When the Le Tour came to Cambridgshire and training for a long swim

With July came a step up in distance for training for the Henley B2B. They average time I spent in to pool increased dramatically and the 16-1800m lake swims seem a distant memory. This week I have my first 6km swim planned, currently my longest has been just over 4km..but as you can see from the images below there is a big difference in my focus in this year compared to last -

Whilst the percentage may have gone up a fair amount, my distance has doubled, in 2013 I swam approx 19km in the period June to July and in the past 28 days I have hit 42km, this is over 10km a week which is almost as much as I used to do when I was a little sprog training in Carrick Sharks in Truro....

It feels great, my stroke is improving, I am more comfortable zoning out when swimming, I am gradually getting used to the idea of what I consider uber long swims (10km+) and I am enjoying it...

As for my ankle - it is improving gradually. I had a brief hiatus of improvement when I cycled Jules to the TdF on the tag along (she really is a bit big for it) but it was fun :-)

We had a great spot on the route out from Cambridge to Saffron Walden, below were the two riders who led for all but the last 5km on this stage:

 and the eventual winner, Kittel, mid shot:

 and the KOM:

 

They looked like they were not going fast - but they were doing 40+kph at the time...seriously good riders- an amazing day :-)

So June is almost over

As June draws to a close my main race of the season is looming like a big scary thing, just over the brow of the hill...the 14km Bridge to Bridge swim....Aug 10 2014....

So what is it? Another year, just another challenge? 

Well, yes and no, the Bridge to Bridge swim is an endurance 14km swim from Henley to Marlow Bridge on the Thames. To give you some perspective, the swimming equivalent to a running a marathon is the 10km race – this is longer, almost half as far again, although it is with the current so on a good day it feels like a 10km (apparently)...

The reason I have this opportunity is I am not training for a triathlon.

My racing season finished before it started, not due to work or time pressures but just due to my body failing. During training, I developed tendonopathy in my ankle so I am out of running for 4-6 months and never being one to sit about and do nothing I started looking for a new challenge. I had looked at the Bridge to Bridge race several times but training up to swim that distance takes more time than I could afford, but not training for running means this year I have that time.

So far the swimming has progressed fairly well, I finished 5th in my age group at the FT Eton Swim (1500m) on 26 May and 9th in AG at the Great East Swim (1 mile).

For the first time since I raced IRONMAN Switzerland I am trying something I don’t know if I can finish. 

Please help by sponsoring me, so when I feel like quitting I will know that there is a good reason to keep going! I have this great opportunity due to FRANK Water Projects, they had a late spot when the regular entries had sold out. FRANK Water Projects (www.frankwater.com) is a small charity (Registered charity no. 1121273) that funds sustainable clean water projects in developing countries across the world. Since it started in 2005 it has funded 116 village projects. In a world where more than 4,000 children die EVERY DAY from a lack of clean drinking water, it’s clear that help is needed – please help me support this worthwhile small charity go to www.justgiving.com/iaindoesb2b 

And finally....in the words of Dory.....just keep swimming, just keep swimming......

A new bike position

A couple of days ago I headed up to Bridgtown bikes (our tri club sponsor) to get a bike fit. I saw James, he and Mike (the owner) are the two senior fitters there. He spent a few hours watching me spin and tinkering with the fit, no computers were involved and the brief of improving head position and back position seem to have been sorted.

The results are above, so far they look pretty good :-) feel good on the turbo and I hope the end result will be very good when I get out on the road this weekend :-)

I cannot recoment them highly enough, a lot has been written about Retul fitting, but that depends significantly on a computer package and tends to be one dimensional, and often without the experience of someone like James or Mike.

If you need a bike fitted I would go here: /http://www.bike-fit.co.uk/

Later

I.

So that was 2013....

I had intended to write this blog in early 2014, i.e. January at some point butI failed miserably probably due to the fact that despite having two weeks off I spent most of it trying to do home stuff and looking after the girls...

How was 2013:

Pros
Lost weight 98kgs by Aug for Ely (after I had identified my cushionoid syndrome)
Riding was improved - more consistent >200W output
Running was better when it worked
PB'd at Ely (although the bike was short I would have still PBd)


Cons
Gained weight at the end of 2012 (108kgs in Jan 2012)
Didn't run enough so when I did I was plagued with injuries
Good swim/bike at Ely killed by a poor run...
Races entered and cancelled
Swiming suffered

However I have managed to get some training in too, just not as much as I would like

Training has been pretty good. I have, in the most part, got in one swim and a couple of runs/rides per week. Most of the riding has been on the trusty turbo - as the nights are too dark and the roads too slippery... Currently I am critically reviewing what I need to sort on the TT bike before the Sierakow Middle Distance race (my first of the year...). It needs a strip and clean, but most things seem okay, however I need to revisit wheel choice, I am finding that I can flex the H3 rear on the turbo, I am seriously considering a disc, which means a limited choice as I run clinchers and would prefer an alu brake track, currently the Circo[check spelling] disc is looking good - will just have to see.

As for the running this has been equally split between on and off road running. The run at Sierakow is a trail run. I purchased a pair of Brooks PureGrit2s early on this year and decided to get off the asphalt - what a revalation! Off road running is hard! It is so much harder than road running, and I thought I was going to break something on my first outing, the mud was ankle deep and the paths slippery even with trail shoes.

As for the Brooks PG2s I have read a lot of mixed reviews on them. They are good - really comfy running, the grip is adequate on mud but I expect it to be superb on dry dirt track. The majority of criticism for it is around wet/mud grip...wet grip on asphalt is good but on deep mud it all goes a bit squirly, however I doubt Innov8 or Salomon shoes would have been better in the stuff on the trails over the past few weeks - spikes would be good!

Overall at the moment I would rate them a 7/10 for performance, and a 10/10 for fit, not surprising as the last is the same as my Brooks PureFlow2s which I love :-) Finally, on running, this week I managed an experience I had not tried before - snow running! I was in Espoo, just outside of Helsinki and I did a (sadly) short run in cold snowy conditions. The snow trail was lightly packed by skidoos and I had taken some Yaxtrax Pro snow grips for my trainers - they were amazing. All in all great fun, hard work, but fun. Plus the birds and animals are different there so it made for a really enjoyable run.