the course - including the pros and they were flying! The bike just sang, I wound it up to an easy(ish) average of 31kph, and just started overtaking people I was blasting along, attacking on the hills, cruising down the descents - awesome fun, and all into a light headwind. I tried to keep the RPE around 12-16 throughout and the cadence natural. I spent most of my time playing tag with a couple other guys in my AG, a grumpy French guy called Marcel whom I passed over ten times (and vice versa) but not once did he respond to my 'hello', and another Brit with with a wierd name that I cannot remember. Throughout the race I had no power, HR or cadence (the power was usual, the HR intentional but the cadence unplanned).
The crowds were not as big as last year at either Moycullen or Oughterard however they still blew their vuvuzelas with enthusiasm and shook their cowbells with fervour. The turn around was at Maam Cross this year which was much better, After the turn the wind was with us and my average pace jumped to 32-33kph, with little effort, I shot back to town - everything felt fantastic!
On coming back into T2 I felt good the legs worked. I ran my bike in, dropped it at the racking and for the first time was ecstatic to see that there were LOTS of people not back off the bike! No time for that though, I ran into the T2 tent, grabbed my bag and got ready for the run:
Helmet off, bike jersey off, shoes off, change socks, running shoes on, turn number around, running visor on, different Oakleys on, repack bag and run out!
I headed down to the three lap course of 21.1km, heading past the finish just as the male pros finished - they were that fast - sub 4hours for the top few. The first couple of kms of the run are usually hell as the legs get used to running not riding, but I felt good and was turning in 5:44/km (above my anticipated pace), however it was not to last. Just after the aid station at 3km I turned into the headwind and all the energy drained out of my legs - I felt awful, really....truly....awful. I had to slow to a walk until the gel I had taken on in the aid station kicked in, even after this hit the blood stream I found it hard to run again, I had 'blown up' properly. For the next 15km I ran as fast as i could, developed cramp in both legs (localised in my quads which came on and off for the rest of the run) and walked the aid stations, after 9km I could not take on gels so I switched to coke/water and that kept me going - just! As I came back into Salthill for the last 2km I just upped the pace as much as I could....it hurt...a lot....I was up to 5:40/km at one point, and as I turned through the last aid station with 1km to go I could feel myself slowing, I knew sub 6hrs had slipped away and I just pushed the last 1km doing high 5s for the many kids who put their hands out.
As I turned that last corner and came down the finish chute I was quite emotional, I am again as I write this, I kept giving the crowd high f5s and as the only person in the finish chute I got quite a build up from the announcer, I crossed the line in 6:07 - I had missed my target of sub 6 by seven minutes but I had a new PB (Personal Best) by 28mins, I had swum my own race, ridden one of my best 90km TTs and run one of the most painful 21.1km ever - I was an IRONMAN 70.3 finisher again! :-)
Will I go back and race Galway again? Probably not, like the UK 70.3, I have done it twice now and they both have their own challenges, but I want a new challenge next year. In summary, would I recommend it to someone? Yes and no...this is why:
Pros
It is a genuine M-dot race
Fast flat bike - one for the TT freaks (surprisingly challenging though)
(Apparently) Fast flat run
Good support on the bike and run
Hard sea swim
Cons
Sea swim can be VERY tough
Lots of drafting on the bike (as it is flat)
Run can be hard if it is windy
Support was less than last year - will next year be better?
Locals put all the prices up for the race (according to the hotel)
It is a long way to go without using Nirvana or another company like them
It felt as if the WTC has pulled money out of the event after last year - less M-dot buzz
So there you have it, my thoughts on the race and my experiences from it. I love racing, it is one of the reasons I do the training - the Type A personality in me coming out! I hope you have enjoyed it, if you have please click over to my justgiving page and support the charity I am raising money for. This year has not been a good year for fundraising which has been unfortunate as the charity I am supporting this year is a good one (A Smile for a Child). They support families with children who are very disabled and need help with adapting homes, buying mobility devices etc. One of my friends has a young daughter, Beatrice, who has Type II SMA, an incurable disease which causes wasting of the muscles that control the spine and as such she will probably never walk in addition, as her muscles controlling her lungs are affected too, she is prone to serious chest infections, one of which she only just survived earlier this year. Bea has been helped significantly by this charity and I wanted to help raise money to give something back.
I know it is one request amongst many but if you could spare the price of your next sandwich, glass of wine, cup of coffee I would be most grateful.
Please click over to http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea and have a look.
Thanks for reading,
BW
I.
Let's start at the beginning - how did the preparation for the race go? Well it has been a busy year. If you have read my previous blog entries you will know that I have had a hectic time running around the world with my work - I have visited over twenty countries in the past eight months (some of them multiple times) and this plays havoc both with the body clock (when changing time zone) and life in general. This has not led to building a good platform for middle distance triathlon performance. In addition, at home, Evie has led me to change priorities as well, I try and help out when I can, although this is not always possible. Through it all Lizzie has been unbelievably understanding and supportive and the children have not complained too much when I have not been there for breakfast (again) and then when I turn up from a run or ride, run away, as apparently, I am "all sweaty". Also I have a fantastic coach in Mike, he is excellent at adapting the training program to my work travels and has helped keep me injury free all year.
So enough of the reasons why the year has been hard, what about the build up itself. In the last few weeks before Galway the session intensity increased, Mike put in a few of the (30EZ, 30 Tempo, 30EZ, 30 Tempo+) sets and one of the 'put it in the highest gear and just go for it' sessions on the bike, the runs got longer and the swims (when I could fit them in) were more pace focused. Finally a week out from the race and after a week in Chicago hammering the treadmill in the middle of the night I started tapering, and worrying about how to transport my bike on a plane. I eventually opted for the soft bike bag option, building a foam former to hold the crankset and BB housing in place and then using high density pipe lagging to protect the farm - I am glad to report it worked (see the pictures below).
After a great week of very little training (and finding somewhere to live for the next six months!) I flew out to Dublin on the Friday, checking my bike into the hold and taking all the important bits (bike shoes, pedals, running shoes and helmet with me in hand luggage. The flight was good and I was delighted to meet my bike off the plane very quickly at the other end. However, at that point, the day went downhill, I had booked my flight myself but everything else, transfers, hotel, etc through Nirvana Europe. My BA flight got in 10mins ahead of schedule however they had booked several of us on the same transport back from the airport to Galway (it is a 2+hr drive) and the others were coming with Ryanair - it was scheduled to arrive 5mins after my flight, but when I landed it had not even taken off! Steve, from Nirvana, bought me some water and a coffee and apologised a lot - eventually nearly 2hrs after we should have, we left Dublin for Galway. When we arrived on the west coast we checked into the Salthill Hotel, which I can recommend for this race - very well placed, just make sure you get a room at the front (as I did for the night before and after the race) as the room I had on arrival (at the back) was directly above the events room and as they have a lot of weddings there the noise level was awful. I built my bike (everything was fine), ordered a sandwich from room service and went to bed at midnight, the end of a long day.
The following morning I headed over to registration, or rather I was blown to registration as overnight a gale had hit the city, the wind was a steady 25mph and gusting up to 40mph....this was not in the plan. I registered, watch the race briefing PowerPoint presentation - without the worst bit of the build up as the race briefing always gives the race itself a bit of a "gee up" and a start point with all the athletes in the room - and headed back to the hotel to get my kit for the practice swim. This is the first time I have made a practice swim as I normally have family with me and the pre race day tends to be a register, rack and get away from it experience. So this was different. I was really glad to have made the practice as I have not swum in the sea properly since Galway last year, the conditions were absolutely awful, the waves were about 2m high (almost the height of last year's ones) and as a result we were only allowed to swim about 200m out to a buoy and back - but it was enough to calm my nerves of sea swimming and get my head in the right place. I exited the water and went back to the hotel to fix all the new hole in my wetsuit (it is old!), organise my bags for transition and my bike.
Once I had sorted the blue (bike/T1) bag with all my kit for the swim to bike transition and my red one (T2) with all my bike to run kit I took the bike out for a quick spin to check my rebuild before racking it. As soon as I started riding I thought OMFG what have I done, I have brought HED3 trispoke wheels to one of the windiest places around! For the uneducated trispokes are wheel made almost entirely of carbon with a deep (50mm) rim and three big spokes, each about 40mm wide. They are phenomenally fast in most conditions but are hard to control in really high winds, think about being pushed across the road with each gust of wind....terrifying practice spin over I racked my bike, hung my bags in transition and collected my chip - I was ready to race.
I headed back to the hotel, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon (after a quick 15min run and a short swim in the hotel's amazing 25m pool), gave Lizzie a call and watched a film. In the evening I did the BCTTT required thing and had the compulsory pre race meal fish and chips (with an optional pint of Guiness). I went to bed early hoping for a break in the weather.....
The Race
I woke up aground 5am and headed down to transition, as I left the hotel, I breathed a sight of relief - no wind - as forecast the storm had passed completely. I did my final check on my bike, dropped some of my kit back at the hotel and headed to the swim start.
The sea was calm and I watched the pros and the first wave leave from Black Rock just as the sun rose over the headland - magical. The course looked fairly different from the plan at registration, there seemed to be orange and yellow buoys (not just yellow ones...) oh well I guessed I would not be at front so I could 'follow the herd'. The 35-39 and the 50-59 AG waves were mixed together, we were an eclectic bunch of about 200 heading into the water at 7:05am.
Once we had hung about for 15mins bobbing about near Black Rock the horn went and we were off! I had intentionally placed myself on the far left of the pack and to at the front - this paid off, I swam over a few people to get clear on the left side and headed for the first buoy. the water was pretty calm and the wave fronts were pushing us back towards the beach at a frequency of about ten strokes (ie one went over you every ten strokes) but they were not that strong. At the first buoy I avoided trouble swam in close and exited for the 1km swim, straight down the beach, keeping the yellow buoys on my left. This was easier said than done as the waves kept pushing you in towards shore, however the current/tide kept pulling you back as you tried to move forward - this maybe the reason for the relatively slow swim times (either that or the course was long). I got into my rhythm and just swam my own race, keeping pace with one chap to my left. We caught the back markers of the 7am wave about 300m from the turn buoy and chaos ensued as they were engulfed by the faster wave. I kept mostly out of the ruckus and just carried on swimming my own race towards the turn buoy (which I had worked out what the orange buoys were). I turned and immediately thought "where do I go now?" eventually after swimming toward the only buoy I could see (a yellow one) a helpful kayaker pointed me and the small group I was with in the right direction (the big red buoy) about 200m off to our left - a schoolboy error - it probably cost me around 2 mins in total. Eventually we turned the buoy and headed for the beach. Once out of the sea we headed on the long run (about 800m) to T1 - the transitions in Galway are long.
Into T1, I got my bearings grabbed my bag and headed for a chair to change -
Wetsuit off, quick dry of the feet with a towel (sand everywhere!), socks on, shoes on, race number on, helmet on, pack wet kit in bag, eat a haribo sweet (to take the salt taste away), Oakleys on and away!
The T1 was in a tent, to exit T1 you left the tent, went up some stairs, all the way round the outside of racking and then in to collect my bike, the Joule Aerotic - I found it first time, grabbed it and did the long 300m or so run to the out line. I jumped on and started cycling, but I could not engage my left cleat. I stopped a few hundred metres up the road to take all of the grass and mud out of my cleats, this sorted I thought, 'right let's get going!' as I crested the first hill I hit a pothole and the velcro holding my toolkit let go, my X-lab toolkit bag sailed into the air and landed about 100m back - did i want to carry on and hope that i did not get a puncture? Nope i guessed that would be a bad idea! I I stopped and ran back to get it, fun in cleats! Toolkit reattached I headed off (subsequently I found these two events cost me nearly five minutes).
The bike itself was fairly uneventful - it is a rolling (500m climbing) course with a few short, steep climbs. It is an out and back which means you get to see everyone on the course - including the pros and they were flying! The bike just sang, I wound it up to an easy(ish) average of 31kph, and just started overtaking people I was blasting along, attacking on the hills, cruising down the descents - awesome fun, and all into a light headwind. I tried to keep the RPE around 12-16 throughout and the cadence natural. I spent most of my time playing tag with a couple other guys in my AG, a grumpy French guy called Marcel whom I passed over ten times (and vice versa) but not once did he respond to my 'hello', and another Brit with with a wierd name that I cannot remember. Throughout the race I had no power, HR or cadence (the power was usual, the HR intentional but the cadence unplanned).
The crowds were not as big as last year at either Moycullen or Oughterard however they still blew their vuvuzelas with enthusiasm and shook their cowbells with fervour. The turn around was at Maam Cross this year which was much better, After the turn the wind was with us and my average pace jumped to 32-33kph, with little effort, I shot back to town - everything felt fantastic!
On coming back into T2 I felt good the legs worked. I ran my bike in, dropped it at the racking and for the first time was ecstatic to see that there were LOTS of people not back off the bike! No time for that though, I ran into the T2 tent, grabbed my bag and got ready for the run:
Helmet off, bike jersey off, shoes off, change socks, running shoes on, turn number around, running visor on, different Oakleys on, repack bag and run out!
I headed down to the three lap course of 21.1km, heading past the finish just as the male pros finished - they were that fast - sub 4hours for the top few. The first couple of kms of the run are usually hell as the legs get used to running not riding, but I felt good and was turning in 5:44/km (above my anticipated pace), however it was not to last. Just after the aid station at 3km I turned into the headwind and all the energy drained out of my legs - I felt awful, really....truly....awful. I had to slow to a walk until the gel I had taken on in the aid station kicked in, even after this hit the blood stream I found it hard to run again, I had 'blown up' properly. For the next 15km I ran as fast as i could, developed cramp in both legs (localised in my quads which came on and off for the rest of the run) and walked the aid stations, after 9km I could not take on gels so I switched to coke/water and that kept me going - just! As I came back into Salthill for the last 2km I just upped the pace as much as I could....it hurt...a lot....I was up to 5:40/km at one point, and as I turned through the last aid station with 1km to go I could feel myself slowing, I knew sub 6hrs had slipped away and I just pushed the last 1km doing high 5s for the many kids who put their hands out.
As I turned that last corner and came down the finish chute I was quite emotional, I am again as I write this, I kept giving the crowd high f5s and as the only person in the finish chute I got quite a build up from the announcer, I crossed the line in 6:07 - I had missed my target of sub 6 by seven minutes but I had a new PB (Personal Best) by 28mins, I had swum my own race, ridden one of my best 90km TTs and run one of the most painful 21.1km ever - I was an IRONMAN 70.3 finisher again! :-)
Will I go back and race Galway again? Probably not, like the UK 70.3, I have done it twice now and they both have their own challenges, but I want a new challenge next year. In summary, would I recommend it to someone? Yes and no...this is why:
Pros
It is a genuine M-dot race
Fast flat bike - one for the TT freaks (surprisingly challenging though)
(Apparently) Fast flat run
Good support on the bike and run
Hard sea swim
Cons
Sea swim can be VERY tough
Lots of drafting on the bike (as it is flat)
Run can be hard if it is windy
Support was less than last year - will next year be better?
Locals put all the prices up for the race (according to the hotel)
It is a long way to go without using Nirvana or another company like them
It felt as if the WTC has pulled money out of the event after last year - less M-dot buzz
So there you have it, my thoughts on the race and my experiences from it. I love racing, it is one of the reasons I do the training - the Type A personality in me coming out! I hope you have enjoyed it, if you have please click over to my justgiving page and support the charity I am raising money for. This year has not been a good year for fundraising which has been unfortunate as the charity I am supporting this year is a good one (A Smile for a Child). They support families with children who are very disabled and need help with adapting homes, buying mobility devices etc. One of my friends has a young daughter, Beatrice, who has Type II SMA, an incurable disease which causes wasting of the muscles that control the spine and as such she will probably never walk in addition, as her muscles controlling her lungs are affected too, she is prone to serious chest infections, one of which she only just survived earlier this year. Bea has been helped significantly by this charity and I wanted to help raise money to give something back.
I know it is one request amongst many but if you could spare the price of your next sandwich, glass of wine, cup of coffee I would be most grateful.
Please click over to http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea and have a look.
Thanks for reading,
BW
I.
Recent days
24 August 2012
I lead a fairly good life....I write this sitting in the front of a 747-400 heading from O'Hare to London Heathrow- in First Class...not that I paid for F but because I am a loyal customer and currently it seems that pretty much regardless of ticket I get upgraded...in the last eight flights I have been upgraded on five...two of which have been transatlantic.....happy days...
The other fab bit about this is I need to adjust from US time (I have been in Chicago for four days) back to UK ASAP as I have one last push this weekend before that fun bit of LD racing - the taper!!
The past few weeks have been odd to say the least...I have been to Hong Kong, the West Coast of Scotland, Chicago and rural Surrey......all of which have not made the best build for a 70.3 but that is life....this year has just been odd, period. I have done more travel than I though possible (nearly 150k air miles) and a lot of EUROSTAR trips, no triathlons and only one competitive race (an OW 1.5km race which was not good...)...
All of this is not good practice for a race most people would consider insane (well at least all of my colleagues), thankfully I have (now) lots of experience and a good base in the tank, I.e. I did a lot of loooong bikes and runs this winter/spring and I have been working on the power, however I have had a very limited chance to swim (usually less than one swim per two weeks)...all a little concerning...For those who either follow me on Strava or look at this web page it should be fairly obvious I have put some good hours in but I am still more worried about this 70.3 than any other I have done, purely because whilst I know I could do a sub 6 on paper I am just not feeling it at the moment....add into it the issues with ICS which I have had (see the older post) and I am taking nothing for granted...
Keep praying for me I can pull the proverbial cat out of the bag :-)
Later
I.
The other fab bit about this is I need to adjust from US time (I have been in Chicago for four days) back to UK ASAP as I have one last push this weekend before that fun bit of LD racing - the taper!!
The past few weeks have been odd to say the least...I have been to Hong Kong, the West Coast of Scotland, Chicago and rural Surrey......all of which have not made the best build for a 70.3 but that is life....this year has just been odd, period. I have done more travel than I though possible (nearly 150k air miles) and a lot of EUROSTAR trips, no triathlons and only one competitive race (an OW 1.5km race which was not good...)...
All of this is not good practice for a race most people would consider insane (well at least all of my colleagues), thankfully I have (now) lots of experience and a good base in the tank, I.e. I did a lot of loooong bikes and runs this winter/spring and I have been working on the power, however I have had a very limited chance to swim (usually less than one swim per two weeks)...all a little concerning...For those who either follow me on Strava or look at this web page it should be fairly obvious I have put some good hours in but I am still more worried about this 70.3 than any other I have done, purely because whilst I know I could do a sub 6 on paper I am just not feeling it at the moment....add into it the issues with ICS which I have had (see the older post) and I am taking nothing for granted...
Keep praying for me I can pull the proverbial cat out of the bag :-)
Later
I.
HK, travels and and interesting discovery
3 August 2012
So Hong Kong....I am glad the coach did not put anything more ambitious in the program than
one run – running in HK was almost impossible, I have never been so
hot....ever....the temp ranged from 32-40 and the humidity was between 85-99%
(99% was the last night if you left the safety of aircon it just looked like you
had showered in your clothes!), when I went running it was somewhere in
the low 30s but the humidity was in the low 90s...I died after about 30mins (I
know it was planned for 45- no chance!)..also there was nowhere nice to run...I
was stuck with the harbour front as apart from that it was crowded
streets...Kowloon is not big!
Next week if gets more fun though! Tuesday is an early
start to get to Olympics for the mens tri in Hyde Park and then we are heading up to Scotland to see my new niece (she was born two weeks
ago!)... but I
plan to take kit for S, B &R as my brother lives on the edge of a Loch so I
might try and get in a swim (possibly to Bute it is the other side of the Loch!)
but certainly will get a bike in....however training might need to be a little more
flexi than set out on the program...frustrating but life gets in the way sometimes!!
On another note something rather
interesting....over the past six month I have struggled with weight gain/fat
deposition and I have been bemused as to why this is... I was at a Psoriatic Arthritis
conference in Stockholm a few weeks back and there was a talk around Iatrogenic
Cushinoid Syndrome in people who use steroids in the chronic setting, the
symptoms are characteristically central obesity, a “moon” face, damage to the
collagen structure leading to thining of skin and development of striae, high
blood pressure and dyslipidamia can also be symptomatic. This is more common
with the more potent inhaled steroids (e.g. fluticasone – in flixonase and
seretide)...On the flight back I had a ponder about it as previously I developed
cushinoid symptoms when on prednisolone I worked out that I was on 600mcg of
fluticasone per day (100mcg from seretide and 400mcg from flixonase) for my asthma
and alergies...this is a high dose (equivalent to 1200mcg of beclamethasone) and
doses of over 500mcg/day are known to impact adrenal function. So I have started
to withdraw the flixonase and there seems to be a change my weight has dropped
for around 93.5kgs to 91.7kgs in 14 days and I am starting to loose the moon
face appearance...I may not be back to my normal shape for Ireland but maybe
before next year!
I will pop the trace from the HK run up later - another in my series of runs around big cities!
Later
I.
The last few days and my longest ride this year!
24 July 2012
So this was my longest ride (and possibly THE longest ride before the 70.3 in Galway!) - the plan was:
60min RPE12-13 rpm around 95(EZish)
30min max effort/top gear (54-12 on my bike)
40min RPE12-13 rpm around 95 (EZish)
20min max effort/top gear
30min spin down
All was good, the bike felt amazing I was riding the HED3s front and rear on this ride with no problems (well apart from how hard they are compared to spoked!!) and I came in to home just as my daughters were going out for a walk with my parents and the dogs - so they got to see me on the bike too :-)
Nutrition went well too - 1200ml of ZV Zero drink (no cals/rehydration) and 4 ZipVit gels (60g of carbs/gel) diluted 50:50 with water - 1/30mins.
Immediately after the ride I went out on a ascending brick run:
10min @ 6:10/km pace
10min @ 6:00/km pace
10min @ 5:50/km pace
it felt great - I really struggled to hold the pace back on the first 2km :-)
So that was the weekend - good training and on Sunday I became Godfather - to one of our friends little boy, Jonathan - v proud!
If only yesterday's swim could have gone as well! the training was planed for and aerobic skill/effort set:
WU: 400m, 300 Ez, 50 moderate, 50 tempo
DR: (Ez!) (400)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time)
1 x 50 3/4 catch up
1 x 50 Single arm
1 x 50 6 beat kick and switch with fins
1 x 50 swimming with fins
1 x 50 Paddles and fins
1 x 50 Paddles (keep kicking)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time).
MS: (1800)
9 x 200 TEMPO +
20s rest in b/t
CD: 100 - put stroke back together, EASY
....nice and complex!! however I got through the warm up and the drils and then the wheels came off...I am still not sure what happened but I developed pain in my distal biceps area which radiated down my arm - not good! I had to pull up on 200 number 2 and I limped back to the shallow end - i swam down doing 200m of 6beat kick with fins - very unhappy. I saw my GP and I am now referred to the physio - I reckon it is a nerve impingement or cramping/spasming in the long head of triceps (more likely) - more stretching before swimming needed I think!
This morning I got out for an aerobic run - again at ascending pace. This time the plan was:
15min @ 6:10/km pace
15min @ 6:00/km pace
15min @ 5:50/km pace
Which for some reason I found harder than after 3hours on the bike!! Really strange but there you have it - sometimes I just cannot get my head into it and today was one of those days!
Oh well busy few days coming up, I have lots of swimming and running left for the week but then at the weekend I am off to Hong Kong for a short meeting (fly out Sunday, Arrive Monday, Meeting Tuesday/Wednesday and fly home - arriving back on Thursday!) so training WILL be limited...
Later I.
60min RPE12-13 rpm around 95(EZish)
30min max effort/top gear (54-12 on my bike)
40min RPE12-13 rpm around 95 (EZish)
20min max effort/top gear
30min spin down
All was good, the bike felt amazing I was riding the HED3s front and rear on this ride with no problems (well apart from how hard they are compared to spoked!!) and I came in to home just as my daughters were going out for a walk with my parents and the dogs - so they got to see me on the bike too :-)
Nutrition went well too - 1200ml of ZV Zero drink (no cals/rehydration) and 4 ZipVit gels (60g of carbs/gel) diluted 50:50 with water - 1/30mins.
Immediately after the ride I went out on a ascending brick run:
10min @ 6:10/km pace
10min @ 6:00/km pace
10min @ 5:50/km pace
it felt great - I really struggled to hold the pace back on the first 2km :-)
So that was the weekend - good training and on Sunday I became Godfather - to one of our friends little boy, Jonathan - v proud!
If only yesterday's swim could have gone as well! the training was planed for and aerobic skill/effort set:
WU: 400m, 300 Ez, 50 moderate, 50 tempo
DR: (Ez!) (400)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time)
1 x 50 3/4 catch up
1 x 50 Single arm
1 x 50 6 beat kick and switch with fins
1 x 50 swimming with fins
1 x 50 Paddles and fins
1 x 50 Paddles (keep kicking)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time).
MS: (1800)
9 x 200 TEMPO +
20s rest in b/t
CD: 100 - put stroke back together, EASY
....nice and complex!! however I got through the warm up and the drils and then the wheels came off...I am still not sure what happened but I developed pain in my distal biceps area which radiated down my arm - not good! I had to pull up on 200 number 2 and I limped back to the shallow end - i swam down doing 200m of 6beat kick with fins - very unhappy. I saw my GP and I am now referred to the physio - I reckon it is a nerve impingement or cramping/spasming in the long head of triceps (more likely) - more stretching before swimming needed I think!
This morning I got out for an aerobic run - again at ascending pace. This time the plan was:
15min @ 6:10/km pace
15min @ 6:00/km pace
15min @ 5:50/km pace
Which for some reason I found harder than after 3hours on the bike!! Really strange but there you have it - sometimes I just cannot get my head into it and today was one of those days!
Oh well busy few days coming up, I have lots of swimming and running left for the week but then at the weekend I am off to Hong Kong for a short meeting (fly out Sunday, Arrive Monday, Meeting Tuesday/Wednesday and fly home - arriving back on Thursday!) so training WILL be limited...
Later I.
Beatrice Howden
19 July 2012
Poor Bea is back in hospital with another chest infection - the last one left her in PICU on a respirator - fingers crossed this time!
If you can please follow the link on the right of the page -------> and support her by sponsoring me for the 70.3 race (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run) in Galway.
Thanks
I.
If you can please follow the link on the right of the page -------> and support her by sponsoring me for the 70.3 race (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run) in Galway.
Thanks
I.
A perfect run :-)
For the first time in ages running was enjoyable this morning - it all just felt right. The first 2 miles was a bit creaky but after about 16mins it all freed up and felt good - evening managed a sub 9min/mile - which for me is v good!
The aim was 21min EZ out and 19min MOD back with 6x30s strides to tempo pace - executed to the second! :-)
The aim was 21min EZ out and 19min MOD back with 6x30s strides to tempo pace - executed to the second! :-)
A relatively easy 10km
17 July 2012
So this what was planned this morning:
OBJECTIVE: Ez - Aerobic Run
FOCUS: Focus on good form and 95RPM
30mins Ez - 70% (6:10min/mile)
15mins Mod - 75-80% (6:00min/mile)
15mins Tempo - 80-85% (5:50min/mile)
CD: Walk and Stretch - 5mins
and when I woke up I was greated by a beautiful morning :-) however I didn't feel great before I headed out, I will spare you the detail but guts were just not right (there is a bugdoing the rounds at the moment) but went out and focused on holding pace as set out (of course Mike meant /km not mile :-O- felt it went pretty well (although I was a little fast at times...) :-)
OBJECTIVE: Ez - Aerobic Run
FOCUS: Focus on good form and 95RPM
30mins Ez - 70% (6:10min/mile)
15mins Mod - 75-80% (6:00min/mile)
15mins Tempo - 80-85% (5:50min/mile)
CD: Walk and Stretch - 5mins
and when I woke up I was greated by a beautiful morning :-) however I didn't feel great before I headed out, I will spare you the detail but guts were just not right (there is a bugdoing the rounds at the moment) but went out and focused on holding pace as set out (of course Mike meant /km not mile :-O- felt it went pretty well (although I was a little fast at times...) :-)
A tale of two rides....
13 July 2012
What a total disaster of a morning, horrible weather so I thought I would do a turbo....turbo software crashes so I decide to go for a ride on my roadie...two flats in four miles...inner replaced (and then patched on the second flat) all three CO2 cannisters used up on the ride home...not happy...looks like attempt two will be at lunch.....ho hum...
Take 2 after this morning's disasterous effort....
So I decided to take the road bike out for a spin today - I had forgotten how different it is riding it from my TT - almost died a couple of times as it is so much more responsive!! pushed it really hard (maybe too hard 8-) ) on the first TEMPO but the second I tried to OG....unfortunately I forgot I was on a bike with a compact....so it ended up being top gear 50-12 for nearly all of it to make it hard enough (those extra 4 teeth on my TT make a BIG difference!) All the same felt ok back was sore in a different place though :-)
Followed it with a 15 min brick run - which hurt....
Take 2 after this morning's disasterous effort....
So I decided to take the road bike out for a spin today - I had forgotten how different it is riding it from my TT - almost died a couple of times as it is so much more responsive!! pushed it really hard (maybe too hard 8-) ) on the first TEMPO but the second I tried to OG....unfortunately I forgot I was on a bike with a compact....so it ended up being top gear 50-12 for nearly all of it to make it hard enough (those extra 4 teeth on my TT make a BIG difference!) All the same felt ok back was sore in a different place though :-)
Followed it with a 15 min brick run - which hurt....
My latest "begging" email that went out last night
12 July 2012
This is the text from an email that went out last night to all those who have sponsored me in the past or to people whom I think might be interested - however if you are interested and weren't on that list please feel free to click on the JustGiving.com app on the right and throw a few coins in the pot :-)
Hi All,
I just wanted to give you a quick update on progress following my last email a couple of months back (and for a few new names on the list - an idea of what I spend my spare time doing and raising money for!!).
I just wanted to give you a quick update on progress following my last email a couple of months back (and for a few new names on the list - an idea of what I spend my spare time doing and raising money for!!).
Work and life are busy, so from a training perspective things are going
okay, but trying to fit in training hours often means antisocial training times
(think of a 10km run at 4-5am...) however it does mean I get to run around some
beautiful and interesting places (in the past eight weeks that has included
Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Washington DC). Races are not going so well – I
competed in the Eton 1.5km open water race and came 36/253 overall and 8th in
age group in 25:24 but unfortunately the swim at Windsor was cancelled and due
to other commitments I could not take part. Roll on Galway!! – 1.9km swim, 92km
bike and 21.1km run :-)
From a fundraising standpoint though, I am hopeful we can raise a little
more for the worthwhile cause I am supporting this year – Team Bea. Currently
the grand total stands at £45 - a big thank you goes out to those people who
have sponsored me so far :-) but for the last two years I have managed to drum
up around £7-800 so we are some way short!
Team Bea is a group of amateur age group triathletes who raise money for
Beatrice Howden and the charity which supports her (A Smile for a Child). Bea
has Type II SMA, a recessive genetic disease which causes muscle wasting and
thus mobility impairment (http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/spinalmuscularatrophy1.shtml).
In addition her condition leaves her more prone to other problems such as
serious infections, something which led to her being admitted to the paediatrics
ICU at Leeds General (Jimmy’s) a month or so back and it was touch and go for a
few days. There is no known cure for SMA, it does and will have a profound
impact of Beatrice, her life and her family – anything that may improve that
(even slightly) is a good thing. That is why I want to raise money for
them.
Please take a couple of minutes to have a read of my JustGiving page (http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea)
and if you can please donate to this cause – even the price of you lunchtime
sandwich would help!
Thanks for reading and if you want to see what training I do please follow
me on twitter (@isainsbury) or have an occasional look at my blog (www.iaindoestriathlon.blogspot.com)
I.
A quick 40 min run
This was a 21 min EZ set followed by a 19 min element at pace - with a build to tempo every 2:30 =-felt good and the weather was beutiful!!
Todays ride
7 July 2012
This was a planned two hour set - basically 30min EZ/ 30min TEMPO (70.3 pace)/ 30min EZ/ 20min TEMPO+ (OD pace), really good ride bar the puncture on the second easy section - added a few minutes!
Another long break...
4 July 2012
It has been months since I have put fingers to keyboard to write a blog post - why?? Well it has been just a little busy at work and in life...
Evie is nearly eight months old and this year I have travelled to most of Europe in addition to Canada, Japan and the states (with Hong Kong, the US and maybe Japan (again) this month...
So has this left time for training? Yes and no...in some respects the training I now do is better than it used to be! Why? Well I have to ensure that any training I do is worthwhile, I have had to ask Mike to loose the junk miles, the sessions which have limited bearing, and focus me on key sessions which improve output.
There is a a 'however' though, my swimming has suffered significantly as this is the only area which I cannot routinely do. When I go on trips I can always pack running kit and there is usually a gym for a training bike (more on that later), but good pools are few and far between and despite having an app on my iPhone which tells me about local pools I have yet to use it in anger. As a result of this drop in skill/fitness and due to time, I have decided not to attempt several races that I had considered this year - the 14km Bridge to Bridge race, the UK Masters Open Water National Championships and a couple of other open water races. This is frustrating but it is balanced out, to a degree, by the positives.
So what are the positives - well the running and cycling have benefitted!! My running pace/km has improved from an average of 7min/km when I trained for IM Switzerland to around 5:45min/km now. My top tempo pace has improved to about 5min/km and with all the 'brick' (bike/run) I can feel good about running after about 1km off a long ride. As for the cycling that has improved dramatically . After IM I realised that if I wanted to be middle of the pack (MOP) rather than back of pack (BOP) I had to up my game on the bike. Initially we (Mike and I (I always think of my coach as part of the team)) tried to go for increased cadence, with some increased strength work, this was the strategy we tried in the build for last year and it worked, to a degree, however it was only when I changed the chainrings to 54/42 TT setup, before IM 70.3 Ireland that there was a step change.
During the Irish race I did something for the first time - I overtook people on the bike. This change was the foundation for the training plans this year - rather than focus on high cadence rather to move towards significant strength work. In an ideal world this would mean lots of gym work on building muscle BUT life through a curve ball in there and I blistered the cartilage on the back of my left patella running for a train - rather than go for surgery, the recommendation was to stop doing exercises which loaded the knee eccentrically (ie no squats, etc). Therefore we started to introduce some significant interval work in through the winter (all of my training was based on building speed/pace rather than base over winter) building over time culminating in some recent significant sets. My current favourite set is a 2hour ride broken down as into 30min blocks (warm up/effort/easy/effort) where the effort block is basically put the bike into the highest gear possible - in my case 54-12, rather high....- it is immensely hard but delivers a really effective strength workout. The output of these sets came home to me yesterday as I did an interval set on the turbo:
WU: 10mins Ez (Focus on good technique 3 x 3mins, ILT (3 x 30s), Spin-ups 3 x 30s as (10s 100RPM,10s 110RPM, 10s 110RPM+))
MS: 6 x 5mins - Hill Climbing (RPE 15-17!)
Rep 1 - 250w @ 90rpm
Rep 2 - 260w @ 80rpm
Rep 3 - 270w @ 70rpm
Rep 4 - 280w @ 70rpm
Rep 5-6 - 290w @ 80rpm
5mins Ez in b/t @ 95rpm!
CD: Stetch down
If last year someone had told me I could hold 290W for 5mins I would have laughed!
As you will guess if you read this blog post in a one'er you will realise that it has been written over several days...today is a week since I started writing this and I am currently sitting in Washington DC's BA lounge finishing it off. since I started writing this I have been to Stockholm (where as far as I can see everyone is drop dead gorgeous (well those who run at 6-7am anyway!) and I have spent several days in the US Capitol - all I can say is - what a place to run! I was lucky enough to be staying in the JW Marriot on Pennsylvania Avenue - just down for the White House - and despite the temperature ranging from 36-42 degrees during my trip, an the humidity in the 80s-90s I managed to get in s couple of runs. Yesterday I ran 11.47km in 1:10 - a slow pace but the heat killed me - I took a work colleague and friend out with me and he held up well despite his longest run recently being 5km!! We ran around the White House, the Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam, Korean and Washington memorials and then headed up to The Capitol before returning to base, the long way round - it was fantastic - sightseeing and running :-)
More to follow with maps :-)
Later
I
Evie is nearly eight months old and this year I have travelled to most of Europe in addition to Canada, Japan and the states (with Hong Kong, the US and maybe Japan (again) this month...
So has this left time for training? Yes and no...in some respects the training I now do is better than it used to be! Why? Well I have to ensure that any training I do is worthwhile, I have had to ask Mike to loose the junk miles, the sessions which have limited bearing, and focus me on key sessions which improve output.
There is a a 'however' though, my swimming has suffered significantly as this is the only area which I cannot routinely do. When I go on trips I can always pack running kit and there is usually a gym for a training bike (more on that later), but good pools are few and far between and despite having an app on my iPhone which tells me about local pools I have yet to use it in anger. As a result of this drop in skill/fitness and due to time, I have decided not to attempt several races that I had considered this year - the 14km Bridge to Bridge race, the UK Masters Open Water National Championships and a couple of other open water races. This is frustrating but it is balanced out, to a degree, by the positives.
So what are the positives - well the running and cycling have benefitted!! My running pace/km has improved from an average of 7min/km when I trained for IM Switzerland to around 5:45min/km now. My top tempo pace has improved to about 5min/km and with all the 'brick' (bike/run) I can feel good about running after about 1km off a long ride. As for the cycling that has improved dramatically . After IM I realised that if I wanted to be middle of the pack (MOP) rather than back of pack (BOP) I had to up my game on the bike. Initially we (Mike and I (I always think of my coach as part of the team)) tried to go for increased cadence, with some increased strength work, this was the strategy we tried in the build for last year and it worked, to a degree, however it was only when I changed the chainrings to 54/42 TT setup, before IM 70.3 Ireland that there was a step change.
During the Irish race I did something for the first time - I overtook people on the bike. This change was the foundation for the training plans this year - rather than focus on high cadence rather to move towards significant strength work. In an ideal world this would mean lots of gym work on building muscle BUT life through a curve ball in there and I blistered the cartilage on the back of my left patella running for a train - rather than go for surgery, the recommendation was to stop doing exercises which loaded the knee eccentrically (ie no squats, etc). Therefore we started to introduce some significant interval work in through the winter (all of my training was based on building speed/pace rather than base over winter) building over time culminating in some recent significant sets. My current favourite set is a 2hour ride broken down as into 30min blocks (warm up/effort/easy/effort) where the effort block is basically put the bike into the highest gear possible - in my case 54-12, rather high....- it is immensely hard but delivers a really effective strength workout. The output of these sets came home to me yesterday as I did an interval set on the turbo:
WU: 10mins Ez (Focus on good technique 3 x 3mins, ILT (3 x 30s), Spin-ups 3 x 30s as (10s 100RPM,10s 110RPM, 10s 110RPM+))
MS: 6 x 5mins - Hill Climbing (RPE 15-17!)
Rep 1 - 250w @ 90rpm
Rep 2 - 260w @ 80rpm
Rep 3 - 270w @ 70rpm
Rep 4 - 280w @ 70rpm
Rep 5-6 - 290w @ 80rpm
5mins Ez in b/t @ 95rpm!
CD: Stetch down
If last year someone had told me I could hold 290W for 5mins I would have laughed!
As you will guess if you read this blog post in a one'er you will realise that it has been written over several days...today is a week since I started writing this and I am currently sitting in Washington DC's BA lounge finishing it off. since I started writing this I have been to Stockholm (where as far as I can see everyone is drop dead gorgeous (well those who run at 6-7am anyway!) and I have spent several days in the US Capitol - all I can say is - what a place to run! I was lucky enough to be staying in the JW Marriot on Pennsylvania Avenue - just down for the White House - and despite the temperature ranging from 36-42 degrees during my trip, an the humidity in the 80s-90s I managed to get in s couple of runs. Yesterday I ran 11.47km in 1:10 - a slow pace but the heat killed me - I took a work colleague and friend out with me and he held up well despite his longest run recently being 5km!! We ran around the White House, the Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam, Korean and Washington memorials and then headed up to The Capitol before returning to base, the long way round - it was fantastic - sightseeing and running :-)
More to follow with maps :-)
Later
I
“I am taking a breather from long distance triathlon in 2012...”
14 May 2012
“I am taking a breather from long distance triathlon in 2012...”
These were my words at the end of 2011 - well it is true I am taking a bit of a breather from IM length racing but I have signed up for the IM 70.3 in Galway again in September, Windsor in June and a 1.5km open water swim race in May – so still keeping active. I also said I would be taking a lower key approach to fund raising this year, and that was the plan, however back in February, during a 24 hour turbo fundraiser, I met Andrew Howden (another member of the BCTTT triathlon club) and he inspired me to try and raise a little cash for the charity that supports his daughter, Beatrice.
Beatrice has Type II SMA – Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This amongst other things means she will never walk, run or play in the same way other children do. She is bright and into everything, eager to explore the world around her and she is always happy and ready to greet everyone she meets with a big smile and a wave.
Unfortunately, Government funded departments do not offer funding for the powered chair that was designed specifically for what Beatrice needs to be mobile at this early age. The early years for Beatrice, as with all children, are very important in learning and development, therefore early access to mobility is imperative. One of the key attributes of children with SMA is that they are exceptionally intelligent. Limited mobility at an early age, however, can limit opportunities for learning and exploring the child’s environment.
So why am I telling you this? Well, every year since I got serious about triathlon I have tried to raised a little cash for good causes –in total this is now over £3200 (with GiftAid), and this year is no different. Despite the ecomonic downturn over the past couple of years I have still managed to raise close to a thousand pounds each year. Please help me to do the same this year.
I am not keen of sending money to an anonymous organisation who loose significant amounts in admin costs and don’t pass as much as they can onto those who need it most, but instead I prefer to find a charity which is small and needs support for the hard work they do. I am raising funds to support Beatrice and her family through the charity A Smile for a Child (Charity Registration No. 1123357).
Any amount large or small will help this small charity immensely so (if you can) please be generous! Please go to my just giving site (http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea) and donate. You can also follow me on twitter @isainsbury.
Thank you in advance,
Go raibh míle maith agaibh arís! (as they apparently say in Ireland)
Best wishes,
Iain.
These were my words at the end of 2011 - well it is true I am taking a bit of a breather from IM length racing but I have signed up for the IM 70.3 in Galway again in September, Windsor in June and a 1.5km open water swim race in May – so still keeping active. I also said I would be taking a lower key approach to fund raising this year, and that was the plan, however back in February, during a 24 hour turbo fundraiser, I met Andrew Howden (another member of the BCTTT triathlon club) and he inspired me to try and raise a little cash for the charity that supports his daughter, Beatrice.
Beatrice has Type II SMA – Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This amongst other things means she will never walk, run or play in the same way other children do. She is bright and into everything, eager to explore the world around her and she is always happy and ready to greet everyone she meets with a big smile and a wave.
Unfortunately, Government funded departments do not offer funding for the powered chair that was designed specifically for what Beatrice needs to be mobile at this early age. The early years for Beatrice, as with all children, are very important in learning and development, therefore early access to mobility is imperative. One of the key attributes of children with SMA is that they are exceptionally intelligent. Limited mobility at an early age, however, can limit opportunities for learning and exploring the child’s environment.
So why am I telling you this? Well, every year since I got serious about triathlon I have tried to raised a little cash for good causes –in total this is now over £3200 (with GiftAid), and this year is no different. Despite the ecomonic downturn over the past couple of years I have still managed to raise close to a thousand pounds each year. Please help me to do the same this year.
I am not keen of sending money to an anonymous organisation who loose significant amounts in admin costs and don’t pass as much as they can onto those who need it most, but instead I prefer to find a charity which is small and needs support for the hard work they do. I am raising funds to support Beatrice and her family through the charity A Smile for a Child (Charity Registration No. 1123357).
Any amount large or small will help this small charity immensely so (if you can) please be generous! Please go to my just giving site (http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea) and donate. You can also follow me on twitter @isainsbury.
Thank you in advance,
Go raibh míle maith agaibh arís! (as they apparently say in Ireland)
Best wishes,
Iain.
Eyes, turbos and enforced rest....
24 February 2012
I am writing this at 36,000 feet in the front of a BA flight to Israel - somehow I managed to get an upgrade and the view is pretty nice from my office today.
Believe me sometimes my job is rubbish - lots of travel, time away from home - but today is pretty special, never having travelled First Class before I can tell you it is pretty special - if you get the chance jump at it!
Anyway back to the blog post I was going to write. Again it has been a while since I last posted, in that time a lot has happened, I have been recovering from manflu (for the uneducated - any mild illness is worse in men and serious), I have finally had my squint sorted and I have helped a friend achieve 24hrs riding constantly on a turbo trainer - awesome. I have also visited France (lots), Spain (twice), The Netherlands and Canada and now Israel....as I said - busy!
What about my squint operation - an interesting experience, painful, frustrating and sore but brilliant at the same time. The procedure was fairly standard but I had a mild post op infection which made bright sunlight sore. the wierdest effect though was the slightly drunken feeling that comes from having the muscles of the eye moved...very odd. I am now fourteen days out from the procedure and should finish the eye drops this week which means I can start to swim again :-) - I have missed it!
This weekend and the 24hour turbo torment. On Sunday, I supported a friend in his aim to complete 24 hours (yes that is right 24 hours) riding on his turbo - which for the uninitiated is a form of rolling road for a bike...I could only help with riding a couple of hours with James so I chose the hours I thought he might really need some support - 6.30am until 8am on the second half. I finished a little over 2hrs 20mins (including some OG efforts) and I ached - he started at 1200 on the 18th and finished on the 19th. An awesome, unbelievable effort, made more impressive as he completed all of the sufferfest videos, plus extra shots of TT sprints (think the worst, most painful spin class ever) in the first day! Details can be found on his website of his chosen charities which include those that support the children of two friends, Ben Laws and Andrew Howden, please have a look (http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/).
Also this weekend I managed to get in a 45min run and 2hrs on the bike - outdoors!! It felt great but wow am I unfit...need to put some serious work in before the season. below is the trace from my Saturday ride including the biggest hill I can find....it is not very big....hence I used the turbo for strength sets a lot!
Training has been a challenge with work - the silliest trip so far is a 1.5 day trip to Montreal and Toronto - out Wednesday back Friday...plays havoc with your body clock! Last week i managed seven hours, a whole 7hrs....when I was training for IM that would have been a long day...and it shows - the weight has gone up a bit...need to get that under control over the next few weeks...
Finally one quick recommendation - go and see the new muppet movie if you get a chance it is very funny :-)
Later
I.
Believe me sometimes my job is rubbish - lots of travel, time away from home - but today is pretty special, never having travelled First Class before I can tell you it is pretty special - if you get the chance jump at it!
Anyway back to the blog post I was going to write. Again it has been a while since I last posted, in that time a lot has happened, I have been recovering from manflu (for the uneducated - any mild illness is worse in men and serious), I have finally had my squint sorted and I have helped a friend achieve 24hrs riding constantly on a turbo trainer - awesome. I have also visited France (lots), Spain (twice), The Netherlands and Canada and now Israel....as I said - busy!
What about my squint operation - an interesting experience, painful, frustrating and sore but brilliant at the same time. The procedure was fairly standard but I had a mild post op infection which made bright sunlight sore. the wierdest effect though was the slightly drunken feeling that comes from having the muscles of the eye moved...very odd. I am now fourteen days out from the procedure and should finish the eye drops this week which means I can start to swim again :-) - I have missed it!
This weekend and the 24hour turbo torment. On Sunday, I supported a friend in his aim to complete 24 hours (yes that is right 24 hours) riding on his turbo - which for the uninitiated is a form of rolling road for a bike...I could only help with riding a couple of hours with James so I chose the hours I thought he might really need some support - 6.30am until 8am on the second half. I finished a little over 2hrs 20mins (including some OG efforts) and I ached - he started at 1200 on the 18th and finished on the 19th. An awesome, unbelievable effort, made more impressive as he completed all of the sufferfest videos, plus extra shots of TT sprints (think the worst, most painful spin class ever) in the first day! Details can be found on his website of his chosen charities which include those that support the children of two friends, Ben Laws and Andrew Howden, please have a look (http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/).
Also this weekend I managed to get in a 45min run and 2hrs on the bike - outdoors!! It felt great but wow am I unfit...need to put some serious work in before the season. below is the trace from my Saturday ride including the biggest hill I can find....it is not very big....hence I used the turbo for strength sets a lot!
Training has been a challenge with work - the silliest trip so far is a 1.5 day trip to Montreal and Toronto - out Wednesday back Friday...plays havoc with your body clock! Last week i managed seven hours, a whole 7hrs....when I was training for IM that would have been a long day...and it shows - the weight has gone up a bit...need to get that under control over the next few weeks...
Finally one quick recommendation - go and see the new muppet movie if you get a chance it is very funny :-)
Later
I.
Now a RoadID Affiliate :-)
16 January 2012
So another update so soon - I must be getting back into this :-)
I got an email today I have been accepted onto the affiliate program for Road ID which means I can put their banner onto my website. Why am I happy about this? Well I use RoadID both when training and in general life...
I have a red full size RoadID which I use when I am training because it is reflective and hopefully if I should ever need it it is pretty visible!
In my normal life I wear a RoadID slim:
Why? Well for one thing I have an allergy to penicillin and it is always good to have a tag saying that somewhere, but also I travel alone a lot - both short and long haul and should the worst happen I would like Lizze to know!
I must admit that when I looked at their web page I was a little sceptical about quality (as I had never seen one "in the flesh") and the customer service - I can safely say I now have NO issue with either.
Their quality is first rate, the materials, laser etching and finish is excellent, and their customer service is fantastic - they are fast to delver and communicate really well. I wish all products I had purchased "blind" on the Internet were as good!
So please, please, if you don't have ID which you carry when you train, go and have a look on their website, just click on the banner above - it may save your life!
Raving about RoadID apart, training is not going particularly well....
Saturday - Evie woke up early on Saturday and as it was dark and über-icy I went for the turbo - 1.5hrs and 50km of the Ireland 70.3 - 1.87W/kg happy with that.
Sunday - this was meant to be an escalating aerobic run but I was not feeling up for it so I did a core session and a short 30min/5km run instead
Today - I managed to get to the pool for a swim
300 EZ and 100 pull w/u
3x100 drills (catch ups/fists/thigh touch/lowest stroke count)
1x400 moderate
2x300 tempo
3x200 tempo+
4x100 max effort
50 EZ c/d
I timed the 100s - all of them in on 1:27 - consistently poor about 10s off my usual 100 time. Not sure why probably due to the single swim per week rather than 2 per week which is what I was doing.
Then this afternoon I went and saw the orthopaedic surgeon about my knee...hmmmmm. Basically the outcome of my MRI is....they can do nothing about it...it looks like a small area of delamination of the cartilage on the back of the patella in the area of Hoffs fat pad - unfortunately to do an arthroscopy at the moment would be more damaging than leavening it alone and would probably increas the pain beyond where it is at present. Anyway below is a nice picture showing the delamination - it is the red arrow if you are not that good at reading MRIs ;-) :
It probably is the beginnings of patella femoral OA but I am just in denial :-) I will not succumb to age just yet!!
Anyway run or bike and core tomorrow before heading off to Barcelona on Wednesday.
Later
I.
I got an email today I have been accepted onto the affiliate program for Road ID which means I can put their banner onto my website. Why am I happy about this? Well I use RoadID both when training and in general life...
I have a red full size RoadID which I use when I am training because it is reflective and hopefully if I should ever need it it is pretty visible!
In my normal life I wear a RoadID slim:
Why? Well for one thing I have an allergy to penicillin and it is always good to have a tag saying that somewhere, but also I travel alone a lot - both short and long haul and should the worst happen I would like Lizze to know!
I must admit that when I looked at their web page I was a little sceptical about quality (as I had never seen one "in the flesh") and the customer service - I can safely say I now have NO issue with either.
Their quality is first rate, the materials, laser etching and finish is excellent, and their customer service is fantastic - they are fast to delver and communicate really well. I wish all products I had purchased "blind" on the Internet were as good!
So please, please, if you don't have ID which you carry when you train, go and have a look on their website, just click on the banner above - it may save your life!
Raving about RoadID apart, training is not going particularly well....
Saturday - Evie woke up early on Saturday and as it was dark and über-icy I went for the turbo - 1.5hrs and 50km of the Ireland 70.3 - 1.87W/kg happy with that.
Sunday - this was meant to be an escalating aerobic run but I was not feeling up for it so I did a core session and a short 30min/5km run instead
Today - I managed to get to the pool for a swim
300 EZ and 100 pull w/u
3x100 drills (catch ups/fists/thigh touch/lowest stroke count)
1x400 moderate
2x300 tempo
3x200 tempo+
4x100 max effort
50 EZ c/d
I timed the 100s - all of them in on 1:27 - consistently poor about 10s off my usual 100 time. Not sure why probably due to the single swim per week rather than 2 per week which is what I was doing.
Then this afternoon I went and saw the orthopaedic surgeon about my knee...hmmmmm. Basically the outcome of my MRI is....they can do nothing about it...it looks like a small area of delamination of the cartilage on the back of the patella in the area of Hoffs fat pad - unfortunately to do an arthroscopy at the moment would be more damaging than leavening it alone and would probably increas the pain beyond where it is at present. Anyway below is a nice picture showing the delamination - it is the red arrow if you are not that good at reading MRIs ;-) :
It probably is the beginnings of patella femoral OA but I am just in denial :-) I will not succumb to age just yet!!
Anyway run or bike and core tomorrow before heading off to Barcelona on Wednesday.
Later
I.
Wow another post this quickly?! Its a long one!
13 January 2012
So I find myself actually wanting to start writing again. Towards the middle of last year I lost enthusiasm as I had been keeping a training blog for the best part of three years, since I started triathlon, and writing came at the bottom of a long list of things to do. However I think it is important partly for me so I can brain dump without having to bore the family completely with tri stuff - they put up with enough of it already, but also for you, the reader. Why do I think this? Well, if you are reading this you are either a friend (I do have some!) who is interested in finding out what I spend my time doing, or you are a triathlete who is probably struggling with some of the same challenges I encounter - in which case I might either help or be of no use whatsoever - it is your view!!
So why am I rambling on about this? Up until now this blog has always been about training for an event, either Wimbleball in 09, IM Switzerland in '10 or three 70.3s in '11. This year, 2012, will be a little different - why I hear you ask? Well, I have no big goal. For the first time since I started this triathlon lark I am not going for a BIG race this year, I am just looking for consolidation and a relatively easy year. There are sevel reasons behind this, the main one is in the photo below:
Evie or Evelyn Charlotte Iona Sainsbury (to give her her full name) is our yougest of three, born last year in November. Since then she has not slept much - I think Lizze and I have managed a maximum of 4.5 hours in any one stretch since! Even when I go away on work I still wake up as I cannot hear her on the monitor!!
When Anja and Julia were born I was still very much involved with the Reserve Forces and missed a lot of time with them at this age, and with my new role I am away a lot (between now and my birtheday in March I am going to Paris (lots), Amsterdam, Barcelona, Montreal, Toronto, Israel, Chicago and maybe a few other places) so I am keen to spend time with the family - enjoying our new member. Therefore something has to give and this year it is triathlon.
In addition, I am seeing a orthopaedic surgeon on Monday for the results of an MRI on my knee to try and work out why it is painful (I reckon Posterior Cruciate Ligament damage) and at the beginning of Feb I am finally having my (worsening) squint sorted out (only 30 years after first diagnosis!). So lots of things going on!!
So where does training/racing fit in.....hmmmm...tricky!
At the moment I am doing a winter program - which is mostly long tempo or short interval work on the turbo, long(ish) hard swims and lots of running (aerobic tempo work). This seems to be improving my running/maintaining my bike and the swimming has fallen back as I struggle to get to the pool in the morning with trying to get the kids to school!
The solution I have found is 5.30-6am get up and train for the bike/run, however this us unfed and not ideal, but it works...I am still working on the swimming but on days where there is no time challenge in getting the kids to school (no tutoring or choir) I can sometimes get away...
Where this is failing though is on the fatigue (and waistline) front - having a little one is draining and trying to get longer run/bike in is hard. Also Christmas was fun but bad for the waist and I am back up above 92kg :-( something to work on over the next few months...
This was highlighted when I tried to do a field testing week this week....OMG....utterly failed at it! On Monday I managed to do the swim test:
300 w/u EZ
100 build 75-95%
1500m TT
400m TT
50m TT
all with 2mins rest between and a 50 EZ
100m CD
The 1500m TT I managed in 23:15 - although I had to stop for about 15s to check that one of the other swimmers was okay - she swam into my tumble turn...muppet....the 400m in 6:10 and the 50 in 38s. All respectable but not my best efforts!
On Tuesday I tried to do the Bike test on the turbo:
10m EZ spin @65%RPE
3x1min 110RPM spin up +1min rest in between
5min @65%RPE
5min TT ALL OUT (max effort)
10min @65%RPE
20min TT (hold a high pace)
It was all going well - good pacing, the 5min effort was mostly >300W - happy with that, right up until the computer that runs my Tacx I-magic froze - 10mins into the 20min TT....I was so hacked off....
On Wednesday I was out in Paris so I had a fab 30min steady run from the Arc d'Triomph, Eiffel Tower and Champs Elyssee (one benefit of travel - I do get to run in some nice places!) Unfortunately my Garmin refused to pick up the GPS satellites until part way through the run - the green line - the red line doewn Avenue Kleber to the Trocadero was the route I took...
I thought I would rerun the bike test on Thursday - completely failed on that one....my max W were down in the 260s and I died completely 10mins into the 20min TT..... the feedback from my fab coach Mike Redshaw (@Mike_Redshaw) from The TriLife was take a rest day today, Friday, and come back to it fresh next week - sounds like a plan...of course the only challenge is next week I am in Paris for one day, Barcelona for two and Amsterdam for one...oh well time to start juggling balls or spinning plates again I guess!!
That is it for now...rambled on too long...fingers crossed for Monday and the surgeon...
Later
I
So why am I rambling on about this? Up until now this blog has always been about training for an event, either Wimbleball in 09, IM Switzerland in '10 or three 70.3s in '11. This year, 2012, will be a little different - why I hear you ask? Well, I have no big goal. For the first time since I started this triathlon lark I am not going for a BIG race this year, I am just looking for consolidation and a relatively easy year. There are sevel reasons behind this, the main one is in the photo below:
Evie or Evelyn Charlotte Iona Sainsbury (to give her her full name) is our yougest of three, born last year in November. Since then she has not slept much - I think Lizze and I have managed a maximum of 4.5 hours in any one stretch since! Even when I go away on work I still wake up as I cannot hear her on the monitor!!
When Anja and Julia were born I was still very much involved with the Reserve Forces and missed a lot of time with them at this age, and with my new role I am away a lot (between now and my birtheday in March I am going to Paris (lots), Amsterdam, Barcelona, Montreal, Toronto, Israel, Chicago and maybe a few other places) so I am keen to spend time with the family - enjoying our new member. Therefore something has to give and this year it is triathlon.
In addition, I am seeing a orthopaedic surgeon on Monday for the results of an MRI on my knee to try and work out why it is painful (I reckon Posterior Cruciate Ligament damage) and at the beginning of Feb I am finally having my (worsening) squint sorted out (only 30 years after first diagnosis!). So lots of things going on!!
So where does training/racing fit in.....hmmmm...tricky!
At the moment I am doing a winter program - which is mostly long tempo or short interval work on the turbo, long(ish) hard swims and lots of running (aerobic tempo work). This seems to be improving my running/maintaining my bike and the swimming has fallen back as I struggle to get to the pool in the morning with trying to get the kids to school!
The solution I have found is 5.30-6am get up and train for the bike/run, however this us unfed and not ideal, but it works...I am still working on the swimming but on days where there is no time challenge in getting the kids to school (no tutoring or choir) I can sometimes get away...
Where this is failing though is on the fatigue (and waistline) front - having a little one is draining and trying to get longer run/bike in is hard. Also Christmas was fun but bad for the waist and I am back up above 92kg :-( something to work on over the next few months...
This was highlighted when I tried to do a field testing week this week....OMG....utterly failed at it! On Monday I managed to do the swim test:
300 w/u EZ
100 build 75-95%
1500m TT
400m TT
50m TT
all with 2mins rest between and a 50 EZ
100m CD
The 1500m TT I managed in 23:15 - although I had to stop for about 15s to check that one of the other swimmers was okay - she swam into my tumble turn...muppet....the 400m in 6:10 and the 50 in 38s. All respectable but not my best efforts!
On Tuesday I tried to do the Bike test on the turbo:
10m EZ spin @65%RPE
3x1min 110RPM spin up +1min rest in between
5min @65%RPE
5min TT ALL OUT (max effort)
10min @65%RPE
20min TT (hold a high pace)
It was all going well - good pacing, the 5min effort was mostly >300W - happy with that, right up until the computer that runs my Tacx I-magic froze - 10mins into the 20min TT....I was so hacked off....
On Wednesday I was out in Paris so I had a fab 30min steady run from the Arc d'Triomph, Eiffel Tower and Champs Elyssee (one benefit of travel - I do get to run in some nice places!) Unfortunately my Garmin refused to pick up the GPS satellites until part way through the run - the green line - the red line doewn Avenue Kleber to the Trocadero was the route I took...
I thought I would rerun the bike test on Thursday - completely failed on that one....my max W were down in the 260s and I died completely 10mins into the 20min TT..... the feedback from my fab coach Mike Redshaw (@Mike_Redshaw) from The TriLife was take a rest day today, Friday, and come back to it fresh next week - sounds like a plan...of course the only challenge is next week I am in Paris for one day, Barcelona for two and Amsterdam for one...oh well time to start juggling balls or spinning plates again I guess!!
That is it for now...rambled on too long...fingers crossed for Monday and the surgeon...
Later
I
First update in ages!
7 January 2012
It has been nearly three months since I have even looked at the blog - partly due to the reason below, partly due to work commitments (I travelled 47000 air miles in two months at the end of last year) but mostly due to the software I write with not working! The following entry never got posted but summarises a day after the week before in November last year :-)
"Well it has been a fairly long amount of time since I updated this blog - there is a reason :-)
Last Saturday night at 8:45 I became a father again for the third time. Evelyn Charlotte Iona Sainsbury was born naturally with no problems, both she and Lizzie are doing really well - all very happy and came home the next day. Now obviously this will (and has) had a profound impact on my Training and aspirations for 2012. At the beginning of 2011 I was planning to go long again, probably at Roth or Austria, that has all now gone to the left and my intentions for 2012 are to build a bit of speed and go short - ie Olympic distance - although depending on how life plays out I might put in an end of season middle distance.
As for training well for the past couple of weeks swimming has gone out of the window, firstly because of the distance to travel and secondly as Lizzie is out of action feeding a lot I am doing drop off for the kids. So, I am doing a lot of running (short loops round the village) and turbo work - trying to find time/flexibility to get out on the road is proving challenging....
The final thing that has put a spanner in the works is a knee injury I picked up in August. "
So has anything changed since I wrote this?
Not really....swimming has been non existent since Evie arrived as I have been helping get the other girls ready for school in the morning but running and riding (or turbo'ing as it seems to be) are going okay :-) overall though my training is holding my fitness in check - at least I am not getting slower!! I did 400m in the pool on Wednesday ((as 100s @ EZ/IM/70.3/sprint pace) as part of a longer program) in 5:38 so the rest has helped a bit. My running is improving with my slow pace now being sub 5:45/km (at peak IM training i was doing 6:45/km!!) and I reckon at race pace I would do around 26-27:30 for a 5km now - faster than I have been since I started this tri lark! Unfortunately, though, my bike has suffered - mainly on endurance (as I have not had the time for volume) but also on road time - as I can do almost no road riding - the only chance I get to ride is early in the morning and it is pitch black then - so the turbo is being used lots!! The weight is up too...I have put on 3kg since end of season - I am hoping that changing to in season training will sort that in March.....hmmmm....
My plans for next year are firming up a bit - Windsor olympic in still on and I have entered the IM 70.3 race in Ireland again (great course - hard sea swim, rolling bike course and flat run - it really suits me) but as yet nothing else is confirmed...
Now that the software I use (Blogpress on the iPad) is working again - they finally fixed the bug that caused it to crash with iOS5 - I will try and keep this a bit more up to date!
Away, later....
I.
"Well it has been a fairly long amount of time since I updated this blog - there is a reason :-)
Last Saturday night at 8:45 I became a father again for the third time. Evelyn Charlotte Iona Sainsbury was born naturally with no problems, both she and Lizzie are doing really well - all very happy and came home the next day. Now obviously this will (and has) had a profound impact on my Training and aspirations for 2012. At the beginning of 2011 I was planning to go long again, probably at Roth or Austria, that has all now gone to the left and my intentions for 2012 are to build a bit of speed and go short - ie Olympic distance - although depending on how life plays out I might put in an end of season middle distance.
As for training well for the past couple of weeks swimming has gone out of the window, firstly because of the distance to travel and secondly as Lizzie is out of action feeding a lot I am doing drop off for the kids. So, I am doing a lot of running (short loops round the village) and turbo work - trying to find time/flexibility to get out on the road is proving challenging....
The final thing that has put a spanner in the works is a knee injury I picked up in August. "
So has anything changed since I wrote this?
Not really....swimming has been non existent since Evie arrived as I have been helping get the other girls ready for school in the morning but running and riding (or turbo'ing as it seems to be) are going okay :-) overall though my training is holding my fitness in check - at least I am not getting slower!! I did 400m in the pool on Wednesday ((as 100s @ EZ/IM/70.3/sprint pace) as part of a longer program) in 5:38 so the rest has helped a bit. My running is improving with my slow pace now being sub 5:45/km (at peak IM training i was doing 6:45/km!!) and I reckon at race pace I would do around 26-27:30 for a 5km now - faster than I have been since I started this tri lark! Unfortunately, though, my bike has suffered - mainly on endurance (as I have not had the time for volume) but also on road time - as I can do almost no road riding - the only chance I get to ride is early in the morning and it is pitch black then - so the turbo is being used lots!! The weight is up too...I have put on 3kg since end of season - I am hoping that changing to in season training will sort that in March.....hmmmm....
My plans for next year are firming up a bit - Windsor olympic in still on and I have entered the IM 70.3 race in Ireland again (great course - hard sea swim, rolling bike course and flat run - it really suits me) but as yet nothing else is confirmed...
Now that the software I use (Blogpress on the iPad) is working again - they finally fixed the bug that caused it to crash with iOS5 - I will try and keep this a bit more up to date!
Away, later....
I.
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